“The Most High God, who ruleth in the kingdoms of men (Dan. iv. 32), by whom kings reign and princes decree justice (Prov. viii. 15), having in these days granted a season of repose to his witnessing church (Acts ix. 31; Rev. xii. 16), planted in the lands whereof ye are kings and governors (Isaiah xlix. 23); the vine of His planting among the Gentiles (Acts xxviii. 28) hath extended her boughs unto the seas and her branches unto the rivers (Isa. xlix. 6), that now in nearly all the world the gospel of the kingdom is being lifted as a witness unto all nations (Matt. xxiv. 14), and in the isles afar off. The days are drawing near (Rev. xxii. 20) when the dominion, and the glory, and the kingdom, with all people, nations and languages, shall serve Him, who cometh in the clouds of heaven (Dan. vii. 14, Rev. i. 7), whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed (Psalm xlv. 6). Blessed be He! He hath given his waiting people to hear the sound of His approaching footsteps, and to mark the signs of His drawing near (1 Thess. v. 4). The fig-tree putteth forth her leaves again (Matt. xxiv. 32). Israel’s sons are asking the way to Zion, by which we know that summer is at hand. Blessed are all they that wait (2 Thess. iii. 5), and hold fast (Rev. iii. 11), for quickly He cometh. Amen. “In the prospect of the Christian Church, of the speedy appearing of her glorified head, the zeal of the Lord’s servants hath been stirred up (Rev. iii. 2) to a multiplied diligence in those labours of faith and love which were devolved upon her (Matt. xxviii. 19), when the Son of God, as a man taking a journey into a far country, bade his servants occupy, until he returned again (Luke xix. 13). With other responsibilities, the circumstances of one peculiar people, whom the Most High hath separated (Gen. xii. 1) and taken into covenant with him (Gen. xvii. 7; Exod. xxxiv. 7), and which covenant no act of theirs, however iniquitous or rebellious, can repeal or destroy (Mal. iii. 6), whom he hath scattered in all lands as witnesses of his unity and power (Isa. xliii. 9), connected with whom the welfare of mankind is bound up, and in the lifting up of whose head the most stupendous consequences are made to depend (Rom. xi. 15), are presented at this eleventh hour for the repentance and faith of Christendom, that the blood of our brethren of circumcision which has been unjustly shed may be atoned for in the blood of the Lamb (Isa. i. 18), and the fruits of forgiveness be manifested (Matt. iii. 8) in presenting the children of this people continually at the throne of grace (1 Pet. ii. 5; Ps. cxxii. 6) for the atoning sacrifice of Christ to cover them (Joel ii. 17); and as the Almighty, in his providential appointments, shall make the way plain to present the children of Israel who may be willing to go up (Ps. cx. 3) as an offering to the Lord of Hosts in Mount Zion (Isa. xxviii. 7).