A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of…

We have showed before how the settlement of the people in this land in Joshua's time promoted the work of redemption. On the same account does their restitution belong to the same work. The resettlement of the Jews in the land of Canaan belongs to this work, as it was a necessary means of preserving the Jewish church and dispensation in being, till Christ should come. If it had not been for this restoration of the Jewish church, and temple, and worship, the people had remained without any temple, and land of their own, that would be as it were their head-quarters, a place of worship, habitation, and resort; the whole constitution, which God had done so much to establish, would have been in danger of utterly failing, long before that six hundred years had been out, which was from about the time of the captivity till Christ. And so all that preparation which God had been making for the coming of Christ, from the time of Abraham, would have been in vain. Now that very temple was built that God would fill with glory by Christ's coming into it, as the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah told the Jews to encourage them in building it.

We have shewed before how the settlement of the people in this land in Joshua's time promoted the work of redemption. On the same account does their restitution •elong to the same work. The resettlement of the Jews in the land of Canaan belongs to this work, as it was a necessary means of preserving the Jewish church and dispensation in being, till Christ should come. If it had not been for this restoration of the Jewish church, and temple, and worship, the people had remained without any temple, and land of their own, that would be as it were their head-quarters, a place of worship, habitation, and resort; the whole constitution, which God had done so much to establish, would have been in danger of utterly failing, long before that six hundred years had been out, which was from about the time of the captivity till Christ. And so all that preparation which God had been making for the coming of Christ, from the time of Abraham, would have been in vain. Now that very temple was built that God would fill with glory by Christ's coming into it, as the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah told the Jews to encourage them in building it.