ed the prediction,--"And
in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an
ensign to the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall
be glorious.... And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall
assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of
Judah from the four corners of the earth."[739] Again, we find the
command, "Seek the Lord, and his strength; seek his face for evermore."
And to point out the nature of the duties which it includes, are those
to whom it was first tendered, thus addressed,--"O ye seed of Abraham
his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for
ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations."[740] Where
a most emphatic promise is made, that the duty of vowing and swearing to
the Lord shall be discharged, occurs the declaration, "I have not spoken
in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare
things that are right."[741] And the man who, seeking God, shall ascend
unto the hill of the Lord, and stand in his holy place, is described in
language that certainly not merely refers to the oath as given to
confirm testimony, but also as given in vowing other duties to the Lord,
as "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up
his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." For their apostacy, the
Hebrew people were cast out of the good land that had been covenanted to
their fathers; and for many ages they have been scattered among all
nations. But as, for their breach of covenant, they were cast off, and
the goodly heritage that had been given them became waste; so, at their
restoration to the precious privileges which through unbelief they
forfeited, to this glorious Object they themselves, and with them the
heathen nations, shall look as to a covenant sign. "He said, It is a
light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for
a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth." "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard
thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve
thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the
earth, to cause to inherit the deso