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INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

IMPORTANCE

OF THE SUBJECT.-ITS BEARING ON THE GLORY OF GOD.-PRESENT DUTY AND FUTURE HOPE OF THE CHURCH.-SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF THE CHRISTIAN.

BY THE REV. T. S. GRIMSHAWE, A.M.,

RECTOR OF BIDDENHAM, BEDFORDSHIRE.

ISAIAH LXII. 6, 7.

"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night : ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

AMONG the extraordinary signs which characterize the present times, one of the most remarkable is the prominence which the Jewish nation has so recently acquired in the public mind, not only in this country, but throughout the whole of civilized Europe. A revolution of opinion has taken place, resembling a transition from a state of supineness and neglect, to one of active sympathy and deep interest in their behalf. They are sud

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denly become an object of contemplation to the Statesman, the Philosopher, and the Christian. Recent political events have powerfully contributed to produce this change of feeling. The Jews are visibly rising up in remembrance before us. Their past desolations, their present position, the purposes of God respecting them; ; their Restoration, Conversion, and the mode and manner of these events, are now familiar topics of discussion; and there is altogether a mysterious and sublime awe and indescribable interest, as if some great crisis were at hand.

The suddenness and extent of this impression is most remarkable. It seems as if the Lord were about to confirm the divine declaration, "I the Lord will hasten it in his time."

What a contrast does this feeling exhibit to the past neglect and treatment of the Jewish nation. For nearly eighteen hundred years it has been customary to consider them as if they were aliens from both God and man; and meriting, by common consent, to be excluded from all participation in the rights of humanity. No hand was stretched out to mitigate their wants; no voice of mercy addressed them in the soft accents of the Gospel of peace. Penal laws were their inheritance; spoliation, stripes, bonds, and imprisonment, furnish the sad catalogue of their

OBJECT OF THE PRESENT LECTURES.

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sufferings, and of our guilt. The late persecutions at Rhodes and Damascus afford a melancholy evidence that this spirit still survives in the East; though the strong manifestation of public feeling throughout Europe, indicates a decided revolution of sentiment in the West.

The object of the present series of Lectures is to strengthen this favourable impression; to diffuse more just and enlarged views on the Jewish subject; to correct some prevailing misconceptions, which strike at the root of all exertion in behalf of Israel; to point out the duty of the Christian Church; and to show that all its future hopes of enlargement are inseparably connected with God's purposes of mercy to the Jewish nation. A similar course of Lectures has already been delivered, with the happiest results, in the town of Liverpool; and it is hoped that the example will be followed in other places. May the Divine blessing largely rest on this undertaking; and the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind be given to each of its advocates; and while the cause of Israel is the noble and inviting theme, may Israel's God have all the praise and glory!

In introducing this subject to your notice, I shall endeavour to show how Jehovah has specially selected the Jewish nation, as the great

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