Zech. iv. 10. For who hath despised the day of small things?
IT is observable in the dispensations both of nature and of providence, that the greatest things take their rise from very small beginnings. From a view of a new-born infant we might be ready to imagine that it would never be capable of any exertions : but, when its faculties are strengthened and matured, it may
astonish the world with its profound wisdom, or its heroic exploits. Thus in the dealings of God towards the Jewish nation, they were frequently so reduced, as to be, to all appearance, incapable of attaining that state, which their prophets had given them reason to expect. After their restoration from the Babylonish captivity, their difficulties seemed abso- lutely insurmountable : but God, in the passage before us, assured them, that the very person, who had laid the foundation of their temple, should live to finish it ; and exhorted them not to despise the present small beginnings ; for that, in spite of every obstacle, they should have a favourable termination; the temple and city should be rebuilt, and the nation be restored, in a measure at least, to its pristine grandeur. Thus in the literal sense this promise refers to the material temple at Jerusalem ; but it may well be applied,
I. To the mystical temple which God has erected in the world — The very names of "Zion" and "Jerusalem" are often given to the Church of Christ. Nor can there be a doubt, but that the history to which the text relates was a typical representation of Christ's Church, which is brought out of bondage, and erected in the midst of unnumbered difficulties —
There have been many seasons when it has been
•' a day of small things" with the Church of God —
[If we look back to the days of Noah, Abraham, Elijah, and the prophets, we shall find that the true worshippers of God were so few as to be " for signs and wonders" in the age and nation where they lived a. After our Lord had preached for three or four years, the number of his disciples was no more than a hundred and twentv: and even at this day thev are very few in comparison of those who serve mammon : they are " a little flock," who walk in a " narrow and unfrequented wayV]
But we must not "despise" the Church, however low it may appear —
[God has promised that his Church shall one day fill the world; that " all shall be righteous;" that " all shall know
a Isai. viii. 18. b Matt. vii. 14.