in the bestowment of his blessings, " the Spirit divideth to every man severally as he will1."]
3. The future restoration of the Jews —
[The restoration from Babylon was but a partial accom- plishment of what is to be more completely fulfilled at a future period. If we look into the prophecies of Zechariah, we shall find that he peculiarly and pre-eminently delights to dwell on this subject"1. And how shall this future restoration be effected? Not by human might or power ; for all the power of man will be exerted to prevent it"; but by the power of the Holy Ghost : for the Prophet Hosea, speaking of the time when "the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and shall come out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel," says expressly, " I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God ; and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen0."]
Thus we have ascertained the import of the declaration before us. Now let us proceed to the improve- ment of it.
It is clear, that when Almighty God saw fit to give a special vision to his servant, for the express purpose of fixing more deeply on his mind, and on the minds of the Jewish people, this particular truth, it must deserve at our hands the strictest attention. Learn then from it,
1. On whom alone to depend —
[We are prone to creature-confidence, and to place our reliance on an arm of flesh. But God denounces a curse on all who indulge this propensity: "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, or that maketh flesh his arm ; and whose heart departeth from the Lordp." And the truly godly are particularly distinguished by their victory over this sin : " We are the circumcision, who have no confidence in the fleshq." It is not possible to divest ourselves of this propensity in too great a degree : for not even so small a matter as the falling of a sparrow takes place without the special direction of the
] 1 Cor. xii. 11.
111 Compare chap. i. 16, 17. and ii. 10 — 12. and vi. 12 — 15. and especially the whole 8th chapter.
n Mic. iv. 11 — 13. ° Hos. i. 7, 11.
P Jer. xvii. 5. <i Phil. iii. 3.