continue to reject him. With this only proviso, the Jews are right: and we Christians should exert ourselves to the utmost, to prepare them for the work they are destined to perform.]
Learn, then, from hence,
1. The great importance of the Jewish cause —
[By the Jewish cause, I mean the endeavours which are now making for the conversion of the Jews. It is a lamentable fact, that the Christian world has never yet, since the time of the Apostles, paid to it the attention it deserves. The situation of the Gentile world has not been overlooked ; but that of the Jews has been altogether forgotten, except in one or two instances, where partial exertions have been made for their wel- fare. But why should they be thus excepted, and be the only people upon earth that are to be cut off from the flow of Chris- tian benevolence ? Are not their souls of as much value as the souls of others ? Is it a small matter that six or eight millions of souls should be daily and hourly going down into perdition ; and be left, in all their successive generations, to " perish for lack of knowledge?" But consider them as " beloved of God," as no doubt they still are, notwithstanding all that they are suf- fering at his hands ; consider them, I say, as " beloved of God „•" and will you think it right that they should be despised by us ? But come more closely to the point : view them as God's instruments for the conversion of the world; and then say, whether we should not seek to bring them to the knowledge of the truth ? Verily, if we have no regard but for the Gen- tiles, we ought, even for their sakes, to express love to the Jews, and to labour, to the utmost of our power, to fit them for their destined work : yea, the greater our concern for the Gentiles, the more earnest should be our efforts for the Jews. Permit me then, if it be only for the Gentiles' sake, to urge upon you an attention to the Jews ; and henceforth to labour for them, as their ancestors in the apostolic age laboured and
endured for you The husbandman, when his corn is
ripe, looks out for reapers. Do ye the same now. The Gen- tile field is ripening apace : the Jews are God's appointed reapers. Engage them, then, without delay, that the harvest may be gathered throughout all the earth.]
2. The duty of Christians in all ages —
[You have seen the religion which will characterize that blessed period to which we are looking forward. There will be a delight in worshipping and serving God : there will be zealous exertions, too, in all, to stir up one another to a holy emulation in this good work. None will be satisfied with going to heaven alone, or serving God alone. All will be anxious for the good of all : all will be active, too, in honouring