Begin then, all of you, with your own souls; and then extend your concern to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And think not that your labours for them will be in vain ; for the same power which can convert and save you, is able to effect the same blessed work for them. Less than omnipotence will not suffice for you: and to omnipotence all things are alike
easy. See what God did for the Jews in the first ages
See what he did for the benighted Gentiles, who were quite
as far from God as the Jews at this hour can be
Think of our forefathers once bowing down to stocks and
stones, and see what Britain now is Or, if you are
yourselves renewed by divine grace, see what wonders have
been wrought for you At all events, do what you can
to serve your God, and to benefit your fellow-creatures, fully confiding in that gracious declaration, " Blessed are the mer- ciful, for they shall obtain mercy g."]
perish for ever, if we believe not in the Lord Jesus Christ. The ex- ternal title to those blessings we obtain as soon as by baptism we are admitted into covenant with God : but the actual enjoyment of them we can obtain only by the exercise of faith in Christ.
e This subject being important in reference to the Jews, a short and easy mode of treating it is here subjoined : —
I. The distinguished, &c. — 1. Those which were vouchsafed to them for their own personal benefit. 2. Those which were conferred on them for the benefit of the whole world : (God assuming their flesh into union with himself.)
II. The deep, &c. — 1. What is implied. 2. What is expressed: (We should be able to make a similar appeal.)
Inquire — 1. What have we felt for our own souls? — (We possess by baptism what they enjoyed by circumcision ; yet are we, like them,