raelites as their weak understandings could sustain it. When the covenant was made with Abraham, God declared in express terms, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed." That seed was the Messiah, not the people of the Jews descended from Abraham: for they were so far from a universal blessing to the world, that on the contrary they vainly presumed that God for their sakes despised the rest of mankind. And indeed before the coming of Christ they were an inclosed garden, the peculiar people of God, and without the compass of Judea sin reigned absolutely and universally. Now that promise clearly signifies, that the favour and blessing of God that he conferred upon Abraham in making known to him his will, and promising to be his God, and of his posterity, should one day be extended to all nations, by calling them to his knowledge and service: to this agrees the prophecy of Jacob: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, till Shilo come, and to him shall the gathering of the people be:" Gen. 49. 10. that is, the Gentiles shall be converted from their idols to the true God by the Messiah, whom the Jews acknowledge to be signified by that title. And Moses introduces God as complaining of the idolatry and ingratitude of the Jews, and declaring, "They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have provoked me to anger with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, and I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." Deut. 32. 21. The external covenant between God and his people is represented by the union of marriage, to signify the duty they owe to God, the highest honour, the most ardent affections, and the benefits they receive from him. Therefore when the Jews gave divine adoration, the highest respects of religion, to idols, they provoked God to jealousy; and he threatens he would break his alliance with them, and give his heart and love to those which were not a people; and by the law of counter-passion they should be provoked to jealousy. It is very visible these expressions signify the calling of the Gentiles. And David by the same inspiration, in many psalms celebrates the kingdom of the Messiah. In Psal. 22. he is introduced, speaking, "My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; all the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." And in the 67. Psal. "God

be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us." Selah. "That thy way may be known upon earth, and thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. The prophet Isaiah in his revelations clearly speaks of the great design of God to bring the Gentiles to his service, Thus in the second chapter it is prophesied; " And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, And many people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the Lord, and the sword of the Lord out of Jerusalem."

And among all the rest none is more clear and express than what is recorded in Isa. 49. There first the Messiah is represented as declaring his commission from God to go to the people of Israel; "The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name, and he said unto me, Thou art my servant in whom I will be glorified." And after complains of the obstinacy of the ungrateful synagogue; "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with God." And immediately after it is added, "And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And 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 to the ends of the earth." This oracle is precise and full; for it speaks of the nations in opposition to the tribes of Israel, and directly foretels that the Jews would neglect the instructions of the Messiah, and that upon their infidelity God would by the Messiah give saving knowledge to all nations, And in the same sense he speaks in the 54th chapter: "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud thou that didst not travel with child: for more are the children of the desolate than of the married, saith the Lord."

Who is the desolate and barren, but the Gentiles without God in the world, whilst the Jews were honoured and blessed in, the mystical marriage with him? And who are the children of the forsaken that should be far more numerous than those of the married, but the believers of the christian church, in opposition to the Jewish church? And the other succeeding prophets concur in this prediction. Malachi the last speaks of it in such express terms, as are capable to convince any that does not wilfully renounce the use of his eyes and understanding. After God is introduced rejecting the Jews and their temple service; ".I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hands." He adds, to signify the calling of a new church, for "from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Thus that great wonder was clearly foretold by the prophets, and as a work to be performed by the glorious power of God. And accordingly it is accomplished. For who but God could have inspired the apostles to undertake an enterprize so contrary to human prudence, being equally dangerous and impossible? And who else could have made it successful beyond all imagination? When the pride of Pharaoh was humbled, and his strength broken by the most despicable creatures, even the magicians were compelled to acknowledge it to be the finger of God: but his arm was revealed when the spiritual Pharaoh with all his powers of darkness were overcome by such weak instruments. What furious winds from all parts of the world conspired to extinguish the first springing light of the gospel? The heathen emperors destroyed innumerable persons, presuming to drown the memory of Christ in the blood of the christians. But such were the faith and love of believers of all conditions to their crucified Redeemer, that with the same joy they ran to suffer the most terrible punishments, as if they had been to receive crowns. In vain the strongest combinations were made against the truth. For the knowledge of the only true God, and his incarnate Son Jesus Christ, overcame impiety with all its idols, and ignorance with all its numerous masters. What is become of all the heathen deities, so honoured, so feared, so obstinately defended? Where are their altars, their statutes,

*

their sacrilegious priests and sacrifices? They are buried in the ruins of their own temples, in the darkness of eternal oblivion. Where are all the sects of philosophers, the Platonists, the Peripatetics, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the rest that filled Greece with their fame, and so many volumes with their fancies and error? Like a torrent that rolls down with great noise from the top of a mountain; so for a time the speculations of their lofty minds poured along in a flood of swelling frothy eloquence; but now (and for how many ages since?) the very channel is dried up wherein they ran, so that scarce any visible ruins remain in Athens itself of the schools where they taught. The greatest among them, Plato, adorned with the title of divine, could never see his commonwealth, framed by him with so much study, to be established in one city. Whereas if we consider the gospel of Christ, it is hard to determine whether the doctrine be more simple, or the apostles the first masters of it to outward appearance; yet without learning or human strength, in a short space they triumphed over the eloquence of the Greeks, † the power of the Romans, the rage of barbarous nations. They abrogated laws, changed customs, and renewed the face of the world. In this the prophetic parable was fulfilled, "The kingdom of heaven," that is, the dispensation of the gospel," is like to a grain of mustard-seed;" one of the smallest grains, but of that spirit and quality that it suddenly springs up and spreads abroad.

This happy and stupendous success of the disciples of Jesus Christ, considered in itself, is an unanswerable proof that the christian religion came from heaven. For it was only possible to the divine power. It is no wonder the religion of Mahomet extended and established its conquests in many countries; for

* ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν αφείς την πολιτείαν, ὅτω καλέλυσε. Chrys,

de la. Paul, 4.

† Ο ταν εν δὲ ὁ κερύτων ιδιωτης ή και πένης και ασημῷ δὲ τὸ κερυ τόμενον εκέπαγωγόν, αλλά και σκανδαλον ἔχον χον και διακέοντες πανηλης, και αθενεῖς, και εδεν@ και κίνδυνοι ἐπολληλοι και νυνιχεῖς, και τοῖς διδασκάλοις και τοις μαθεταῖς, καὶ ὁ καταγγελλόμενος, εςαυρόμενος τι' τὸ ποιησαν κρατήσειν εκ ἔκδηλον ὅτι θεια τις και απόρρητο δυναμις, παντάπε δηλον. Ibid.

that seducer persuaded the barbarous people by force of arms, they must be his disciples or slaves. And can the mind form a elear judgment, or the will make a free choice, when under a tyrannous necessity of compliance, or losing all the comforts of life? Can violence and cruelty produce a rational faith? That may force them to a counterfeit compliance, but cannot make men sincerely believe; it is apt to breed form without, and atheism within. Now that a persecuted religion should live and flourish in the midst of flames, is as truly admirable as if a little stream should pass through an arm of the ocean, retaining its freshness and purity in the midst of salt and turbid waters. That when the minds of men were prepossessed with inveterate opinions contrary to its supernatural mysteries, and their wills overruled by carnal affections utterly averse from its holy precepts, the world was captivated to the belief and obedience of it, is the most noble effect of omnipotence. For other miracles, though above the laws of nature, yet were on the lower order of creatures without life and sense; but this internal miracle was wrought on the minds and hearts of men. To raise the dead, to calm a storm, to suspend the force of fire, to change waters into blood, is not so glorious a work as the converting rebellious souls to God, and making them a willing people to his holy laws. And if we further consider the prophecies so many ages before concerning it, and observe the harmony betwixt the works and word of God, there results a demonstration as clear and strong as is possible. The prediction and accomplishment are equally divine. The success justifies the truth of the prophecy, and the truth of the prophecy justifies the divinity of the christian religion. For by the apostles and their successors the heathens were turned from idols, to the service of one God the creator of the world: which was foretold by the prophets, not only as a thing that should arrive, but to be performed by the power of God. To ascribe then this glorious work to human artifice, as if his providence had been prevented by others, from doing that that he promised should be done by his own power, is so directly contrary to his wisdom and his truth, that common reason abhors the thoughts of it. Therefore the christian religion is divine, having God for its author. Thus the truth of the gospel is victorious over the Jewish, or the profane infidel.

It may be argued against the Jews, that their God foretold his