were, at the first establishment of Christianity y. That it is to be wrought by human means, and not by miracle, is clear from those injunctions which the Prophet Isaiah has given us : " Go through, go through the gates : prepare ye the way of the people : cast up, cast up the highway: gather out the stones: lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh2." Here it must particularly be observed, that the pro- clamation respecting the Messiah's advent is not made by Jehovah himself, but by the Gentile world : " The Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion ; ye Gentiles, deliver ye this message ; Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh!" Here, then, our duty is clear : we are commanded by God himself to remove every obstacle out of their way; to prepare, with great labour and diligence, a path for them ; and to direct them, by all possible means, to their Saviour and their God.
Some, however, who will not call it presumptuous, yet regard it as a hopeless task. But why should not the Jews be converted, as well as the Gentiles ? Whatever blindness there may be in their minds, God is able to remove it now, as well as in former ages. Who is it that has wrought effectually for the Gentiles ? Is his arm so shortened, that he cannot effect the same for the Jews ? Shall we say, like those of old, " He has smitten the rock indeed, that the waters gushed out like a river ; but can he give bread also, or provide flesh for his people3? The same power is alike competent for both ; and he who has engaged that his outcast people shall be restored, will be at no loss to effect it. St. Paul puts this matter beyond a doubt : " They, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be grafFed in ; for God is able to grafF them in again. For, if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is wild by nature ; and wert
y See Acts xiii. 46. z Isai. lxii. 10, 11. a Ps. lxxviii. 19,20.