Indeed so strong are the declarations of Scripture upon this subject, that an expectation of the event universally obtains throughout the Christian world. But there was not any prince after the captivity to whom that name can with any propriety be applied in such a view whereas the Lord Jesus Christ is often spoken of under that name: and therefore it is reasonable to conclude, that the restoration spoken of must take place after the establishment of Christianity in the world. That which first demands our attention, is, The restoration of the Jews. In discoursing then on the words before us, we shall notice, For instance, if we should take occasion from our text to speak of the nature and effects of true conversion, in bringing us to God and renovating our souls, we might speak what was good and useful but the primary sense of the passage leads us to another subject, which ought to be of equal importance in our eyes, namely, The Restoration and Conversion of the Jews. But the primary meaning is often as replete with instruction as any that can be affixed to the words, and incomparably more satisfactory to a well-informed mind. Some are so intent on the spiritual sense of Scripture, as almost entirely to overlook the literal. But there is an opposite error, against which also we ought to be on our guard. By supposing that it related only to other persons and other times, we get rid of its authority, destroy its power over our conscience, and learn to set aside every doctrine which we are not willing to receive, and every precept which we do not choose to practise. But this limits the use of the sacred volume in such a manner, as to render it of little service to us. IN interpreting the Holy Scriptures, it is common with many to dwell almost exclusively upon the literal or historical sense of them, and to confine their meaning to the persons to whom the different parts were immediately addressed, or of whom they spake. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. If any of thine be driven out unto the out-most parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. DISCOURSE: 224 THE RESTORATION AND CONVERSION OF THE JEWSÄeuteronomy 30:4-6.
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