June 15.
“When the Most High divided to the nations their
inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the
people according to the number of the children of Israel.” Deut. 32:8
This is an important and interesting communication.
It supplies us with two facts.
First, that God
originally divided the nations their inheritance. When after the deluge he gave
the new earth to the children of men, he did not throw it in among them, so to
speak, for a kind of scramble, that each might seize what he could, but he
assigned them their several portions, that the discontented might not invade
the peaceful, nor the mighty prey upon the weak. God permits what he does not
approve; but nothing can be more contrary to his pleasure than for powerful
states to invade and incorporate little ones. And the crime generally punishes
itself. Such unjust and forced accessions add nothing to the safety, strength,
or happiness of the acquirers; but become sources of uneasiness, corruption,
and revolt; so difficult is it to suppress old attachments, and patriotic
instincts that are almost equal to the force of nature. Paul justifies the
sentiment of Moses: “He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply
they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of
us.”
Secondly, in the arrangement of the limits and
conditions of mankind, he had an especial reference to the future commonwealth
of Israel. For they were by far the most important detachment of the human
race. They were the Lord’s portion, and the lot of his inheritance. They were
the depositaries of revealed religion; the heirs of the righteousness which is
by faith. To them pertained the adoption and glory and the covenant, and the
giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; theirs were the
fathers; and of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. We cannot trace this fact perfectly, for want
of more materials; and we know not all the purposes of God in making and
keeping the Jews a peculiar body; otherwise we should clearly see how all the
dispensations of God corresponded to their privileged destination.
One thing is to be observed. They were not
intended to engross the divine favor,
but to be the mediums and diffusers of it. They were not only to be blessed,
but to be blessings. Hence their being placed in the midst of the earth, that
from them knowledge might be derived, and proselytes to revealed religion might
be made; and that, in the fullness of time, out of Zion might go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and that the great supper, as our Lord
calls it, and which was designed for the whole family of Adam, might be spread
in the midst of the earth, and be accessible to all.
While we here see that there is nothing like
chance in the government of the world, there is what may be called a peculiar
providence in particular instances. And here we cannot help thinking of our own
country. No country on earth bears such a comparison with Judea, in privilege
and design, as this favored land. Its appropriation and appointment will
account for its preservation, and emerging from difficulties which seemed
likely to swallow it up. And when we consider what it is and what it promises
to be, we can find reason for its insular situation; its government, laws, and
commerce; its talent and learning, and influence and dominion. We are a sinful
people, but as “the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it
not, for a blessing is in it; so, says God, will I do for my servants’ sakes
that I may not destroy them all.” We cannot approve of everything we have done,
especially in the West and East Indies; but we cannot be ignorant that God is overruling for good; and has ends
in view far beyond slave-holders, and mercantile companies, and heroes, and
statesmen. We have fought, and we have conquered; but the negro is instructed,
and the captive is made free indeed; and openings are made and occupied for the
spread of the gospel.
The economies of heaven on earth have always
been regulated by one end—the cause of the Messiah; and could we view things as
God does, we should perceive how all the revolutions of the world, the changes
of empire, the successes or defeats of haughty worms, have affected this cause,
immediately or remotely, in a way of achievement or preparation, of
purification or increase, of solidity or diffusion; and that all things are
going on not only consistently with it, but conducively to it. For says the
Ruler over all, “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall swear.”
And O, Christian, there is a special providence
over thee. The hairs of thy head are all numbered. One thing regulates all that
befalls thee; all the dark, as well as the clear; all the painful, as well as
the cheerful—thy spiritual, thy everlasting welfare: “For we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God; to them that are called
according to his purpose.”
From—MORNING EXERCISES, by Rev. William
Jay 1769-1853 (Harrisonburg, Virginia; SPRINKLE PUBLICATIONS, 1998); page 279.
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