The prophecy to which these words belong is both brief and obscure. It stands, so to speak, apart and alone, disjoined equally from that which precedes, and from that which follows it. Instead of indulging in fruitless conjecture and speculation, I shall content myself with shortly stating that which alone can with any certainty be gathered out of it; and having done this, shall proceed at once to consider and use it as a call to examine the signs of this present time.
It is not intended in this discourse to enter at length or with any minuteness of detail into the wide field of unfulfilled prophecy. The particulars of the future destiny of Israel, the time, the manner, and the accompanying circumstances of their restoration and conversion, must be left in a great measure untouched. For the present, it will be enough for our purpose to dwell on the broad and general announcement of the prophetic Word, that in the latter days, they are to be restored to their old inheritance and converted to the faith of the Gospel, and to consider that fact—its connection with the blessed prospects of the church of Christ—in the humble and earnest hope that the views, thus suggested, may tend to stir up our heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel, that they may be saved.
