with the idea, that when God's time comes, the deliverance will take place without any endeavour of theirs. Let them read the law of Moses, and they will find that though God had promised to bring their fathers out of Egypt, the deliverance itself was preceded by a time of prayer and crying unto God. To Abraham he had said.
(
Hebrew characters)
"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. . . . But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again," &c. (Gen. xv. 13, 16.) But this promise was no warrant for their remaining careless, and at ease; it was on the contrary a basis for earnest prayer and supplication, and a plea for mercy. And, therefore, when the time drew near, we read,
(Hebrew characters)
"And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God, by reason of the bondage." And God himself gives this as one reason why he came to deliver them.
(Hebrew characters)
"Now, therefore, behold the cry of the children of Israel is
come unto me." (Exod. iii. 9.) Here, then, all Israelites, who
desire the fulfilment of God's promises should learn that state
of mind, which is a pre-requisite to the interposition of their
great deliverer. Israel can no more be delivered now than of
old, unless they earnestly desire deliverance. To what purpose
should He deliver and restore those, who care nothing about
the land of their forefathers, nor about the glory of the nation—who
say, We are very comfortable and happy here, and all we
desire is to be like the other nations ((Hebrew characters))—what good
would it do to us to return to the land of Israel? God's promises
are not to such grovelling and unbelieving spirits. Along with
his promise of mercy, he gives a command for continual supplication,
(Hebrew characters)
"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
