did he overturn the empire of Babylon in order to their deliverance, because they were the greatest nation in the world; for they were but an inconsiderable company, compared with the nation now conquered. He must have had some higher end than merely the advancement of this small number of captives, scarcely amounting to fifty thousands.

God's ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. It is by a variety of means, and by a laboured process, that we effect a single purpose. A variety of vast and wonderful purposes God accomplishes by the same means. There is a connexion which runs through his works. The end, which seems first intended, is one step in the process, in order to bring about some distant and more important design.

1. The captivity and deliverance of the Jews were the means of spreading in the world the knowledge of God, and of the true religion.

The heathen were thus made to know that he was the Lord.

The benefits of the revelation, which God gave to the Jews, were not wholly confined to them. They reached to other nations. The frequent captivities and dispersions of this enlightened people, as well as the travels of their prophets, contributed to disseminate far and wide the knowledge of the truth. Babylon was the most celebrated city, and the capital of the most powerful empire in the world; so that by means of this long captivity, the knowledge of the true God was more extensively spread, than it would have been, had his professed worshippers been suffered to continue in their own land. By various other calamities, as famines, plagues, storms and earthquakes, God could have punished their manifold iniquities; but judgments of this kind were not so well adapted to diffuse the knowledge of his name.

The means made use of in Providence for their deliverance, conduced to the same great end. To make way for this event, the empire of Babylon is subdued by the Medes and Persians, who of course now become acquainted with the Jews, with the religion which they profess, and with the God whom they worship. The information which Cyrus received concerning the predictions of the prophets, and the conviction which he felt of their truth and divinity, were doubtless the motives which first prompted him to release these captives. It is evident that he, as well as some preceding and following kings of Babylon, acknowledged the God of Israel to be the true and supreme God. If they acknowledged him, many of their subjects would follow their example. So that the Jewish revelation was, in fact, more extensive than some imagine. That which at first looks like partiality in their favour, was, in its effects, the exercise of general goodness.

2. The return of the Jews was a strong confirmation of the truth of their religion, adapted to give conviction to all who were witnesses of it.

The wonderful steps of Providence in accomplishing this event, and the exact fulfilment of the. many predictions and promises which had been made concerning it, were undeniable proofs, that the God whom they worshipped, was the only true God. 3. God preserved this people, because to them were committed his sacred oracles.

Though they were a sinful nation, yet as the only instituted church and the only written revelation, were among them, he would not utterly destroy them. He spared them because a blessing for mankind was in them. As the scriptures, which they enjoyed, were ultimately designed for general benefit, God would preserve the nation to whose care he had committed them. Had these sacred writings

been extinguished by the destruction of the present possessors of them, the world would have sustained loss, which could, by no human means, have been repaired.

4. God restored and preserved this people, be. cause from them was to proceed the great Saviour of the world.

To Abraham was a promise made, that among his descendants, the Redeemer should be born, and in his seed all nations should be blessed. As the time was not yet come for the appearance of the promised Saviour, the nation from whom he was to spring, and who were first to be blessed with his presence, must be preserved. Accordingly we find, that until the time of his coming, this nation was God's peculiar care; though he often chastised them, he forsook them not utterly; though he delivered them up to captivity, he dissolved not their national state. But this singular care of them was not for their sakes; it was for the sake of mankind in general, that the blessing promised to Abraham might come on the Gentiles. And therefore, after the Saviour's death, this special care for them is withdrawn.

They are soon given up to the power of the Romans, by whom they are completely subdued, and scattered over the face of the earth; and even to this day they no where subsist in a national capacity.

5. The captivity and deliverance of this people, were events which conduced much to prepare the world for the reception of the Saviour.

By these means, many learned men, in the most respectable nations of the earth, were brought to the knowledge and belief of the Jewish scriptures, and of the prophecies concerning the Messiah. The prophecy of Daniel, which was delivered toward the end of the captivity, expressly pointed out the time

of his appearance. This must have been known to many besides the Jews; and from hence probably arose the prevailing expectation in those parts of the world, that some extraordinary person would appear, who should have a general dominion. Hence he is called the desire, or expectation, of all nations, And doubtless the great success, which the apostles found in preaching the gospel among the Gentiles, was, in some measure, owing to these prepara. tory means.

The time is coming when the knowledge of God shall cover the earth, and all nations shall see his sal vation. The gospel will not always be confined to a small part of the human race. It will have a uni versal spread. Those means which have introduced, and hitherto maintained it, were designed for the benefit of generations to come, as well as of those which are past. God's particular favour to the Jews, will eventually prove a blessing to all nations.

REFLECTIONS.

1. This passage, in its connexion, teaches us, what is intended by the phrase, so often used in scripture, of God's working for his own sake, and for his name's sake. It is working, that his name may be more extensively known and regarded among men.

This is evidently the sense, in which it is used in this chapter. I do this for my name's sake, and I will sanctify my great name; and the heathen shall know, that I am the Lord. So it is repeatedly used in the 20th chapter. Iwrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted among the heathen, in whose sight I made myself known.

When we meet with such phrases, we must not understand them, as if the independent, allperfect,

selfsufficient God, had some design diverse from, and opposite to, the good of his creatures. For as he is completely happy in himself; and as nothing can increase, or diminish his felicity and selfenjoyment, so it is impossible, that, in this sense, he should do any thing for his own sake. But his acting for his name's sake, is acting for the sake of making his name, or character, known among his rational creatures, and bringing them to acknowledge, fear and obey him. What he does for his own sake, has respect to their good, and is suited to render them virtuous and happy. So that the phrase, in the strongest manner, expresses his free and disinterested goodness.

When a man is said to do any thing for his own sake, we consider him as acting selfishly, and without regard to the interest of others. But the phrase is, in scripture, applied to the Deity in a higher and nobler sense, as importing his kind and gracious intentions toward moral beings. When he makes his name known, it is, not that he himself, but that his creatures, may be better and happier.

In like manner we are to understand the similar phrase of God's acting for his own glory. This is not to make himself more glorious; for he is infi. nitely glorious in his nature: His gloriousness consists in his unlimited and immutable perfection: But it is to manifest and display among his creatures his glorious character, that they may know and love him, adore and serve him. And he requires them to admire and worship him, not because he is benefited by their affections or praises; for he is not worshipped by men's hand, as though he needed any thing from them-their goodness cannot extend to him; but because these regards are due from them as rational creatures, and are necessary to their own happiness.