circumstances whatever, ceases to be fruitful after the example of his Lord and Saviour, " shall be cut off," and cast into everlasting fire. This warning is, in the first place, given by the Apostle to the Christian Church : and let every one oius receive it as addressed to his own soul in particular. And may God of his infinite mercy so impress it on our minds, that we may never cease to tremble at it ; and seek that fruitfulness which will be our best evidence of union with Christ, and the surest pledge of our ultimate acceptance with him !
Having thus endeavoured to enforce a due im- provement of our own privileges, permit me now, in a respectful manner, yet with Christian fidelity, to ask, whether we be not called, by a sense of gratitude to God and of compassion for man, to make somewhat of an united effort for the restoration of the Jewish people to the privileges they have forfeited ?
We have heard from God himself, that the obsta- cles to this are far less than those which have been already overcome in reference to the Gentiles ; so that there is no just ground of discouragement on that head. He who has been able to graff in the branches of the wild-olive, can easily re-instate the natural branches : and in the same way that he effected the one, he will effect the other. It was by the instrumentality of holy men of old that God wrought effectually on the Gentile world : and it is by exertions of a similar kind that he will restore the Jewish people5. We know what self-denying efforts were made by the Apostles and the primitive Chris- tians for our salvation : and such are the exertions which we should make in behalf of our Jewish brethren. Indeed, if it were possible, we are bound by tenfold greater obligations to labour for them, than ever their ancestors were for us: for we actually stand in their place, which has been vacated by them, in order that we might Jill it. Hear what is spoken in the chapter before us : " Thou wilt say then, The branches zvere broken off, that I might be graff ed in.
s Isai Ixii. 10— 12.
1898.] god's dispensations to jews and gentiles. 44 1
Well :" ' it is true/ says the Apostle : ' and however mysterious the fact may appear, I cannot deny it.' What a view, then, is here opened to us! The Jews were broken off, in order that we Gentiles might be graffed in. What, I would ask, should be our feel- ings at the sight of a Jew ? Should we not be filled with compassion towards him ? and should not the contemplation of our own privileges cause our bowels to yearn over him ? Should not that truth be in- stantly brought to our minds, " Thou wast broken off, that I might be graffed in ;" and I am occupying, as it were, the place which thou hast vacated for me ? Who can entertain for a moment such a reflection as this, and not pant for an opportunity to bring him to a renewed enjoyment of his lost inheritance ? Methinks, every one of us, surveying the branches scattered over the face of the earth, and contemplat- ing God's assured purpose to restore them to himself, should say, " God helping me, I will never cease to labour till I have been the happy means of reinstating one withered branch in its own olive-tree. For this I will labour : for this I will pray : for this I will com- bine my exertions with others, that, by united efforts, we may accomplish what cannot be attained by indi- vidual exertion." Is not this reasonable ? Is not this what God may well expect at our hands ? Is it not a duty which we should have performed long ago ? Is not the deplorable state of the Jewish people at this time in a great measure owing to the grievous neglect of Christians, who, for seventeen hundred years, have acquiesced in their rejection from God, without any serious efforts for their restoration to him ? As for the excuses which we make for this neglect, we know, and our own consciences tell us, that they are only a cloak for our own supineness. If we even believed the impracticability of human efforts, should we not, at least, implore for them the interposition of their God ? But our prayers in secret have been as true an index of our minds towards them, as our efforts in public. Let us take shame to ourselves on account of our past neglect ; and let us now address ourselves