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 1 
 No. 
 
 No. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 I'PIXCETON, N. J. 1 
 
 5^/':'B3Sliiaa, 
 
 
 Bampton lectures 
 
' S E R M ON S 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 
 
 AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH, 
 IN THE YEAR MDCCXCVIII, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 LECTURE 
 
 FOUNDED BY 
 
 THK REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M. A. U T^ 
 
 ..... ... .... 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. CHARLES HENRY HALL, B. D. 
 
 CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETER, 
 
 AND 
 
 LATE STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH. 
 
 OXFORD: 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR ; 
 
 AND SOLD BY HANWELL AND PARKEK, AND J. COOKE J 
 
 F. AND C. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUl's CHURCH YARD, 
 
 AND HATCHARD, PICCADILLY; LONDON. 
 
 J 799. 
 
TO 
 THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, 
 
 HENRY REGINALD, ' 
 LORD BISHOP OF EXETER, 
 
 THE 
 FOLLOWING DISCOURSES 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY HIS OBLIGED, 
 
 AND AFFECTIONATE SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 

 PREFACE, 
 
 It is the purpofe of the following Dif* 
 courfes to confider at large, what is meant 
 by the Scriptural expreffion, " Fulnefs of 
 Time ;" or, in other words, to point out the 
 previous fteps, by which God Almighty 
 gradually prepared the way, for the intro- 
 duction and promulgation of the GofpeL 
 In fuch a defign, there is little to awaken 
 the attention of the learned Theologian ; 
 and, in faft, the Author has only attempted 
 to bring under one view, and to render ge- 
 nerally intelligible, topics and arguments, 
 w^hich in the writings of our beft and 
 ableft Divines have long ago been fepa- 
 rately and thoroughly inveftigated. 
 
 a 5 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OV THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 I give and bequeath my Lands 
 
 '' and Eliates to the Chancellor, Matters, 
 
 y and Scholars of the Univerfity of Ox- 
 
 '' ford for ever, to have and to hold all 
 
 '' fmgular and' the iaid Lands or Eftates 
 
 '^ upon truft, and to the intents and pur- 
 
 '' pofes hereinafter mentioned; that is to 
 
 - fay, I Will and appoint that the Vice- 
 
 '' Chancellor of the Univerfity of Oxford 
 
 '' for 
 
C vi ) 
 
 *' for the time being lliall take and receive 
 " all the rents, iffues, and profits thereof, 
 " and (after all taxes, reparations, and ne- 
 *^ cefTary dedud:ions made) that he pay 
 " all the remainder to the endowment of 
 ^^ eight Divinity Leclure Sermons, to be 
 *^ eftabliilied for ever in the faid Univer- 
 *^ fity, and to be performed in the man- 
 *^ ner following : 
 
 " I direft and appoint, that, upon the 
 *^ firfl: Tuefday in Eaiier Term, a Lee- 
 " turer be yearly chofen by the Heads of 
 ^' Colleges only, and by no others, in the 
 ** room adjoining to the Printing-Houfe, 
 " between the hours of ten in the morn- 
 " ing and two in the afternoon, to preach 
 " eight Divinity Ledure Sermons, the year 
 " following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, be- 
 " tween the commencement of the laft 
 '' month in Lent Term, and the end of 
 '' the third week in Aft Term. 
 
 *' Alfo I dired and appoint, that the 
 " eight Divinity Lefture Sermons fliall be 
 
 " preached 
 
( vU ) 
 
 " preached' upon either of the following 
 '* fubjefts — to confirm and eftablifli the 
 '^ Chrlftian Faith, and to confute all here- 
 '* tics and fchlfmatlcs — upon the divine 
 '' authority of the Holy Scriptures — upon 
 'f the authority of the writings of the 
 <^ primitive Fathers, as to the faith and 
 '^ practice of the primitive Church — upon 
 '' the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour 
 *'- Jefus Chrift — upon the Divinity of the 
 ^* Holy Ghaft— upon the Articles of the 
 " Chrlftian Faith, as comprehended in the 
 *^ Apoftles' and Nicene Creeds. 
 
 '' Alfo I direft, that thirty copies of the 
 ^' eight Divinity Leclure Sermons fliall be 
 " alv^^ays printed, within two months af- 
 *' ter they are preached, and one copy 
 *' fliall be given to the Chancellor of the 
 '* Univerfity, and one copy to the Head 
 '' of every College, and one copy to the 
 '^ Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one 
 " copy to be put into the Bodleian Li- 
 '' brary; and the expencc of printing them 
 
 '' Ihall 
 
( vlii ) 
 
 '' fhall be paid out of the revenue of the 
 
 ^^ Land or Eftates given for eftabUfliing 
 
 '^ the Divinity Ledure Sermons ; and the 
 
 ^' Preacher ihall not be paid, nor be en- 
 
 ^- titled to the revenue, before they are 
 
 ^' printed. 
 
 ^^ Alfo I dired and appoint, that no 
 
 ^' perfon Ihall be quaUfied to preach the 
 
 *' Divinity Lefture Sermons, unlefs he 
 
 ^' hath taken the Degree of Mafter of Arts 
 
 '' at leaft, in one of the two Univerfities 
 
 ^^ of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that the 
 
 *' fame perfon fliall never preach the Di- 
 
 " vinity Ledure Sermons tw^ice." 
 

 f^r 
 
 g E R M ON I. 
 
 ACTS i. 7. 
 
 ANDr TIE SAID UNTO THEM, IT IS NOT 
 FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TIMES, OR 
 THE SEASONS, WHICH ,THE FATHER 
 HATH PUT INTO HIS OWIf POWER, 
 
 O U C H was the rebuke with which 
 k-? our blefled Lord reprefled the curi- 
 ofity of his dlfciples, when, after he had 
 riien from the dead, and had appeared in 
 their affembly at Jerufalem, they eagerly- 
 enquired, whether they were At that time 
 to look for the redemption of Ifrael. *^ Lord, 
 wilt thou at this "" time reftore again the 
 
 /Aas'i, 6. 
 
 B king- 
 
z SERMON I. 
 
 kingdom to Ifrael ?" As yet they were faf 
 from the truth ; neither the works which 
 they had feen, nor the continual appeal 
 which they had heard to their own Pro- 
 phetical Hiftories, had prevailed over the 
 habitual prejudices and prepoffeffions, which 
 they entertained in common with the reft 
 of their countrymen. They expeftcd to 
 be the conquerors of the world; and, be- 
 ing accuftomed, like their brethren, to in- 
 dulge vifionary fchemes of power and do- 
 minion, until they had received the gift of 
 the Holy Spirit, even the Apoftles of our 
 Lord feem to have formed no idea of a 
 fpiritual kingdom, or a deliverance from 
 the flavery of fm. 
 
 A life of humiliation and a disgraceful 
 death, were not the characters by which 
 the Jewifli nation had hoped to recognize 
 their promifed Deliverer : with expecta- 
 tions of a very different nature, they had 
 framed a fyftem of their own, calculated to 
 footh their national vanity, and to fatisfy 
 their luft of power : and their attachment 
 to this fondly cherifhcd fyftem is of itfelf 
 fufficient to account for their determined 
 
 rejec- 
 
SERMON I. 3 
 
 rejedlon of another fo directly contradldlory 
 to it — a fyftem, which, inftead of flatter- 
 ing their ambition by the profped of ex- 
 tenlive conquefts, inculcated the duty of 
 fubmiflion to their prefent rulers ; and, far 
 from gratifying their pride by promifing 
 them exclufive privileges as the favourites 
 of God, avowedly declared, that every nji- 
 tion under heaven was to be admitted to 
 a participation of its bleffings. Had it not 
 been for this national prepoiTeffion, which 
 their corrupt paflions and profligate morals 
 contributed to fl:rengthen and confirm, it is 
 not eafy to conceive how the Jev^s could 
 have failed to obferve the connexion be- 
 tween the Religion of Chrift and their 
 own I^aw; a connexion, which all their 
 Prophets had taught them to exped ; 
 which our Saviour himfelf, at the very 
 commencement of his minifl:ry, exprefsly 
 pointed out to them : ** Think not," faid 
 he, ^^ that I am come to defl:roy the Law 
 or the Prophets : I am not come to deflroy, 
 but to fulfil'':" and which the Apoflles 
 afterwards explained, not to be an acci- 
 
 * Matt. V. 17. 
 B !Z dental 
 
4. S E R^MIO N r. 
 
 dental coincidence, or' a fanciful analogy, 
 but the neceifary dependence of an im- 
 perfect preparatory law upon that which 
 completes it. 
 
 v We at this day, it is. true, haye many 
 Other proofs of the divine origin of our re- 
 ligion. We have to urge its rapid progrefs, 
 by the minillry of perfons to aJif: appear- 
 ance utterly incapable of producing "fo, ex- 
 traordinary an effect, and its. final; efta- 
 bliflimcnt, in defiance of the pixjudices, 
 the artifices, and the power both of the 
 Jew and the Gentile. But we can pro- 
 duce no argument more forcible, or more 
 convincing, than that which arifes from a 
 view of -the dependence of Chriftianity, not 
 only upon the Law of Mofes,: but in a 
 more extended fenfe upon the -belief.; and 
 expeftations of the Patriarchs, and upon 
 every. former difcov:ery of his will, which 
 God had vouchfafed to make to man. 
 
 To draw tfiisrargument out at length, 
 to view it in all its parts, and to. give it all 
 the force of wliich it is capable, will be 
 the purpofe of the enfuing Lectures; — in 
 
 the 
 
S E R M N L 5 
 
 the courfe of which I fliall attempt to 
 fliew, that the whole of God's moral go- 
 vernment of the world, arid all the com- 
 pHciated events in the hiftory of mankind, 
 were;, in faS:, nothing more than a prepa- 
 ration, under the guidance and control of 
 his Providence, for the introduction of the 
 Chrijlian Religioji ; '' the myftery ordained 
 before the v/orid %"'* hidden from ages 
 and generations ^" and by the mercy of 
 God made manifeft at laft. 
 
 God himfelf gave the firft intimation of 
 his gracious defign : he announced to our 
 firft parents, after their fall from a ftate of 
 innocence, that the '' feed of the woman 
 fhould bruife the head of the ferpent^" 
 To Abraham, to Ifaac, and to Jacob, he 
 repeated the fame promife of a fpiritual 
 deliverance, conne6ted with the grant of 
 worldly bleffings and temporal profperity ; 
 and, when in procefs of time the de- 
 fendants ; of the patriarchal family were 
 become a flourifhing and populous nation. 
 
 T Cor. ii. 7. ^' Coloir. i. 26, 
 
 Gen. ill. 1 
 
 J" 
 
 B 3 
 
 flic- 
 
6 SERMON I. 
 
 a fucceffion of infpired Prophets kept alive 
 the remembrance of the original promiie, 
 and delineated in brighter colours the na» 
 ture of the deliverance to which it pointed, 
 and the character of the perfon by whom 
 it was to be accomplifhed. 
 
 Thus the great fcheme of Providence 
 was gradually developed, till the '* fulnefs 
 of time arrived/' in which '* God, who be- 
 fore had fpoken at fundry times and in di- 
 vers manners to the fallen race of man, 
 thought fit at laft to fpeak to them by his 
 Son^" 
 
 I am aware that there always have been^ 
 and that there ftill are, many unbelievers, 
 who cannot difcover the wifdom of God 
 in the progreffive communication of truth ; 
 w^ho a{k with great boldnefs, and with 
 fome femblance perhaps of reafon, if the 
 knowledge of Chriftianity be neceffary to 
 the happinefs of mankind, why were fb 
 many generations fuffered to pafs away 
 without it ? Why were its faving docSrines 
 
 ^Hcb.i. I. 
 
 conveyed 
 
S E R M O N I, 7 
 
 conveyed in dark hints, and obfcure allu- 
 fions ? And would it not have been more 
 confident with the juftice of God, to have 
 revealed the truth fully and clearly at once, 
 without the tedious and circuitous method 
 of a preparatory difpenfation ? 
 
 Such objections as thefe, however plau- 
 fible they may at firft iight appear, are 
 founded in ignorance both of the nature of 
 man, and the ways of God ; in narrow 
 and partial views of his general Providence, 
 and in miftaken notions of the charader 
 and defign of Chriftianity. 
 
 Whether fuch a revelation as that made 
 by Jefus Chrift was, or was not, neceflary, 
 can beft be determined by confidering the 
 aftual ftate of moral and religious know- 
 ledge at the time of its promulgation. 
 And, without entering fully into that fub- 
 jed: at prefent, it may be fufficient for our 
 purpofe to aik, whether there was not in 
 thofe days, upon all the great queftions 
 which involve the happinefs of man, an 
 endlefs variety of difcordant hypothefes ? 
 Was not the providence of God, his juf- 
 B 4 tice. 
 
8 S E R M 6 N I. 
 
 tice, nay, his very exiftence, the theme of 
 difpute and difcuffion in the fchools of 
 Philofophy ? Was not the immortaUty of 
 the foul contefted by fome, and openly de- 
 nied by others ? And were not the duties 
 of morality imperfeftly uhderftood, and the 
 boundaries of right and wrong inaccurately 
 defined ? 
 
 But it is not my intention to enlarge 
 upon thefe topics at prefent ; I referve 
 them for fuller difcuffion hereafter, and I 
 am content to reft the neceffity of the 
 Chriftian Revelation fimply upon the want 
 of certain knowledge with refped; to a fu- 
 ture life. 
 
 - - It will fcarcely be denied, except it be 
 by thofe who in the pride of human rea- 
 fon difdain the control of an omnifcient 
 God, the Creator, Governor, and Judge of 
 mankind, and give us in his ftead a Being 
 of their own creation — except it be by fuch,- 
 it will fcarcely at this time be denied, that 
 the certainty of a future life, and a future 
 ftate of retribution, is the vital principle of 
 all religion and all virtue. Take away the 
 
 hope 
 
S E R M O N I. 9 
 
 hope of a future exlftence, and we lofe ail 
 proper motives for piety to God, or bene- 
 volence to man. What can ilipport us 
 amidft the unequal difpenfations of this 
 life, or give us fortitude to endure its dif- 
 appointments, its difficulties, and its for- 
 row^s, but the afllirance of future recom- 
 pence ? And vs^hat can induce us to refill 
 the impulfe of paffion, and the importu- 
 nate cravings of appetite, if, when this 
 tranfitory fcene is clofed, we are to go, 
 without the fear of punilhment, or the 
 hope of reward, to the everlafting home of 
 the ancient Epicurean, or the eternal fleep 
 of the modern Atheift ? 
 
 If then the knowledge, not only of a 
 future ftate of exiftence, but a future, ftate. 
 of rewards and punifhments^ be indilpcn- 
 fably necefl'ary to our happinefs, do wc 
 know of any fyiliem .of reHgion, that ex- 
 prefsiy promifed fuch a ftate to us, before 
 the Gofpel had brought life and immor- 
 tality to light ? If the promife had been 
 given any where, we iliould naturally ex- 
 ped: to find it in Judaifm, a religion un- 
 queftionably from heaven : but there it is 
 
 not 
 
lo SERMON L 
 
 not* — the promife of eternal life is not 
 amongft the rewards of the Mofaic Law^: 
 the favoured agent of God is empowered 
 to enforce his decrees by the promife of 
 temporal profperity in cafe of obedience, 
 and the denunciation of dreadful viiitations, 
 of plagues, famine, and defolation, in cafe 
 of difobedience : but of future rewards, or 
 future punifliments, no mention is made. 
 
 Doubtlefs under the Law, as under 
 every other difpenfation, holy and virtuous 
 men, either by their own reflections, or by 
 the cfpecial grace of God imparted to them, 
 were led to exped: another ftate, which 
 would account for the evils and the dif- 
 orders of the prefent. The holy Scriptures 
 abound with paiTages, which will fcarcely 
 admit of any other interpretation^: and it 
 is certainly reafonable to fuppofe, that the 
 opinions of good and pious men upon fuch 
 a fubjed; would influence in a great de- 
 gree the popular belief : but wx are not to 
 
 e Bp. Bull's Harmonia ApoftoHca, Diflf. Poll. Chap. X„ 
 ^ See the paffages cited by Jortin in his Diirertation on 
 a Future State. 
 
 con- 
 
S E R M O N L II 
 
 conclude from thence, that the notion of a 
 future ftate was either generally admitted* 
 or accurately underftood. 
 
 Of the two great fefts who led the Sy* 
 nagogues, one openly denied the poffibihty 
 of a refurreftion ; and the other, although 
 it allowed that a departed foul might re- 
 animate another body, was far from ima- 
 gining that the fame perfon would rife 
 again from the grave, to account for the 
 works done in the body, and to receive re- 
 ward or punifliment. 
 
 What the Almighty did not think fit 
 clearly and explicitly to reveal to his chofen 
 people, it would be in vain to afk of thofc 
 who were left to the guidance of their own 
 unaffifted reafon. Political fecurity was 
 the great object of Gentile religion, lb that 
 whilft expiatory facrifices, luilrations, and 
 coftly offerings were allowed to be a fuffi- 
 cient atonement for the vices of the opu- 
 lent, the idea of futurity was blended with 
 fable and allegory, to amufe the idle, and 
 with abfurd terrors and fanciful punifh- 
 ments, to terrify the vulgar. The ftatef- 
 
 man 
 
iz SERMON I. 
 
 man derided in fecret what he publicly 
 fandiioned ; and even they who could not 
 but Indulge the pleafing hope of immor- 
 tality, even the beft and wifeft amongft 
 them, feem rather to have cherifhed the 
 idea with a fond and anxious wifli that it, 
 might be realized, than with any thing like 
 conviction or certainty that it would be 
 fo. 
 
 Since then neither the light of reafbn, 
 nor the light of revelation, afforded any 
 certainty upon this important point, no- 
 thing at beft but a hope and a perfuafion ; 
 fuice the natural law written in the heart 
 of man was only to be difcovered by the 
 labour of the virtuous few, and even they 
 acknowledged its inefficacy; whilft the ge- 
 nerality of mankind were given up to the 
 grofs errors of popular fuperftition and ido- 
 latrous worlhip, living in the world with- 
 out the knowledge of God, or the expeft- 
 ation of futurity ; it cannot furely at this 
 time be doubted whether a more expli- 
 cit revelation was neceffary. Ought we 
 not rather to offer up continual thanks 
 to God, for having poured down upon us 
 
 the 
 
SERMON L 13 
 
 the glorious light of his Gofpel, for having 
 •in his good time revealed even unto babes 
 what w^as fo long *^ hidden from the wife 
 and prudentV* for having given us, not 
 the hope or expectation merely, but the 
 aflurance of happinefs, and having made 
 us, not the believers only, but the heirs of 
 immortality. 
 
 But if it be granted that no prior know- 
 ledge fuperfeded the ufe of a more expli- 
 cit revelation, and that upon this ground 
 Chriftianity was neceffary, then the other 
 parts of the objection are prefixed upon us 
 with greater force— Why was the com- 
 munication of truths fo effential to our 
 happinefs fo long delayed ? Where was 
 the neceffity for a preparatory difpenfation ? 
 And why is not the hght of the Gofpel 
 at this day impartially difFufed over the 
 whole race of mankind. 
 
 In reply to queftions of this fort, it would 
 perhaps be fufficient limply to plead our 
 
 _ ■ Matt. xi. 25. Luke x. 21, 
 
 ig_ 
 
14 S E R M O N I. 
 
 ignorance of the counfels of God : " it is 
 not for us to know the times, or the fea- 
 fons, which the Father hath put into his 
 own power ^" Our ignorance of the 
 motives and the caufes, which God hath 
 chofen to conceal from our view, is fo very 
 obvious, every occurrence of common Hfe, 
 and every phenomenon of nature, fo un- 
 queftionably prove it, that the proudeft 
 reafoner need not be afliamed to confefs 
 his weaknefs : the meek and lowly mind 
 avows it with gladnefs, becaufe in its own 
 feeblenefs and the power of God it fees 
 the true and proper grounds of faith, of 
 confidence in the promifes of God, and of 
 rational acquiefcence in the wifdom of his 
 difpenfations. 
 
 Chrlftlanity is called by the Apoftles, 
 the '^ difpenfation of the fulnefs of time V' 
 *^ the myftery referved for the latter days:** 
 and the terms '' latter days""," and " latter 
 ages/* which fo frequently occur in the 
 
 5' A6ls i. 7. > Ephef. i. i o. 
 
 *" Joel ii. 28. A£ts ii. 17. Heb, i. 2. I Pet. i. 5. 20. 
 
 writers 
 
SERMON L 15 
 
 wTiters both of the Old and New Tefta* 
 ment, the Jewifli Church always under- 
 ftood to refer to the days of their promifcd 
 Meffiah. The Holy Spirit feems to have 
 chariadierized that period of time by fuch 
 an appellation, becaufe the Gofpel of Chrift 
 was to contain the laft inftrudlion of God 
 to man, '^ to clofe the book, to feal up the 
 vifion and the prophecy, and to bring in 
 cverlafting righteoufnefs^ 
 
 ^n 
 
 In this fenfe the expreflion is plain and 
 appropriate ; but no man can with jufbicc 
 apply the relative term latenefs to the 
 firft preaching of the Gofpel, unlefs it be 
 in his power to afcertain the proportion 
 which the age of Tiberius bears to the fu- 
 ture, as well as to the paft, and to deter- 
 mine for how many ages the Creator in- 
 tends that the fabric of the univerfb ^ni 
 all that is in it fliould fubfift ; and fmce 
 this cannot be done, fmce the " terrible 
 day of the Lord," for wife and merciful 
 reafons, is Ihrouded in darknefs ; for this 
 reafon only it is abfurd to pronounce of 
 
 " Dan. ix. 24. 
 
 any 
 
i6 S E R M O N I. 
 
 any revelation, that it cannot be from 
 God, becaufe, according to our notions of 
 time, it was revealed too late. t> 
 
 Surely if God be omnipotent and infi-^ 
 nite, and man finite and dependent, it i^ 
 as unreafonable for man to fay, that God 
 fhall deliver his commands at this or that 
 particular time, and to refufe obedience to 
 them becaufe they come either fooner or 
 later than he thinks right, as it w^ould be to 
 prefcribe what the fubjeft of the com- 
 .mands fnould be, and what the mode in 
 which they fliould be delivered. In the 
 .wonderful and unfearchable plans of Om- 
 nifcience, there muft, from their vctf na- 
 ture, be many hidden motives, w^hich will 
 elude the utm.oft keennefs of human pene- 
 tration, and many reafons for delay, which 
 are known to him alone, with w^hom ^^a 
 thoufand years are as one day, and one 
 day as a thoufand years °;" for thefe rea- 
 fons it w^ould be vain to fearch. But even 
 from our own partial and limited view of 
 God's defigns, from our own obfervation of 
 
 *• 2 Pet. iii. 8. 
 
 the 
 
SERMON I. 17 
 
 the conftant analogies of his government, 
 and the ufual courfe of his Providence, we 
 may infer, that fuch a difpenfation, as we 
 know Chriftianity to be, could not have 
 been revealed to any efFe6lual purpofe at 
 an earlier period of fociety. 
 
 Through the whole order of creation, 
 and the whole fcheme of Providence, we 
 obferve marks of a progreflive advance- 
 ment and a gradual difcovery of truth. In 
 all the operations of the human mind, in 
 the important difcoveries of art, and the 
 improvements of law s and government, we 
 go on ftep by ftep, as leifure and opportu- 
 nities offer, or new wants are created, un- 
 til at laft w^e have completely filled up the 
 firfl: rude outline which neceffity fuggeft- 
 ed. A fimilar progrefs is to be obferved in 
 the higher and more valuable truths of re- 
 ligion ; and God Almighty, in mercy and 
 love to his creatures, feems always to have 
 proportioned his difcoveries, not only to 
 the aftual w^ants of mankind, but to their 
 capacity of receiving truth themfelves, and 
 their means of communicating it to others. 
 
 ip 
 
i8 S E R M O N L 
 
 In the infancy of the world, God con- 
 verfed perfonally with man ; and as often 
 as the uncertainty infeparable from tradi- 
 tional communications, or the perverfenefs 
 and corruption of human nature, had de- 
 ftroyed the force of his commands, and ob- 
 literated the memory of his promifes, he 
 interpofed continually to refcue '^ a righ- 
 teous feed" from the general depravity ; 
 he confirmed their wavering faith by a re- 
 newal of his covenants, and fatisfied their 
 doubts by a difplay of fupernatural power. 
 But, as their numbers increafed, neither 
 the warnings of his Almighty voice, nor 
 the continual manifeftations of his-power, 
 nor even his fenfible prefence in glory 
 amongft them, were fufFicient to retain 
 his chofen people in a firm reliance upon 
 his word, and a fleady obedience to his 
 precepts. Suppofe that the Gofpel had been 
 preached^ without any preparatory difci- 
 pline, to men thus rooted as it were to 
 the earth, unufed to any thing like abftracS 
 reafoning, and unable to raife their minds 
 from the objefts of fenfe which furround- 
 ed them; is it at all credible that they 
 would have embraced a ijftem of religion, 
 
 whofc^ 
 
SERMON L 19 
 
 whofe effential charad:er is its fpiiituality ? 
 which teaches us, that *^ the Lord of heaven 
 and earth, the Lofty One that inhabitcth 
 eternity^," is a Spirit; that he defires ''to 
 be worflilpped in fpirit and in truth*';" 
 and that the lilcnt devotion of the heart 
 is more grateful to him than all the magni- 
 ficence of ceremonious w^orihlp, the coftly 
 flirine, the pompous offering, and the 
 blood of ten thoufand victims. 
 
 Again, Chrlftlanlly was to be univerfal ; 
 it was not to be a local vvorlhip, or a par- 
 tial inftitution, but was dcfigned to extend 
 its bleffed influence over the whole race of 
 mankind. How then was it to be gene- 
 rally propagated, before any mode had been 
 devifed of conveying inftruflion to dlftant 
 countries, or remote pofterlty ? Tradition, 
 the only fource of information which the 
 early ages poffeilcd, was fufficient for them ; 
 few in number, and clofely conncftcd by 
 affinity, by alliance, and by fituatlon ; at a 
 time too when the period of human life 
 was extended fo far beyond its prefent 
 
 f IlaulvII. I r. 1 John Iv, 25. 
 
 c 2 limit?. 
 
^o SERMON L 
 
 limits, it was cafy for a family or a tribe, 
 to tranfmit to their pofterity any truth, or 
 any fa<5l, without miftake or material al- 
 teration. 
 
 But when population increafed, when 
 colonies were fettled in diftant regions, 
 md unconnected ftates were rifmg into 
 power, tradition loft its ufe, and the in« 
 flrudlions which it had conveyed were gra- 
 dually forgotten. No important leflbns 
 could then be given for general ufe, un- 
 til new channels of communication were 
 opened, until the earth was not only peo- 
 pled but civilized, tmtil found philofophy 
 had prepared the mind for the ftudy of ab- 
 ftraft truths, and the familiar ufe of letters 
 had fupplied the means of making them 
 public* 
 
 Thus, from the character of Chriftianity 
 itfelf, and from the general influence which 
 it was intended to have over the world, it 
 may fairly be argued, that the mercy of 
 God was as confpicuous in delaying the 
 bleffing fo long, as it was in giving it at 
 all ; and, from what our own experience 
 
 teacher 
 
SERMON I. 21 
 
 teaches us, from the infisht which we arb 
 permitted to have into the divine coun- 
 fels, partial and imperfe6l as it is, it may 
 alfo be argued, that, had not the blefling 
 been delayed fo long, it would have failed 
 of its intended effed: ; vmlefs indeed we 
 fuppofe a conftant miracle to have attend- 
 ed its progrefs, and an overruling control to 
 have fupported it ; which, had it been the 
 cafe, would have fuperfeded the ufe of hu- 
 man reafon, have deftroyed the free a- 
 gency, and confequently the refponfibility 
 of man, and have taken away all the merit 
 of a rational faith, a faith founded upon 
 convi<ilion. 
 
 From the period of its promulgation 
 therefore, which hereafter I fhall fhew^ to 
 have been the moil: proper that could have 
 been devifed, and, from the gradual prepa- 
 ration for its eftablifliment, we might in- 
 fer the divine origin of Chriftianity on this 
 ground merely, that the time and the pre- 
 paration, if properly coniidered, reconcile 
 the foreknowledge of God with the free- 
 dom of man. And here I would be con- 
 tent to leave the fubjed for the prefent, 
 c 3 w^ere 
 
-- S E R M O N I. 
 
 were it not necefTary to notice another 
 queftion, of high importance, which is fre- 
 quently obtruded upon us. Suppofmg that 
 a knowledge of the Chriftian doftrines be 
 necelTary to eternal happineis, what is to 
 become of thofe who lived before they 
 were revealed ? or of thofe to whom the 
 glad tidings of peace and falvation as yet 
 have not been preached ? 
 
 Here, as before, we might fairly plead 
 our ignorance of the counfels of God, our 
 reluftance to pry with eager curiofity into 
 that which is hidden from us, and our dif- 
 pofition to be contented with that which 
 is plainly revealed. Simple and honeft 
 minds, w^hich are folicitous only for truth, 
 will gladly admit the validity of fuch a 
 pica : but fimplicity and fmglenefs of mind 
 are not the virtues of the enemies of our 
 faith. 
 
 In the declamations of the Heathen fo- 
 phifts, from whom our own Deiftical writ- 
 ers have liberally borrowed, we find fre- 
 qucnt comparilons between the intolerance 
 of Chriliianity and the liberal fpirit of Pa- 
 
 eanifm. 
 
S E R M O N I. 23 
 
 ganifm. Chriftians declared^ that tliey 
 would have no Ihare in the celebration of 
 Heathen myfteries ; they avowed their ab- 
 horrence of their facrifices, and fteadily re- 
 fufed to bow down before their idols ; 
 therefore they were perfecated as the ene- 
 mies of mankind, as devoting to endlefs 
 perdition all but the friends of their own 
 feftj and the converts to their own wor- 
 Ihip. 
 
 But was this ever a juft accufation ^ 
 Far from it ; Chriftians, it is true, from 
 the very firft publication of tlie Gofpel, 
 have uniformly declared, that to inherit 
 eternal falvation, we muft have faith in 
 Jcfus Chrift — that he is the " only Medi- 
 ator between God and man'"— that '* eter- 
 nal life is the gift of God, through him'" 
 — and '^ that there is no other name given 
 under heaven, by which man can be 
 favcd'." 
 
 But do Chriftians condemn, or, if fu- 
 
 ^ I Tim. II, ^. * Rom. vi, 23. 
 
 * A6\s iv. 13. 
 
 c 4 rious 
 
H4 S E R M O N I. 
 
 rious and bigoted zealots have ever done 
 {o, is it in Chriftianity to condemn thofe, 
 to whom thefe truths were never known? 
 It cannot be — we pray indeed, that it 
 would pleafe the Almighty to foften the 
 ^hearts, and to enlighten the underftandings, 
 of all his creatures : but God forbid, that 
 we Ihould prefume to fet bounds to his 
 compaffion, or to fay how far his mercy 
 and patient abiding ihall be continued. 
 
 For thofe indeed, who, having once re- 
 ceived the word, voluntarily apoftatize from 
 it ; who vilify and traduce the Revelation 
 itfelf, as if it were the invention of man, 
 and not the word of God ; and who la- 
 bour, by falfe reprefentations of its hiftory, 
 and perverfe interpretations of its dodirines, 
 to leffen its pra^ical influence upon man- 
 kind ; for thofe, we do pronounce, upon 
 the authority of our holy Teacher and liis 
 Apoflles, that the bitternefs of WTath is 
 referved, and that, when he fliall hereafter 
 appear in glory, the Lord will call them 
 out from his prefence, to the punifliment 
 they have deferved. 
 
 But 
 
SERMON 1. 2S 
 
 But we never afl'ert, that imorance will 
 be a reaibn for condemnation; we have 
 been taught, what is ftri<5lly conformable 
 to our notions of the goodnefs and mercy 
 of God, by thofe, ^^ to whom it was given 
 to fee the myfteries of heaven"- — we have 
 been taught, that every allowance will be 
 made for involuntary ignorance ; that a 
 *' man is accepted according to that he 
 hath, not according to that he hath not"," 
 and that, in God's good time, the Religion 
 of Chrift wdil become univerfal : and, till 
 that glorious event takes place, we con- 
 clude that the merits of his death extend 
 their influence even to thofe who ftill re- 
 main in the darknefs and fliadow of death. 
 
 With what confidence, then, can it be 
 aflerted, that God is either partial in his 
 dilcoveries of truth, or unjuft in his pro- 
 mifes of happinefs ? Or upon what prin- 
 ciple can it be maintained, that a reve- 
 lation cannot be divine, becaufe it was 
 gradually opened, and is not yet univerfal ? 
 when our reafon teaches us, that fuch a 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. 12. 
 
 reve- 
 
z6 SERMON L 
 
 revelation could not have been communi- 
 cated in any other way, confiftently with 
 the general tenor of God's government ; 
 and the revelation itfelf exprefsly declares, 
 that neither its promifes nor its threat- 
 enings are limited, that futurity will prove 
 its impartiality, and that, when the veil is 
 withdrawn from our eyes, all apparent in- 
 equahties will be done away^ 
 
 The very delay then, which is com- 
 plained of, is, as I have remarked before, 
 the ftrongeft argument, both of the wif- 
 dom of God, and the juftice of God ; of 
 his wifdom, in proceeding flowly and fi- 
 lently, by the operation of fecond caufes, 
 to the fulfilment of his eternal purpofe ; 
 of his juftice, in accumulating, for the con- 
 viction of man, fuch an unbroken feries of 
 teftimony, that no fophiftry will ever be 
 able to prevail againft it, 
 
 Confiftency of conduft, and uniformity 
 of defign, we always confider as infallible 
 criteria of wifdom. We admire the fa- 
 gacity of mind, which can promptly choofe 
 a wife end ; the difcernment, which can 
 
 felea 
 
SERMON I. -7 
 
 feledl the propereft means for executing it; 
 and the fortitude, which can go on fteadily 
 to its completion, in defiance of difficulty 
 or oppofition. And in all the concerns of 
 human life, our opinion of man's wifdom 
 rifes in proportion to the excellency of the 
 end propofed, and the difficulty of the 
 means which lead to fuccefs. 
 
 Doubtlefs it will be granted, that the 
 human imagination can conceive no end 
 equal in magnitude and importance to the 
 redemption of mankind', and if it be poffible 
 from the earlieft times, and the very firft 
 ad: of guilt and difobedience to God, to 
 trace a plan, uniformly tending to the ac- 
 complilliment of this great defign ; if it 
 can be proved, from the eventful hiftory of 
 one nation, that the frame of their go- 
 vernment, their peculiar inftitutions, and 
 the ritual of their worfhip, were all in 
 fa6l preparatory to this defign : whilft the 
 ftrange reverfes of their fortunes, and their 
 frequent viciffitudes, from powxr and opu- 
 lence, to captivity and dcfolation, all con- 
 tributed to promote it — if, meanwhile, the 
 fame governing principle be found to con- 
 trol 
 
z8 SERMON L 
 
 trol the fates of other people, and the revo- 
 lutions of other empires ; if Affyriaj Perfia, 
 Macedon, and Rome, in purluing their own 
 ambitious fchemes of conquefi: and domi- 
 nion, are only the Wind agents in the ge- 
 neral fcheme of Providence, *^ howbeit they 
 meant not fo, neither did their heart think 
 fo ■;'' if all this can be proved, from the 
 undoubted evidence of hiftory, we may 
 boldly afk the Infidel, whether it does not 
 become him to cry out, with the Egyptian 
 Magi of old, '' this is the finger of God""/' 
 
 y Ifal.x. 7. * Exod. viii. 19. 
 
 SER- 
 
SERMON IL 
 
 EZEKIEL xxxvi. a2. 
 
 I DO NOT THIS FOR YOUR SAKES, 
 O HOUSE OF ISRAEL, BUT FOR MINE 
 HOLY name's sake. 
 
 TH E holy Prophet was permitted to 
 forefee, not only the conqueft and 
 captivity of his brethren, but their fubfe- 
 <]uent dehverance and reftoration to their 
 native country. They w^ere to fufFer, he 
 tells them, for their iniquities, for their 
 neglect of the worlhip which God himfelf 
 had prefcribed to them, and their attach- 
 ment to the idolatries of Moab and Am- 
 mon. But the juftice of God would in 
 time be fatisficd ; they were to return to 
 Judaea, with a new heart and a new fpi- 
 
 rlt ; 
 
30 S E R M O N II. 
 
 rlt ; God was to be again their God, and 
 they were to be again his people ; and this 
 was to take place, this fignal inilance of 
 Divine mercy was to be exhibited to the 
 world, not for their lakes. He reminds 
 them, but for the lake of God's holy 
 name. 
 
 To dorifv his name, to teach mankind, 
 that is, not only that there is a Creator 
 and Governor of the univerfe, infinite in 
 power and knowledge ; but that there is 
 and can be only one fuch Beins;, and that 
 He alone is the proper objeft of human 
 worlhip ; and to eftabllfn the important 
 doArine on the indifputable authority of 
 Revelation, as it was the chief ground and 
 motive for all the viciffitudes in the for- 
 tunes of the Jewifli people, io it was the 
 firft ftep in the fcheme of God's provi- 
 dence, when He fummoned the faithful 
 Abraham from an idolatrous country and 
 an idolatrous family, when He confirmed 
 his belief by the evidence of works, which 
 human powxr never could have effedcd, 
 and rewarded liis obedience by the pro- 
 
 mifcj 
 
SERMON IL 31 
 
 mife, that '* in his feed all the nations of 
 the earth fhould be bleffed'." 
 
 An attempt to demonftrate the unity of 
 the eternal Godhead would be foreign to 
 my defign : but it is of importance to 
 confider, how it happened, that a truth, 
 revealed to the primitive ages, and difco- 
 verable in all ages by the deductions of 
 human reafon, was gradually corrupted, 
 and loft, as to all pra^Sical purpofes, amidft 
 the wild dreams and monftrous inventions 
 of Polytheifm ; and why it was neceffary, 
 as a preparatory ftep, to the introdudion 
 of Chriftianity, that the knowledge of the 
 only true God, the folid rock upon w^hich 
 the fabric of all true religion muft be 
 raifcd, Ihould be taught and maintained, 
 not in an obfcure corner, or a fmall and 
 infignificant community, but in the etta- 
 blillied woriliip of a numerous people, con- 
 nedled, as has been wxll obferved, either as 
 allies, as tributaries, or as fubjecfls, with 
 every part of the civilized w^orld. 
 
 * Gen. xxli. 18. 
 
 In 
 
3Z S E R M O N If. 
 
 In reviewing the hillory of Religion, it 
 is a point of extreme nicety and diifficnltyy 
 to diftinguifli exactly between the difco- 
 veries of reafon and the remains of early 
 tradition. Man is undoubtedly, in the 
 Tery frame and conftitution of his nature, 
 a religious being ; God has given him a 
 confcioafnefs of dependence and inferio- 
 rity, a natural anxiety to discover the will 
 of his fuperior, and a natural inclinatioti 
 to offer up his adoration and thank fgivlng, 
 for the bleffings which he enjoys. Feeling 
 this natural impulfe within us, and having 
 long been taught to direcft it in a reafon - 
 able fervice to its proper obje<3:, \\c are 
 apt perhaps to think better of our own 
 powers than we ought, and to call fome 
 truths, truths of natural Religion, which 
 a^e in reality the Revelations of God. 
 It is, at all events, wifer and fafer to at- 
 tribute more to God, than to man ; and if 
 wc confider as a matter of faft, w^hat our 
 own reafon has done, we iliall indeed be 
 little inclined to prize it too highly. 
 
 ^* God," as the Apoftle tells us, certainly 
 
 ^* never 
 
SERMON II. 2>3 
 
 " never left liimfelf without a wituefs^." 
 From the mighty works of his creation, it 
 was at all times eafy to infer his power ; 
 from their beauty and utility, his goodnefs ; 
 and from their order, fymmetry, and regu- 
 larity, his unity. 
 
 So far it was the voice of nature, and 
 the concurrent opinion of all mankind, 
 that there is one fupreme God, the Maker, 
 Preferver, and Governor of the world ; and 
 this may with llrid propriety be called 
 the Religion of Nature. 
 
 But when it came to be a queftion, how 
 the Supreme Being conduced his govern- 
 ment, then began the grand mlftake, from 
 which all the abfurdities of Paganifm da-^e 
 their origin : for, while the Deity vvas fup- 
 pofed to be flirouded in his own nieffable 
 majefty, and abforbed in the contempla- 
 tion of his own glory, he vvas beheld at an 
 awful diftance, as the objed of fear and 
 apprehenfion, rather than of love. The 
 contemplation of his Power, and his Pro- 
 
 '' A6I3 xlv. 17. 
 
 D vidence. 
 
34 SERMON II. 
 
 vldence, in fuftaining and regulating the 
 complicated l)ilcni of nature, did not lead, 
 as it might have done, by fair and rational 
 analogy, to juft notions of his moral go- 
 vernment ; the clofe and intimate rela- 
 tion which fubfifts between God and man, 
 as the Creator and the creature, was en- 
 tirely overlooked ; and all accefs to the 
 one Supreme was denied to man, except 
 through the interceffion of his delegates, 
 the fubordinate deities, who were fuppofed 
 to be the interpreters of his will, and the 
 minifters of his power. 
 
 From this fource w^ere derived all ♦the 
 ficSions of Polytheifm, and all the grofs 
 and abominable corruptions of fymbolical 
 worflilp. It was not that the exiftence of 
 God was denied, or his Providence contro- 
 verted, but that his unity was changed 
 into a preeminence in rank and authority 
 over a multitude of imaginary beings, who 
 were reprefented as the agents and medi- 
 ators between God and man ; his holy and 
 incommunicable name was profaned by 
 an union with idols ; his worfliip was aflb- 
 ciated with theirs, and the glory due only 
 
 to 
 
SERMON II. s5 
 
 to him was lavifhly beftowcd upon the 
 very loweft of his creatures. 
 
 The facred Hlftorian has not prccifely 
 marked the firft rife of idolatrous worfliip ; 
 but he has told us that it began early, 
 and that, in defiance of repeated admo- 
 nitions, the idolaters continued to increafe 
 in number, and in vvlckednefs, till '* the 
 meafure of their iniquity was full ;" they 
 were then fvvept away from the face of 
 the earth, by that great and awful dlfpen- 
 fation, w^hich has ftamped upon the form 
 and the fubftance of the material world, 
 indelible marks of the power of the Cre- 
 ator. 
 
 It was not long however before the de- 
 fcendants of the '^ righteous remnant," 
 w^ho had been faved, forgot the miraculous 
 prefervation of their anccftors ; and as foon 
 as they had feparated from each otlier, and 
 had fettled in the countries allotted to 
 them by the efpecial appointment of God, 
 wc find them almoft immediately relapfing 
 into the very iniquities which had brought 
 D 2 upon 
 
36 S E R M O N II. 
 
 upon their forefathers fo terrible a punifli- 
 ment. 
 
 When the memory of early re\^elations 
 was loft^ and the Almighty had withdrawn 
 himfelf from immediate communication 
 with his creatures, nature taught them to 
 look up to the heavenly bodies, whofe 
 fplendor was the continual objedl of their 
 admiration, and whofe utility their daily 
 experience teftified. In thefe glorious lu- 
 minaries they fixed the refidence of thofe 
 ideal beings, to w^hom they had affigned 
 the office of mediation and interceffion 
 with the Supreme Lord of the creation. 
 
 Planetary worfliip then was the firfi: 
 llep in the career of falfehood ; and it was 
 accompanied, as in rude and unciviHzed 
 focieties it naturally would be, not with 
 the cheerful piety, and rational awe, which 
 true Religion infpires, but with the reftlefs 
 and haralling apprehenfions of fuperfti- 
 tion; with fudden and unexpected changes 
 from hope to difappointment, and from 
 joy and gladnefs to difmay and defpair. 
 
 Againft 
 
S E R M O N II. 3; 
 
 Agalnfl: this dreadful ftate of doubt and 
 apprehenfion^ the Holy Spirit warns the 
 chofen people of Ifrael : *^ Learn not the 
 ways of the Heathen," fays the Prophet, 
 *^ and be not difmayed at the figns of hea- 
 ven, for the Heathen are difmayed at 
 them^" 
 
 The effects of this fuperftition upon the 
 mind were as various as the viciffitudes of 
 the elements are various and inconftant ; 
 at one time the face of nature is ferene 
 and tranquil ; at another, the fky is black 
 with darknefs ; the heavenly bodies with- 
 draw their influence, and the ftorm and 
 the hurricane fpread defolation around. 
 
 Hence arofe the diftindlion of good and 
 evil demons, of whom the former were 
 fuppofed to difpenfe to man the bleffmgs 
 of the Creator, health, and plenty, and 
 fruitful feafons ; the latter, his punifh- 
 ments, ficknefs, and plague, and famine. 
 Hence too it happened, that if men were 
 at one time difpofed to adore the Creator, 
 
 ^ Jer. ix. 14. 
 
 D s as 
 
38 S E R M O N IL 
 
 as the beneficent Father of the univerfe, 
 the Parent of good, impartially fliowering 
 down his gifts upon all ; at another, they 
 turned from him with dread and appre- 
 henfion, as a morofe, tyrannical Being, 
 fporting with the miferies of mortals, who 
 delighted in gloomy and myfterious rites, 
 and whofe fury w^as to be appeafed by the 
 blood of his creatures. 
 
 To the worfliip of the heavenly bodies 
 fucceeded that of deified men, following, 
 it fliould feem, in a natural order, the pro- 
 grefs of civilization, and the improvements 
 of focial life ; for deified men were the 
 founders of colonies, the inventors of ufeful 
 arts, the legiflators, who by wifdom had 
 curbed the impetuofity of man, and taught 
 him the great duty of fubmiffion to legal 
 authority, and the heroes, who by their 
 valour had extended the dominion and in- 
 creafed the profperity of their native coun- 
 try. 
 
 Gratitude for benefits received might 
 perhaps be the original motive for wor- 
 fliipplng the benefador ; but pride and va- 
 nity 
 
SERMON IL S9 
 
 nity perpetuated what gratitude began ; 
 and while the people offered their incenfe 
 at the fhrines of the heroes, whofe aftions 
 thev had been tausiht to venerate, the de- 
 fcendants of the illuftrious charafters glo- 
 ried in the pofleffion of ftatues, and gene- 
 alogies, w^hich authenticated their alliance 
 to Divinity. 
 
 From the union of thefe two branches 
 of idolatrous worflilp arofe a third, a 
 ftrange and motley compound, which de- 
 fcended to the adoration of attributes, and 
 paffions, of vices and virtues, and even of 
 plants and animals'^. 
 
 Such is the general outline of the rife 
 and progrefs of Gentile idolatry ; the ori- 
 gin is ever the fame ; and however it might 
 fometimes affume more brilliancy of orna- 
 ment to pleafe the eye, and more feduc- 
 ing allurements to fafcinate the imagina- 
 tion, and to corrupt the paifions, the fame 
 
 ^ For a fuller view of the origin and progrefs of ido- 
 latrous worfhip, the reader is referred to the " Divine Le- 
 gation of Mofes Demonftrated." Book iv. fe£l. 4. 
 
 D 4 general 
 
40 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 general principle may be traced from the 
 Sabian idolatry of Chaldea, through the pol- 
 luted channel of Egyptian fuperftition, un- 
 til we > fee it under all the advantages of 
 beautiful poetry, and the pageantry of 
 games and felHvals, in the temples of 
 Greece and Rome. 
 
 To give more than the general outline 
 is not neceffary to my argument ; and 
 were it neceffary, I ihould be loth, before 
 an audience of Scholars, to enter into a 
 detail which the general courfe of their 
 iludics has familiarized to them ; and, God 
 knows, it is at all times a painful tafk to 
 purfue the w^anderings of the human mind 
 through fuch an inextricable labyrinth of 
 error and abfurdity. 
 
 But where, it may be afked, amidft fuch 
 a multiplicity of imaginary Deities, whilft 
 '' ^ the glory of the incorruptible God was 
 changed into an image made like to cor- 
 ruptible man, and to birds, and four foot- 
 ed beafts, and creeping things" — where 
 
 ^ Rom. i, 23. 
 
 w^as 
 
SERMON II. 41 
 
 was the notion to be found of one Su- 
 preme God, which even- the Heathen 
 world had not entirely loft, although 
 '' ^knowing God, they worfhipped him not 
 as God ?" 
 
 The belief, or the perfuafion then, for 
 I by no means aflert that it was a juft and 
 accurate knowledge, exifted in the colleges 
 of the priefts, and the fchools of the phi- 
 lofophers ; and of the philofophers, the 
 weakeft declared, that variety of worlliip 
 muft be grateful to a Being delighting in 
 the concord and harmony of his works. 
 The wifeft maintained, that a myfterious 
 veil muft be thrown over the awful truth, 
 which was too excellent for vulgar minds 
 to comprehend : and the priefts mean- 
 while carefully fecluded from general no- 
 tice a dodtrine, which, had it been pub- 
 licly avowed, would have expofed the fal- 
 lacy of their auguries, their oracles, their 
 \ovvs, and their facrifices, and have demo- 
 li filed at one blow the whole fabric of 
 gainful fuperftition. 
 
 ^ Rom. i. 21. 
 
 Thus, 
 
4Z S E R M O N IL 
 
 Thus, while in the one cafe upon prin- 
 ciple, and in the other from felf- inter eft, 
 the knowledge of God was hidden in the 
 dark and impenetrable fhade of myfteries, 
 the uninitiated multitude w^ere left to the 
 uncontrouled indulgence of their paffions. 
 At all times, and under all circumftances, 
 Ijmbolical worihip has been accompanied 
 by corrupt and profligate morals ; it is eafy 
 to fee why it muft be fo ; it follows 
 neceflarily and immediately, as a confe- 
 qucnce of that miftake which I have ftated 
 to be the original caufe of Polytheifm — ► 
 the notion of fubordinate Deities, wdio 
 have their feparate and diftincl offices af- 
 figned to them under the one Supreme 
 Caufe, in the adminlftration and govern- 
 naent of the world. 
 
 Moral virtue confifts in the practice of 
 thofe duties which our relative fituation in 
 fociety demand ; and thofe duties are of 
 indifpenfable obligation, becaufe it is the 
 will of God that his creatures fliould fo 
 adl, as to promote the happinefs of each 
 other. But a variety of Gods may, and 
 perhaps neceffarily muft, produce a variety 
 
 of 
 
SERMON II. 43 
 
 of wills ; and then It becomes a queftion, 
 who is to be obeyed ? And if we go a ftep 
 farther, and fuppofe it polTible that the ex- 
 ample of any of thofe Gods ihould be vi- 
 cious, then we mull conclude it to be 
 their will, that man fhould be vicious alfo: 
 and in this way we may account for that 
 black and dreadful catalogue of vices, 
 which the Apoftles continually enume- 
 rate in their pidures of the Gentile 
 w^orld. 
 
 Such then being the flate of by far the 
 greater part of the world, when our Sa- 
 viour entered upon his public miniftry, if 
 the reprefentation which I have given of 
 their worfhip and their pradice be juft, 
 what can we fuppofe would have been 
 the fate of our holy Religion, unlefs the 
 wifdom of Providence in the general de- 
 pravity had prefer ved a chofen feed, who, 
 ^^ although their hearts were hardened, and 
 their underftandings darkened," blindly ac- 
 complifhed the purpofes of his will, by 
 preferving in the volumes of their Religion, 
 the hiftory of the early Revelations, on 
 which the Gofpcl was founded, and by 
 
 adoring 
 
44 S E R M O N IL 
 
 adoring in their public worlliip none but 
 the God of their fathers, the Holy One of 
 lirael ? 
 
 To cftablifli a new religion in any cafe 
 muft be a work of great difficulty ; but to 
 eftablilh it upon the ruins of inveterate 
 prejudices, and of opinions fanftioned by 
 time, and by habit ; to tell men, that all 
 that they have hitherto been taught is falfe, 
 and that all the impreffions which their 
 education has given them are nothing 
 more than '^ lying vanities ;" inflead of 
 granting them the free indulgence of their 
 inclinations and their appetites, to impofe 
 rigid and fevere refiiraints upon both ; to 
 expofe the nothingnefs of the faireft ideal 
 picture of virtue, and the brighteft exte- 
 rior femblance of morality; and to require 
 truth and purity in the inward parts ; all 
 this is a talt furpaffing the powers of a 
 human teacher, and this was the tafk of 
 Chrift and his Apoftles. 
 
 Let us fuppofe then that a perfon had 
 come with this defign, not to Jerufalem, 
 but to any of the celebrated cities of the 
 
 Gen- 
 
SERMON 11. 45 
 
 Gentiles, to Corinth, Athens, or Rome ; 
 tliat, without any previous expe<?Lation of 
 his appearance, he had announced himfelf 
 as the meflenger of God ; let his addrcfs 
 be made, not to the wealthy, the powerful, 
 or the wife, but, as our blefled Saviour's 
 ad:ually was, to the poor, the lowly, and 
 the ignorant ; let him command them, 
 with the tone and authority of a teacher 
 fent from God, to give up their eftabhfhed 
 belief, to quit their former habits, to re- 
 pent of their fms, and to be converted ; — 
 what w^ould have been the efi'ed:, is it 
 probable, of fuch a fummons ? If they had 
 been able to reftrain their indignation, at 
 hearing that the Deities, which they had 
 long been accuftomed to reverence and 
 adore, were now to be forfaken and de- 
 fpifed ; if there had been calmnefs and 
 moderation enough to reafon and argue 
 upon the fubjed:, would not the firft quef- 
 tion have been, Who is the God you 
 fpeak of, and what is his name ? 
 
 Here then it would have been necef- 
 Ciry, in the firft inftance, to have provird 
 
 the 
 
46 SERMON II. 
 
 the exlftence of one Supreme God, the 
 Creator and Governor of the univerfe ; to 
 have proved his attributes, his power, his 
 wifdom, and his juftice ; to have proved, in 
 fhort, all the great truths of natural Re- 
 ligion, upon w hich Chrlftianity is founded. 
 
 You tell us, they would have faid, that 
 you are a meilenger from God ; convince 
 us therefore, firft, that the God you call 
 upon us to obey really exifts ; that he did, 
 as you pretend, create the univerfe by his 
 power ; and that he now fuftains, directs, 
 and governs it by his Providence ; and then 
 it will be time for us to confider, whether 
 the fyftem which you offer us be really his 
 revealed will, or not. 
 
 But let us change the fcene, and ob- 
 ferve our bleffed Lord addreffing himfelf 
 to the inhabitants of Jerufalem : here he 
 came to his ow^n. The foundation of the 
 religion which he defigned to teach was 
 already laid in the popular opinions, and 
 the national faith. The unitv of God w^as 
 acknowledged by all ranks and all de- 
 
 fcriptlons 
 
S E R M O N II. 47 
 
 fcriptions of men ; a call to repentance ex- 
 cited no aftonifliment, and caufed no pre- 
 judice, in the firft inftance, againft his doc- 
 trines, becaufe it was immediately con- 
 nected with all the legal ceremonies of 
 their Religion, and all the principal fa<5is 
 of their hiftory ; and a claim to the office 
 and character of a Meffiah in the firft in- 
 ftance prepofleffed them in favour of the 
 perfon who made it, becaufe all the Pro- 
 phets had given them the promife of a de- 
 liverer ; and it was the firft and fondeft 
 wifh of their hearts, to witnefs the accom- 
 plifhment. 
 
 '' Let the counfel of the Holy One of If- 
 rael draw^ nigh^, and w^here is the promife 
 of his coming \^'* were become almoft pro- 
 verbial expreflions amongft the Jews ; fo 
 that a teacher, calling himfelf the Chrift, 
 was certain at leaft of finding hearers ready 
 to attend to his inftrud:ions, and eager to 
 examine his pretenfions. Then there was 
 time to obferve his character and his con- 
 dud: ; to difcufs the nature of his miracles, 
 
 ? Ifaiah v. 19. ^ 2 Pet. ii. 3, 4. 
 
 and 
 
48 S E R M O N II. 
 
 and to feel the intrinfic purity of his doc- 
 trines, and the fuperior force of his argu- 
 ments, till at length a body of witneffes 
 was formed ; then it was immaterial, as to 
 its progrefs, that is, and its future fuccefs, 
 whether the nation at large admitted the 
 new Religion, or not ; indeed their very 
 rejed:ion of it was, as it turned out, a con- 
 vincing argument of its truth. 
 
 It was with a view therefore to giuird 
 the fundamental doftrines of Revelation 
 from the contagion of falfehood, and, by fo 
 doing, to aid and affift the firft publication 
 of the Gofpel, that God thought fit to fe- 
 parate the Jewifli nation from the reft of 
 mankind ; that he favoured them, above 
 all other people, by difclofmg to them, 
 from time to time, '' the deep and fccrct 
 things of his wifdom ;" and that he made 
 them the depofitaries of truth, by com- 
 mitting to their cuftody the living oracles 
 of his word. 
 
 In wliat manner this feparation was ef- 
 fected, and bv what admirable methods 
 the Providence of God contrived to inter- 
 weave 
 
S E R M O N II. 49 
 
 wejlve and conned: their eftablifliment as 
 a church, with their civil polity as a ftate, 
 and to make the religious code of the for- 
 mer both the* hiftory and the legal infti- 
 tutes of the latter, fo that no fufpicion of 
 fraud or forgery can, with any rcafon, be 
 urged agaiuft either, is a point of liich ma- 
 terial importance, that it deferves a fe- 
 parate difcuffion : I (hall rcferve it there- 
 lire for a future difcourfe. 
 
 It cannot, meanwhile, be expefted, that 
 I Ihould enter into a formal refutation of 
 the frivolous cavils, and, to call them by 
 no worfe a name, the poor and vulgar 
 jefts, with which free-thinking philofophers 
 have attacked the fcheme of a favoured 
 people, as if God could have any favour- 
 ites, but thofe who love and obey him, 
 and whofe principal aim it is, '' to do 
 juftly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
 before himV' or as if the Father of man- 
 kind, whofe mercy is over all his works, 
 could have fhut up the knowledge of him- 
 felf within the narrow precindls of a par- 
 ticular church, unlefs it had been with a 
 
 ^ lilicah vi. 8. 
 
 E defign, 
 
so SERMON II. 
 
 defign, worthy indeed of his care, and be- 
 coming the wifdom of his Providence, 
 upon the fame foundation gradually to 
 ered; the univerfal Church of Chrift. 
 
 The fentence of the Prophet, which I 
 have quoted in my text, explains the 
 whole oeconomy : *^ It is not for your 
 fakes, O houfe of Ifrael, that I do this, but 
 for mine holy Name's fake^." It is not on 
 account of your own merits, or for the 
 fake of your own profperity, that I have 
 diftinguifned you . with peculiar marks of 
 my favour ; but it is to glorify my great 
 name, that all the world m^ay fee and con- 
 fefs, that I am indeed the true God, and 
 that there is none other beiide me. 
 
 ^ Ezek. xxxvi. 22. 
 
 SER- 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 NUMBERS xxiii. 9. 
 
 LO, THE PEOPLE SHALL DWELL ALONE, 
 AND SHALL NOT BE RECKONED A- 
 MONGST THE NATIONS. 
 
 HAVING fliewn in my former Dif- 
 courfe, that, if Polytheifm had been 
 univerfal, Chriftianity could not have been 
 promulged, and that it pleafed the Al- 
 mighty, for that reafon, to feparate the 
 Jewifti nation from the reft of mankind, 
 in order to make them the guardians of 
 his Revelations, I now proceed to lay be- 
 fore you a view of the methods by which 
 that feparation was efFeded. 
 
 E ^ The 
 
52 SERMON III. 
 
 * The Prophet of Midian was fummoncd 
 by the King of Moab, in the true fpirit of 
 idolatry, to imprecate the vengeance of 
 heelven upon the chofen people ; but the 
 Holy Spirit gave him utterance, and he 
 bleffed where he was defired to curfe. He 
 forefaw, through the whole courfe of their 
 eventful hiftory, the marked difcrimination 
 of their charad;er, the peculiarity of their 
 government, and their refidence in the pro- 
 mifed land under the immediate protedilon 
 of God ; and in terms of benedidion fi- 
 milar to thofe which were ufed by their 
 own Patriarch'', and their own Legiflator% 
 he pronounced that ^^ Ifrael fliould dwell 
 alone." As there was at that time no 
 probabihty, humanly fpeaking, that the If- 
 raehtes would ever be able to expel the 
 inhabitants of the country which they were 
 going to invade, and even il we fuppofe 
 that conqueft to have been probable, as a 
 diftind: and feparate exiftence is contrary 
 to all the maxims of human policy, and to 
 the natural inclinations and wiihes of the 
 
 ^ Numb. xxii. *> Gen. xHx. 8. 
 
 •^ Dent, xxxiii. 28. 
 
 human 
 
SERMON III. S3 
 
 human heart, which lead nations, as well 
 as individuals, to intercourfe and com- 
 inerce, and aflbciatlon with each other, 
 nothing but the forefight of God could 
 have conceived the poflibility of {o extra- 
 ordinary a fa(?c, and nothing lefs than the 
 power and the wifdom of God could have 
 brought it to pafs. 
 
 Let us fee then how the xA^lmighty con- 
 trived, w^hilft all other nations were tending 
 to union and connexion with each other, 
 and prided themfelves upon the com- 
 munity of their religion, to keep his pecu- 
 liar people at a diftance from all others, 
 and to make even their vices and their 
 prejudices fubfervient to the purpofes of 
 feparation and diftinftion. 
 
 The government of the Jews differed from 
 every other government in this fundamental 
 point ; that the fupreme power of the ftate 
 refided neither in a man, nor in a body of 
 men, but in God : whatever title, or what- 
 ever authority, was given to their chief ma- 
 glftrates, whether they were Judges, Kings, 
 ©r High Prlcfts, they were ftrlfdy and pro- 
 E 3 perly 
 
54 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 perly the delegates of the Supreme God. 
 Thus there was no diftinftion whatever 
 between their eftabhfliment as a church, 
 and their conftitution as a poHtical body ; 
 for the laws, which were framed to fecure 
 and preferve the worihip of the one true 
 God, were in fafl: the civil laws of the 
 people, and a branch of their political go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Such w^ere the terms of the original co- 
 venant between God and his people. He 
 had chofen them for his fubjefts, as well 
 as his worlhippers ; and they had acknow- 
 ledged him for their King, as well as their 
 God. '' Say to them,'* was the command 
 of the Almighty to Mofes, " fay to them. 
 If ye will obey my voice, and keep my 
 covenant, then ye fliall be a peculiar trea- 
 fure to me above all people; ye ihall be 
 unto me a kingdom of priefts, and an holy 
 nation '^f and the anfwer of the people 
 was, '^ All that the Lord hath fpoken, that 
 ^N\\\ we do \" 
 
 In all human focieties, obedience to the 
 
 "* Exod. xix. 5. ^ Exod. xix. 8. 
 
 laws 
 
SERMON III. 55 
 
 laws which proted: him is the virtue of 
 the citizen ; in the Theocracy of the Jews, 
 it was his rehgion : for, as their own Hif- 
 torian tells us, Mofes did not make Reli- 
 gion a part of virtue ; but moral virtue, 
 juftice, that is, temperance, and fortitude, 
 good order, and all the great duties which 
 cement and confolidate the fabric of civil 
 fociety, the Divine Leglilator made parts 
 of Religion^ 
 
 Here then at once there is a manifefi: 
 diftin6lion betv^ een the people of God and 
 all other nations, in the very effential and 
 fundamental articles of their conftitution : 
 a diftinftion, neceffarily caufed by the pri- 
 mary defign and end of their feparation ; 
 which, as we have feen, w^as to preferve 
 the pure worfhip of the one invifible God, 
 and to tranfmit to pofterity all the great 
 truths of Religion, which naturally flow 
 from that fource. 
 
 God then being the Supreme Magif- 
 trate of their ftate, idolatry, which was an 
 exprefs violation of the compact between 
 
 ^ Jyfephus contra Apion, lib. ii. feft. 16. 
 
 E 4 the 
 
56 SERMON III. 
 
 the Governor and the governed, a tranf- 
 greffion, as It is called, of the covenant, 
 was punlfhed with the fame rigour with 
 which human legiflators have at all times^ 
 and in all ages, jufily puniflied ad:s of 
 treafon and rebellion againil the fovereign 
 authority ot the ilate. 
 
 Wherever the Ifraelite came, he was to 
 aflert the great and glorious name of Je- 
 hovah, to proclaim the iniquity of wor- 
 fliipping ftrange Gods, to break down their 
 images, to deftroy their groves, and tram- 
 ple upon their altars ; and with the ido- 
 laters themfelves, if they perfifted in their 
 crimes, he v^^s to form no league or 
 treaty whate\er, to fhew them no mercy 
 or compaffion, but to fmite and utterly 
 deftroy them. 
 
 And if amongft his own people, or hiS 
 own tribe, or even in the bofom of his 
 own family, any inclination fliould be 
 found to emulate the corruptions of his 
 neighbours, or any attempt be made to {cr- 
 duee him from his allegiance to the only 
 true God, he is commanded to punifh iii- 
 
 ftantly ; 
 
SERMON IIL S7 
 
 ftantly ; neither the habits of long and fa- 
 miliar acquaintance, nor the endearments 
 of friendiliip, nor even the ties of fihal and 
 parental affedion, are to withhold his hand 
 from ft ri king the blow. ^' li thy brother, 
 the fon of thy mother, or thy fon, or thy 
 daughter entice thee fecretly, faying. Let 
 us go and ferve other Gods, which thou 
 haft not known, thou flialt not confent 
 unto him, nor hearken unto him ; neither 
 fliall thine eye pity him; but thou fiialt 
 furely kill him, becaufe he hath thought 
 to thruft thee away from the Lord thy 
 God^'' 
 
 Thus the o:reat diftinftion of Relio;ion 
 was enforced by the pofitive prohibition of 
 all Community of w^orlliip with idolaters, 
 even by the exprefs command of extirpat- 
 ing them wherever they exifted ; and upon 
 their fteady and faithful perfeverance in 
 the worfhip of the God of their fathers, 
 depended entirely their pofleffion of the 
 country which he had given to them, the 
 peace and happinefs of Individuals, and the 
 general profperlty of their empire. 
 
 t Deut. xiil. C — 9, 
 
 To 
 
58 SERMON III. 
 
 To forbid, under fevere penalties, what 
 others love and cultivate, is the fevereft 
 method of drawing a boundary between 
 thofe we wifSi to feparate : thus the Jews 
 w^ere exprefsly commanded not to pafs 
 their children through the iire, like the 
 barbarous worfhippers of Moloch ^; not to 
 disfigure or wound their bodies, like the 
 followers of Baal ; not to perform the afts 
 of devotion in high places, in gloomy ca- 
 verns, or obfcure receffes ; nor throw^ the 
 lliade of myftery over their w^oriliip, by 
 planting impenetrable groves in the neigh- 
 bourhood of their tabernacles \ 
 
 But whilft all imitation of the horrid 
 rites of their neighbours, and the abfurd 
 fuperftition of other nations, was exprefsly 
 prohibited to the Jews, God gave them a 
 ritual and a practical fj^ftem of worfliip, 
 which of itfelf v/as eminently calculated to 
 gain upon their minds, and to fecure them 
 from the contagion of Polytheifm. 
 
 In the days of the Patriarchs the pom- 
 pous and majeftic dlfplay of ceremonious 
 
 ^ Levit. xvili. 21. ' * Dcut. \6. 21. 
 
 woriliip 
 
S E R M O N III. s^ 
 
 worfliip was not neceiiiiry ; the fruits of 
 the earth, and the firftlings of the fiock^ 
 were heaped upon the rude and fimple 
 altar, which the tribe or the family con- 
 fecrated to that pious ufe in the vicinity of 
 their camp : thither the devout believer 
 repaired to confult, as appears to have 
 been the cafe, the oracle of God in cafes 
 of difSculty? to offer up thankfgivings for 
 mercies and benefits received, and to pour 
 forth prayers for future happineis. 
 
 But in after times a numerous multi- 
 tude, devoted to fenfible objeds, pleafed 
 with the falfe worihip of the country 
 which they had quitted, and in that in 
 which they were afterwards fettled, fur- 
 rounded by nations who delighted in fhevv 
 and pageantry, and all the external glare 
 of fymbolical worjdiip ; a people fo cir- 
 cumftanced required fomething more or- 
 namental than the primitive fimplicity of 
 their forefathers, to fecure them from the 
 allurements of falfe religion, and to attach 
 them to the naked purity of truth. 
 
 God tlierefore in his m.ercy, allowing 
 
 foV 
 
6o SERMON III. 
 
 for their natural weaknefs, and wiflung 
 that the awful truth of his Godhead might 
 be firmly rooted in their minds, that they 
 might be without excufe if they looked 
 elfewhere for protedion, and offered up to 
 others the homage due only to their God, 
 in confi deration to their infirmities gave 
 them vifible tokens of his continual pre- 
 fence amongft them. Here it was that 
 the patience and long fuiFering of God 
 difplayed themfelves in the mofl: ftriking 
 manner, by every poffible accommodation 
 to their inclinations and their prejudices, 
 nay, I may fay, even to their capricious 
 partialities. 
 
 It was not enoufifh that the <rreat truth 
 of the unity of the Godhead Was formally 
 announced in the prefence of the aflem- 
 bled congregation, and that the adoration 
 of ftrange Gods was exprefsly forbid ; in 
 addition to the pofitive command, and the 
 pofitive prohibition, other means Vvcre tried 
 to guard the chofen race from the pollu- 
 tions of idolatry. 
 
 To their great progenitor the Almighty 
 
 had 
 
SERMON III. 6t 
 
 had announced himfelf as the God of his 
 family, and to his defcendaats afterwards, 
 as the tutelary God of the nation. Whilll 
 the nations of Canaan are ere(^ting altars 
 to the Gods of their own creation, the 
 Gods of the hills, as they were called, and 
 the Gods of the valleys, the Holy One of 
 Ilrael, in compliance with the prevailing 
 prejudices, affumes a name : ** Tell them," 
 fays he, when he Invefts his chofen fervant 
 with his high commiffion, '* Tell them^ 
 that I AM hath fent me unto you ^/* 
 
 In the wildernefs the tent of Mofes was 
 diftinguiflied by the appearance of Divine 
 glory before it. Afterwards the chofen 
 fervant of the Almighty was commanded 
 to ere6l a fplendid tabernacle from the 
 pattern which he faw exhibited on the 
 mount ; in this tabernacle was placed the 
 ark of the covenant, and here the glory of 
 the Lord refided ; the Holy One of Ifrael 
 fat between the cherubims^* from hence 
 the oracles of God were uttered; and be- 
 fore this refidence of the Moft High, the 
 high Prieft appeared annually on the great 
 
 ^ Exod. Hi. 14. 
 
 * 2 Sam. %'i. 2. 2 Kings xix. 15. Pfalm xcix. i. 
 
 day 
 
6z SERMON IIL 
 
 day of expiation, when he was to mediate 
 for the fins of all the people. 
 
 When the nation had advanced in its 
 conqueft of the promifed land, this holy 
 tabernacle was fixed at Shiloh ; and w^hen 
 the conquefi: w^as complete, as far at leaft 
 as God intended that it fliould be carried, 
 at that fplendid period of their profperity, 
 when '^ there was peace in all the land, 
 and every man fat under his vine, and 
 under his fig-tree %" the mercy-feat was 
 removed to the city of Jerufalem, and was 
 placed in the houfe of God with all the 
 pomp and decoration of oriental magni- 
 ficence. 
 
 From the earliefl times therefore they 
 were never w^ithout the acSual prefence of 
 God dwelling amongft them ; the external 
 iymbols of this prefence increafed in fplen- 
 dor with their national profperity ; and 
 when they themfelves were at the zenith 
 of their power, the Temple of their God 
 w^as the glory of the world, 
 
 ™ I Kings iv. 2J. 
 
 As 
 
SERMON III. 63 
 
 As the Almighty, though a pure Spirit, 
 and to be adored in fpirit and in truth, 
 difdained not to refide, and to be wor- 
 ihipped, in a temple made with hands ; fo 
 alfo, from the fame principle of heavenly 
 benevolence, he prefcribed the order and 
 the offices of the priefthood, who were to 
 attend continually upon his fervice ; their 
 offerings, their employments, nay, even 
 the very minute detail of their dreffes, and 
 their ordinary life. 
 
 I mean not at prefent to enter into a 
 minute examination of the ceremonial 
 I yaw ; at a future time I fnall attempt to 
 explain the figurative nature of this Law% 
 and to Ihew that, under the w ifeft of its 
 ordinances, many of the myfterious and 
 awful truths of Chriftianity were obfcurely 
 pourtrayed : but at prefent I have only to 
 urge, that its high folemnities and fplendid 
 feftivals contributed to affift the great pur- 
 pofe of feparation, by gratifying the fond- 
 nefs of the people for external fliew, and 
 prefenting continually to their minds the 
 power and the goodnefs of their ow^n 
 God. 
 
 The 
 
64 S E R M O N III. 
 
 The fabbath itfelf, the earlieft and molt 
 facred of their rehgioas inftitutions, was a 
 continual memorial of the creation, re- 
 minding them, as often as it returned, of 
 that day on which the Almighty had reft- 
 ed from all his works, and faw that thcy 
 weie good. The Pafchal fupper reminded 
 them of their deliverance, when the angel 
 of the Lord fmote the Egyptian, and 
 fpared the Ifraelite. The feaft of Taber- 
 nacles recalled to their recolledion their 
 long and fevere trials in the wilderncfs, 
 when every moment of their exiftence 
 was in fact a teftimony of the power of 
 God, and of his Providence watching over 
 their fafety ; and the feaft of Pentecoft 
 w^as a perpetual record of the promulgation 
 of their Law from Mount Sinai, of the 
 miniftry of angels, the thunderings and 
 lightnings, and all the mighty figns and 
 w^onders which accompanied the fearful 
 prefence of their God. 
 
 Thus it was wilcly and providentially 
 contrived, that the moft public and folemn 
 acls of their Religion liiould perpetuate the 
 memory of the moll ftrikinc: occurrences 
 
SERMON III. 6q 
 
 in their hiflory ; and upon all thofe occa- 
 iions it was ufual to fix the impreflion fcill 
 deeper in the minds of the people, by a fum- 
 niary recapitulation of all which had been 
 done for them, and all the fignal afe which, 
 by the Providence of God, they had at- 
 chieved ; and this was done w ith all the 
 glow and the ardour of poetical enthu- 
 fiafm ; in fongs of triumph for deliverance 
 and victory, and hymns of gratitude for 
 quiet and peaceable poileffion of the pro- 
 mifed land. 
 
 Whilft the folemn preparation, and the 
 fplendid exhibition of thefe ftated feftivals, 
 attached the people to their religion, they 
 alfo anfwered the important purpofe of at- 
 taching them to the country of their inhe- 
 ritance : what was the particular ufe of 
 increafing this, and of confining all their 
 hopes and all their wiihes to their pof- 
 fefiions in the land of Canaan, will be feen 
 hereafter ; at prefent I am only concerned 
 to prove the facil. 
 
 From the original promife made to A- 
 braham, the inheritance of the land of 
 
 F Canaan 
 
66 SERMON III. 
 
 Canaan bad been at all tinies tbe great 
 objeol of tbe wifhes of his pofterity, and 
 the point to which all their views were 
 dired:ed. A period of more than four cen- 
 turies of fervitude and oppreffion in Egypt 
 had not obliterated the remembrance of 
 the promlfe, nor leffened the fond expec- 
 tation of its accomplilliment. At the firft 
 fummons they were ready to put them- 
 felves under the guidance of a leader, who 
 undertook to condud: them to the haven 
 of their w iflies ; and the wanderings of 
 forty years in dreary and inhofpitable de- 
 farts, although they tempted them often 
 to murmur and repine, to rebel againft 
 the authority of their conduftor, and even 
 to accufe the moft High God of injuftice, 
 yet ftlll they could not extinguifh, nay, 
 they even increafed, the ardent longing for 
 the pofleffion of that happy land, which 
 was to repay them for all their fuffer- 
 ing. 
 
 It w^as natural, therefore, when they at 
 laft poflefled this expeded country, when 
 they found it to be fertile and rich beyond 
 their hopes, '' a land of wheat and bar- 
 ley. 
 
SERMON IIL 6^ 
 
 ley, and vines, and fig trees, and pome- 
 granates, a land of oil-olive and honey"," 
 it was natural that they lliould love and 
 cheriili it w^ith the nioft partial attach- 
 ment ; but this attachment the vvifdom of 
 God augmented and confirmed. 
 
 In the firft place their religion was lo- 
 cal ; it was fixed folely to Jeruiidem ; and 
 the great duties of it could be no where 
 elfe performed, fo that as often as the 
 ftated feafon of their feftival returned, all 
 Jews, of whatever defcription, or wherever 
 their refidence might be, were to go up to 
 the holy city to celebrate their feftivals ; 
 the law was abfolute, and of indifpenfable 
 obligation. 
 
 In addition to this obligation there was 
 another lav/, fanftified indeed by a reli- 
 gious ceremony, but in \K.{it\i of a nature 
 purely civil : it vvas impoffible for an Vi- 
 raelite to alienate his property ; the ori- 
 ginal allotment was to remain unalterable ; 
 and whatever changes or variations might 
 be m.ade, they were conftantly to be rec- 
 
 " Deut. vili. 8. 
 
 F % tified 
 
68 SERMON III. 
 
 tified at the feaft of Jubilee; ''for then," 
 fays the law, '* ye fhall return every man 
 unto his poffeffion ^" 
 
 It is eaiy to fee the confequences of 
 this right of redemption ; that while the 
 nation at large was preferved one and en- 
 tire, each tribe feparately, and each family, 
 were careful to preferve their own records, 
 to afcertain their own rights, and to claim 
 their own property ; a point of material 
 importance in the difpenfations of Pro- 
 vidence. Bethlehem Ephratah thus re- 
 mained in the portion of Judah, and the 
 lineage of Jeffe w^as preferved to the days 
 of the Meffiah pure and unmixed, and fe- 
 parate from the genealogy of every other 
 family in Judea. 
 
 The great principle of feparation was 
 thus purfued within the general outline of 
 the whole community, through all the 
 fubordinate diviiions, and all the inferior 
 claffes oi fociety ; and wdiilft the nation 
 was diftinguifhed as a peculiar people from 
 all other people, every tribe and every fa- 
 
 ® Deut. iii. 20. 
 
 mily 
 
SERMON III. 69 
 
 mllj had fome appropriate character, and 
 fome peculiar privileges, by which they 
 weic feparated and difcriminated from 
 one another. 
 
 If, from their public inftitutions, and the 
 greater ceremonies of their Religion, we 
 turn our eyes to their ordinary occupations^ 
 and the habits of common life, we fliall 
 fee throughout the marks of the fame de- 
 sign, and the effecfls of the fame principle 
 of difcrimination. 
 
 From the moment of his birth the Jew 
 was marked as a being diftincl from the 
 reft of mankind : the initiatory rite of cir- 
 cumcifion firft ftamped him as the fervant 
 of God, and admitted him to the privi- 
 leges of the Patriarchal covenant. As his 
 rcafon opened, he was educated, not iti 
 the rudiments of human fcience, but in 
 the precepts of Divine wifdom ; the holy 
 volume of the Law was opened before 
 him ; on that he was told to meditate 
 day and night, *^ to talk of it when he fat 
 in his houfe, and when he w^aiked by the 
 way ; to bind it for a fign upon his hands, 
 F 3 and 
 
70 SERMON III. 
 
 and a frontlet between his eyes ; to write 
 it upon the pofts of his houfe, and upon 
 his gates ^." 
 
 In his Law he found a provifion, not 
 only for the higher moralities, and the 
 more important duties, upon which the 
 very exiftence of civil fociety depends, but 
 for all the minute occurrences of common 
 life, and all the accidental circumftances 
 W'hich human legiflators pafs by without 
 notice, bccauib they either confider them 
 as matters of indifference, or do not forefee 
 that they will happen. 
 
 For the fafiiion of his drcfs, his diet, 
 and the conftruction of his dwelling, the 
 Jew found in the volumes of his Law, cer- 
 tain and prccife regulations ; and if he 
 went forth to the labour of the field, the 
 cattle he was to ufe in his tillage, the feed 
 he was to fow, and the time and mode of 
 gathering his harveft into his garners, were 
 all the fubjeds of particular and appro- 
 priate laws. 
 
 P Dent. vi. 7 — 9. 
 
 By 
 
SERMON III. 71 
 
 By fuch apparently trivial means did 
 the Almighty wifdom contrive to fix upon 
 his people a peculiar and difcriminate 
 charader. For every adion of their 
 lives there was a rule prefcribed, which 
 limited the particular bias and inclina- 
 tion of his mind ; and it w^as not matter 
 of choice whether they fliould follow this 
 rule or not ; it was indifpenfably necef- 
 fary; and punifliment inllantly followed 
 the violation of it, unlefs by the a- 
 tonement of his offerings and facrifices, 
 the offender could appeafe the anger of 
 God. 
 
 In all ages, and under every variety of 
 fituation, of knowledge, of power, or of 
 depreffion, man muff, in the effential cha- 
 rafteriftics of his nature, be ftill the fame ; 
 his paffions, and his affedlions, however 
 modified by circumftances, in their origin 
 and their principles were precifely fimilar : 
 but climate will fometimes give them a 
 phyfical alteration, and education and cuf- 
 tom a moral habitude. But in no people 
 that ever exifted in the world do we fee 
 the effeds of law and cuftom marked in 
 F 4 fuch 
 
yz SERMON III. 
 
 fuch ftrong and legible charaders, as in the 
 people of Ifrael. 
 
 Apud ipfos fides obftinata, fed adverflis 
 omnes alios hoftile odium "^j was the well 
 known cenfure of Tacitus. But we need 
 not go to the hiftorians or the fatirifts of 
 Rome, who defpifed and hated them, for 
 a picture of their defefts ; out of the 
 mouth of their own countrymen we may 
 condemn them ; their fullen pride, their 
 determined obftinacy, and their bigotry, 
 are the continual topics of cenfure and 
 animated invectives, in all their Hiftorians 
 and all their Prophets ; and in later times, 
 the holy Apoftle, v>ho knew them well, 
 declares, '' that they pleafed not God, and 
 w ere contrary to all m.en '." 
 
 If we advert to the fpirit, nay, even to 
 the letter of the Mofaic Law, though all 
 communion with idolaters was cut oft, 
 there was nothing that could be conftrued 
 into an approbation of want of friendftiip, 
 or want of hofpitality; nothing certainly 
 that juftifies enmity or hatred to the reft 
 
 ^ Tacit. ' I Their, ii. i j. 
 
 of 
 
SERMON III. Ti 
 
 of mankind. Let him forfake the wor- 
 fhip of ft range Gods, and the ftranger that 
 fojourncd in the land' was to be loved 
 and cherilhed, as well as the defcendant 
 from the ftock of Abraham ; communion 
 of Religion and religious privileges were 
 denied to none ; and the profelyte of right- 
 eoufnefs, if he fubmitted to the conditions 
 of the covenant, became to all intents and 
 purpofcs an Ifraelite, and was admitted to 
 a participation of all the privileges of the 
 nation. 
 
 But ftill the real defcendants of the Pa- 
 triarch cheriilied in their own minds a fan- 
 cied fuperiority over the convert, whoever 
 he might be ; the pro miles made to their 
 anceftors continually founded in their ears; 
 that his name would be great, ^' that he 
 would be a bleffing and a great nation ;" 
 '' that God would blefs them that bleifed 
 him, and curfe them that curfed him ;" 
 *^ that nations and kings would come from 
 him ;" and that '^ in his feed all nations 
 would be bleffed'." As thefe promifes they 
 
 « Lcvlt. xvil. 33. XXV. 3j. Numb. xv. 14. 
 * Gen. xii. 2. 
 
 con- 
 
74 
 
 S E R M O N HI. 
 
 (,'onildered to be tlie bails of their national 
 cftablifhment, as they had been accom- 
 phihed in part, by tlie rapid conqucft and 
 iccure poflciiion of the land of Canaan, 
 and as all their great leaders, and all their 
 holy Prophets had taught them to attri- 
 bute their fucceiles to the original cove- 
 naiit, they vainly and foolilhly fuppofedthat 
 they ili'Oiild be the lords of the uni^erfe, 
 and that every nation under heaven would 
 in time bow down before them. 
 
 From this falfe and niiftal^en interpre- 
 tation of the original promife, we may 
 derive the pride and the felf-conceit which 
 tempted the Ifraelites to look down upon 
 the reft of mankind, as a race inferior to 
 themfclves ; and this national vanity was 
 ftimulated and encouraged by fomenting 
 the rivalfiiip and jealcufy of the neigh- 
 bouring nations ; of the Moabites, the 
 Ammonites, and the Edomites, wdio ftill 
 contended for the birth-ridit of wdiich 
 their anceftors had been defrauded ; and 
 the fons of Illimael, who never forgot the 
 ftock from which they fprang, or the re- 
 •wards which were annexed to the obe- 
 dience 
 
SERMON III. 75 
 
 dience of their great progenitor. It muft. 
 be remembered too, that thefe nations, al- 
 though conne6ted with the Jews by ties 
 of blood, were marked by a particular ex- 
 clufion from the favoured church — that, in 
 the cafe of the Moabites, three generations 
 were to pafs away, and in the cafe of the 
 Edomites, ten, before they could be ad- 
 mitted to the privileges of a profelyte. 
 
 On thefe principles we may account for 
 the pride and the bigotry of the Jewifli 
 people ; and if it be true, that the human 
 mind naturally attaches itfelf moft to that 
 which is continually before It, and that 
 habit endears to us whatever Is frequently 
 repeated ; there may be julHce In the re- 
 mark, that their tenacious obftinacy arofe 
 from the burthenfome nature of their ri- 
 tual, and the continual repetition of Its ce- 
 remonies. 
 
 But even the vices and the faults in 
 their character, which arofe perhaps from 
 their miftaking the objedl of their Inflitu- 
 tions, aided the defigns of Providence, by 
 keeping up the great national difl:in(5lIon, 
 
 till 
 
76 SERMON III. 
 
 till the end of the feparatlon was attained : 
 but at the fame time they deluded the 
 unfortunate people, and taught them to 
 expeft permanency and immutability in 
 that which was intended to anfwer a tem- 
 porary purpofe. 
 
 That in the days of our Saviour, when 
 their Temple was ftill ftanding, and their 
 ceremonial Lyaw in full force, when even 
 our Lord himfelf conformed to its cuf- 
 toms, and its ceremonies — that the Jews 
 of that time fliould have argued from the 
 expreffions of their Legiflator, that their 
 Law would be everlafting, may not per- 
 haps be thought fo wonderful : but what 
 has a modern Jew to urge, as a reafon for 
 his obftinate adherence to the inftitutions 
 of.Mofes ? 
 
 Chriftian writers have again and again 
 unanfwerably proved from the ufage of 
 the Hebrew language, and the general 
 analogy of all languages, that when the 
 perpetuity of the Mofalc Law is fpoken 
 of, the expreffions can only mean that it 
 lliould iail for a long tim.e, as long as the 
 
 nature 
 
SERMON III. yy 
 
 nature and defign of the inftitution would 
 allow : indeed, if Canaan was given to the 
 people of Ifrael for an '' everlaftlng pof- 
 feffion," and they have long ceafed to pof- 
 fefs it, it is abfurd to infer that the Law 
 was to be of perpetual obligation, be- 
 caufe it is faid, that it iliould endure for 
 ever. 
 
 But I would afk the modern Jew in 
 the firfl: inftance, What was the great ob- 
 jeft of the ceremonial Law\ ? To feparate 
 the people, he w^ll fay, from communi- 
 cation with idolaters, and to leave the 
 worfhip of the true God undefiled. Doubt- 
 lefs it was fo ; the ftrange deviations of 
 mankind from the truths revealed to the 
 Patriarchs, made it necelTary. 
 
 ^^ The Law w^as added," fays the Apo- 
 ftle, " becaufe of tranfgreflions "." This be- 
 ing acknowledged, what is its ufe when 
 idolatry has ceafed, when the found of 
 the Heathen oracles has long been hulhed, 
 the ftatues of their corrupt Deities have 
 been crumbled to the duft, and all the ci- 
 
 " Galat. iii. 19. 
 
 vilized 
 
78 SERMON III. 
 
 vilized nations of the world unite in the 
 adoration of the one true God ? 
 
 Then I v7ould ait him, whether in 
 their Law, which he afferts to be immut- 
 able, there were not aftually changes made, 
 as the time approached at which the obli- 
 gation was to ceafe, and all its partial dif- 
 tinftions to be done away ? 
 
 Before the building of the fecond Tem- 
 ple, God enlarged the boundaries of his 
 church ; he admitted into its communion 
 thofe whom legal impediments or natural 
 diftinftions had before excluded from it. 
 '^ My falvation," fays the Holy Spirit, '^ is 
 near to come, and my ri.diteoufnefs to be 
 revealed ''■. Let not the fon of the ftran- 
 ger fay, The Lord hath utterly feparated 
 me from his people ; neither let the eu- 
 nuch fay, Behold, I am a dry tree ^' ; for 
 even unto thee will I give in mine houfe, 
 and within my walls, a place and a name 
 better than of fons and of daughters ; I 
 will give them an everlafling name, that 
 fliall not be cut off''." 
 
 '' Ifalahlvi. i. y Ifalah Ivi. 3. -^ liaiah Ivi. 5. 
 
 At 
 
SERMON III. 79 
 
 At the fame time a change was an- 
 nounced in the mode of God's govern- 
 ment; for the iniquities of the fathers were 
 no more to be puniilied upon the children, 
 but every one was to bear his ow^n fins : 
 it was alfo declared, that the external and 
 pofitlve duties of facrilice and oblations 
 were inferior to the inward and unbidden 
 worfhip of the heart, and that '' God dc- 
 fired mercy and not facrlfice'," and the 
 knowledge of God more than burnt of- 
 fering. 
 
 If thefe material alterations are not fuf- 
 ficient to prove that the whole v/as a 
 preparatory difpenfation, and confequently 
 might ceafe when its objcd was accom- 
 plillied ; let him advert to the circum- 
 ftances of his people ; they no longer dwell 
 alone, but are fcattered abroad over the 
 face of the earth ; thev are no lonsier the 
 *' habitation of the Lordj" nor do they dwell 
 in fatety under 'Mils everlafting arms t^;" all 
 the diftindions, which would now be uie- 
 lefs, are gone ; the genealogies, which thev 
 once preferved with fuch anxious care, are 
 
 * Hofea vi. 6. ^ Deut. xxxili. 27. 
 
 con- 
 
8o SERMON III. 
 
 confounded with each other, and the tribe 
 of Judah is mingled and loft in the com- 
 mon mafs of their countrymen ^ 
 
 Thus their temporal and their fpiritual 
 ftate, which were in fad; one and the 
 fame thing, w^hich gradually rofe together 
 to the height of their fame and fplendour, 
 were both deftroyed when the purpofe of 
 their eftablifhment was fulfilled. 
 
 Laftly, let him recollect, that the whole 
 of his worlhip, as I have before remarked, 
 was local ; that all its duties were to be 
 performed at Jerufalem, and no where 
 elfe. If then the holy country be trodden 
 under foot by aliens and ftrangers ; if the 
 holy Temple be deftroyed ; if all traces 
 of its exiftence have long been gone, and 
 all attempts to reftore it have proved fruit- 
 lefs and abortive ; is it not time for him 
 to confefs that the hour is really arrived, 
 w^hen '' God is not to be w^orfliipped on 
 mount Gerizim'*, or at Jerufalem," but in 
 the hearts of all his creatures ? 
 
 ^ Newton on the Prophecies, vol, i. p. 215. 
 "^ Tudges IX. 7. John xxl. 21. 
 
 s E R- 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 COLOSSIANS ii. 17. 
 
 WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF GOOD 
 THINGS TO COME, BUT THE BODY 
 IS OF CHRIST. 
 
 HAVING already explained for what 
 purpofe the Almighty feparated the 
 Jewifli nation from the reft of mankind, 
 and by what methods that feparation was 
 effecSed, the courfe of my argument leads 
 me to examine what fort of connexion 
 there was between the religious inftitu- 
 tions of the Jews, and the eflential doc- 
 trines of Chriftianity ; and in what fenfe, 
 and under what limitations, the former 
 G are 
 
8^ SERMON IV. 
 
 are to be confidered as Figures and Types 
 of the latter. 
 
 The Apoftle in this Epiftle to the Co- 
 loflians takes great pains to caution the 
 Jewilh converts againft a prad:ice, in thofe 
 days very common, of mixing and uniting 
 the comphcated ritual of Mofes wath the 
 fpiritual precepts and the fimpler facra- 
 ments of Chrift. He tells them, that the 
 Gofpel into v^hich they had been baptized 
 was all in all ; that it contained '' all the 
 treafures of w^ifdom and knowledge ;" that 
 they were '^ complete in Chrift," in whom 
 dwelt all the fulnefs of the Godhead bo- 
 dily'; and that as they were not to be fe- 
 duced by the falfe theories of Greek and 
 Oriental philofophy, fo they were to pay no 
 heed to the bigoted Ifraelite, when he at- 
 tempted to impofe upon them the bur- 
 thenfome yoke of ufelefs ceremonies ; of 
 law^s which Chrift had abrogated, and of 
 rites, which, as they were nothing more 
 than images and fhadows of the truth, 
 confequently were of no avail to thofe 
 who poffefled the reality and the fub- 
 
 ^ Col. ii. 9. 
 
 ftance. 
 
S E R M O N IV. 83 
 
 ftance. '' Let no man judge you," fays 
 he, ** in meat, or drink, or in refped: of an 
 holy day, or the new moon, or of fabbaths, 
 which are a iliadow of things to come, 
 but the body is of Chriil \" 
 
 The Apoftolic Epiftles abound with ex- 
 preffions of a fimilar tendency. The priefts 
 under the Law are faid *' to ferve unto the 
 fliadow of heavenly things ';" the Law it- 
 felf is faid to have '' a lliadow of good 
 things to come, and not the very image of 
 the things ^;" the tabernacle and its deco- 
 rations are called the patterns or copies, 
 VTroSeiyf/^dTOi, of heavenly things; and Chriil 
 is declared to have entered not '^ into the 
 holy places made v/ith hands, which are 
 the Figures or Antitypes of the true, but 
 into heaven itfelf ^" 
 
 Now when the Apoftles make ufe of 
 fuch expreffions as thefe, when they ftyle 
 the Law of Mofes, or rather the Levitical 
 part of the Mofaic Law, a fliadow, a fi- 
 gure, or a t) pe of future good things, and 
 
 b Col. 11. 1(5. *^ Heb. ii.5. 
 
 d Heb. X. I. ^ Heb. ix. 24. 
 
 G i3 Chrift 
 
84 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 Chriil: the body, the fubftance, and the 
 truth, do they mean merely to urge the 
 fuperiorlty of Chriftlanity over Judaifm, 
 of the Gofpel over the Law, and the fa- 
 crifice of Jefus over the ftated facrlfices of 
 the Aaronic prieithood ? Or do they mean, 
 that the ordhiances of the Mofaic dlfpen- 
 fation were defigned by God to prefi.- 
 gure future events in the hiftory of our 
 Saviour, and to reprefent, under the fliade 
 of allegory, thofe myfterious truths of 
 his religion which were not to be 
 revealed till the '' fulnefs of time" ar- 
 rived ? 
 
 In the very infancy of Chriftlanity the 
 Commentators of the Gofpel began to in- 
 dulge themfelves in the licence of allego- 
 rical and myftical interpretations. The 
 Jew^s in their Targums (which almoft fu- 
 perfeded the ufe of the original books of 
 the Law) had long been in the habit of 
 accommodating the obfcurities of their 
 Scriptures to their own vifionary notions ; 
 of drawing parallels, which in all probabi- 
 lity never were defigned ; and of difcover- 
 ing fimllitudesj which at all times it is eaiy 
 
 to 
 
SERMON IV. 85 
 
 to trace in the unalogous operations of na- 
 ture, and Hill ealier to imagine where they 
 do not exift ; and, after their example, fome 
 of the Greek Fathers gave the reins to 
 their imaginations, and wandered far away 
 from the obvious and literal meaning of 
 Scripture phrafeology. 
 
 From hence it has happened, that whilft 
 infidel writers have blafphenied the w^jrd 
 of God, as if it contained nothing but 
 doubtful phrafes, and unfiibftantial alle- 
 gories, upon which no certain dependance 
 could be placed, believers of cool and tem- 
 perate judgments have been fearful of ad- 
 mitting any figurative interpretations what- 
 ever, and have tenacioufly adhered to the 
 literal meaning of a text, even where it 
 feems clearly to have been inferted by the 
 Holy Spirit for the fake of the application 
 to be made of it in later times. 
 
 In this, as in all other cafes, the truth 
 lies betwen the two extremes ; and it is of 
 material importance, that we may not ei- 
 ther abufe or reject any portion of the liglit 
 w^hich God hath mercifully given us, to af- 
 G 3 ceitain. 
 
86 SERMON IV. 
 
 certain, as accurately as can be done in a 
 cafe of great nicety, what types really are, 
 upon what grounds it is that they have a 
 place in the preparatory dlfpenfation of the 
 Jews, and what degree of force they may 
 fairly and juftly be allowed to have as evi- 
 dences of the truth of Chriftlanity. 
 
 In its prlmitivx and original meaning, a 
 type is merely the pattern, or impreffion, 
 the rough draught, or fketch, from which 
 a more perfed: w^ork is made : in this fenfe 
 the word is ufed by the facred writers. 
 Our tranflators have given a variety of in- 
 terpretations of the Greek w^ord rWoq : in 
 St. John's Gofpel it is rendered by the 
 word Print ; '' Except I fliall fee in his 
 hands the print of the nails, and put my 
 finger into the print of the nails, I wall not 
 believe *:" in the Ads of the Apoftles it is 
 tranilated a Figure, or Model : in St. Paul's 
 Eplftle to the Romans, the term Form is 
 ufed — '^ That form of dodrine w^hlch was 
 delivered to you^:" and in the courfe of 
 the Apoftohcal Epiilles it is continually 
 tranilated, Example ; '' Now all thefe things 
 
 ^ John XX. 25. s Rom. vi. ly. 
 
 hap- 
 
S E R iM O N IV. 87 
 
 happened unto them for examples*;" "Now 
 thefe things were our examples V' and 
 *' Mark them which walk fo as ye have us 
 for an example' 
 
 k '» 
 
 It is evident, that in all thefe paflages, 
 though the expreffion varies, the fame idea of 
 a Pattern, a Copy, of fomething to be copied 
 or imitated, is ftill preferved ; and no clear- 
 er notion can be formed of the connexion 
 which fubfifts between the Type and its 
 Antitype, than by comparing it with the 
 fimilitude, which may be traced between 
 the firft general delineation of a pi6lure, 
 and the pi (Sure completely finifhed^' 
 
 1 " 
 
 The language of the firfh fimple ages of 
 mankind v/as necefiarily very imperfed: 
 and defective. Time and Experience and 
 Philofophy have taught us to exprefs in 
 words every poffible combination of hu- 
 man thought, and all the varieties of hu- 
 man affeftions and paffions : but it was 
 not fo with the primitive ages. As yet 
 unaccuftomed to refieft, to abftraft and 
 
 ^ I Cor. V. 7. i I Cor. x. 6. ^ Phil. iii. 17 
 
 ^ Jortin's Remarks on Ecclefiattical Hiftory, vol. i. 
 
 04 to 
 
88 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 to generalize their ideas, they had nothing 
 to renrefent by their fymbols of fpeech, 
 but the common necefllties, and the ordi- 
 nary employments of life ; and when any 
 thing flirther was requifite, when they had 
 occafion to fpeak of any thing out of the 
 beaten track of their ufual wants and oc- 
 cupations, it w^as not to be done by words, 
 but by feme material fign, fome feniible 
 image taken from the objects that imme- 
 diately furrounded them : thus arofe a 
 mode of communication by figns or by 
 aftion, which amply fupplied the deficien- 
 cies of lang;uage, and enabled mankind, in 
 the earlieft periods of fociety, to commu- 
 nicate to each other thofe ideas for w^hich 
 as yet they had invented no fignificant 
 words. 
 
 This fpecies of language w^as coeval with 
 the origin of mankind ; its ufe is founded 
 in nature, and in the natural wants of 
 man : but in procefs of time, what was 
 originally dilated by neceffity, was pre- 
 ferved by choice, was embodied into a re- 
 gular fyftem, and guided by fixed rules and 
 determinate principles. 
 
 When- 
 
SERMON iV. 89 
 
 Whenever the Almighty vouchfafes to 
 deliver his inftruftions to mankind, the 
 mode in which they are delivered is al- 
 ways mercifully accommodated to the cha- 
 racter of the people who are to receive 
 them — to their popular opinions, to their 
 cuftoms, and their circumttances : for this 
 reafon it is that the infpired writings, both 
 of the Old and New Teftament, abound 
 in every page with that method of com- 
 municating information by external figns, 
 and fenfible reprefentations, to which the 
 Jews had long been attached by inclina- 
 tion, and familiarized by habit. 
 
 It frequently happened, that when the 
 Prophet willied to imprefs more forcibly 
 upon the minds of his hearers the expefta- 
 tion of fome approaching event, he drew his 
 parable, or his fign, from the furrounding 
 objefts, precifely in the fame way that our 
 blefled Lord himfelf was accuftomed to en- 
 force his holy leflbns, by a fable, or an al- 
 legory, framed from the circumftances of 
 the moment, from the time of the year, 
 from the place in which he was, or from 
 the characters and the employments of the 
 
 perfbns 
 
go SERMON IV. 
 
 perfons to whom he was fpeaking. Thus 
 it was that the holy Samuel fignified to 
 Saul by the rent in his garment, that the 
 kingdom of Ifrael would in that day be 
 torn from him""; and thus the Prophet 
 Ifaiah> by an allufion to the Sabbatic year, 
 exemplified to Hezekiah the conqueit of 
 the Jews by Sennacherib, and their fubfe- 
 quent return to Jerufalem ". Sometimes 
 the Prophet himfelf in his own perfon 
 acted the event which the Spirit of God 
 empowered him to forefee ; thus, by break- 
 ing in pieces a potter's veflel, Jeremiiah 
 prefigured to the Jew^s the utter deftrue- 
 tion of their city° — by putting on yokes 
 and fetters, he foretold to the princes of 
 Edom, Moab, and Ammon, their future de- 
 feat, and their fubjedlion to the king of Ba- 
 bylon^ — by binding the book of his Pro- 
 phecy to a ftone, and cafting them both 
 into the Euphrates, he announced that Ba- 
 bylon fliould fink, and never rife from the 
 evil that was to be brought upon her^ In 
 the fame m.anner the Prophet Ifaiab, by 
 the name wdiich he gives to his child, fore- 
 
 "^ I Sam. XV. 27, 
 P Jer. xxvii. 
 
 " Ifai.xxxvii. jo. 
 "i Jer. li. 
 
 "" Jer. xix. 
 
 tels. 
 
S E R M O N IV. 91 
 
 tels, that the riches of Damafcus and the 
 ipoil of Samaria fhall be feized by the Af- 
 fyrians ^ And Ezeklel, by going forth in 
 the drefs, and w4th the trembhng ad:ion of 
 a captive, exempUfied the conqueft of Zede- 
 kiah, and the flavery of his people in Ba- 
 bylon '. 
 
 Such were the methods by which the 
 Prophets of God inftruded their country- 
 men. But it fometimes happened, that 
 the Holy Spirit, in compliance with the 
 common and familiar ufage of the Jewifh 
 people, adopted the fame method of con- 
 veying its revelations to the Prophet him- 
 felf Thus, for inftance, the Prophet Je- 
 remiah is ordered to behold '"^ the rod of 
 the almond-tree, and the feething-pot *;" 
 and to the Prophet Ezekiel is fhewn '' the 
 refurredlion of the dry bones ".'* 
 
 It is needlefs to multiply inftances ; they 
 are to be found in every part of the Pro- 
 phetical books ; and, it is evident, that 
 wherever they occur, there is always the 
 
 «■ Ifai. vlii. 3, 4. 5 Ezek, xii. 8. 
 
 ^ Jer. i. II. 13. " Ezek. xxxvil. 
 
 notion 
 
9^ 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 notion of hituritv, fomcthing is reprefented 
 that is to happen at a greater or lefs dif- 
 tance of time; and this is the effential 
 charafter of a type, and conftitutes the dif- 
 ference between the type and the fymboL 
 A Horn, for inftance, in the language of 
 Scripture, denotes ftrength ; '' an Eye, or a 
 Sceptre,'' majefty ; the Planets, empires and 
 ftatcs : but in thefe emblematic reprefenta- 
 tions there is no idea of futurity, or of fu- 
 ture eyents imphed, confequently they are 
 not types, but fymbols. 
 
 So far then we have confidered the general 
 character of types, and the ufe which the 
 Prophets frequently made of them, to pre- 
 figure to the Jews the viciffitudes which 
 took place from time to time in their tem- 
 poral circumftances : from thence it is eafy 
 to proceed to thofe acSions or thofe cere- 
 monies in the oeconomy of Judaifm, which 
 w^e fuppofe to have been preparatory repre- 
 fcntations of Chrift and his GoipeL 
 
 Chriftian wTiters have divided thefe types 
 into three clafles, i ft, the remarkable events 
 in the hiftory of the Jevvifli people ; 5dU% 
 
 the 
 
SERMON IV. 95 
 
 the chara<flers of illuftrious perfbns, Pa- 
 triarchs, Kings, or Conquerors ; and 3dly, 
 the rites and ceremonies of their Rehgion. 
 But it is abfolutely neceflary, that we may 
 not be loft in the labyrinth of fanciful ana- 
 logies and abfurd comparifons, v.hich are 
 the delight of fanatics and enthufiafts, to 
 fix Ibme determinate boundary, fome cer- 
 tain criterion, by which we can eftimate 
 the real value of an argument, drawn from 
 typical analogy : and what can this crite- 
 rion be, but the authority of infpiration ? 
 Admitting then that other fimilitudes, and 
 other parallelifms, may have the appear- 
 ance of reafon, and may perhaps be jufr, 
 w^e cannot furely be wTong in refuflng to 
 acknowled2:e anv circumftance in the Old 
 Teftament to be a lliadow or token of. 
 Chrift, unlefs the writers of the New Tef- 
 tament have declared it to be fo. 
 
 In the Jewiili hiftory doubtlefs there is 
 a ftriking analogy, an analogy pointed out 
 and illuftrated by the Apofiles themfelves, 
 between many of the moil miraculous 
 events, and the general ftate of mankind, 
 and their particular fituation under the 
 
 Gofpcl 
 
54 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 Gofpel covenant ; between their fervitude 
 in Egypt for Inftance, and the tyranny of 
 fin ; between their baptifm in the fea and 
 in the cloud, and the baptifmal rite of 
 Chriftianity; between their fufferings dur- 
 ing their paffage through the w^ildernefs, 
 and the temptations, trials, and difficulties 
 of the prefent w^orld ; between the Sabbath 
 of reft promifed to them in the temporal 
 poffeffion of Canaan, and the eternal reft 
 to be enjoyed hereafter in Heaven : in all 
 thefe circumftances there is an analogy and 
 a correfpondence, which w^e cannot well 
 fuppofe to have taken place accidentally, 
 or without the defign and determined pur- 
 pofe of the Almighty. 
 
 It was at all times the delight of the 
 Jewiili people, to trace refcm.blances be- 
 tween the moft diftinguiihed of their coun- 
 trymen and the glorious Meffiah, who, in 
 the latter age of the w^orld, was to conduft 
 them to powxr and preeminence above the 
 reft of mankind. But thefe refemblances, 
 with whatever ingenuity they may be dif- 
 covered, or to whatever degree of minute- 
 nefs they may be carried, want, for the 
 
 moft 
 
S E R M O N IV. 95 
 
 mofl: part, the neceflary fancSion of Infpl- 
 ration. The father indeed of the human 
 race is declared by the Apoftle to be the 
 ^^ figure of him who was to come "" :" but 
 ef the reft, of Jofeph, Sampfon, or Jofhua, 
 no fuch declaration is made ; and although 
 it muft be allowed, that there is a ftriking 
 fimilitude between the events of their lives, 
 and the character, office, and circumftances 
 of the Meffiah, yet we cannot venture to 
 pronounce, that the former were defigned 
 to reprefent or prefigure the latter. 
 
 But if we go on from hiftorical fafts 
 and diftinguifhed perfons, to the Ceremo- 
 nies of the Jewifh Law, the fimilitudes 
 become more obvious and more fatisfac- 
 tory. 
 
 The ceremonial Precepts of the Mofaic 
 Law^ relate either to the worfliip of God, 
 and the daily fervice of the Temple ; or to 
 the perfons of the people, and their con- 
 dud in life. Of the latter, the principal 
 objed: was, as we have feen upon a former 
 
 ^ Rom. V. 14. 
 
 occafion, 
 
96 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 occafion, by a diftincSion of drefs, of diet, 
 and of occupation, to keep up the great re- 
 paration, '^ the partition- wall," between the 
 people of Ifrael and the nations who fur- 
 rounded them. Whether befides this ob- 
 ject:, under the covert of ablutions and pu- 
 rifications, it was not defigned to enforce 
 the neceffity of inward purity and moral 
 virtue, is a queftion foreign to our prefent 
 difcuffion, which muft be confined merely 
 to the ritual of their worfliip. 
 
 The Temple at Jerufalem was a copy of 
 that Tabernacle which Mofes built by the 
 command of God in the Wildernefs, from 
 the heavenly model exhibited to him in the 
 mount. In the outer part, the Priefts 
 performed the daily functions of their mi- 
 niftry ; but into the holy Sanftuary, which 
 the Jews confidered as a iymbol of heaven, 
 the High Prieft went alone, annually, with 
 blood to atone for the fins of the people — ■ 
 a circumftance defigned, it fhould feem, 
 to prefigure the one oblation and fatisfac- 
 tion to be made by Chrifi:, w^ho, after his 
 death, was to reafcend to the glory w^hich 
 he had with the Father before the worlds. 
 
 It 
 
S E R M O N IV. 97 
 
 It can fcarcely be fuppofed, that the 
 ftriking finiilltude between the facrifice of 
 the Pafchal Lamb and the facrifice of our 
 Redeemer was accidental * let us attend 
 to the circumftances. Chrift was flain on 
 the fame day that the Pafchal Lamb was; 
 no bones of either were broken ; as the 
 Lamb was without fpot or blemifh, fo was 
 Chrift without fin : and as the blood of 
 the Lamb fprinkled on the door-pofts was 
 a token and memorial of deliverance from 
 the flaughter of the firft-born ; fo the blood 
 of Chrift purchafed for us a fpiritual deli- 
 verance from the thraldom of fm and ini- 
 quity. 
 
 But if this refemblance between the 
 PalTover and the death of our Lord be far 
 the moft ftriking that can be produced, it is 
 equally certain, however, that all the legal 
 facrifices, whether they were completed 
 within or without the camp, whether they 
 were offered as an atonement for the fms of 
 the community at large, on the great day 
 of expiation ; or for the fms of particular fa- 
 milies or individuals, upon the commillion 
 of the offence; infomuch as they contained 
 
 H the 
 
98 SERMON IV. 
 
 the principle of expiation, and atonement, 
 and redemption from fm, they all repre- 
 fented the future death of Chrift ; and upon 
 this account it may not appear perhaps fo 
 extravagant an expreffion as has been fup- 
 pofed, to affert, that the Gofpel is con- 
 tained in the Law ; for the ceremonial part 
 of the Mofaic Law was, in fad:, a conftant 
 allufion to the Gofpel -, and there is no 
 reafon, prima facie, why it Ihould not be 
 fo : on the contrary, there is every reafon 
 from the nature of the cafe to fuppofe, that 
 a difpenfation, w^iich w as a preparation and 
 rudiment for a better and more perfeft lyf- 
 tem to come, would contain in its inftitu- 
 tions, frequent tokens and indications to 
 that future fyftem. 
 
 Chrift ianity and Judaifm, it muft ever be 
 remembered, are not independent, uncon- 
 nected fyftems of Religion, but mutually 
 dependent on each other, as parts of the 
 fame general fcheme of Providence, for the 
 happinefs of man. Succeffive Revelations, 
 if they are really Divine, muft be necefla- 
 rily fucceffive difcoveries of truth ; confe- 
 quently they cannot contradid: each other, 
 
 they 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 99 
 
 they cannot be Inconfiftent with each other. 
 But in the gradual communication of truth, 
 what is at firft feen faintly and obfcure- 
 ly, will, in procefs of time, become gra- 
 dually clearer, till at length the day-fpring 
 from on high breaks forth upon us in all 
 its luftre. 
 
 God hath vouchfafed, at different times, 
 to make two covenants with his creatures : 
 the one carnal, fan6lioned by temporal pro- 
 mifes, and enjoining the performance of a 
 multitude of external ordinances ; the other 
 ipiritual, applying to the heart and under- 
 ftanding, and raifing our thoughts beyond 
 the frivolous concerns of our prefent tran- 
 sitory exiftence, to the enjoyment of a 
 boundlefs eternity. But however different 
 they might be in form, in inftitution, and 
 in ceremonies, in fubftance the two cove- 
 nants are the fame ; the great defign of both 
 was the fame; the Mediator of both was the 
 fame ; and the vital principle of both, faith 
 in the power and the promifes of God. 
 
 To redeem mankind from the punifh- 
 
 ment of death which they had incurred, 
 
 H :3 and 
 
loo SERMON IV. 
 
 and to reftore them to immortality, was 
 the one great fcheme of Providence ; for 
 this gracious purpofe, Chrift was to fufFer 
 death upon the crofs. The time at which 
 this awful event was to happen, and the 
 fteps which were gradually to lead to its 
 accompliihment, were all fixed by God,- 
 long before the ratification of the firft co- 
 venant, before even the aft of creation it- 
 felf So the Apoftles fpeak of the great 
 myftery of Chriftianity : '' The wifdom of 
 God," fays St. Paul, *' is a myftery, even 
 the hidden wifdom which God ordained 
 before the world to our glory ^ ;" and '' ye 
 are not redeemed w^th corruptible things," 
 fays St. Peter, *' but wath the precious 
 blood of Chrift, who was pre-ordained be- 
 fore the foundation of the world ""." So 
 alfo St. John fays, that " the Lamb of 
 God was flain from the foundation of the 
 world *." 
 
 That the holy Jefus therefore fliould 
 make an atonement for the fms of man- 
 kind, by a voluntary oblation of himfelf 
 upon the crofs, was from all eternity the 
 
 y S Cor. li. 7. 2 I Fet. i. 18. 20. ^ Rev.xIIi. 8. 
 
 purpofe 
 
SERMON IV. loi 
 
 purpofe of Almighty wlfdom. In the Di- 
 vine mind, the whole myfterious fcheme 
 extending throughout all ages, from the 
 very commencement of time to the final 
 confummation of all things, was compre- 
 hended under one point of view, as one 
 complete and perfe6l plan. ^^ Known unto 
 God are all his works from the begin- 
 ning ^." To man, the difpenfations of God 
 prefent themfelves in detached parts, and 
 with different degrees of clearnefs or cb- 
 fcurity ; and even now we comprehend 
 them imperfeftly. To God there can be 
 no varieties of knowledge, and no grada- 
 tions of time. 
 
 But though the certain knowledge of 
 this precious facrifice was referved for the 
 latter days, it was at all times operating 
 continually to produce the bleffed eitefts of 
 Sancftification and Redemption. The righ- 
 teous Patriarchs before the promulgation of 
 the Law, and all holy and religious men 
 under the Law, were juftified, as Vv^e are, 
 by the free gift of God, through the me- 
 diation of Chrift. " Abraham %" they are 
 the words of our Saviour hlmfelf, ^' Abra- 
 
 * Aifts XV. 18. *= John viii, 56. 
 
 H 3 ham 
 
ivz SERMON IV. 
 
 ham rejoiced to fee the day of Chrift ;'" 
 and we with reafon fuppofe, that he faw it 
 typically in the intended facrifice of his 
 own fon. ^' He believed," we arc told, 
 ^' and his faith was counted unto him for 
 riiihtcoufnefs \" St. Paul tells the Corin- 
 thians, that '' the Fathers were all under the 
 cloud, and were baptized in the fea, and 
 did eat the fame fpiritual meat, and drank 
 of the fpiritual Rock," following them, 
 '"• and that Rock was Chrift ^" 
 
 The Fathers therefore were all juftiiied, 
 not by their own works, or by their own 
 righteoufnefs, but by the all-fufficient me- 
 rits of the facrifice of Jefus Chrift, '^ the 
 fame vefterdav, and to-day, and for ever ^'* 
 
 In what way the future death of the 
 Redeemer could operate, fo as to fave thofc 
 who died before he came into the world, 
 it is prefumptuous in man to inquire ; it is 
 amongft the deep and hidden counfels of 
 the Almighty : it is enough for us that it 
 did fo; and it is certainly confiftent with our 
 notions of the goodncfs of God, to fuppofe 
 that it would do fo; that faith, under every 
 
 «* Gen. XY. 6. ^ i Cor. x. i — 4. ^ Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 dif- 
 
SERMON IV. 103 
 
 difpenfatlon, would operate unto falvation ; 
 and that at all times a repentant finner 
 would receive pardon and remifiion of fins, 
 provided that he performed the facrificatory 
 rites, and complied with the a6ts of obedi- 
 ence which the difpenfation under which he 
 lived, and the ftate of his knowledge, ena- 
 bled him to perform; '^ for every law doth 
 ipeak to thofe which live under it.'* 
 
 And this being the cafe, it is unquef- 
 tionably confiftent with the ufual method 
 which God takes to inflrud: mankind, that 
 ceremonies which were only to be tempo- 
 rary, and facrifices which were only to 
 atone partially for the fins of a particular 
 people, and in that people only for fins of a 
 particular defcription, Ihould, in their form 
 and all external circumftances, reprefent 
 the great and final facrifice, whofe efficacy 
 was to be unlverial and endure to the end 
 of time. 
 
 That God fliould thus forefliew to his 
 chofen people thofc truths which it was not 
 poffible at the time fully to reveal to them 
 )^y a mode of inflirudllon familiar to their 
 
 II 4 . con- 
 
104 SERMON IV. 
 
 conceptions, and adapted to their capaci- 
 ties, by material reprefentations, is no 
 more diiBcult to conceive, than that he 
 Ihould impower his Prophets to reprefent 
 the future glories of Chrift's kingdom, by 
 expreffions and defcriptions taken from the 
 fertihty, the opulence, and the fplendor of 
 their temporal pofleflions ; or that he fhould 
 compel them, by the impulfe of his Holy 
 Spirit, to anticipate the triumphs of the 
 Meffiah, and the univerfal extent of his 
 dominion, when perhaps they imagined 
 themfelves, that they were merely celebrat- 
 ing the triumphs and the profperity of 
 David, or Solomon, or Zerubbabel. 
 
 If fuch then be the nature of types in 
 general, and fuch the principle upon which 
 it is reafonable to fuppofe that they would 
 have a place in the general oeconomy of 
 the Divine difpenfations, it only remains for 
 us to confider, how far we may juftly rea- 
 fon from them, and in wliat way they may 
 be produced as evidences of the truth of 
 Chriftianity. 
 
 No perfon, I apprehend, would attempt 
 
 to 
 
SERMON IV. loic 
 
 to make a convert to the Chriftlan faith, by- 
 typical reafoning ; he woiild argue indeed 
 from Prophecy; he would fhew him whom 
 he wifhed to convince, that the appearance 
 of an extraordinary perfon upon earth had 
 been foretold from the very beginning of 
 the world ; that the time of his coming, 
 his character, his office, and his death, had 
 been minutely defcribed. He would tell 
 him that Chrift claimed to be this perfon, 
 and that he fupported his claim by afts of 
 fuperhuman power, and this would amount 
 to proof, 
 
 A Prophecy accomplifhed by the event is 
 a proof; a Type is not, however exad: the 
 fimilitude may be; and they who attempt 
 to give to types the importance of direA 
 demonftrative proofs, neither underftand 
 their nature nor their real ufe. Did the 
 Jews themfelves, we may afk, ever at any 
 period of their hiftory previous to the birth 
 of Chrift, imagine that their Law and its 
 ordinances were typical reprefentations of 
 their Meffiah, and that the facrifices of the 
 Aaronic priefthood were prophetical repre- 
 fentations of the atonement for fin to be 
 made by him ? 
 
 That 
 
io6 SERMON IV. 
 
 That men of religious minds, who ftu- 
 died their Law with devout hearts, and 
 really wifhed to dlfcover the will of 
 God, might fee and underftand the in- 
 efficacy of their own facrifices, cannot be 
 denied : " without fiieddlng of blood they 
 knew there could be no remiffion of fms^" 
 whatever. *^ Flefli with the life thereof, 
 which is the blood, their anceftors had been 
 forbidden to eat**;" and in the volume of 
 their Law they were told, that it was 
 death to eat the blood, becaufe God had 
 referved it for the altar, to make an atone- 
 ment for their fouls. ** For it is the blood," 
 fays the Law, '^ that maketh an atonement 
 for the fouP;" at the fame time, even the 
 fliedding of blood did not expiat-e for all 
 fms. The fni- offering and the trefpafs- 
 ofFering expiated fms of ignorance, and fms 
 of inferior magnitude : but there were iins 
 for which no fuch expiation could be 
 made; Idolatry, for inftance, and contempt 
 of the Law of Mo fes : they were to be pu- 
 nifhed with death without mercy. Upon 
 fuch occafions, therefore, we can fcarcely 
 conceive, but that ferious and pious men 
 muft have raifed their thoughts to fome 
 
 8 Heb, ix, 22. ^ Lev. xvii. 14. * Lev. xvli. n. 
 
 higher 
 
SERMON IV. 107 
 
 higher and better atonement, to be granted, 
 as the Holy Pfalmlft expreffes it, *' by the 
 lovhig-kindnefs of God, and the multitude 
 of his tender mercies^/' 
 
 From their own Prophets too they muft 
 have learnt to expect a change in their le- 
 gal ceremonies, and the introduction of 
 another fyftem, otherwiie they muft have 
 fuppofed a ftrange inconfiftency in the 
 word of God. For although God pre- 
 fcribes and regulates the facrifice, the Holy 
 Spirit is continually expreffing difpleafure 
 and diflike of it. " To what purpofe is 
 the multitude of your facrifices unto me ? 
 I delight not in the blood of bulls, and of 
 lambs, and of he-goats ; your new moons 
 and your appointed feafts my foul hateth: 
 they are a trouble to me, I am weary to 
 bear them^" The prophet Daniel ex- 
 prcfsly tells them, that the time w^ould 
 come, when the facrifice and the oblation 
 fhould ceafe"^. And both Ifaiah and Daniel, 
 when they are painting in lofty terms, and 
 fplendid imagery, the expelled Chrlft, and 
 the glories of his kingdom, declare, that he 
 
 ^ Pfalm Ixix. 16. ^ Ifa. i. 1 1 — 14, ^' Dan, ix, 27, 
 
 will 
 
io8 SERMON IV. 
 
 will be both the prieft and the vldim at 
 the fame time. And yet the Jews cer- 
 tainly did not conclude from hence, that 
 their Meffiah was to die, to atone for their 
 fins, and not only for theirs, but for the fms 
 of the whole world. If, from the opinion 
 of the earlier Jews, we advert to the prac- 
 tice of our bleffed Lord himfelf, and of 
 thofe infpired perfons to whom he com- 
 mitted the care of his infant church, we do 
 not find that they ever infifi: upon types as 
 dired: proofs; that they place them upon 
 a level, for infl:ance, with the two great 
 proofs of the truth of Chrifi:ianity, the ac- 
 compliihment of Scriptural prophecy, and 
 the display of miracles. St. Paul in his 
 Epiflile to the Hebrew converts (if at leaft 
 I may be permitted to attribute to that 
 holy Apofl;le a compofition which is fi:amp- 
 cd with the fl:rongefl: characters both of 
 his eloquence and his m.ode of arguing) is 
 drawing throughout a comparifon between 
 the Law of Mofes and the Gofpel of 
 Chrifl;. Flis objed: is to perfuade the con- 
 verts to perfevere in the faith into which 
 they had been baptized. Some of them 
 had been feduced by the fubtle reafoning 
 
SERMON IV- 109 
 
 of Jewlfh teachers; and the firmnefs of 
 others had been fliaken by diftrefs, and 
 trials, and perfecutions : the Apoftle there- 
 fore is labouring to infpire them with for- 
 titude, by painting on the one part the glo- 
 rious rewards of unfhaken conftancy; and 
 on the other, the dangers and the punifli- 
 ments which are referved for apoftacy. 
 With this view he enters into a minute 
 comparifon of the two covenants, he 
 points out the circumftances of refem- 
 blance and coincidence in each, and de- 
 duces from thence the infinite fuperiority 
 of the Gofpel above the Law. The Law- 
 was given by the miniftry of angels; the 
 Gofpel, by the Son of God ; the brightnefs 
 of his glory, and the exprefs image of his 
 perfon. The ceremonies of the Law w^ere 
 adminiftered to the Jews by a fucceffion 
 of mortal men : the Gofpel had one High 
 Prieft, even Jefus the Son of God, who 
 wasinveftcd with an eternal and unchange- 
 able priefthood ; a priefthood refembling 
 not that of Aaron, but of Melchifedeck, 
 who was both a King and the Prieft of 
 the moft Hi2:h God. The firft covenant 
 had its ordinaaces; its tabernacle, and its 
 
 fane- 
 
110 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 fan(5luary ; but '' Jelus Chrill is gone inta 
 a better tabernacle, into a temple not 
 made with hands, into heaven itfelf°." 
 Under the Law, the blood of bulls and of 
 goats was fhed to atone for tranfgreffions ;: 
 but Jefus Chrift hath offered up himfelf 
 once for all, and by his own blood hath 
 entered into the holy place, having ob- 
 tained eternal redem.ption for us. Who 
 then, is the concluiion of the Apollle, 
 would quit a more excellent and more per- 
 fe6l Religion, to return to one lefs perfect,, 
 and lefs efficacious ? Or if tranfgreffion and 
 difobedience under the latter received their 
 juft punifhment, who can fuppofe that it 
 is not in the higheft degree criminal to re- 
 jeft the falvation offered by the former? 
 In all this comparifon which the Apoflle 
 makes, which in fad: is a comparifon be- 
 tween the Type and its Antitype; between 
 the rough draught or fhadow of good 
 things to come, and the fubftance of thofe 
 very good things ; there is nothing like 
 an attempt to prove the truth of the Gof- 
 pcl, from the figurative charafter of the 
 Law^ : on the contrary, the Apoflle exprefsly 
 
 ^ Heb. ix. 1 1 — 24. 
 
 calls 
 
SERMON IV. Ill 
 
 calls upon the Hebrews, to leave the prin- 
 ciples of the doftrine of Chrift, and to go 
 on unto perfeftion ; not to return again to 
 the elements, to the fundamental ars^u- 
 mcnts, and the necelTary evidences of their 
 faith, which he ftates to be the doctrine of 
 repentance, of faith in God, of baptifm, of 
 the reflirreftion of the dead, and of the 
 eternal Judgment"*. This therefore is the 
 nature of his argument ; it was addrefled, 
 we know, to Jews, and to thofe who, hav- 
 ing embraced Chriftianity, willied to re- 
 turn to Judaifm. You prefer, he w^ould 
 fay, the Law of Mofes to the Gofpel of 
 Chrift ; but why do ye fo ? For your Law 
 was evidently defedive in the one great 
 point of redemption from fm. Could your 
 legal facrifices have atoned effec^tually for 
 fin, w^ould it have been neceifary to repeat 
 them ^Q often ? Would not one expiation 
 have been fufficient ? And then would 
 they not have ceafed to be offered ? But 
 your Priefts daily minifter in the Temple, 
 and offer repeatedly the fame facrifices, 
 which can never take away fin ; they are 
 only to be looked upon therefore as the fi- 
 
 « Heb. vi. I, 3. 
 
 gurcs 
 
112 S E R M O N IV- 
 
 gures or Ihadows, by which the Holy Ghoit 
 fignified a more perfedl facrifice to be 
 made hereafter. That facrifice is made ; Je- 
 fus Chrift hath offered himfelf without fpot 
 unto God for us ; he is our PaiTover, which 
 is facrificed for us ; he is the- very Lamb 
 of God, w^iich taketh away the fins of the 
 world, and by one facrifice he hath per- 
 fe(3:ed for ever them that are fandified^. 
 
 The dodrine of the Apoftle throughout 
 the whole of the Epiftle is evidently this, 
 that the facrifices of the Law were allu- 
 fions to the great and final atonement to 
 be made by the blood of Chrift : and 
 though the Apoftle does not tell us fo, w^e 
 may venture to conclude, that the defign 
 of God in prefiguring the death of our Sa- 
 viour by the tokens and ihadows of the 
 Law, was to iacilitate the promulgation of 
 Chriftianity, and to prepare the Jewilh na- 
 tion, and through them the whole race of 
 man, for the aw^ful and myfrerious doc- 
 trines of Sancl:ification,and Redem.ption, and 
 adoption to eternal life. Our blefled Re- 
 deemer himfelf, it may be obferved, w^hen 
 
 P Heb. X. 14, 
 
 he 
 
S E R M O N IV. 113 
 
 he is celebrating the laft Pafchal Supper 
 with his difciples, ufes the very form of 
 expreiTion which the Jewilli lawgiver was 
 commanded by God to ufe, when he ra- 
 tified the covenant of the I^aw. " Drink 
 ye all of this, faid he; for this is my blood 
 of the New Teftament, which is ilied for 
 you for the remiffion of iins"^;'' as Mofes, 
 when he took the book of the covenant, 
 fprinkled it with blood, and faid, '* This is 
 the blood of the covenant, which the I^ord 
 hath made with you'." And when a 
 Jew heard that Chrill was an High Prieft, 
 '^ a propitiatory facrifice," and ^* the very 
 Lamb of God ;" when he was told that 
 *^he fufFered for fins," *' the juft for the 
 unjufl:," that " he gave his life, himfelf 
 a ranfom," that '' he redeemed us with 
 his blood," and ^' by his death deftroyed 
 him that had the powder of death ;" the 
 ideas raifed in his mind by fuch expreffions 
 were familiar to him ; they were the firfl: 
 and earlieft leflbn of his childhood : the 
 conftant habits of his life, his daily employ- 
 ments, and his hourly meditations, inde- 
 libly fixed them in his memory; and he 
 
 s Matt. xxvi. 27. ' Exod. xxiv. 8. 
 
 I had, 
 
114 S E R M O N IV. 
 
 had, in fac?!:, only to transfer to Chrlft and 
 his Gofpel the notions which he had de- 
 rived from Mofes and his Law. 
 
 By the follower of Mofes typical rea- 
 foning would be more readily admitted, 
 and more acutely inveftigated, than it 
 would by the Gentile convert ; but its real 
 ufe was the fame to both, not as in itfelf a 
 fufficient evidence of the truth of Chrif- 
 tianity, but as a valuable acceffion to necef- 
 fary and fundamental proofs, a confirma- 
 tion of truths which the mind had already 
 received, and an illuftration of myfterious 
 doftrines, which would otherwife have 
 been perfeftly new and ftrange to their 
 conceptions. At the fame time, it muft 
 be remembered, which is in truth the rea- 
 fon why I have dwelt fo long upon the 
 fubjecS, that that fort of analogy upon 
 which the ufe of types in the Old Tefta- 
 ment, and their application in the New, 
 depends, is to all men alike, to the Jew or 
 the Gentile, to the convert of the Apofto- 
 lic age, or the confirmed Chriftian of our 
 times, a clear and dccifive proof of the 
 unitv of God's defign ; it convinces us, that 
 
 the 
 
SERMON IV. 115 
 
 the gracious purpofe of man's redemption 
 and reftoration to eternal life was never 
 forgotten ; that, in every ftate of religious 
 knowledge, indications of it were given, 
 conformable to the circumftances of the 
 times, and correfponding with the method 
 of inftruftion then in ufe ; and that what- 
 ever ordinances God thought fit to pre- 
 fcribe, either to the Patriarchs before the 
 Law, or their pofterity under the Law, 
 " Chrift was in fad: the end of them all, 
 for righteoufnefs, unto every one that be- 
 lie veth%" 
 
 s Rom. X. 4. 
 
 I 3 
 
 SER- 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 ACTS X. 43. 
 
 TO HIM GIVE ALL THE PROPHETS WIT- 
 NESS. 
 
 IT was the will of God, that the reli- 
 gion, which in his good time was to 
 become univerfal, fhould be announced 
 to the world long before its aftual publi- 
 cation in two ways ; figuratively, by the 
 ceremonies of the Mofaical Law ; and li- 
 terally, by the defcriptions of the holy Pro- 
 phets, who fpake as the fpirit of God di- 
 rected them. 
 
 Of the firft of thefe two methods of 
 previous reprefentation, I have attempted 
 I 3 in 
 
ii8 S E R M O N V. 
 
 in my former difcourfe to explain the true 
 and legitimate ufe ; I now proceed with a 
 more affured ftep, and lefs apprehenfion of 
 error, to point out the origin of the fecond, 
 and to trace its progrefs, from its earhefl: 
 commencement to its ceffaticn in the 
 Jewifli Church. 
 
 In the addreiTes of our bleffed Lord to 
 the Jews of his days, one of the charaflers, 
 which he conftantly affumes to himfelf, is 
 this, that he is the perfon of whom Mofes 
 in the Law, and the Prophets, did write: 
 ^^ I that fpeak unto thee Am He^,'' is his 
 own emphatical expreffion to the woman 
 of Samaria : and when, after his refurrec- 
 tion, he is converfmg w^ith the two difci- 
 ples who knew him not, he fpeaks of his 
 own aftions, and his own fufferings, as 
 being neceffary, becaufe they had been 
 foretold ; he fays, ^' O fools, and flow of 
 heart to believe all that the Prophets have 
 written! Ought not Chrift to have fuffered 
 thefe things, and to enter into his glory ^ V 
 
 The awful fchemc of Prophecy, if it be 
 
 » John iv. 26. ^ Luke xxiv. 25, 26. 
 
 con- 
 
SERMON V. 119 
 
 confidered in a general view, not only re- 
 fers to the coming of Chrift in the flefli, 
 and to the introduction and final efta- 
 blifhment of Chriftianity, but includes alfb 
 in its comprehenfive range the fortunes of 
 almoft all the kingdoms of the antlent 
 world ; it is not the rife, or the over- 
 throw, of opulent ftates and mighty empires 
 alone, of Tyre, of Egypt, or of Babylon, 
 which the Holy Spirit predicts; but with 
 equal precifion, and equal certainty, it 
 marks the time, and the manner, in which 
 the inferior kingdoms of Moab, and Edom, 
 of Amnion, and of Amalek, are gradually 
 to yield to the increafmg power of their 
 neighbours ; and it does fo, becaufe all the 
 kingdoms of the ancient world, as they 
 rofe fucceffively to power, were implicated 
 in fome way or other in the fates and for- 
 tunes of the people of Ifrael, either as the 
 minifters of Almighty vengeance, to pu- 
 nifh that people for difobedience and re- 
 bellion, or as the agents of his mercy, to 
 refcue them from banifhment, and to re- 
 inftate them in the poffeffions of their in- 
 heritance. 
 
 J 4 
 
 It 
 
I20 S E R M O N V. 
 
 It feems therefore to have been the de- 
 fign of God, when he poured forth his Holy 
 Spirit upon the Prophets of Ifrael, in the 
 firft inftance, to give fupport and encou- 
 ragement to his chofen people ; to teach 
 them, that even when they thought them- 
 felves moft neglefted, forfaken, and defolate, 
 they were ftill under the guidance of his 
 paternal arm ; that his anger would in time 
 give place to mercy ; and that then the 
 cup of his vengeance would be poured out, 
 wdth full meafure, upon the heads of their 
 oppreflbrs. But thefe gracious affurances had 
 alfo the higher view of infpiring them with 
 confidence in the power and the promife 
 of their God; that when they faw the tem- 
 poral prediction literally verified, and the 
 temporal promife actually fulfilled, they 
 might anticipate, without any fear of de- 
 ception or difappointment, the approach of 
 that great Deliverer, who was to bring with 
 him bleffings and falvation " to the whole 
 race of mankind." 
 
 The true end of all Prophecy, therefore, 
 was to announce the Redeemer of man- 
 kind; and whatever intermediate purpofes 
 
 wxre 
 
SERMON V. i^i 
 
 were to be anfvv ered ; whatever light the 
 omnifcience of God thought fit to throw 
 upon the future fortunes, either of the Jews, 
 or any other nation, it was done with a 
 view ultimately to bear witnefs to the cha- 
 rad:er, office, and fufferings of the blefled 
 Jefus ; and to defcribe the nature of that 
 Religion, which he came into the w^orld to 
 eftablifli. 
 
 '' To him," faid St. Peter, " give All the 
 Prophets witnefs ^'* And upon another oc- 
 caiion, the fame Apoftle tells the Jew^s, 
 " that Chrift hath fulfilled the things, 
 which God hath fliewed by the mouth 
 of All his Prophets*^." And again, after 
 arguing from the authority of Mofes, he 
 adds, *' yea, and all the Prophets from Sa- 
 muel, and thofe that follow after, as many 
 as have fpoken, have likewife foretold of 
 thefe days^." So alfo, our blefled Lord 
 himfelf, when he wiflied to convince his 
 doubting and incredulous difciples, explained 
 to them his own hiftory, '' beginning at 
 Mofes," as the hiftorian informs us, '^ and 
 All the Prophets V 
 
 <^ A6\sx.43. «• A6ls iii. i8. 
 
 " A<fts iii. 24. ^ Luke xxiv. 27. 
 
 From 
 
izz S E R M O N V. 
 
 From thefe paiTages of Floly Writ it may 
 be inferred, that the Prophecies of the Old 
 Teftament are not to be confidered feparate- 
 Ij, as fo many detached and diffindl reve- 
 lations of God's defigns ; but as forming a 
 complete and connected fyftem, tending to 
 one and the fcime important end, and that 
 they are only to be underftood by confider- 
 ing them in a regular feries, with a view to 
 that end. 
 
 That any one accompliflied Prophecy is 
 a demonftration of the interpofition of God, 
 cannot be difputcd ; becaufe in any inftance 
 to reveal the fccrets of futurity, is beyond 
 the reach of human powders. But allov^'ing 
 this to be true, it muft be granted alfo, 
 that the proof of Divine agency will have 
 a ftronger cifcdi upon the mind, in propor- 
 tion to the variety of circumftances pre- 
 dided ; to the diftance of time between 
 the Prophecy and its accom.plifiiment ; to 
 the ftrangenefs and improbability of the 
 fafts revealed, and to the minute delinea- 
 tion of particulars ; and of courfc it will 
 follow, that the mind cannot poffibly re- 
 ceive fuch conviction from any fmgle Pro- 
 phecy applied to Chrift, as from a con- 
 nected 
 
S E R M O N V. I-; 
 
 i> 
 
 neded view and comparifon of the whole 
 
 together. 
 
 Such a comparifon as this, or rather the 
 outhne of fuch a comparifon, it is my in- 
 tention to trace on the prefent occasion ; 
 more than the outhne it will be impofiQble 
 for me to give ; and the nature of my fub- 
 jed: only calls upon me to fliew, that Chrif- 
 tianity w^as foretold by a regular fucceflion 
 of Prophecies, commencing from the fall 
 of our firft parents; and that thefe Prophe- 
 cies, neceffarily obfcure, at the time of their 
 delivery, from the ambiguity of figurative 
 phrafeology, the extraordinary circum fiances 
 foretold, and the defects of a partial reve- 
 lation, were ftill clear enough to keep alive 
 the conftant hope of the promifed Deliverer, 
 and precife enough, when he came at 
 length in the fulnefs of time, to prove, that 
 he really v/as the perfon promifed and ex- 
 pected. 
 
 For this purpofe it will be fafEcient to 
 felecl from the infinite variety of Prophe- 
 tical defcriptions to be found in the Old 
 Teftament, a fev/ of the mofl ftriking, and 
 
 the 
 
1:^4 S E R M O N V. 
 
 the moft appropriate ; fuch as the moil 
 zealous adherents to the Mofaic Law have 
 allowed to be defcrlptlons of their expected 
 MelTiah, and fuch as the advocates of Chrif- 
 tianlty have proved, beyond all controverfy, 
 to relate exclufively to the Author and Fi- 
 nlflier of their faith. 
 
 The fcheme of Prophecy commences 
 with the fall of man ; in compaffion to the 
 affllfted finners, God vouchfafes to tell them, 
 *' that he would put enmity between the 
 ferpent and the woman, and between his 
 feed and her feed, and that the feed of the 
 woman fliould bruife the ferpent's head ^." 
 Taken fmgly, and w^ithout any connexion 
 with the fubfequent Prophecies, it w^ould 
 be difficult perhaps to affign a reafon, why 
 this declaration fliould be applied to Chrift: 
 but every Revelation that follows it is an 
 additional affurance to us, that this is in- 
 deed the bafis of them all, the firft pofitive 
 aifurance of future Redemption. 
 
 The Jewilli Church always confidered It 
 to be fo ; and, in later times, the Prophet 
 
 s Gen. iii. ij. 
 
 Ifaiah 
 
SERMON V. 125 
 
 Ifaiali alludes to it, as a known and efta- 
 bliflied point, when he is defcribing the 
 glories of Chrift's kingdom, and the happi- 
 nefs which awaits the feed of the bleifed 
 of the Lord ; for '' then," fays he, " duft 
 Ihall be the ferpent's meat^." 
 
 Chriftians at all times have agreed in 
 confidering this declaration of the Almighty 
 to be the earlieft dawn of that hope, vv^hich 
 is now become a fure and certain confi- 
 dence 'y '^ a light," as the Apoftle fays, 
 ^' fliining in a dark place, which gradually 
 became more vifible, till it opened into 
 perfe<ft day '." 
 
 After this original promife of Redemp- 
 tion, made by God himfelf, the Antedilu- 
 vian world were not favoured with any 
 farther intimation of the will of God : ido- 
 latry and irreligion wxre permitted to take 
 their courfe, till the meafure of iniquity 
 v/as full : nor does it appear, that the fa- 
 ther of the reftored world, the juft and 
 righteous Noah, although gifted occafional- 
 ly with fome portion of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 ^ Ifai. Ixv. 25. » 2 Pet, i. 19. 
 
 for 
 
1-6 SERMON V« 
 
 for the good of his contemporaries^ was 
 empowered to make to them any more ex- 
 plicit declaration of the merciful intentions 
 of Providence. The covenant which God 
 made with him, although it is ftyled a per- 
 petual covenant, ^^ the covenant of the age, 
 or the everlafting covenant ^ ;'* oclmog oioc-- 
 '^viK'ii, as the Seventy have tranflated it ; 
 from the time at which it was made, and 
 the lign or token which accompanied it, 
 appears to have been a temporal covenant 
 merely; a promife, that the earth fhould 
 not be deftroyed again in the fame way : 
 and afterwards,when he predicts the fortunes 
 of his fons, the benedidion of Shem, whe- 
 ther with our common verfions we read, 
 ^' BlelTed be the Lyord God of Shem V or 
 with a great oriental critic, '^ Blefled of Je- 
 hovah, my God, be Shem "" ;" this bene- 
 didion cannot, I think, be underftood to 
 mean more than that the pofterity of Shem 
 would be, as we know they adually were, 
 a peculiar people, under the immediate 
 protection and government of God. 
 
 ^ Gen. ix. i6. ^ Gen. ix. 26. 
 
 ^ Kennicott's Diiiertation on the Hebrew Text; p. 561 . 
 
 We 
 
SERMON V. izj 
 
 We may go on then to the call of A- 
 braham : at that time wc learn that the 
 extraordinary perfon, who was firft fpoken 
 of generally as ^' the feed of the woman", 
 (w^as defigned, that is, to be born in the 
 flefli, and to come in the form and fub- 
 ftance of a man), w'as to be a defcendant 
 of the Holy Patriarch ; '' in thee," fays the 
 Almighty, " fliall all families of the earth 
 be bleffed "." Ifmael, the firft born, is af- 
 terwards excluded from the envied inherit- 
 ance; he is promifed the enjoyment of tem- 
 poral profperity indeed, that his dominions 
 fliall be fertile, that he fliall be the head 
 of a princely line, and the founder of a 
 great and mighty nation "" ; but the cove- 
 nant of grace meanwhile is eftablilhed with 
 Ifaac, and in the fame manner it was after- 
 wards taken from Efau, and limited to the 
 pofterity of Jacob p. 
 
 To the Patriarch "^ Jacob it is repeated 
 upon feveral occafions, and in various ways; 
 by dreams and nightly vifions, and by the 
 perfonal appearance even of the Holy One, 
 
 ^ Gen. xii. 3. " Gen. xvll. 20. 
 
 P Gen. xxvii. 29. ^i Gen. xxvlii. 13. 
 
 that 
 
128 S E R M O N V. 
 
 that the blcffing of Abraham was conferred 
 upon him ; and he in his laft moments 
 transfers it, in a remarkable Prophecy, to his 
 fon Judah. 
 
 *' Judah," fays the Patriarch, when he is 
 announcing to his affembled fons the for- 
 tunes which are to befal them in the laft 
 days, *^ Judah, thou art he whom thy bre- 
 thren fhall praife; thy hand fliall be in the 
 neck of thine enemies, thy father's children 
 fhall bow down before thee ;" '^ the Scep- 
 tre fhall not depart from Judah, nor a law- 
 giver from between his feet, until Shiloh 
 come; and unto him fliall the gathering of 
 the people be ^ 
 
 I am aware that no fingle Prophecy of 
 the Old Teftament has received fo great 
 a variety of interpretations, as this remark- 
 able Prophecy of Jacob: but they are critical 
 interpretations of words : the general mean- 
 ing and intent of the Prophecy has been 
 admitted on all hands ; and whether the 
 word Shiloh be tranflated, as it is in the 
 Latin Vulgate, Slui ^nittendus ejiy he who 
 
 * Gen. xlix. 8 — lo, 
 
 is 
 
S E R M O.N V. ii?9 
 
 is to be fent ; whether we read with fome 
 copies of the Septuagiiit verfion, ra ciTrozsi- 
 [jLsva. ccvTcv, the things referved for huTi, or 
 with other copies, co dTroKerroci, he for whom 
 it is referved ; it cannot be difJ3uted, but 
 that the perfon fo alluded to Is '' the feed 
 of the woman," the Meffiah of the Jews, 
 the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. 
 
 And if we attend to the tim.e at which 
 the Prophecy was deHvered, and the lan- 
 guage in which it is convej'ed ; if we conii- 
 der, that the defcendants of Abraham were 
 now recently fettled in the land of Goflien ; 
 that they were to continue there in llavery 
 for four generations ; and that God thus 
 promifed them a perpetuity of temporal 
 dominion — a continuance of it at lealt, un- 
 til the appearance of their great Deliverer ; 
 we may conclude, that it was mercifully 
 2;iven to fupnort them under the hardfhios 
 
 oil i 
 
 which they were to endure, and to con- 
 vince them, that the covenant m.ade with 
 their anceftors would be religloully per- 
 formed. 
 
 The promife thus limited to the tribe of 
 K Judah 
 
I30 SERMON V. 
 
 Judah refted there for feveral centuries : 
 during the whole of the captivity in Egypt, 
 no farther intimations are given of future 
 redemption. But Vvhen the Jews had efcaped 
 from their long fervitude, and, after all their 
 trials and fuffe rings, were entering, under 
 the guidance of their Legiilator, upon the 
 promifed land, the Holy Spirit compels a 
 Heathen Soothfayer to confirm and ratify 
 the original covenant in the face of their 
 enemies : '^ Bleffed,'* fays Balaam, in the 
 very words which Jacob had ufed before 
 him, '^ Bleffed is he that bleffeth thee, and 
 curfed is he that curfeth thee*";" and then, 
 in defiance of the refentment of Balak, he 
 breaks forth into a rapturous anticipation 
 of the triumphs of the Meifiah : '' I Ihall 
 fee him, but not now ; I fhall behold him, 
 but not nigh : there fliall come a liar out 
 of Jacob, and a fceptre fliall rife out of If- 
 racl ; out of Jacob fhall come he that fhall 
 have dominion, and fhall deftroy him that 
 remaineth of the city '." 
 
 That the Holy Spirit, when thefe ex- 
 preffions were ufed, might defign in the 
 
 ^ Numb. xxiv. o. ^ Numb. xxlv. 17 — 19. 
 
 firft 
 
SERMON V. 131 
 
 firft inftance to allude to David, and his 
 conquefts of the Moabltes and the Edomites, 
 I do not deny: but the expreffions evident- 
 ly prove, that the Prophecy had a farther 
 view to the glories and the univerfal do- 
 minion of the Meffiah. 
 
 It was now a very important crifis in 
 the hiftory of the Jews : they were upon 
 the point of entering that country which 
 God had promifed to their ancefhors ; and 
 at this critical period, Mofes their leader, 
 he who had conduced them out of Egypt, 
 who had fupported them in all their diffi- 
 culties, had interceded with their God for 
 them, and given them a civil polity, and a 
 religion— this divine Legiflator was upon 
 the eve of quitting them for ever. Before 
 his departure, he comforts them with the 
 promife of another Prophet, like unto him- 
 felf : *' The Lord thy God will raife up 
 unto thee a Prophet, from the midft of 
 thee, of thy brethren, like unto itiQ ; unto 
 him fhall ye hearken ^." If it be quef- 
 tioned, wliether this be a Prophecy of 
 Chrili or not, we m.ay appeal not only to 
 
 ^ Deut. xviii. i^. 
 
 K ^ the 
 
132 . SERMON V. 
 
 the fimilitude between the bleffed Jefus 
 and the Jewifli Legiflator, or the degree of 
 infpiratlon, or their perfonal converfation 
 •with the moft High God, but to the un- 
 doubted authority of an infpired Apoftle. 
 St. Peter does fo apply it in his firft ha- 
 rangue to the Jews ; '' For Mofes truly 
 faid/' he argues, '' unto the fathers, A Pro- 
 phet fhali the Lord God raife up unto you 
 of your brethren, like unto me ; him fhall 
 ye hear in all things, whatfoever he fhall fay 
 unto you ''." 
 
 Thus it was that , the Jews were taught 
 to expect in their MeiTiah the gifts and 
 endowments of a Prophet; and the holy 
 Evangelift informs us, that the multitude, 
 when they were miraculoufly fed by Je- 
 llis, cried out immediately, '' This is of a 
 truth that Prophet that iliould come into 
 the world ^." 
 
 In the interval between the death of 
 Mofes and the eftablifliment of David 
 upon the throne of Ifrael, the Prophetic 
 oracles are filent : during that period;, the 
 
 ^ Afts iii. 22. y John vi. 14. 
 
 chofen 
 
SERMON V. 133 
 
 chofen people were gradually extending 
 their conquelb, and acquiring a fecure and 
 permanent eftabliihment in the land of Ca- 
 naan. Then God was ever prefent with 
 them, in every event of their lives; both 
 their welfare as a community, and their 
 happinefs as individuals, were under the 
 immediate guidance of his particular Pro- 
 vidence. They wanted not therefore the 
 warning voice of the Prophet, to point out 
 to them impending dangers, or to fuitain 
 and confole them under their ad:ual prcf- 
 fure: the promife of Abraham, as it was 
 now called ; the covenant made by the 
 Almighty with their righteous progenitors, 
 in their own perfons they had feen fulfilled, 
 in one fenfe, by the acquifition of the con- 
 quered provinces of the Canaanites. With 
 juft confidence, therefore, they might an- 
 ticipate its full and final accompliiliment. 
 But it ftili continued to be the general in- 
 heritance of Judah, till the eftablifliment 
 of David upon the throne, and then it was 
 limited to the houfe and family of that 
 prince. 
 
 '-' Go," fays the Holy Spirit to the Pro- 
 K 3 phet 
 
134 
 
 S E R M O N V. 
 
 phet Nathan, '' Go, and tell my fervant 
 David, Thus faith the Lord — When thy 
 days be fulfilled, and thou fhalt fleep with 
 thy fathers, I will fet up thy feed after 
 thee, which lliall proceed out of thy bowels, 
 and I will eftablifli his kingdom. He Ihall 
 build an houfe for my name, and I will 
 ftablifli the throne of his kingdom for ever; 
 and thine houfe and thy kingdom fhall be 
 eftabliflied for ever before thee ; thy throne 
 fliall be eftabliflied for ever ^." 
 
 If it be faid, that this is a prophetical 
 defcription of Solomon, and not of Chrift, 
 we may afl^, whether it is true of Solo- 
 mon to fay, that he fliould be raifed to the 
 throne, when David flept with his fathers, 
 that his kingdom fhould be perpetual, and 
 his throne eftabliflied for ever ? It may alfo 
 be afked, whether the Holy Spirit does not 
 allude to this very Prophecy, as relating to 
 Chrift, when the Angel announces to the 
 bleffed Virgin, avowedly fpeaking of Chrift, 
 that the Lord fhould give unto him the 
 throne of his Father David, '' that he fhould 
 reign over the houfe of Jacob for ever; and of 
 
 ^- 2 Sam. vii. 5 — 16. 
 
 his 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 6b 
 
 his kingdom there iliould be no end ^ ?" As 
 the temporal fplendour of the Jewiih nation 
 was at its height during the reigns of Da- 
 vid and Solomon, fo alfo their Religion was 
 at that time more free than ever from Pa- 
 gan fiiperftitions, and their attachment to 
 the God of their fathers more fteady and 
 more inviolable. 
 
 But from that period, idolatrous wor- 
 ship began to gairt ground amongfl them ; 
 a flicceffion of vicious princes corrupted 
 the pubhc ritual, and debafed the Religion 
 of their people. Then it was, that the Al- 
 mighty thought fit to impart more liberally 
 the gifts of his Holy Spirit, and to reveal 
 with greater particularity, for the fupport, 
 it may well be fuppofed, and the comfort 
 of the righteous, who adhered to the only 
 true God, the character and the office of 
 him, which was to accompliili the original 
 promife. 
 
 Whilil fome of the infpired Prophets are 
 commanded to cenfure the prevailing vices, 
 and the crimes of the people ; to paint in 
 
 ^ Luke i. 35. 
 
 K 4 flrong 
 
1.36 SERMON V. 
 
 ftrong colours the odious fm of Idolatry, 
 and to call them back, if poffible, to the 
 worihip of the true God ; others are em- 
 ployed to defcribe, in glowing imagery, and 
 appropriate language, the future advent of 
 the Meffiah, the glories of his kingdom, 
 and the brilliant rewards which are re- 
 ferved for the righteous. The Prophet 
 Ijaiah, being fent to announce to Ahaz the 
 ailurances of deliverance from his confede- 
 rate enemies, gives him at the fame time 
 the affurance of an higher and more im- 
 portant deliverance, to be granted in later 
 times. The houfe of David, he tells him, 
 fhall never fail, till that great deliverance 
 takes place : and this is to happen, when 
 ^' a Virgin fliall conceive and bring forth a 
 fon, whofe name fhall be called Imma- 
 nucl \" '' There Ihall come forth a Rod," 
 fays the fame Prophet, '' out of the item 
 of Jeffe, and a Branch fhall grow out of his 
 roots: the Spirit of the Lord Ihall reft upon 
 huTi — with righteoufnefs lliall he judge the 
 poor, and reprove with equity for the meek 
 of the earth — righteoufnefs fliall be the gir- 
 
 ^ Ifal. vH. 14. 
 
 die 
 
SERMON V. 137 
 
 die of his loins, and faithfulnefs the girdle 
 of his reins ^" 
 
 Other fimilar predlftions of the fame 
 Prophet I pafs over purpofely : my wifli is 
 to trace the feries of Prophetical Revelation 
 from the beginning, not to detail all that 
 the Prophets have fpoken; otherwife it 
 would be eafy from the volume of the 
 Evangelical Prophet, whofe predidions 
 are, in truth, a hiftory of the Gofpel — it 
 would be eafy to perceive, that Chrift was 
 to confirm the authority of his mlffion, 
 and to prove his Divinity by a difplay of 
 benevolent miracles ; that he was to be 
 rejected by the Jews to whom he w^as 
 fent, and received by the Gentiles, al- 
 though defcended from the royal houfe 
 of David ; that his immediate Parents were 
 to be in a ftate of humiliation and indi- 
 gence ; that he *' v/as to be a man of for- 
 rov/s, and acquainted with grief;" to be 
 wounded for our tranfgreffions, and to 
 i'uffer for our iniquities'^; and yet, that ** his 
 name fliould be called Wonderful, Coun- 
 fellor, the mighty God, the everlafting Fa- 
 ther, the Prince of peace^" 
 
 " Ifai. xl. I. *^ Ifai. llli. 3. ^ Ifai. Ix. 6. 
 
 It 
 
138 S E R M O N V. 
 
 It would be eafy to cite the paffages 
 themfelves, in which thofe extraordinary, 
 and to all appearance contradictory, cir- 
 cumftances are foretold: but I haften to 
 other Prophecies. About the fame period 
 of the Jewifti hiftory, the Prophet Micali 
 marks the place in which the MelTiah was 
 to be born. ^' But thou, Bethlehem Ephra- 
 tah," fays he, " though thou be little among 
 the thoufands of Judah, yet out of thee 
 fliall he come forth unto me, that is to be 
 Ruler in Ifrael ; whofe goings forth have 
 been from of old, from everlailing V 
 
 As we proceed in the hiftory of the 
 Jewifti people, we find, that when the 
 vengeance of the Almighty had overtaken 
 them ; when their city and their temple 
 were deftroyed, and their tribes led away 
 into captivity, ftronger and fuller affurances 
 were continually given them of future de- 
 liverance. 
 
 In the days of affiid:ion and public ca- 
 lamity, the unbeliever was always ready 
 to deride the expectations of the faithful, 
 and to accufc the Almighty of tardinefs 
 
 ^ Micah V. 2. 
 
 in 
 
SERMON V, 139 
 
 in the execution of his promifcs : ^' Let 
 him make fpeed, and haften his work/' 
 they faid, *^ that we may fee it; and let the 
 counfel of the Holy One of ifrael draw 
 nigh and come, that we may know^." God 
 therefore vouchfafes to afford to his righ- 
 teous fervants, that they might refute the 
 cavils of the gainfayers, a clearer and more 
 explicit affurance, that his promife vv^as ne- 
 ver forgotten. 
 
 ^' Behold, the days come, faith the 
 Lord," by the mouth of his Prophet Jere- 
 miah, '^ that I w411 perform that good 
 thing which I have promifed unto the 
 houfe of Ifrael, and to the houfe of Judah ; 
 in thofe days, and at that time, will I caufe 
 the Branch of Righteoufnefs to grow up 
 unto David ; and he fhall execute judgment 
 and righteoufnefs in the land : in thofe days 
 fivdll Judah be faved, and Jerufalem fliall 
 dwell fafely ; and this is the name where- 
 with he fliall be called, the Lord our Righ- 
 teoufnefs^." And when thofe days come, the 
 Holy Spirit by the fame Prophet declares, 
 that the Mofaic Law iliall give place to the 
 
 s Ifai, V. 19. ^ Jerem. xxxiii. 14. 
 
 new 
 
I40 • SERMON V. 
 
 new covenant. " After thofe days/* faith 
 the Lord, '^ I -will put my Law in their 
 inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; 
 and I will be their God, and they fhall be 
 my people'." 
 
 The Prophet Ezekiel, who was himfelf 
 a captive in Chaldea, declares, that '' the 
 fcattered flock fliail at length be gathered 
 into their fold; and I will fet up one fliep- 
 herd over them, and he fliall feed them, 
 even my fervant David ; he fhall feed them, 
 and he fhall be their fliepherd, and I the 
 Lord will be their God, and I will make 
 with them a covenant of peace''." 
 
 To the holy Daniel, when he is praying 
 to the Almighty to take pity upon his peo- 
 ple, and to redeem them from their capti- 
 vity, the angel Gabriel announces the pre- 
 cife time of the Meffiah's appearance upon 
 earth. '^ Seventy weeks are determined upon 
 thy people, and thy holy city, to punlfh 
 their tranfgreffion, and to make an end of 
 fins ; to bring in everlafting righteoufn efs, 
 and to feal up the vifion, and the Pro- 
 
 * Jerem. xxxi. 33. ^ E^ek. xxxiv. 23. 
 
 phecy. 
 
SERMON V. 141 
 
 phecy, and to anoint the moft Holy/* 
 '^ Know therefore and underftand/' fays 
 the angel, " that from the going forth of 
 the commandment to reftore and to build 
 Jerufaiem unto the Meffiah, the prince, 
 fhall be feven weeks ; and after threefcore 
 and two weeks iliall Meffiah be cut off, 
 but not for himfelf ^'* 
 
 I forbear all comment upon this ftrik- 
 ing predidion ; it is impoffible for lan- 
 guage to be more precife ; and it has 
 been the ftudy of pious and learned men, 
 to fliew how exaftly it was verified by the 
 event. 
 
 We are now come to the laft period in 
 the hiftory of Prophecy : the Jews wxre to 
 return from their captivity, and to rebuild 
 their Temple ; but it was to be far inferior 
 to the former in external fplendour, in 
 decorations, and all the vifible tokens of 
 the immediate prefence of their tutelary 
 God. 
 
 The Holy Spirit, at this time, while it 
 
 ^ Dan. ix. 25. 
 
 signifies 
 
142 SERMON V. 
 
 fignifies the approach of their Dehverer. 
 ufes that method of confoling the people 
 for the evident diminution of the fplen- 
 dour of their Temple. '' Behold/' fays the 
 Prophet Zechariah, '^ the man whofe name 
 is the Branch; and he Ihali grow up out of 
 his place, and he fiiall build the temple of 
 the Lord : even he fnall build the temple 
 of the Lord ; and he fhall bear the glory, 
 and fliall fit and rule upon his throne, and 
 he fhall be a prieft upon his throne '''." 
 
 When the elders of Ifrael are looking 
 back with regret and forrow to what they 
 had loft, the Holy Spirit forbids them to 
 defpair : God, by his Prophet Haggai, re- 
 minds them of the covenant he had made 
 with their fathers, and of his fixed and in- 
 violable purpofe ; and aiTures them, that 
 he will make the latter houfe more glori- 
 ous than the former. ^' Yet once it is a 
 little while, and I will fhake all nations, 
 and the defire of all nations Ihall come ; 
 and I will fill his houfe with glory — the 
 glory of this latter houfe Ihall be greater 
 than of the former, faith the Lord of 
 
 ^' Zechar. vi. 12. 
 
 Hofts ; 
 
SERMON V. 143 
 
 Hofts ; and in this place will I give 
 
 n '» 
 
 peace . 
 
 Malachi, the laft of the illuftrious line, 
 affures them, at the fame time, that to 
 this their new Temple the Meffiah would 
 come. *' Behold/' fays he, ^'I will fend my 
 meffenger, and he ihall prepare the way 
 before me : and the Lord, whom ye feek, 
 ihall fuddenly come to his temple, even 
 the meffenger of the covenant, whom ye 
 delight in : behold, he fhall come, faith 
 the Lord of Hofts^." 
 
 With this exprefs and pofitive affurance 
 the viiion was fealed up, and the book of 
 Prophecy clofed : for a period of more than 
 tvv^o centuries, God left his people to re- 
 flefl: upon the revelations w^hich he had 
 already given them, to meditate conti- 
 nually upon the holy Oracles w^hich were 
 committed to their cuftody, and to cherifli 
 in their minds the anxious expedlation of 
 that glorious Perfon who w as to come. 
 
 Thus I have traced, from the fall of 
 
 ^ Hao;sr. ii. 6, ° Mai. ili. i 
 
 'oa 
 
 mein, 
 
144 SERMON V. 
 
 man, a regular fucceffion of Prophecies, 
 delivered at diftant intervals of time, and 
 under very different circumftances of tem- 
 poral fortune and profperity ; but all com- 
 bining to ftiew, that at a certain time an 
 extraordinary perfon would appear among 
 the Jew^s, and all agreeing that that perfon 
 would be of the tribe of Judah, and of the 
 royal lineage of David ; that he would be 
 a Prophet, a King, and a Prieft ; that he 
 would come as a meffenger from God, and 
 would proclaim a new covenant, a cove- 
 nant of peace, not only to the Jews, but 
 to the whole race of mankind. 
 
 Of the Prophecies which I have feiecled, 
 almoft all relate exclufively, and in their 
 primary fenfe, to Chrift ; and for that rea- 
 fon I have confined myfelf to them; not 
 that the evidence of other Prophecies, of 
 thofe which relate in their primary fenfe to 
 David, or Solomon, or any other illuftri- 
 ous Ifraelite, and in their fecondary only 
 to Chrift, is not as clear, as conclufive, 
 and as fatisfacSory ; for fo it certainly is : 
 when the holy Pfalmift fays, *' Thou fnalt 
 not leave my foul in hell, neither Ihalt 
 
 thou 
 
SERMON V. 145 
 
 thou fufFer thine holy one to fee corrup- 
 tion^," he is clearly ipeaking, not of him- 
 felf, but of Chrift; becaufe, as the Apoftle 
 St. Peter argues, " David died, and was 
 buried with his fathers, and faw corrup- 
 tion; Chrift did nof^; and fo in every cafe, 
 where a Prophecy is fuppofed to have a 
 double fenfe, if there be any one circum- 
 ftance which cannot poffibly apply to the 
 perfon humanly fpoken of, we are to con- 
 clude, that beyond its immediate applica- 
 tion it has a reference ultimately tp Chrift. 
 The force of the Prophecy therefore is 
 equally ftrong: but ftill, where there is any 
 thing of ambiguity, or any thing like myf- 
 tical allufion, the predidion is more expofed 
 to cavil, and mifconception, and mifmter- 
 pretation ; while the force of the dired: 
 Prophecies, neither the artifices of the 
 Jewifli Interpreter, nor the fneers and ri- 
 dicule of the Infidel, have ever been able 
 to weaken, or to elude. 
 
 Of the ufe of Prophecy in general, and 
 of the nature of the argument with which 
 it fupplies the Chriftian, it is not to be ex- 
 pelled that I fhould fay much ; it is 
 
 P rfalm xvl. 10. *i A6ls II. 27. xiil. SS- 
 
 L enough 
 
146 SERMON V. 
 
 enough for my purpofe to have fhewn,, 
 that the Holy Spirit gradually announced 
 with more and more perfplcuity, as the 
 fulnefs of time drev/ near, the advent of 
 the Mediator, v^^ho was to efFed: the great 
 purpofe of man's redemption. Every thing 
 beiide is foreign from my fubjecS. But as in 
 our days the frivolous cavils and the petu- 
 lant declamations of forgotten fceptics are 
 continually received by the Sophlfts of the 
 modern fchools of infidelity, it would be 
 wrong perhaps to pafs over in total filence, 
 a topic fo nearly connefted with the argu- 
 ment before us. 
 
 It was faid by Porphyry, and by Celfus, 
 in the earlieil days of Chriftianity; it has 
 been faid by the Deifts of our times ; and 
 it is one of the favourite affertions of all 
 unbelievers, that Prophecy may be a good 
 evidence to a Jew, or to one who believes 
 the Divinity of the Mofaic Law, and 
 really thinks, that the Prophetical books 
 were didated by God ; but that it is be- 
 neath the notice of minds that are enlidit- 
 ened by philofophy, and which foar above 
 the bigotry of vulgar prejudices. 
 
 What 
 
S E R M O N V. 147 
 
 What then if it can be proved that an 
 event, of vs^hich at the time there was no 
 appearance or probabiUty whatever, was 
 literally predifted for ages before it took 
 place, and that it did take place at the very 
 time and in the very manner foretold ; 
 if this can be proved, is it not to ail men 
 equally, to the Gentile as well as to the Jew, 
 an inconteftible evidence of the interpofi- 
 tion of God ? 
 
 If, for example, the Holy Spirit declared 
 of Ifhmael, that '' he ihould be a wild 
 man; that his hand fliould be againft every 
 man, and every man's hand againft him; 
 and that his feed fhould not be numbered 
 for multitude' ;" and we find, that this 
 defcription is verified at this day in the 
 numbers, the wandering life, and the un- 
 conquerable fpirit of his defcendants in 
 Arabia : if it was faid of Canaan, that he 
 lliouid be ** a fervant of fervants unto his 
 brethren^" and we fee his wretched pofte- 
 rity ftill groaning under the yoke of the 
 cruel eft and moft oppreffive fervitude : if 
 Tyre, Nineveh, Babylon, and Jerufalem, 
 
 f Gen, xvi. 10 — 12. ' Gen. ix. 25. 
 
 L 2, were 
 
148 S E R M O N V. 
 
 were all deftroyed precifely as the Pro- 
 phet has declared that they fliouid be, arc 
 not all thele facfts plain and forcible appeals 
 to the underftandlng of every human being, 
 who is capable of thinking or reafoning at 
 all? 
 
 But the obfcurity of Prophecies, it is 
 fald, gives fuch a latitude of interpretation, 
 that no certain dependance is to be placed 
 upon them. That Prophecies are obfcure 
 cannot be denied ; they muft all be more 
 or lefs {o, from the very nature of the cafe : 
 for as it was not poffible to reveal plainly 
 and explicitly, during the exiftence of a 
 preparatory difpenfation, the great truths 
 referved for the latter days, it was necef- 
 fary to throw over them the myfterious 
 veil of Prophetical phrafeology. But if the 
 Prophecy be a literal one, a comparifon 
 with the event will remove the obfcurity, 
 and precifely fix its meaning ; if it be figu- 
 rative, the difficulty arifmg from figurative 
 and iymbolical expreffions cannot be done 
 away even by the event ; for, as the great 
 author of the difcourfe on the Ufe of Pro- 
 phecy has obfcrved, a figurative defcription 
 
 of 
 
SERMON V. 149 
 
 of a future event will be figurative ftlll, and 
 will have all the obfcurity of a figurative 
 defcription as well after, as before, the 
 events <» 
 
 But to bring the whole queflion to an 
 iffue : there are in faft but two points to 
 be confidered ; and no honeft and impartial 
 mind, that has fatisfied itfelf upon thofe tw^o 
 points, can fail to look with a firm and un- 
 Ihaken faith, till it fliall pleafe the Al- 
 mighty to make known to us, what even 
 now continues to be flirouded from our 
 view; for, *' as yet the vifion is for an ap- 
 pointed time"," 
 
 In the firfl place, is It poflfible, that the 
 Prophecies, which fo clearly and pointedly 
 announce a Redeemer to come, fliould be 
 forgeries ? That they undoubtedly could 
 not be fo, muft be evident to every one, 
 who recollects, that the facred depofit of 
 Prophecy was committed to the care of 
 a whole nation ; that the feveral predic- 
 tions of thofe infpired perfons, whofe clia- 
 
 ^ See Sherlock's Difcourie on the Ufe gf Prophecy. 
 « Habbak. 11.5. 
 
 L 3 ra(5ter 
 
I50 SERMON V. 
 
 raster and office the people were taught to 
 admire and to venerate, were enrolled in 
 the public and authentic a6ls of their na- 
 tion ; that they were recited daily in their 
 fynagogues ; were guarded wdth the moft 
 fcrupulous and jealous care ; and cheriflied 
 as the foundation of all their hopes, and 
 their claims to future glory and domi- 
 nion. 
 
 If under fuch circumftances it be impof- 
 fible for an inflant to entertain the fuf- 
 picion of a forgery, or to queftion the au- 
 thenticity of the Prophetical defcriptions 
 of our blefled Lord ; the next point to be 
 afcertained is, whether the perfon fo de- 
 fcribed did aftually appear in the w^orld : 
 did he come at the time previoufly fpeci- 
 fied ? Was he really the defcendant of 
 David ? And did he claim to be the meffen- 
 ger of God, and the founder of a new co- 
 venant? ''Did he raife and fupport the poor 
 and lowly in fpirit ?" Was he '' eyes to the 
 blind, and feet to the lame ?" And did the 
 bleffing of them that were ready to periih 
 come upon him? Did he, laftly, affert, that 
 he was come to redeem mankind ? Did he 
 
 '' die 
 
SERMON V. 151 
 
 *^ die for our fins, and rife again for our 
 juftification ?" If all this be true, if it be 
 an undoubted hiftorical faft, that a perfon, 
 with fuch claims, and fuch pretenfions, 
 did a6lually appear in Judea, the conclu- 
 fion is immediate : we have only to ac- 
 knowledge, as Philip did to Nathaniel, 
 that *^ we have found him of whom Mofes 
 in the Law, and all the Prophets, did 
 write, Jefus of Nazareth, the fon of Jo- 
 feph\" 
 
 ^ John I. 4^. 
 
 L 4 3ER- 
 
■ uptuaaMuwwMiaaaH 
 
 SERMON VI 
 
 JEREMIAH xlvi. 28. 
 
 FEAR THOU NOT, O JACOB MY SERVANT, 
 SAITH THE LORD I FOR I AM WITH 
 thee; for I WILL MAKE A FULL END 
 OF ALL THE NATIONS WHITHER I 
 HAVE DRIVEN thee: BUT I WILL NOT 
 MAKE A FULL END OF THEE. 
 
 HAVING fliewn in my former Lec- 
 tures what were the great ufes of 
 the preparatory dlfpenfations of Judaifm, 
 it is now time for me to confider the ad- 
 mirable methods of God's providence, by 
 which it was contrived, that the fortunes 
 of the Jewiili people, their pohtical revolu- 
 tions. 
 
154 SERMON VI. 
 
 tlons, and their alternate changes from 
 power and profperity to humiliation and 
 ilavery, fhould all contribute to promote 
 the great purpofe of preferving in the world 
 the knowledge of the true God, and of 
 preparing the way for the promifed Mef- 
 fiah. 
 
 It is reafonable to exped:, that a nation 
 fet apart and diftinguiihed from all others, 
 in the effential features of laws, cuftoms, 
 and religion, fhould alfo be diftinguifhed 
 by fome ftriking peculiarity in their exter- 
 nal circumftances, that the viciffitudes of 
 their fortunes w^ould be more uncommon, 
 and that their happinefs and their mifery 
 would carry with them fome indications of 
 the defign, for which they were originally 
 feparated from the reft of mankind. 
 
 In the declaration, by which the Pro- 
 phet is ordered to confole the companions 
 of his captivity, a difference is marked be- 
 tween the condu6l of the Almighty to his 
 chofen people, and to the reft of mankind: 
 '' Fear not, O Jacob," faith the Lord ; 
 ^* other nations I will utterly deftroy — 
 
 thine 
 
SERMON VI. 155 
 
 thine enemies, thofe who have been the 
 minifters of my vengeance to punifli thee, 
 lliall be fwept away from the face of the 
 earth : but of thee I w^Ill not make a full 
 end." 
 
 This then is the peculiarity by which 
 the Jews, as a nation, were ftrongly con- 
 trafted, in their external circumftances, with 
 every other nation exifting; that they were 
 not at all afFecfted by thofe circumftances 
 of alliance, of commerce, of migration, or 
 of conqueft, which either infenfibly change 
 the manners and habits of a people, or force 
 them reludantly into new affociations, till 
 every trace of their original character be 
 loft : that although unfortunate as no peo- 
 ple ever were (for they ftrictly verified 
 what their Legiflator had foretold, '^ that 
 no mifery fnould be like their mifery"), 
 they tenacioufly preferved the remembrance 
 of the promife of Abraham : although 
 fcattered and difperfed over the face of the 
 globe, their national character was as dif- 
 tincl as if they had never quitted the con- 
 fines of the promifed land : and although 
 reduced by the ravages of inceffant wars, 
 
 and 
 
156 S E R M O N VI. 
 
 and the fevere hardfliips of fervitude, their 
 population continiialiy hicreafed; and the 
 remnant, to whofc forrow and contrition 
 God once more granted the poffeffions of 
 their forefathers, became again m no long 
 time a flourilTiing and powerful people. 
 
 Thus it was contrived by the wifdom of 
 God, for the inftruftion and benefit of all 
 his creatures, that the whole tenor of the 
 Jewifh hiftory fiiould contain a conftant 
 difplay of his particular providence ; and as 
 it hath pleafed him, that the events of that 
 hiftory fliould be recorded for our ufe, un- 
 der the immediate guidance of his Holy 
 Spirit, wx are to profit from the lefl^ons it 
 conveys, as much as thofe who were fpec- 
 tators of the fact recorded : nor are we 
 left to the fallible and uncertain conclu- 
 fions of our own reafon ; for this hiftory 
 (it is the obfervation of a great man, and I 
 will give it in his own expreffive language) 
 hath herein a fingu^ar prerogative above 
 all that have been written by the moft fuf- 
 ficient of merelv human authors — it fetteth 
 down exprefsly the true and firft caufes of 
 all that happened, not imputing '^ the death 
 
 of 
 
S E R M O N VI. 157 
 
 of Ahab to his over forwardnefs in battle/' 
 the ^' ruin of his family to the fecurity of 
 Jehoram in Jezreel ;" nor the *^ victories of 
 Hazael to the great commotions ralfed in 
 Ifrasl, by the coming of Jehu ; but refer- 
 ring all unto the will of God, 1 mean, unto 
 his revealed will \" 
 
 It is not that the fates and fortunes of 
 the reft of mankind were not as much un- 
 der the control and direflion of God's pro- 
 vidence, as thoie of the people of Ifrael : 
 but the interpofition of that providence 
 w^as not fo vlfible, nor fo evident to man. — 
 In the annals of prophane hiftory, we pafs 
 to the firft great Origin of all, through the 
 medium of fecondary caufes ; and too often, 
 it is to be feared, the mind flops there, and 
 is content to attribute the effect produced 
 to the immediate caufe before us ; to the 
 operation of the pafiions, or the appetites, 
 or the underftandino; of man, without raif- 
 ing its thoughts to him who ufes the agen- 
 cy of human affeftions, and human appe- 
 tites, to bring to pafs the purpofes of his 
 
 ^ Ralegh's Hiftory of the World, Book H. Pctrt I. chap, 
 xxi. 
 
 own 
 
158 S E R M O N VL 
 
 own eternal will. But when we open the 
 facred Volume of infpiratlon, the cafe is 
 widely difrcjent; the tranfition from the ef- 
 feft to the firft caufe is immediate ; the 
 ■will of God is announced^ and the event 
 follows that will, without any delay, or any 
 chain of intermediate operations — fuccefs 
 and misfortune, defeat and viclory — regu- 
 larly follow the performance or the vioia- 
 tion of the original compad: made between 
 God and his people. Thus w^e are brought, 
 as it were, into the very counfels of the Al- 
 mighty ; and the revealed will of God be- 
 ing our guide, we can be at no lofs to com- 
 bine the principal events, to bring them to- 
 gether under one view, and to trace them 
 ultimately to that one great defign, which 
 connefts and harmonizes the whole. 
 
 God, when he firft fummoned the father 
 of the Jewilli people from his native coun- 
 try, exprefsly told him, that his delcendants 
 iliould become a numerous people, numer- 
 ous as ^' the fand of the fea, or the duft of 
 the earth '." The holy Jacob is told, '' that 
 he fhould fprcad to the Eaft and the Weft^ 
 
 ^ Gen. xii. 2. xiii. 16. 
 
 the 
 
SERMON VI. 159 
 
 the North and the South'." But when 
 the Patriarchal family went down to Egypt 
 wath their flocks, what reafon had they to 
 expeft the accomplilhment of this promife? 
 They were few in number, and poor and in- 
 efficient in their circumftances. In the com- 
 mon courfe of things, even if they had been 
 favoured and cherifhed throughout by the 
 Princes of Egypt, as they were at firft ; if 
 their lives had been tranquil and eafy, and 
 their refources affluent, ages and genera- 
 tions muft have palTed away, before they 
 could have been numerous enough to jufti- 
 ty in any degree the expedations, which 
 the promife m.ade to their anceftors had 
 raifed. But we know that their lives were 
 neither eafy nor undifturbed; a fpirit ofjea- 
 loufy, which the rapidity of their increafe 
 feems firft to have excited, induced the E- 
 gyptians to harrafs and opprefs thefe new 
 fettlers, in whom they expcfted to find a 
 rival, and an enemy, and perhaps a con- 
 queror. Laborious tailis were impofed 
 upon them, under which it was conceived 
 their ftrength muft fail ; the rigour of their 
 fervitude was increafed, and every fcheme, 
 
 .Ten. xxviii. 14. 
 
 that 
 
i6o S E R xM O. N VI. 
 
 that the bittereft malice could devife, was 
 executed, in order to check and deprefs 
 them ; but in vain : for, as their own hifto- 
 rian informs us, ^' the more they were af- 
 flicted the more they multipUed and grew ." 
 And when the days of their bondage were 
 accompliihed, they came forth, in defiance 
 of ail the attempts to detain them in fla- 
 very, or to reduce them to infignificance, a 
 numerous and wealthy people. 
 
 It was this miraculous increafe, under 
 circumftances fo inaufpicious, that they 
 w^ere afterwards commanded by their Le- 
 giflator to commemorate, when they of- 
 fered up to God the firft-fruits of their har- 
 veil. The form of thankfgiving, which the 
 Law prefcribed upon tliat folemn occafion, 
 commences with a comparifon between 
 their iirfl: entry into Egypt, when they 
 were going to fele6i: food for their fupport, 
 and their triumphal departure from it, with 
 the mighty fign and wonder accompanying 
 their progrefs : the Angel of God con- 
 tinually watching over them, and the Al- 
 mighty arm uplifted, to check and difcom- 
 
 <^ Exod. i. 12. 
 
 fit 
 
S E R M O N VI. i6i 
 
 fit the hofl; of their purfucrs : '^ thou flialt 
 ipeak and iay," faid the Law, ^^ before 
 the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to pe- 
 rifli was my father; and he went down 
 into Egypt and fojourncd there with a 
 few, and became there a nation great, 
 mighty, and populous^" 
 
 This was the firft ftep in the gradual 
 accompUfliment of the temporal covenant : 
 redeemed from oppreffion and from fla- 
 very, enriched with the treafures of their 
 enemies, and evidently protefted and 
 guarded by God, the people of Ifrael now 
 anticipated with confidence the pofieffion 
 of that good land w^hich had been pro- 
 mifed to their fathers : but they were not 
 aware of the trials and the difficulties 
 Vv^hich ftiil awaited them; that they were 
 to w^andcr for forty years, without any 
 fixed or regular fcttlement, in the pathlei'i 
 defert before them ; and that tlie land of 
 plenty Vvas only to be acquued by the 
 conqueft of the warlike nations who then 
 poficfTed it. On the events which befel 
 them in the wildernefs it Vv^ould be idle to 
 
 ^ Deut. XX vl. j. 
 
 U dwell ; 
 
i62 SERMON VL 
 
 dvvell ; it. is known to every one, that as 
 the courfe, which they took, deviated in 
 many inftances from that which human 
 prudence, or human forefight, would have 
 chofen; fo the mode of their fubfiftence, 
 their drefs, and their diet, during their te- 
 dious marches, were all miracles, and only 
 to be accounted for by the conllant inter- 
 ference of God. So their own great leader 
 told them; '' I have led you forty years/' 
 faid he, '' in the wildernefs : your cloaths 
 are not waxen old upon you, and thy flioe 
 is not waxen old upon thy foot : ye have 
 not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk 
 wine or ftrong drink, that ye might know, 
 that I am the Lord your GodV The 
 great objed: then of this fojourning in the 
 defert, and this continual difplay of mira- 
 cles, was to imprefs upon their minds a 
 thorough convicSion of the power of God, 
 and an implicit faith in his promifes. Let 
 us fuppofe then, that all thefe trials are 
 paft, that they are now a diftind: nation, 
 with a code of judicial ordinances, a lyftem 
 of morality, and a ritual of w^orfhip, all 
 vouchlafed to them by God himfelf ; that 
 
 ^ Deut, xxix. 5. 
 
 Mofes, 
 
S E R M O N VI. 163 
 
 Mofes, their Deliverer, their Mediator, and 
 their Guide, after a formal ratification of 
 the covenant with the Almighty, and a 
 prophetic delineation of the bleilings and 
 the curfes which vv^ould inevitably attend 
 their obedience, or difobedicncc, has de- 
 parted from them for ever ; that, under the 
 aufpices of his fuccelTor Jofliua, the tribes 
 are fettled in their refpective allotments, 
 preclfely as the holy Patriarch Jacob, in 
 his parting benediftionS and Mofcs after 
 him^, had predicted that they would be 
 fettled. 
 
 It is fcarcely credible how fliort an in- 
 terval had pafled, before this perverfe and 
 ungrateful people not only forgot all that 
 they had been tauglit, and all that they 
 had fuffered, but violated even the ex- 
 prefs condition upon which they knev/ 
 that their exiftence as a nation depended. 
 Initead of ading as tlie delegates of God, 
 and the minifters of his vengeance, to pu- 
 niili the idolatrous Canaanites to the utter- 
 moft, they became their partners and com- 
 panions in wickednefs, and offered up at 
 
 § Gen. xlix. ^ Deut. xxxiii. 
 
 M 2 the 
 
i64 SERMON VI. 
 
 the fhrines of the Syrian Deities of Baal 
 and Afntaroth, thofe ads of praife and 
 adoration which they knew to belong ex- 
 clufively to the one true God : thus, al- 
 though God, as it is faid, had '* rolled away 
 from theiTi the reproach of Egypt'," a 
 greater reproach, and the ftain of fouler 
 impiety, was fixed upon them. 
 
 During: the adminiftration of their 
 judges, the Jewilli hiftory prefents to us 
 little more than a pifture of their ftrange 
 infatuation and blindnefs, and of the mer- 
 cy and long fuffering of God ; a conllant 
 repetition of the fame crimes, and the 
 fame punilliments, the fame repentance, 
 and the fame rewards : idolatry pnnilhed 
 by llavery, and fincere acknowledgement 
 of the offence, and return to the woriliip 
 of the true God, rewarded by a reftoration 
 to liberty, and the poiTeffion of their pro- 
 mifed inheritance. Of this difpenfation 
 of providence, wx cannot fail to remark, 
 that the mode of punilliment, and the 
 mode of rew^ard, which God thought fit to 
 adopt, were calculated in an eminent de- 
 gree, not only to correct the idolatrous 
 
 pro- 
 
SERMON VI. 165 
 
 propenfities of the Ifraelites, but to imprefs 
 lurroundlng nations with a belief of the 
 one true God, and thus to extend more 
 widely the foundations of true religion. 
 
 Thefe nations — the nations, that is, Vvho 
 from antient times had poiTefled the pro- 
 mifed land, and the countries bordering 
 upon it, were either the defcendants of 
 Canaan, or, more properly fpeaking, of 
 Ham, or the relations and pofterity of 
 Abraham, who gradually migrated to the 
 territories originally defigned for them by 
 the Almighty : of Lot, for initance, cam.e 
 the two great families of Moab and Am- 
 mon ', of Efau, the Iduma^ans ; of Ma- 
 -dian, the Madianites ; and of Ifm.ael, the 
 Ifmaelites and the Amalekites: and to the 
 hatred which the Canaanites naturally would 
 feel for an invader, who was come to rob 
 them of all their poffeffions, to break down 
 their images and their altars, to deftroy 
 their hallowed groves, and to deface every 
 veftige of the religion of their anceftors, 
 the children of the Patriarch Abraham ad- 
 ded the animofity of rivals ; of rivals con- 
 tending for that glorious inheritance, which 
 M 3 had 
 
i66 S E R M O N VL 
 
 had been promlfed originally to all the 
 feed of Abraham, without any diftinftion 
 or limitation. In the fight of thefe na- 
 tions, therefore, no puniihment and no re- 
 ward could be fo impreffive, or fo awful, 
 as the grant or the deprivation of that 
 country, in which they all fuppofed they 
 had a right to participate. This therefore 
 was the fcene which the Almighty chofe 
 for a difplay of his power ; from thence he 
 drove his people when they forgot him, or 
 rebelled againft him, and forced them to 
 bend their neck under the yoke of the 
 very rivals who hated and defpifed them ; 
 and thither he brought them back again, 
 when they Vv'ere repentant and forrowful, 
 w^th '' a mighty hand, and outftretched 
 arm," bv the fmgle and unafiifted efforts 
 of his chofen fervants, of Sampfon, of Gi- 
 deon, of Jepthah, and Deborah. Thus it 
 was, that^ daring the alternate viciffitudes 
 of comfort and flavery, the nation ftill 
 continued to increafe in numbers and in 
 power; and if we go on to the times of 
 their monarchy, when the fervant of God 
 was called from the flieep-fold to fit upon 
 the throne of Ifrael, when *^ the fame of 
 
 him 
 
SERMON- VI. 167 
 
 him went out unto all lands, and the fear 
 of him through all nations ;" we find, that 
 in repeated conflicts they have conilantly 
 been viftorious, that they have gradually 
 triumphed over their enemies, and ex- 
 tended their dominions almoft, althoudi 
 not entirely, to the boundaries which God 
 had fixed hlmfelf, from the '' Red Sea even 
 unto the fea of the Philifline, and from 
 the defert unto the river"/' 
 
 To the extent of country which David 
 acquired by conqueft, under the peaceful 
 fway of his fuccefibr, they added the ad- 
 vantages of commerce. His alliance with 
 Hiram of Tyre, and his marriage with the 
 Egyptian Princefs, contributed to aid and 
 promote the plans which his own wifdom 
 had devifed ; and from the ports of Elath 
 and Eziongeber, which he improved and 
 fortified, the wealth of Africa and India 
 flowed into Jerufalem, until, as the facred 
 Hiftorian informs us, '' cedars^ were as 
 l}^camore trees that are in the vale for 
 abundance, and filver in Jerufalem as 
 itones." If, from this period of fplendour 
 
 ^ Exod. xxiii. 31. ^ i Kings x. 27. 
 
 M 4 and 
 
i68 SERMON VI. , 
 
 and profpcrity, we go on to the revolt of 
 the ten tribes, and the feparation of the 
 two kingdoms of Ifrael and Judah, it ap- 
 pears, that the ancient fondnefs for idola- 
 trous devotion, which had long lain dor- 
 mant, revived w^ith increafed ardor. The 
 w^orlliip of the golden calves at Bethel 
 juftified the practice, and led the w^ay to 
 all the monftrous corruptions, and the 
 prophane rites, which the kings of Ifrael 
 were eager to fancSion and encourage. 
 In vain did God by the mouth of his holy 
 Prophets warn them of their danger, and 
 command them to return to the way of 
 righteoufnefs which they had forfaken; nei- 
 ther the picture of ruin and defolation, 
 which the Holy Spirit was continually pre- 
 fenting to their imaginations, nor the par- 
 tial evils which they fuffered, nor the re- 
 moval of the flower of their countrymen 
 into Egypt and Chaldea, had any efFed: 
 upon this deluded people : they perfevered 
 in the open abufe of their law, and the 
 contempt and defiance of God, until their 
 city and their temple were deftroyed, and 
 the whole nation reduced to flavery. Dur- 
 ing the whole period of this their greateft 
 
 and 
 
SERMON VI. 169 
 
 and longcft captivity, the providence of 
 God was watching over them continually : 
 they were kept diftincl: in every refpecl, 
 and feparate from their conquerors. Of 
 Jehoiakim their King, it is faid, that '* his 
 throne was fet above the throne of the 
 Kings that were in Babylon '"." Many of 
 the principal leaders were raifed to fitua- 
 tions of power and confidence ; and the 
 great body of the people were ordered, by a 
 public decree, to take wives for them and 
 for their fons, that they '^ might be increafed 
 there/' as the Prophet tells us, '' and not 
 diminiflied "." 
 
 Repentance and a confeffion of their 
 guilt, after the period had elafped, v/hich 
 was ordained before of God, produced their 
 cuftomary effect ; and the people were re- 
 ftored to their country ; but not the whole 
 people. 
 
 Of the twelve tribes, two only, thofe of 
 Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites, 
 were permitted to return to Judea. From 
 that time to the piefent, the fate of the 
 
 -^ 2 Kings XXV. 28. " Jer. xxix. 6. 
 
 other 
 
I70 S E R M O N VL 
 
 other ten tribes has contuiued to be in- 
 volved in obfcurity. Where they have fub- 
 fifted, what their fituation has been, and 
 whether at this day traces of them are to 
 be found, as modern travellers inform us, 
 in the plains of Hindoflan and China, are 
 queftions of curiofity, which have no con- 
 cern with our fubje^l : and whatev^er their 
 fate may have been, the prediction of the 
 Prophet would equally have been verified^ 
 that '* within threefcore and five years, 
 Ephraim fliall be broken, that it be not a 
 people °." Judah meanvvhile, to whom 
 belonged the adoption and the glory ^ ; and 
 of whom, '' as in the flefli, Chrift w^as to 
 come ;" he of whom his Father, in his laft 
 pr9pheLic benediflion, had faid, "• that he 
 fhould be more numerous and more powder- 
 ful than his brethren ^ ; and that his polity, 
 as a nation, fliould not be diffolved, till the 
 aftual appearance of the great Redeemer ;" 
 Judah did return to the inheritance of his 
 anceftors, and rebuilt the holy Temple of 
 God. 
 
 From the period of their reftoration, the 
 
 *• Ilal. vii. 8. P Rom. ix. 4. "^ Gen. xllx. 
 
 Jews 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 n 
 
 Jev/s feem entirely to have conquered tliat 
 fatal attachment to the idolatry of their 
 Heathen neighbours, which had already in- 
 volved them in fo many calamities. And 
 as if the warning of Malachi, who clofed 
 tlie illuftrious line of infpired Prophets, was 
 perpetually founding in their ears, '' re- 
 member ye the law of Mofes, my fervant, 
 which I commanded unto him in Ho- 
 reb, for all Ifrael %" their obfervance of 
 the Mofaic Law, of its precepts, and 
 its ordinances, appears to have been more 
 fcrupulous, and more exad;, than it had 
 been at any former period of their hif- 
 tory. 
 
 In the mean time, their political iitua- 
 tion was more fecure, and more fettled : 
 the Princes of Perfia, w^hofe vaft empire 
 extended over the greater part of the Eaft- 
 ern liemifphere, from India, as it is faid 
 in the holy Scriptures of the kingdom oi 
 Ahafuerus, from India even unto Ethiopia, 
 over one hundred and feven and twenty 
 provinces '" — thefe powerful Princes be- 
 
 ' Mal.iv. 4. ' Efih. i. i. 
 
 flowed 
 
175 S E R M O N VL 
 
 ftowed upon the Jewifli nation peculiar 
 marks of their favour ; and in later times, 
 the great conqueror of the world, who 
 broke this mighty empire, and divided its 
 provinces amongft his followers, in the ca- 
 reer of his vidories fparcd the holy city, 
 and granted to its inhabitants all the privi- 
 leges, and all the immunities, which their 
 anceftors had enjoyed. 
 
 If at this period we look to the circum-r 
 fiances of the Jews in their own country, 
 we find that they were fecure from the 
 attack of furrounding nations, which before 
 were haraffing them with perpetual incur- 
 fions. Moab \vas gone : the Holy Spirit 
 had declared, that it would be fo, that 
 *' the fpoiler fliould come upon every 
 city, and no city Ihould efcape : that the 
 valley alfo fhould perifli, and the plain 
 be deftroyed'." And this had been ac- 
 tually accompliflied : the Philiilines alfo, 
 and the Ammonites, bad yielded to their 
 fate. And Efau was adually in fervitude 
 under the Jews^J^ very people whom they 
 
 ' Jer. xlviii. 8. 
 
 had 
 
SERMON VL 173 
 
 had fcorned and hated, as the poffeffors of 
 the birth-right of their anceftors. 
 
 If we look abroad to diftant countries, 
 and to cities far removed from Jerufalem,' 
 we fee the followers of Mofes received 
 every where with peculiar marks of favour 
 and diftindion. At Athens, Corinth, and 
 Ephefus, and all the principal cities of 
 Greece, they had their own fynagogues ; in 
 Egypt, they had their Temple, their Ma- 
 giftrates, and a Government of their own : 
 at Antioch, the Lav/ ot Mofes was preached 
 continually, and even in Rome : jealous as 
 the Romans were of any privileges, and 
 much as they dlfliked the Jewifii people, 
 there were times, when the Jews w^ere per- 
 mitted to legifiate for themfelves. 
 
 In the confli61s between the Macedo- 
 nian Princes of Syria and Egypt, Judea, 
 from its fituation, was naturally expofed to 
 perpetual incurfions : but of thefe Princes 
 almoft all but one were the friends and 
 protestors of the Jewifli nation. That ope 
 indeed, as their Prophets had foretold, was a 
 cruel and mercilefs perfecutor : he defaced 
 
 the 
 
174 SERMON VL 
 
 the holy city, plundered the temple, and 
 pillaged and deftroyed the inhabitants. But 
 the vengeance of God overtook him, and 
 in his laft moments he avows what he be- 
 lieves to be the caufe of his fufierings : ^^ The 
 fleep," fays he>, '^ is gone from muie eyes, 
 and my heart faileth for very care : and I 
 thought with myfelf, into what tribulation 
 am I come, and how great a flood of mife- 
 ry it is wherein I nov/ am ! for I was boun- 
 tiful and beloved in my power. But now 
 I remember the evils that I did at Jerufalem; 
 that I took all the veffels of gold and filver 
 that v/ere therein, and fent to deftroy the 
 inhabitants of Judea without a caufe. I 
 perceive therefore, that for this caufe thefe 
 troubles are come upon me ; and behold I 
 pcrifli through great grief, in a ftrange 
 land "." Such was the confefHon of Antio- 
 chus ; and while he was execrated for his 
 cruelty, the nation, which he had oppreffed, 
 was admired for the intrepidity of its lead- 
 ers, its undaunted fortitude, and its zeal 
 in the defence of its religion. 
 
 It happened however, that unfortunately 
 
 '" Mace, vl. lo. Polyb. Fragm. p. ^g'j.f^dit. Cafaub. 
 
 their 
 
SERMON VL 175 
 
 their own internal dlvlfions foon opened 
 the way for a new conqueror ; and the Jew- 
 iih nation became at length the tributaries 
 of Rome : but ftill they continued a dii- 
 tinfl: people ; and with the legions of Rome 
 in their city, the rehgion of Mofes was the 
 fame, and the authority of the Sanhedrim 
 continued inviolate. 
 
 In this latter sra of their hiftory, there- 
 fore, it appears, that they were expofed to 
 fewer viciilitudes, and few^er calamities, 
 than in earlier times \ that as they had not 
 been contaminated by the vices and the 
 crimes of their forefathers, fo they had 
 efcaped their awful punifliments : they had 
 not been driven from their country, under 
 the fcourge of the oppreffor, into exile and 
 captivity ; but, with few exceptions, had 
 been permitted to cultivate in peace the 
 inheritance of their forefathers. And in this 
 ftate they continued, until the appointed 
 time arrived, the time which had been de- 
 termined from old, upon them and upon 
 the holy city, and until the meafure of 
 their iniquity was full. 
 
 If we look back to the principal epochs 
 
 in 
 
lyG S E R M O N VI. 
 
 in their hiftory, to their dehverance from 
 Egypt, their fettlement in Canaan, the 
 flouriiliing days of their monarchy, their 
 captivity in Babylon, and their fubfequent 
 eftablifiiment in Judea ; it is evident be- 
 yond all doubt, that they were miraculoufly 
 preferved from that ruin, in which it is the 
 fate of all nations to be involved, either 
 by the violence of conqueft, or the filent 
 and imperceptible attacks of time : that 
 God always remembered the covenant 
 which he had made with their fathers, the 
 covenant of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob ; 
 and that, w hen in the latter days the Mef- 
 fiah came unto his own, he 'found them 
 flill exifting, with a civil polity, and a Re- 
 ligion diftincS from that of any other na- 
 tion in the world. 
 
 But more than this ; if wc look to 
 them imder all their circumftances, and all 
 their revolutions of fortune, vvhether they 
 wxre profperous or unfortunate, whether 
 they were at reft within the fertile borders 
 of Paleitine, *' every man under his vine, 
 and under his fig-tree %" or '' mourning in 
 flavery by the waters of Babylon ^ ;" we 
 
 ^ JMic, iv. 4. y Pfalm cxxxvii. i. 
 
 fee 
 
S E R M O N VL 177 
 
 fee them ftill as the agents of the providence 
 of God, who by thefe means was fecretly 
 carrying on his great defign, and preparing 
 the world for the introdudion of the Gof- 
 peL 
 
 It is impo/Tible to fuppoie upon any prin- 
 ciples of human reafon, that their earlieft 
 captivity in Egypt, and their extraordinary 
 deliverance, had not a powerful efFed: upon 
 the minds of all who witneffed, and all who 
 heard of it ; the miracles of Mofcs, the ra- 
 pid augmentation of the Ifraelltes, and the 
 deftruftion of the mighty hoft of Pharoah, 
 were all convincing evidences, that this 
 fmgular people were under the guidance 
 and proteftion of a God, far fuperior in 
 powder to the fabled divinities of Egypt. 
 
 It is equally impoffible to fappofe, that the 
 conqueft of Canaan, with all the circum- 
 ftances attending it, the defeat of numerous 
 armies by fmall bodies of men, and fome- 
 times even by individuals, the immediate 
 overthrow of fortified cities, without any of 
 the ordinary operations of w^ar ; and, above 
 all, the exa6l conformity of the fucceffes or 
 N the 
 
178 SERMON YI. 
 
 the failures of the Jews, to the obfervance or 
 negled of their religion — it is not poflible to 
 fuppofe, that they who were wltneiles of 
 fails fo unufual, and fo contrary to the 
 common courfe of human events^ would 
 not frequently be induced to turn from the 
 lying vanities of Paganifm, to^he w^oriliip 
 of the living God. The facred Hiftorians 
 inform us, that this was the cafe, that the 
 number of profelytes increafed continually, 
 and that in the beginning of the reign of 
 Solomon they were found to be '^ an hun- 
 dred and fifty thoufand, and three thoufand 
 and fix hundred ^." The Jewifn commen- 
 tators affert, with what foundation I can- 
 not pretend to determ^ine, that, in the days 
 of David and Solomon, the Sanhedrim w^ere 
 very cautious in their admifiion of the nu- 
 merous Gentile converts to the privileges of 
 Judaifm, left fear of David's power, and ad- 
 niiiratlon of the glory and fplendour of So- 
 lomon, diould have been their fole motives 
 for wifliing to join in the worihip of the 
 liraelites. If this be true, we muft fiippofe, 
 that the number of converts in thofe days 
 was very confiderable ; and this number 
 
 ^ 2 Chron. ii. 17. 
 
 was 
 
SERMON VI. 179 
 
 was certainly increafed during the captivity 
 of the Jews in B:ib\ion. 
 
 During the whole of that period, the 
 Prophets of the captivity were continually 
 denouncing the wrath of God againft Ido- 
 lators, and authenticating the reality of their 
 infpiration, by the evidence of miracles — 
 and not only the infpired Prophets, but all 
 the devout Ifraelites, all the iincere believers 
 in the God of their fathers, v/ere conilant- 
 ly exhorting their conquerors to believe and 
 be converted ; '' Confefs him," is the lan- 
 guage of a pious captive to his countrymen, 
 *^ Confefs him before the Gentiles, ye chil- 
 dren of Ifrael, for he hath fcattered us 
 among them : there declare his greatnefs, 
 and extol him before all the lijansr, for he" 
 is our Lord ; and he is the God of our fa- 
 thers : in the land of my captivity will I 
 praife him, and declare his might and ma- 
 jeily to a fmful nation \" 
 
 From the time that the captives in Ba- 
 bylon were reftored by Cyrus, they who 
 were left behind feem gradually to have 
 
 » Tob. x:ii. 3, 4. . 
 
 N 2, difperfed 
 
i8o SERMON Vr. 
 
 difperfed themfelves into different fettle- 
 ments. The communication between dif- 
 tant nations was becoming every day more 
 eafy and more frequent. The Afiatic inva- 
 fions of Greece had fhewn the pcffibihty of 
 "an inter courfe between the two continents ; 
 and the Macedonian conqueft of Afia ef- 
 fefted this intercourfe. Thus the know- 
 ledge of the true God, of the Laws, and 
 the ReHgion, which he had himfelf pre- 
 fented to his chofen people, was communi- 
 cated to every part of the civilized world ; 
 and in the days of the Apoftles, *' there 
 were dwelling at Jerufalem Jews, devout 
 men, from every nation under heaven ''." 
 In the mean time, that the great end of this 
 difperfion might be fulfilled; that the know- 
 ledge of the one true God, and of his gra- 
 cious intentions to mankind, might be dif- 
 fiifed more generally, and with greater fa- 
 ciUty ; it was ordained, that the facred 
 Oracles of his w^ord lliould be promulgated 
 in that language, which was not only the 
 language of philofophy and literature, but 
 the medium of general communication to 
 the Gentile world. When the Greek ver- 
 
 ^ Aas ii. 5. 
 
 {ion 
 
SERMON VI. i8i 
 
 fion of the holy Scriptures was made by the 
 Jews of Alexandria, it w^as in the power of 
 every Gentile to ftudy the hiftory of ReU- 
 gion ; to trace the origin of nnanklnd ; their 
 fall from innocence ; the promife of re- 
 demption; and the prophetic delineations of 
 that glorious perfon, by wdiom it was to he 
 efFeded. 
 
 It cannot therefore be doubted, that 
 whether the Almighty fcattered his pecu- 
 liar people over the face of the earth, or 
 whether he prefervcd a remnant in Jerufa- 
 lem, it was equally his intention, by both 
 thefe ads of his providence, ultimately to 
 promote the one great defign of introduc- 
 ing the Chriftian faith. 
 
 I cannot however clofe the fubjecS with- 
 out obferving, that the prophecy, from 
 which I have taken the words of my text;, 
 points to a farther accomplifliment. 
 
 The proud oppreflbrs of God's peculiar 
 
 people have long ago been humbled to the 
 
 duft : of them God has made a full end : 
 
 their powxr, their wealth, and their mag- 
 
 N 3 nificence. 
 
i82 S E R M O N VI. 
 
 nificencc^ arc gone for ever. If we afk for 
 Egypt, who v/as once the glory of the 
 world, the parent of arts and fciences, and 
 the great mart of induftry and commerce , 
 has £he not long ago exactly verified the 
 declarations of the Prophet, that '' flie 
 Ihould become a bafe kingdom *" ; that 
 there fliould be no more a prince of the 
 land of Egypt ^', and that Ham in his pof- 
 terity fbould be a fervant of fervants ^ ?" 
 If for Babylon, is ihe not become '' a 
 defoiation, a dry land, and a v^'ildernefs ; 
 a land wherein no man dvvelleth, neither 
 doth any fon of man pafs thereby ^ ?" If 
 for iNineveh, did not God long ago acconi- 
 •piifli W'hat he had faid, that '' the gate 
 #^>f the rivers ihould be opened, and the pa- 
 laces difiolved ^;" and that '' wdth an over- 
 running fiood, he would make an utter end 
 ■of the place thereof^?" Thus the Almighty 
 hath miade an end of the nations, w^ho were 
 the enemies and the oppreflbrs of his peo- 
 ple : but of them he hath not made an end. 
 He hath driven them, it is true, fromi the 
 holy city, and given up the land of pro- 
 
 ■^ Ezek. xxix. 14. ^ Ezek. xxx. 13. * Gen, ix. 25;. 
 
 *' Jer.li. 43. s jSTah. ii. 6. ^ Nah. i. 8. 
 
 mife 
 
SERMON VI. 18 
 
 O 
 
 mife to be trod under foot by the Hea- 
 then. 
 
 But of the people he hath not made a 
 full end: though perfecuted^, oppreilcd, and 
 harraffed, as they have been, with a cruel- 
 ty, of which it is difficult to conceive the 
 exiftence in any civilized country, and ftill 
 more in any Chriftian country, their num- 
 bers have always increafed, they continue 
 ^^ to grow and multiply," and they are at 
 this day to be found in every nation under 
 heaven. 
 
 Why they are thus referved, or what 
 ends of Divine providence they are to ac- 
 complifh, we cannot pronounce with cer- 
 tainty, until it {hall pleafe the Almighty 
 to remove the veil from our eyes : and 
 that will not be, till all human diftinftions 
 of religion iliall be done away; till the Jew, 
 the Gentile, and the Mahometan, fliall unite 
 in a common faith, and we fhall all '' be 
 one fold under one Shepherd, Jefus Chrift 
 the Righteous '.'* 
 
 * John X. 16. Ezek. xxxvil. 22. 
 
 N 4 SER- 
 
SERMON VII, 
 
 DANIEL ii. 20, 21, 23. 
 
 BLESSED BE THE NAME OF GOD rOR 
 EVER AND EVER ; FOR V^^ISDOM AND 
 MIGHT ARE HIS : AND HE CHANGETH 
 THE TIMES AND THE SEASONS ; HE 
 REMOVETH KINGS, AND SETTETH UP 
 KINGS ; HE GIVETH WISDOM UNTO 
 THE \VISE, AND KNOWLEDGE TO THEM 
 THAT' KNOW UNDERSTANDING ; HE 
 REVEALETH THE DEEP AND SECRET 
 things; HE KNOWETH WHAT IS IN 
 THE DARKNESS, AND THE LIGHT 
 DWELLETH WITH HIM. 
 
 IN this fimple and fublime flrain of de- 
 votion, the holy Prophet offers up his 
 thankfgiving to God, for that communica- 
 tion of the Divine Spirit, which had re- 
 cently 
 
1 86 S E R M O N VII. 
 
 centiy been vouclifafed to the prayers of 
 himfelf and his companions. To this man 
 of the captives of Judah, as he was invi- 
 diouflj ftjied by the attendants of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, God had given that infight into 
 futurity, which was denied to the magi- 
 cians and aftrologers of Babylon ; and he 
 was commanded, by the great revealer of 
 all fecrets, to unfold to the anxious Mo- 
 narch the revolutions ot earthly govern- 
 ments in regular fuccefiion, until the efta- 
 blifliment of that glorious kingdom, before 
 which all human dominions, ail principali- 
 ties, and all povv ers, wxre to fade away, and 
 fmk into obfcurity. 
 
 In that vifion which the holy Daniel was 
 impowered by God to interpret, that vifion 
 which had troubled the fplrit of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, had broken his reft, and given him 
 up a prey to forrow and inquietude ; un- 
 der the fj^mbol of an image compofed of 
 different materials, the Holy Spirit had re- 
 prefented the luur great Monarcliies, v/hich 
 vvcre faccelFively to rule the civilized 
 world. 
 
 After 
 
SERMON VII. 187 
 
 After an interval of fevcral years, the vi- 
 fion was repeated, under different iymbols, 
 to the Prophet himfelf, and the Angel of 
 God was the interpreter. The four Beafts, 
 like the component parts of the great image, 
 were explained to be the powerful Monar- 
 chies, which were to fucceed each other in 
 a regular order : the fourth to be different 
 from the other three, ^' dreadful, and terri- 
 ble, and ftrong exceedingly^;" to devour 
 the w^hole earth, and to tread it down, and 
 break it in pieces. 
 
 Of both thefe vifions it may be obferved, 
 that the prophetical hiftory does not ter- 
 minate with the diffolution and difmcm- 
 berment of the fourth Monarchy, but ex- 
 tends its view through a lon^i; iiicceifion of 
 ages, to the triumphant dominion of the 
 Son of Man; the everlafting kingdom, which 
 all dominions were to ferve and obey ; and 
 thus it connefts under one vievv^ the efta- 
 bhiliment of Chriftianity, and the fates of 
 the Chriftian Church, with the various re- 
 volutions in the political fituation of man- 
 kind. It would be foreign to my purpofe 
 
 Dan. vli. 7. 
 
 to 
 
i88 S E R M O N VII. 
 
 to enter into a minute examination of thele 
 awful revelations. I follow the general 
 fenfe of the moft approved commentators, 
 in fuppofmg the four kingdoms of the Pro- 
 phet to be thofe of Affyria, Perfia, Mace- 
 don, and Rome. I have referred to the 
 prophecy Itfelf only for the purpofe of fliew^- 
 ing, that while the chofen race of Abraham 
 were fulfilling the purpofes for which they 
 were fcparated, and diftinguiftied as a pe- 
 culiar people, the Almighty Difpofer of all 
 events was gradually bringing the reft of 
 mankind into that ftate, which he judged 
 to be the moft proper, for receiving and 
 propagating the Gofpel of righteoufnefs. 
 
 When we turn from the facred records of 
 infpiration to the annals of prophane hiftory, 
 with the fame defign of tracing the gra- 
 dual preparations for the introdud;ion of the 
 Chriftian religion, there is a wide differ- 
 ence in the degree of certainty, which at- 
 tends our conclufions. I had occafion be- 
 fore to mark this difference, and to obferve, 
 that, in the one cafe, the interpofition of 
 Providence is immediate, and evident at 
 once ; the agent of God is exprefsly com- 
 manded 
 
SERMON VII. 189 
 
 manded to execute the counfels of Al- 
 mighty wifdom ; and whether he be the 
 appointed minifter of vengeance, or of 
 grace, we not only fee that he is appoint- 
 ed to difpenfe the bleffing, or to inilift 
 the punifliment, as the people are obedient 
 or rebellious, but we arc alfo told diftinitly 
 why he is fo appointed ; and thus the ef- 
 fect produced can always be affigned, not 
 to the agency of man, but to its true and 
 original caufe, the will of God. This 
 could not be the cafe, where the will of 
 man was permitted to aft entirely for it- 
 felf, without the continual interference and 
 control of God's particular providence ; and 
 in this confifted the ftriking contrail be- 
 tween the relative fituation of the Jew and 
 the Gentile : the Jew was fubje6t to the 
 particular authority of God as his fove- 
 reign ; the Gentile was under the protec- 
 tion of his general providence, and amena- 
 ble to his general laws, as the moral Gover- 
 nor of the world : fo that, whilft every 
 ad: of the Jew, whether individually con- 
 fidered or colleftively as a fcate, v/as im- 
 mediately m.arked by the fandion or the 
 difapprobation of God, as their fupreme Go- 
 vernor, 
 
igo SERMON VII. 
 
 vernor, the Gentile was permitted to fol- 
 low, without interruption, the bias origi- 
 nally given to his nature ; his paffions, his 
 aficc^lions, his appetites, all tending ulti- 
 mately to produce the good defigned by 
 God, while the wiidoni which planned 
 the important end, and the power which 
 directed to that one end all the varied 
 combinations of human condud:, w^as far 
 removed from mortal eves. 
 
 On this account it naturally becomes a 
 taflv of greater difficulty, to reafon upon 
 the caufes of all the complicated events in 
 the hiftory of the Gentile world : there is 
 more danger of deviating from the truth 
 into unprofitable conjectures, and more 
 neceffity thei-efore for that diftruit of our 
 own opinions, which ought ever to guide 
 our enquiries into the hidden and myilerl- 
 ous ways of Providence. Surely it is rea- 
 fbnabie to prefume, that the Almighty Go- 
 vernor of the world in his crood time 
 would bring his creatures into that parti- 
 cular Hate of fociety, and of government, 
 which was likely to be molt favourable to' 
 the eftablifiiment of the religion, v/hich 
 
 in 
 
SERMON VII. 191 
 
 ill his mercy he intended to reveal to 
 them ; and what that Itate would be, 
 muft be colle6ied from the charafter of 
 the religion, and the mode in which it 
 was to be propagated. 
 
 Chriffianity was not to be like the reli- 
 gions of Paganifm, a partial fyllem of wor- 
 fliip, confined to the country in which it 
 was firlt taught, or to tlic people who firil 
 embraced it ; it was deiigned to be the re- 
 ligion of the world, and in God's good 
 time the glad tidings of falvation were to 
 be communicated to '' all languages, peo- 
 ple, and nations, under heaven." But in 
 what way was this to be efFefted ? and 
 were the o;lorious do&ines of man's re- 
 demption from fm, and reflioration to eter- 
 nal life, to be generally dittufed over the 
 civilized world? and by what force, or 
 v/hat artifice, was that fabric of error and 
 falfchood, which the fuperftition of the 
 Gentiles had reared with all its fplendid 
 accompaniments of facrifices, and feftlvals, 
 and oracles, to be demoliflied for ever ? 
 
 The Providence of CJod defigned from 
 
 the 
 
ig2 
 
 SERMON Vir. 
 
 the very beginning, that this great change 
 in the religious ftate of mankind lliould be 
 produced by methods which human pru- 
 dence never Vvould have devifed, and by 
 inftruments v/hich the vanity of human 
 reafon would have rejected, had they been 
 propofed, as totally inadequate to fuch a 
 tafk. It was not his intention to over- 
 power the feeble minds of his creatures 
 by a dilplay of pomp and majefty, nor to 
 fafcinate their fenfes by the allurements 
 of art and elegance, nor to force their wall, 
 by the fword of the conqueror, reluftantly 
 to accept the proffered terms of falvation. 
 The pure wifdom of heaven w^as to be 
 taught by a few unlearned men, fele6led 
 from the lower clalfes of fociety, and the 
 moll ordinary occupations of civil life : 
 they were to go forth alone, and . unpro- 
 tected, and without any even of the cuf- 
 tomary provifions for diftant expeditions: 
 they were to traverfe remote countries, 
 and to preach the crofs of Chrift ; fome- 
 times to a refined and poliilied audience at 
 Corinth, at Athens, or at Rome ; and fome- 
 times to a horde of uncivilized Barbarians 
 in Iberia, or Gaul, or Britain. 
 
 It 
 
SERMON VII. 193 
 
 It is clear therefore, that this gracious 
 defigii of diftufmg the hght of the Gofpel 
 of truth over thofe dlftant nations who 
 '' were fitting in darkncfs and the fliadow 
 of death," could never be fo well cffeded, 
 as when countries the moil removed from 
 each other in natural pofition were con- 
 nected by a bond of union under one com- 
 mon government, w4ien habitual inter- 
 courfe had been eftablifned between them, 
 and it was eafy to pais from one to the 
 other, wdthout danger or interruption. 
 
 It w^as to this point, tliat the Providence 
 of God gradually directed all the great re- 
 volutions in the political ftate of mankind : 
 and whoever meditates upon the inftruc- 
 tive page of hiftory, with this idea in his 
 mind, cannot fail to obfcrve, in how many 
 inftances the plans, which were formed by 
 legiflators and philofophers, to connect and 
 aflbciate diftant countries with each other, 
 and the fchemcs ot a<2:2:randizement and 
 univerfal domdnion, which were the de- 
 light of ambitious conquerors, w^ere all un- 
 expeftedly fruftrated, when upon the prin- 
 ciples of human policy fuccefs appeared to 
 o be 
 
194 SERMON Vll. 
 
 be certain, until the proper time arrived^ 
 I'Siog Kccipog, as the Apoftle calls it, the 
 time which Almighty wifdom had chofen 
 belbre the world began, as the propereft 
 and the beft, for the adiual appearance of 
 the Meffiah upon earth. 
 
 It w^ould not be poffible for me, in the 
 compafs of a fingle lecture, to enter into 
 the detail of facls which involve the hif- 
 torj of mankind, from the earlieft ages to 
 the asra of Chriftianity, or to mark all the 
 circumftances in the fucceffion of the four 
 monarchies, which bear in legible charac- 
 ters the impreffion of the finger of God. 
 It is enough for my purpofe to fliew% that 
 at a certain period of time fore-ordained 
 of God, and not before, the civilized 
 world w^as to be placed under the domi- 
 nion of one particular people, and that 
 wdth a view to facilitate the propagation 
 of the Chriftian religion : and I do it in the 
 hope, that many of my hearers, whofe early 
 youth is direfled in this place to the ftudy 
 of prophane hlftory, will learn to confider 
 that hiftory, not merely as a jejune narra- 
 tive of unintereiling fafts, nor as a fplendid 
 
 arsiu- 
 
SERMON VII. 195 
 
 argument for the pen of the hiftorlan, or 
 the orator, but as a record of the power 
 and providence of God ; that they may 
 accuftom their minds to look beyond fe- 
 condary caufes ; and inflead of attributing, 
 with mere worldly men, the rife and 
 growth of empires to the valour of the 
 conqueror, and the fagacity of the law- 
 giver, and their decay and fubverfion to 
 the machinations of the factious, or the 
 attacks of foreign enemies ; that they may 
 refer all to the over-ruling providence of 
 God, of him '' to whom belongeth the 
 power and the might, w^ho changeth the 
 times and the feafons, who fetteth up and 
 removeth kings." 
 
 It feems ever to have been the courfe of 
 human affairs, that a fmall coinmunity 
 fhould rife from very poor and low begin- 
 nings, till in procefs of time it became a 
 flourifliing and mighty empire. The virtues 
 neceffary to an infant ftate, fimplicity, fru- 
 gality, temperance, patience, and valour, 
 while they formed the character of its ci- 
 tizens, enabled them at the fame time 
 gradually to extend the limits of their pof- 
 feffions : firfl: the conqueft of their imme- 
 o 5 diate 
 
jg6 SERMON VIL 
 
 diate neighbours, then of remote countries, 
 by degrees give it opulence and power, till 
 in time power and opulence introduce 
 thofe vices which inevitably terminate in 
 the decay and corruption of every political 
 body. Thus it has often happened, that a 
 mighty empire has fallen in a moment, 
 even in the height of its profperity, and 
 w^hen, to the narrow views of human poli- 
 cy, its permanence and ftability appeared to 
 be moft certain ; *' dies, hora, momentum 
 fufficit evertendis dominationibus quae ada- 
 mantinis credebantur radicibus effe fun- 
 data? \" 
 
 By this courfe of events, the moral go- 
 vernment of God has ever been vindicated, 
 becaufe the milguided appetites and paf- 
 fions of human nature thus eventually 
 bring upon themfelves their own punifh- 
 ment : and, in the mean time, the viciffi- 
 tudes of profperity and misfortune ; the al- 
 ternate elevation and depreffion, which the 
 various nations of the world experienced ; 
 and the changes from abfolute dom^inion to 
 ruin and to fervitude, tended ultimately 
 to produce. that general fubjedion to one 
 
 >^ Vide Calaub. Traefat, quas Folybii Hil^r. praniittitur. 
 
 power^ 
 
SERMON VII. 197 
 
 power, which was neceffary to the pur- 
 pofes of God. 
 
 If we carry back our refearches to the 
 earheft age of mankind, after the confufion 
 of languages, and the difperfion of thofe 
 tribes v/ho had attempted to form a fettle- 
 ment in the plains of Shina, the hiftory 
 of every nation, but that of the chofen 
 people and their immediate neighbours, 
 contains little more than fabulous accounts 
 of migrations and early fettlements, with 
 doubtful claims to preeminence, and to 
 antiquity. The firft powerful monarchy 
 that attrad:s our notice is that of Aflyria ; 
 the firft, that is, that attempted to aggran- 
 dize itfelf by extenfive conquefts, and to 
 fubjugate to its power the widely extend- 
 ed provinces of Alia ; and the monarchs 
 of Affyria, whether they weilded the royal 
 fceptre at Nineveh, or at Babylon, nei- 
 ther purfued their conquefts to any confi- 
 derable diftance, nor retained them long 
 in quiet and fecure poiTefiion : '^ fwift and 
 impetuous in their careers as the eagle %" 
 to ufe the emblem, of the Prophet, they 
 
 '^ Dan. vii. 4. 
 
 o 3 were 
 
198 SERMON VII. 
 
 were continually lofmg the advantages 
 which they had gained : the unlvcrfal mo- 
 narchy, at which they afpired, they never 
 in reality poiiefled ; and they may be laid 
 rather to have been continually contending 
 for it, than to have enjoyed it under any 
 fixed and fettled form. Often they were 
 the agents of God, to punilh his chofen 
 people for their difobedience : and the glory 
 and power of their dominion was at its 
 height when they had carried the tribes 
 of lirael and Judah into captivity. But in 
 the pride of their hearts they attributed to 
 thcmfclves the glory which belonged to 
 God ; and while they were acting as the 
 appointed minifters of his vengeance, they 
 fondly thought that they were promoting 
 the fchemes of their own ambition. ^' How- 
 beit," fays the Prophet, fpeaking of the 
 Ailyrian, '' he meaneth not fo, neither 
 doth his heart think fo ; for it is in his 
 heart to deitroy and cut off nations not a 
 few: for he faith, by the ftrcngth of my 
 hand I have done it, and by my vvifdom, 
 for I am prudent, and I have removed the 
 bounds of the people, and have robbed their 
 treafures^ and I have put down the inhabi- 
 tants 
 
SERMON VII, 
 
 199 
 
 tants like a valiant man^" But the Al- 
 mighty puniflicd this idle boafting, he 
 brought to nought the counfels of the am- 
 bitious, he numbered their kingdom, and 
 finillied it ; and he gave up Babylon, the 
 *' glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of 
 the Chaldees excellency'," as he had riven 
 up Nineveh before it, to become a defla- 
 tion w^ithout an inhabitant. Thus it may 
 be obferved how clofely and intimately 
 the fortunes of the other nations of man- 
 kind wxre connected with thofe of the peo- 
 ple of God : Babylon was to be deftroyed 
 for the defolation which it had brought 
 upon Jerufalem ; and the chofen fervant 
 of God, who was at once announced by 
 the Prophet as the deftroyer of the Affyrian 
 monarchy, and the deliverer of the Jewifli 
 nation, was alfo to become the founder of 
 a new empire, more extenfive, and more 
 powerful far, than the former. 
 
 The founder of the Perfian monarchy 
 was endowed by God with a more than or- 
 dinary fliare of talents and of virtues, and 
 bleft with a conftant feries of victories and 
 
 ^ Ifai. X, 7-^-13. ^ Ifai. xiii. 19. 
 
 o 4 prof- 
 
-oo S E P. M O N VII. 
 
 profperity. ^^ The Lord of Ifrael," fays he, 
 in the decree vvhich he iffued for the re- 
 ftoration of the Jews, " the Lord of If- 
 rael, the moil high Lord, has made me 
 King of the whole world V Coming forth 
 from a poor and barren country, and inur- 
 ed from his earlieft childhood to toils and 
 hardiliip, he became, under the protection 
 of the Almighty, the fovereign of a power- 
 ful empire, whofe boundaries to the Eaft 
 and Weft were the Indus and the JEgean 
 Sea ; to the North, the Cafpian and the 
 Euxine ; and to the South, Ethiopia and 
 the Arabian Gulph. Under the dominion 
 of his facceiTors, the Afiatic empire of the 
 Perfians was enlarged and confirmed : but 
 all their attempts to fubjugate the nations 
 of Europe were fruitlefs ; the time for unit- 
 ing the two C9ntinents under the fame 
 dominion was not yet arrived. 
 
 It is one of the moft curious and inftruc- 
 tive leiTons in the hiftory of mankind, to 
 obferve v/ith what unerring certainty the 
 ambition of the Perfian monarchs, and 
 their eager defire to fubdue the free re- 
 
 ^ 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22. Ezra i. 2. 
 
 publics 
 
SERMON VII. :>oi 
 
 publics of Greece, terminated in their own 
 deltrucSion ; to mark how the reftlefs fpirlt 
 of thofe turbulent democracies, their jea- 
 loufy and hatred of each other, and their 
 own internal diifenuons, reduced tliem to 
 fubmit at laft to a foreign yoke ; and then 
 to notice how the accomplifiiment of their 
 long projefted vengeance upon their eafteni 
 enemies was referved for him whom God 
 had chofen to be the conqueror of Afia. Of 
 that extraordinary perfon^ whofe brilliant 
 atchievements have been at all times the 
 conftant theme of undiftinguliliing pane- 
 gyric, I have only to remark, that, in obey- 
 ing the diftates of his own inordinate am- 
 bition, he carried on the general defign of 
 Providence ; that with wifHom to devife, 
 and vigour and promptitude to execute, 
 any projed: of conqueft, of whatever ex- 
 tent or magnitude it might be, there is 
 fcarcely a doubt, humanly fpeaking, but 
 that he would have become in reality, 
 what his flatterers and panegyrifts have 
 called him, the mafter of the world ; that 
 he would have opened a fecure and eafy 
 communication between the feveral nations 
 of his vafl; empire ; that he would have 
 
 con«- 
 
ooz SERMON VII. 
 
 connected them by alliances and intermar- 
 riages, have enriched them by commerce, 
 and perhaps have pohflied and refined them 
 by arts and Hterature. But the hour w as not 
 yet arrived ; and it pleafed the Almighty to 
 cut off this mighty conqueror in the very 
 prime of his life, and in the full career of 
 his victories. It was not, however, by his 
 own premature death alone, that the vices 
 of Alexander, his pride, his intemperance, 
 and his fanguinary cruelty received their 
 punifliment ; the juft vengeance of God 
 purfued him to the ruin of his houfe, and 
 the deftruftion of all his dcarefh connec- 
 tions. The extenfive dominions, w^hich his 
 prow^efs had acquired, were fplit and di- 
 vided, as the Prophet of God had declared 
 that they fliould be; and the endlefs dif- 
 putes and diffenfions of his fucceflbrs con- 
 verted the w^orld into a theatre of war and 
 bloodflied, and defolated the faireft provinces 
 of Europe and Afia. In the mean time, that 
 people, for w^hom God had deftined the 
 fovereignty of the univerfe, had been gra- 
 dually increafnig in ftrength and confe- 
 quence ; the valour of their foldiers, and 
 the wifdom of their fenators, had been 
 
 uni- 
 
SERMON VIL 
 
 503 
 
 uniformly direded from the very fiift dawn 
 of their power, to the aggrandizement of 
 their territories. No opportunity was ever 
 loft, no means w^ere neglefted, either in 
 peace or war, by open force, by ftratagem, 
 or by alHance, of extending the boundaries 
 of their dominion ; and they were now in 
 a fituation to avail themfelves of thofe dif- 
 trad:ions, which convulfed the empire of 
 Macedon. 
 
 To trace the progrefs of the Roman 
 power, until its favourite objed: of univer- 
 fal empire was obtained, would be to de- 
 tail a trite and well known ftory ; and the 
 fad: of its having obtained it, is all that is 
 neceflary for me to infift upon at prcfent. 
 *' Macedon," fays an hiftorlan, who flou- 
 riflied in the days of the empire, '' never 
 did reduce the world to obedience ; for nei- 
 ther did it poiTefs all Africa, nor all Eu- 
 rope. But Rome does rule over all the 
 earth as far as it is inhabited ; and all the 
 fea, not only the Mediterranean, but alfo 
 the ocean as far as it is navigable; having firft 
 and alone, of all the celebrated kingdom^s 
 
 of 
 
::o4 SERMON VIL ' 
 
 of the earth, made the Eaft and Weft the 
 bounds of its empire ^." 
 
 Thus we have fcen that the uniform plan 
 of Providence was preferved throughout ; 
 that the Monarchs of the Eaft, although 
 they ftyied themfclves the Lords of the 
 univerfe, and, in the hyperbolical language 
 of their country, were ufed to addrefs their 
 public decrees to all nations, people, and 
 languages upon earth, were in reality li- 
 mited to their Afiatic poiTeffions ; and that 
 every attempt to extend their dominion, 
 and to eftablifii an univerfal empire, w^as 
 checked and retarded, until the appointed 
 time was come ; and the people, for w^hom 
 this domiinion was referved, were able to 
 acquire and maintain it. 
 
 It remains only briefly to confider, in 
 what way the fubjedion of the world to 
 one government tended to promote the 
 interefts of Chriftianity. 
 
 Chriflianity, as I have faid above, w^as to 
 
 s DJoryf. rialicarn, Antiq. Rom, lib. i, p,^. Edit. ITudfon. 
 
 be 
 
SERMON VII. -05 
 
 be propagated by human means, by argu- 
 ment, by perfuaiion, by a fair and candid 
 addrefs to the vmderftandings of mankind ; 
 and this appeal ivas to be made perfonally 
 by thofe, to whom the bleffed Author of 
 our faith had committed that important 
 office. 
 
 Now if the feveral nations, to whom the 
 Gofpel was preached, had been unknown 
 to each other ; if there had been no connec- 
 tion or intercourfe between them ; if their 
 governments had been hoftile to each other, 
 it is fcarcely poiiible to conceive, how^ the 
 Apoftles could have executed their tafk, un- 
 lefs indeed we fappofe the interpofition of 
 Providence, by a continued miracle, dif- 
 tinft from thofe miracles, which were the 
 true and proper credentials of their mif- 
 fion. 
 
 And if fuch a difficulty as this may be 
 conceived to have exilled in the cafe of the 
 Apoftles, of courfe it would have been 
 greater in that of their fucceffors, when the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were with- 
 drawn, when the mighty fign and wonder 
 
 no 
 
2o6 SERMON VII. 
 
 no longer accompanied the teacher, but 
 every thing was left to the exertions of hu- 
 man induftry and abilities. But the Al- 
 mighty provided for the fafety of his infant 
 Church, by deferring the appearance of its 
 holy Founder, until fuch channels of com- 
 munication had been opened, and till the 
 preachers of righteoufnefs could fpeak, in the 
 name of the blefled Jefus, to every nation 
 under Heaven. 
 
 It has been obferved, and perhaps vs^ith 
 reafon, that, if Judea had not been a Ro- 
 man province at the time of our Saviour's 
 birth ; if the Jews had not been fubjeft to 
 the jurifdi(5tion of the Empire, and confe- 
 quently enrolled in the general regifter of 
 the imperial fubjefts, the prediction of the 
 Prophet would not have been verified, 
 *' that out of Bethlem fliould come forth 
 a Saviour, whofe goings forth were from 
 old, from everlafting ^." It has alfo been 
 obferved, which is a point of ftill greater 
 importance, that if there had not been a 
 Roman Governor in Jerufalem, the JewilTi 
 Sanhedrim, by their own law, could not 
 
 ^ IVTIc. V. 2. 
 
 have 
 
SERMON VII. -07 
 
 have condemned our blelled Redeemer to 
 that death, which it was ordained that he 
 fliould fuffer as an atonement for the fins 
 of Man. 
 
 If there be truth and reaibn in thefe re- 
 marks, they are an additional evidence of 
 the goodnefs of God, who was continually 
 watching over his creatures, and guiding 
 their wayward and unfteady pafiions, by 
 his unerring w^ifdom, to the minute accom- 
 pliiliment of his gracious purpofes. But 
 all that I have endeavoured to fliew^ is, that 
 the world was fubjefted to the dominion 
 of Rome, in order to facilitate the promul- 
 gation of the Gofpcl. 
 
 The holy Prophet, from whofe volume 
 I have taken the words of my text, by the 
 general tenor of his Prophecy, feems, if I 
 do not mlftake, to point to fuch a conclu- 
 fion in thofe w^onderful produftlons^ which 
 the venerable Mede has called " the lacred 
 Calendar and Almanack of Prophecy :" it 
 is eafy to trace one great defign throughout. 
 
 The four Monarchies are to rife in rcgu- 
 
 h 
 
 ar 
 
5o8 S E R M ON VIL 
 
 lar fucceffion, to exceed each other in power 
 and extent of territory ; and the fourth is 
 to furpafs the other three, and to pofiefs 
 the whole earth. But the Prophecy clofes 
 not there : in the hallowed ftrain of infpira- 
 tion, the Prophet goes on to paint the dif- 
 folution of this mighty Empire, the feveral 
 parts into which it v/as to be broken, the 
 fulferings of the true Church, and, finally, 
 the everlafting kingdom of Chrift. We 
 know that the remarkable prediftions of 
 the holy Daniel, which relate to events 
 prior to the publication of Chriftianity, 
 were fully confirmed ; that the bittereffc 
 enemies of the Chriflian faith confeifed, 
 that thev were fo. We have a ri.2:ht there- 
 fore to conclude, that vv hat relates to events 
 lubfequent to that period vviil be verified 
 alfo ; and, with this reflection to cheer him, 
 a Chriftian oujs;ht n^ever to defpond. For 
 whatever be the fate of earthly governments 
 and human inflitutions ; whatever be the 
 fate even of thofe eftabliihmeYits, by which 
 human prudence hath cherifned and fup- 
 ported true Religion, we have a fure and 
 certain hope, that Chrifl at laft will be 
 "■ all in all ;" and under qxcvj diftrefs and 
 
 perfe- 
 
SERMON VIL 509 
 
 perfecutlon of this Yik, we may look for- 
 ward with confidence to that awful mo- 
 ment, which the Prophet, in his magnifi- 
 cent language, has taught us to exped: ; 
 '^ when the Son of man fliall come with 
 the clouds of Heaven ; and he fliall come 
 to the j^ncient of Days ; and there fliall be 
 given to him dominion and glory, and a 
 kingdom, that all people, nations, and lan- 
 guages, fliould ferve him ; his dominion is 
 an everlafting dominion, which fliall not 
 pafs away, and his kingdom, that which 
 fliall not be deflroyed\" 
 
 ^ Dan. vii. 13, 14. 
 
 SER- 
 
SERMON VIII 
 
 GALATIANS iv. 4. 
 
 WHEN THE FULNESS OF TIME WAS COME, 
 GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON. 
 
 ST. Paul, throughout the whole of his 
 Epiftle to the converts of Galatia^ is 
 taking pains to warn them againft the ar- 
 tifices of thofe falfe teachers, who willied 
 to impofe upon them the v/ork of the Le- 
 vitical ceremonies: '^ There was a time," he 
 fays, *^ when thofe ceremonies were necef- 
 farj ; when the rite of circumcifion, the 
 attendance at the ftated feftivals of the 
 Jewifh Church, and the obfervance of the 
 Sabbatical years, were not only allowable, 
 p % but 
 
-I- SERMON VIIL 
 
 but obligatory ;" but that all thofe ordi- 
 nances, which, ill fad:, were nothing more 
 than faint and partial reprefentations of the 
 truth, were now at an end, for that '^ the 
 fulnefs of time was come," when the Son 
 of God had appeared to redeem thofe who 
 were under the bondage of the law. This 
 expreiiion of the Apoftle, ^' the fulnefs of 
 time," which he ufes upon other occafions, 
 as well as in this addrefs to the Galatians, 
 may be underftood in two ways ; for it may 
 either mean, that all the previous fteps by 
 which God had determined to open the 
 way gradually for the final revelation of 
 his will to man, w^ere now completed, and 
 that nothing more of preparation, or intro- 
 dudtion, was neceifary ; or it may mean, 
 that the period, at which our Saviour en- 
 tered upon his miniftry, was, from the ex- 
 ifting circumftances, of the world, the fit- 
 ted that could have been devifed for the 
 publication of the Gofpel. 
 
 What the preparations were, by which 
 the great fcheme of Providence was gra- 
 dually conduded to its accomplifhment, it 
 lias been the objed of my former Dif- 
 
 courfes 
 
SERMON VIII. ^13 
 
 courfes to enumerate. We have fccii, that 
 a peculiar people were feparated from the 
 reit of mankhid, to preferve the belief of the 
 one true God ; that a country of peculiar fer- 
 tility was affigned to them for their refidencc; 
 that God himfelf was their King; that while 
 the ceremonies of their religion prefcribed 
 an outline, a fliadow of the good thmgs 
 of which their future Mefliah was to be 
 the body and the fubftance; a fucceffion of 
 infpired Prophets from time to time un- 
 folded the glorious plan of redemption, fpe- 
 cified the fcafon at w^hich the Redeemer 
 was to appear in mortal fliape, and the na- 
 ture of the fafferings which he was pa- 
 tiently to endure ; and tliat, in order to 
 fccure the permanence of this preparatory 
 iyftem, for fo long a time, at leaft, as its 
 exiftence was neceffary, the providence of 
 God miraculouily preferved the Jewiih peo- 
 ple, with their civil polity, and their reli- 
 gion, in the form originally delivered to 
 them by their infpired Legiflator ; the 
 reft of mankind, in the mean time, being 
 brought, by the controul of God's provi- 
 dence, into that political fituation, which 
 w^as moft likely to facilitate the general 
 diffufion of the Gofpel. 
 
 F 3 To 
 
314 SERMON VIII. 
 
 To affign the reafon for every ftep in 
 this gradual preparation, is a tafk beyond 
 the reach of human abilities. In that one 
 comprehenfive plan, which extends from 
 the very foundation of the world to the fi- 
 nal confummation of all things, there mult 
 neceflarily be many hidden motives, and 
 many nice connexions between the efFedl 
 and its caufe, which will elude the fearch 
 of beings who fee imperfectly, and know 
 only in part : but even our limited know- 
 ledge, faint and imperfed: as it is, enables 
 us to pronounce, that had the Son of God 
 come into the world at an earlier period of 
 fociety, or without any previous introduc- 
 tion, the holy leffons which he taught, 
 and gracious promifes which he announced 
 to man, v/ould have died away, in the very 
 infancy of their promulgation, unlefs we 
 fuppofe, that human nature had been dif- 
 ferently conftituted ; that the Creator had 
 taken away from his creatures the power 
 to will, and to ad:, and had interpofed, by 
 a conftant miracle, difplayed in every part 
 of the univerfe, to teach mankind his will, 
 and to enforce obedience to it. 
 
 And if on this account we can judge 
 
 of 
 
SERMON VIIL 515 
 
 of the neceffity of the preparation, it 
 is alfo within the compafs of our know- 
 ledge to judge of its cfFedl — fo that we 
 have only to appeal to the evidence of fafts : 
 for it is an hiftorical fad:, that when our 
 Lord came into the world, he did actually 
 find the chofen race of Abraham, amidft 
 the errors and corruptions of Idolatry, ftill 
 w^oriliipping *^ the one true God," ** the 
 God of their fathers," in the very form, 
 and with the very ceremonies, which Mo- 
 fes their Lawgiver, by the command of 
 God, had prefcribed to them. He found 
 them alfo waiting, with the moft anxious 
 folicitude, for his appearance : for while 
 the impious fcoffer ventured to accufe the 
 Almighty of flownefs and forgetfulnefs, in 
 the execution of his promife, all pious and 
 devout perfons, like *^ the aged Simepn,'* 
 and '' the daughter of Phanuel," were look* 
 ing for the confolation of Ifrael, in the full 
 confidence, that, whatever might be the 
 caufe of fo long a delay, God had not for- 
 gotten the promife of redemption, which 
 had fo often been repeated to their fathers. 
 
 The whole of Judea indeed, Herod, and 
 P 4 all 
 
zi6 SERMON VIII. 
 
 all Jerufalem with him, was troubled,, 
 when the birth of the holy Jefus at Beth- 
 lehem w^as announced ; erccoccx^W^Vy is the 
 very ftrong expreffion, which the Evange- 
 hit ufes ; they w ere thrown into an agita- 
 tion : fome, no doubt^ dreading the power 
 of that glorious Perfon, who at length was 
 come to rule over them; others anticipating 
 the fplendour of his victories, and the unli- 
 mited extent of his dominions ; and perhaps 
 the few of better minds and jufter expecta- 
 tions, looking forward with delight to a 
 reign of peace, and equity, and righteouf- 
 nefs. Nor were thefe exped;ations con- 
 fined to the Jews : it was a current opi- 
 nion, derived unqueftionably from the Pro- 
 phecies of Holy Writ, that about this pe- 
 riod of time an extraordinary Perfon would 
 appear in the Eaft ; that he would be a 
 powerful and mighty Prince, and would 
 fubjed: all the nations of the earth to his 
 dominion. 
 
 The fame Prophecies, which ralfed the 
 expectation of the Meffiah, furnifhed the 
 means of knowing him, when he actually 
 came : it w as natural to expeft, that im- 
 
 poflors 
 
SERMON VIII. 217 
 
 poftors would avail themfelves of this ge- 
 neral eagernefs ; that, under the glorious ti- 
 tle of the promifed Deliverer, they would 
 fummon their countrymen to their ftan- 
 dard ; and would attempt to acquire power 
 and opulence for themfelves, mider the 
 fpecious pretext of refcuing their country 
 from the Roman yoke. God therefore had 
 given his people infallible criteria, by which 
 they were to diftinguiili their MeiTiah 
 from all fuch falfe Chrifts, and falfe Pro- 
 phets. Was he of the tribe of Judah, and 
 of the lineage of David ? Was he born at 
 Bethlehem ? Could he control or fufpend 
 the operations of nature ; reltore light to 
 the blind, and vigour and activity to the 
 cripple ? Did he know all things ? Could 
 he penetrate the fecret thoughts of the hu- 
 man heart, and unfold the hidden events 
 of futurity? Thefe were tefts, by which, not 
 only men of education and learning, the 
 chief Prieft and the Scribe, but the illite- 
 rate defcendant of Abraham, in whatever 
 fituation of life he was placed, had been 
 taught to diftinguilh the charafter of their 
 Chrift. 
 
 So 
 
ziS S E R M O N VilL 
 
 So far then it may be faid, that the 
 *^ fulnefs of time was come ;" becaufe it 
 was the time which the Holy Spirit had 
 fixed, for the appearance of the great De- 
 liverer of mankind -, becaufe he was uni- 
 verfally expefted ; and becaufe all the me- 
 thods, by which God thought fit to prepare 
 for his approach, had been brought to full 
 maturity. Thefe, however, are the reafons, 
 why God did not fend forth his Son at an 
 earlier period. But to know why this pe- 
 riod w^as fitter for his appearance than any 
 other would have been, why a farther de- 
 lay w^ould not have been prafticable, confift- 
 ently with the merciful defign of improv- 
 ing the moral condition of mankind, and 
 fitting them for the enjoyment of everlaft- 
 ing happinefs ; to underftand '' the ful- 
 nefs of time" in this fcvxfc, it v/ill be necef- 
 fary to confider, v/hat really was the ftate 
 of mankind, when the Saviour of the world 
 entered upon his public miniftry, and what 
 they a(!:T:ually knew of their duty to God, 
 and to each other. When the holy Fore- 
 runner of the Mefiiah announced to his 
 countrymen the fpeedy approach of the 
 kin.edom of Heaven^ and warned them to 
 
 fave 
 
SERMON VIII. i?i9 
 
 fave themfelves from future mifery, by a 
 timely repentance, the general depravity 
 of mankind, both of Jews and Gentiles 
 ahke, was at its height ; a depravity, which 
 purfued its courfe without any check or 
 control ; for they who wiflicd to Item the 
 torrent, had not the power of doing it ; 
 they had no barrier to obftrucl its pro- 
 grefs, nothing but a vague, fpeculative mo- 
 rality, and a nominal religion, without any 
 real influence upon the heart, or the under- 
 ftanding. 
 
 The Jews (for I will firft confider the 
 circumftances of the Jewifli Church), the 
 Jews, from the time of tlieir captivity in 
 Babylon, had been punctual in their ob- 
 fervance of the Mofalc Law' ; that is, they 
 had never relapfed into that Idolatry, of 
 which their forefathers had been guilty. 
 Whether it was, that the remembrance of 
 former flifferings had taught them to con- 
 quer their natural propenfity to adopt the 
 vices of their neighbours, or that the moft 
 corrupt and the moft vicious did not re- 
 turn with their brethren to the l^tnd of 
 promife, or that the nearer approach of the 
 
 great 
 
Z20 SERMON VIII. 
 
 great Redeemer kept them in continual 
 avv^e and fufpenfe ; whatever was the real 
 caufe, the fa6l is undoubted, that at no pe- 
 riod of their hillory were the Jews fo te- 
 nacious of their own law, or fo free from 
 the bafc and abominable contamination of 
 Idol woriliip. 
 
 But it does not follow, becaufe they had 
 lefs Idolatry, that they had therefore more 
 true Rehgion ; the very reverfe of this was 
 in fa6l the cafe. Woriliippers of the one 
 living God they certainly were ; in the holy 
 Temple of Jerufalem, however inferior it 
 might be to the fplendid fabric of Solo- 
 mon, all the high folemnities of the Mofaic 
 ritual w^ere celebrated ftill in honour of 
 the God of Ifrael : but the popular opinions 
 of their God, the notions which were ge- 
 nerally entertained of his nature and his 
 attributes, wxre very unworthy of him. 
 Accuftomed, as they had been, to confider 
 the Lord Jehovah as the tutelary God of 
 their nation, the Jews confined to them- 
 felves all the benevolent a6ls of his Provi- 
 dence ; and admitting that he was the 
 Creator and the Governor of the univerfe, 
 
 they 
 
SERMON Vlir. 2Zi 
 
 they ftill proudly and fooliflily fuppofed, 
 that they were the fole and exclufive ob- 
 jcd;s of his paternal folicltude. Many of 
 them had been taught to fix their minds 
 upon fymbolical reprefentation of the Di- 
 vine prefence ; and they were yet to 
 learn^ that the God of their fathers was 
 a pure asthereal fpirit, and that he w^as 
 only *' to be worfhipped in fpirit and in 
 truth." 
 
 Followers of the Mofaic Law they were 
 undoubtedly; but in the mode of obferving 
 its precepts^ there was far more of fuper- 
 ftition, than of true and fmcere piety. Such 
 of its minute ordinances as w^ere inftitutcd 
 for temporary purpofes, to w ean them from 
 their attachment to Egyptian fuperftitions, 
 or to guard them from the abominations of 
 the nations of Canaan, were now of little 
 avail ; and, without any prejudice to their 
 religion, might have funk into total difufe. 
 But thofe the bigotted Jcw^ efteemed as 
 highly as the weightier matters of the Law; 
 as the neceiTary ceremonies of his ritual, or 
 the important obligations of the Decalogue; 
 while the rulers of fynagogues, the guides 
 
 and 
 
22Z SERMON VIII. 
 
 and inilrudlors of the people, fo far from 
 corredlng their errors, impofed upon them 
 an additional weight of ceremonies, and re- 
 quired them to pay the fame obedience to 
 their own abfurd traditions, as they did to 
 the facred mandates of the Law and the 
 Prophets. 
 
 That the Mofaic Law in its beft ftate, 
 and when entirely free from the gloffes and 
 fanciful additions of the Cabbala, was de- 
 feftive in many points, cannot be denied, 
 and it had the defed; neceifarily belonging 
 to it, as a preparatory difpenfation. The 
 Law made nothing perfeft, but was the 
 introduction of a better hope : it was a par- 
 tial law, fuited to the circumftances of one 
 particular people alone, and limiting its 
 fervices to a particular place. It per- 
 mitted, if it did not fanftion, a6ls, which 
 natural reafon difapproves, and which the 
 law of univerfal righteoufnefs pofitively 
 forbids ; and paffed over others in total fi- 
 lence, which this latter and more perfedl 
 law enjoins as duties. As a ritual worlhip, 
 its true and only ufe was, to preferve the 
 people from the contagion of idolatry, and, 
 
 by 
 
SERMON VIII. 22S 
 
 by the ufe of expiatory facrifices, to ac- 
 cuftom them to the idea of vicarious pu- 
 nifliment, and to prepare their minds for the 
 
 ^freat Chriftian docSrine of atonement to 
 
 o 
 
 be made for the fms of man by the blood 
 of the Redeemer. As a rule of focial duty 
 between man and man, it was incomplete, 
 becaufe, although it checked and repreffed 
 the inordinate affeilions of man^ and for- 
 bad all flagrant violations of moral juftlce ; 
 yet we try in vain to find in it the duties 
 of mutual forbearance, or forgivenefs of in- 
 juries, of lowlinefs of mind, of patience, 
 humility, and all enduring charity. 
 
 Fully competent therefore, as it was, to 
 anfwer the purpofes which God deilgned it 
 to anfwer, as a law of general obligation 
 it was materially imperfecl : it neither 
 taught men their duty to each other, nor 
 qualified them for acceptance, and par- 
 don with God : it was, as the Apoftle calls 
 it, *^ a miniftry of death and condemna- 
 tion % a fubjedion to a curfe ^ a killing 
 letter ^" 
 
 ^ Z Cor. vii.p. ^ Gal. il, 13. <^ 2 Cor. iii. 6, 
 
 But 
 
024 SERMON Vm. 
 
 But the Law, faulty as it was in itfelf, 
 was rendered ftill more fo by the corrup- 
 tions, which the Jews themfelves had in- 
 troduced into it, by the difputes of their 
 feftaries, and the chimerical inventions of 
 their Rabbins. 
 
 At the head of their Church were the 
 Pharifees, a corrupt and odious fe6l, whofe 
 principles and condud: are uniformly marked 
 by our bleffed Lord with the fevereft terms 
 of reproach. With all the external appear- 
 ance of fanftity ; with a pious demeanor, 
 and an oftentatious parade of devotion in 
 public ; the Pharifee had only the fem- 
 blance of piety, without any real purity of 
 heart, or any proper fenfe of religious du- 
 ties: in his ideas, minute attention to drefs, 
 to his prayers, and his phyladieries ; the ex- 
 a(5l performance of the legal ablutions, and a 
 fcrupulous obfervance of the holy day of reft, 
 were m.ore than fufficient to compenfate 
 for the negleft or the violation of the great 
 obligations of morality. That he lliould be 
 called into another exiftence after this life, 
 he did believe ; but of future judgment, or 
 future retribution^ he feems to have had no 
 
 expec- 
 
SERMON VIII. 225 
 
 expectation. His foul, he thought, after 
 death, would reanimate fome other body, 
 different from his, and totally unconne(!:led 
 with it. Conceiving therefore, as he did, 
 that all merit confifted in the punctual 
 performance of ceremonies, and that that 
 alone would entitle him to the favour of 
 God, beneath the fpecious malk of piety 
 and devotion, he concealed a corrupt heart, 
 a depraved and fenfual appetite, and a tem- 
 per morofe, unforgiving, and uncharitable. 
 
 The Sadducee, on the other hand, the 
 rival and opponent of the Pharifee in the 
 purfuit of worldly ambition, was the de- 
 cided enemy of thofe traditions, which the 
 other prized fo highly ; he adhered ftriftly 
 and literally to the written precepts of his 
 Divine Legiflator. But then he did not 
 fee, as he might have feen, in the facred 
 Volume of his religion, any intimations 
 whatever of a future life : all his views, and 
 all his expectations, were limited to the 
 prefcnt world : the rew'ards which he hoped 
 to receive, if he obeyed the command- 
 ments of his law, were power, and wealth, 
 and temporal profperity ; and the only pu- 
 
 Q nifliment 
 
5^6 SERMON VIII. 
 
 nlfhment which he dreaded was the lofs of 
 worldly advantages, of rank, of opulence, 
 or popular reputation. 
 
 Under the guidance of fuch inftrudors 
 as thefe were, without a Prophet to cen- 
 fure their vices, and to call them to re- 
 pentance, their God not interfering, as he 
 had done in the days of their anceftors, to 
 check the progrefs of iniquity by imme- 
 diate puniPnment, the Jewifh nation gra- 
 dually rofe to fuch an enormous pitch of 
 profligacy and wickednefs, that, as their 
 own hiftorian confefles (and furely he can- 
 not be accufed of want of partiahty for his 
 countrymen), if the Romans had delayed 
 to ftrike the blow, God would have pu- 
 nifhed them by an earthquake, or a pefti- 
 lence, or perhaps have poured down upon 
 them, in fire, the fury of his vengeance, as 
 he did in early days upon the guilty cities 
 of Sodom and Gomorrah ^, 
 
 IjCt us now turn from the Jews to the 
 Gentile world, and fee whether the Hea- 
 then, when the Gofpel of righteoufnefs was 
 
 '^ See Jofephus Antiq. 
 
 offered 
 
SERMON Vlir. ^27 
 
 offered, to hiin, poffcffed any knowledge of 
 religious duty, or any moral law, which 
 thjp. Jew had not. 
 
 . ;It . jiad pleafed the Almighty, . for what 
 roafon it would be folly and prcfumption 
 in man to enquire — but it had pleafed the 
 Almighty '•' to wink at," '' vTre^iSsiv,'' to 
 overlook the times of Gentile ignorance : 
 the whole race of mankind, with the ex- 
 ception of the chofen people of Ifrael, had 
 been left to the guidance of the unwritten 
 law implanted by the Creator in the hearts 
 of all his creatures, and to the feeble light 
 which they could derive from the corrupt 
 traditions of primitive revelations. 
 
 . Whatever effed: the law of nature, or 
 the hght of reafon, might have had upon 
 the few, who could think and reafon, it 
 never can be fuppofed to have had any 
 practical influence upon the great mafs of 
 mankind. The popular fyftems of Heathen 
 mythology, and the ceremonies of Heathen 
 worfliip, inftead of purif}/ing the heart, and 
 correding the evil propenfities of human 
 nature, were, in facl, a fertile fource of er- 
 Q 2 ror 
 
-58 SERMON VIIL 
 
 ror in opinions, and profligacy in practice. 
 Corrupt and diflblute manners, the open 
 violation of decency, and the fhamelefs in- 
 dulgence of licentious paffions, were the 
 fatal but neceifary confequences of the exhi- 
 bitions, the fhews, and the feftivals, which 
 the ritual of Polytheifm required. The 
 temples of their Gods were too often the 
 fcene of the moft fcandalous excefles, while 
 the delufions of their Oracles, which were 
 now become a conftant theme of ridicule, 
 and the artifices of their Prieflhood, which 
 the man of letters delighted in expofmg to 
 the vulgar, gradually inclined them to doubt 
 the reality of what they had been taught ; 
 to think that there was no fuch Being ex- 
 ifting as a God, and that the w^hole fabric 
 of Religion was a fyftem of falfehood, the 
 invention of artful flatefmen and politicians. 
 
 Thus then, faid the freethinker, meaning 
 to infmuate that the Chriflian Revelation 
 could not be neceffary, the evil of Poly- 
 theifm corre6ted itfelf : but how did it cor- 
 rect itfelf ? By creating in the mind a gene- 
 ral indifference to all religion whatfoever : 
 and it would be a difficult talk to Ihew, 
 
 that 
 
' SERMON VIII. ZZ9 
 
 that mankind would have been better, or 
 happier, had Atheifm been fubftituted in 
 the place of Polytheifm. 
 
 But was there no check to be found 
 then, or no controul, to refift the torrent of 
 impiety ? Could not the light of reafon 
 teach men to fubdue the lawlefs violence 
 of their paffions ? And had not philofophy 
 fufficiently inveftigated the proper motives 
 of human condud:, and fixed a certain and 
 unerring rule of moral obligation ? 
 
 Far be it from me wantonly to depre- 
 ciate the labours of the illuftrious few, who 
 quitted the abftrufe refearchcs of metaphy- 
 fics, for the more plain and more ufeful 
 inveftigation of moral duty ; w^ho taught 
 that there was a Supreme God, by whofe 
 power the world was created, and by whofe 
 Providence it was governed ; that man, as a 
 focial being, was to confider the utility and 
 the happinefs of the community to which 
 he belonged, as the rule of his condud: ; 
 that the foul of man was immortal and 
 Immaterial ; and that, after the diflblution 
 of the bodv, it would ftill have life and 
 
 Q 3 vigour, 
 
530 SERMON VIII. 
 
 vigour, and continue to exift in another 
 
 ftate. 
 
 Sacred be the memory of thofe, who, af- 
 ter they had purfued their inquiries as far as 
 it was poffible for unafiifted reafon to gO; 
 with the humihty of real fcience, fcrupled 
 not to aver their is^norance : the bell: and 
 the wifeft of them declared, that none but 
 a teacher from Heaven could remove his 
 doubts ; and had it been his fortune to have 
 heard the admirable wifdom of that bleffed 
 Teacher, he would have been amongft the 
 foremoft to hail with joy the dawn of fo 
 glorious a day : before the pure and perfed: 
 wifdom of the Gofpel he would have caft 
 dow^n all the unprofitable theories, the high 
 imaginations, and the idle boaftings of hu- 
 man reafon, and have acquiefced with gra- 
 titude in the revealed will of God. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, the influence of 
 the beft philofophy was confined to the 
 few who profeiTed it, and to their imme- 
 diate followers. Truths, which are only to 
 be learnt by a regular deduction of reafon, 
 are not calculated for common minds ; the 
 
 faireft 
 
S E R M O N VIII. 2^1 
 
 o 
 
 falreft ideal pictures of virtue, however juil, 
 or however beautitul they might be, had no 
 allurement for*the generality of mankind ; 
 and even the hope, or the expcftation, of a 
 future exiftence was of little real fcrvice, 
 when it was a matter of doubt, whether 
 the foul, after its feparation from the body, 
 was to be confcious of v/hat had been done 
 in that body or not ; whether it was to be 
 loft in the immenfity of the Deity, from 
 whom it originally emanated ; or to be 
 joined to another body, and to repeat the 
 fame vicillitudes of adina; and fufFcrins; 
 upon earth, in endlcfs revolutions. 
 
 If fuch was the ineflicacy of thofe iy{- 
 tems, which alone deferve the name of 
 philofophy, what was to be expe6led from 
 the croud of difputants, who contended for 
 fam.e and viftorv, and not for truth ; from 
 thofe who could juftify by arguments the 
 worft excelles, or thofe who maintained, 
 that all actions were equally indifferent ; 
 that nothing in nature was either good or 
 bad ; and that vice and virtue were diiilnc- 
 tions invented by m.an, and only to be 
 found in the inftitutions of human policy r 
 Q 4 Or 
 
252, SERMON VIII. 
 
 Or what reafon was there to fuppofe, that 
 tiie morals of the vulgar would be reformed, 
 when the practice of the very philofophers 
 themfelves was continually at variance w4th 
 their principles; when they, who inculcated 
 a contempt of riches and honours, were 
 eager to gratify the purfuits of worldly 
 ambition ; when the teacher of humility 
 w as notorious for his pride ; and the advo- 
 cate of temperance indulged in all the ex- 
 ceffes of the groffeft fenfuality ? 
 
 In fuch a painful ftate of uncertainty, 
 unable to comprehend the principles of the 
 true philofophy, and perplexed and be- 
 wildered by the intricate fubtleties of the 
 worft^ the generality of mankind eagerly 
 attached themfelves to that fed, which 
 promifed to fatisfy their fcruples, and to 
 allay their fears. That they w ould emanci- 
 pate mankind from the Ihackles of fuper- 
 ftition, would empower them to think and 
 a6l for themfelves, and teach them the 
 true ufe of their reafon, w^as the fpecious 
 boaft of Epicurus and his fchool ; and this 
 gloriovis liberty was to be acquired by the 
 rejection of all thofe great truths, which 
 
 W'Cre 
 
SERMON VIIL 233 
 
 were the cement of human foclety, and the 
 foundation of all our happinefs. 
 
 The Epicurean had no God, or if he 
 had a God, it was a God without a Provi- 
 dence ; a God, llumbering in eafe and in- 
 dolence, and carelefs of the fate of the 
 wretched mortals, who were to wander at 
 will, amidft the cares, the perplexities, and 
 the dangers of their exiftence upon earth : 
 and without the belief of a God, he had no 
 idea of moral refponfibility, and no expec- 
 tation of future judgment. 
 
 In his intercourfe with mankind, all his 
 views, and all his motives, terminated in 
 fclf ; his own profit, and his own pleafure, 
 were the only incitements, that could roufe 
 him into aftivity : and neither friendiliip, 
 nor good faith, nor jullice, were regarded 
 any farther than as they contributed to pro- 
 mote his intereft, or to gratify his pleafure. 
 
 This was the prevailing fyftem of the 
 times ; it was the falhionable Philofophy, 
 which all defcriptions of men began to ad- 
 mire, and to adopt : to the vulgar and the il- 
 literate. 
 
234 SERMON VIII. 
 
 literate, it offered the enticing profpetSl of 
 freedom from all reftraint, and emancipa- 
 tion from all obligation ; to the learned 
 and the wealthy, it recommended itfelf, by 
 the elegant manners of thofe who profeiTed 
 it, by the charms of beautiful poetry, and 
 the refined voluptuoufnefs which it juftified 
 and recommended. 
 
 Thus, if Philofophy had been permitted 
 to take its courfe, inftcad of improving and 
 cultivating the light of nature, it would 
 have extinguiflied it entirely ; it would 
 have robbed its votaries of all that could 
 make them virtuous or happy ; and have 
 plunged the miferable race of man into 
 the thick and gloomy darknefs of Atheifm. 
 But at this period prccifely, v.hen the world 
 was almcft without religion ; when the 
 Jew had nearly loft the fpirit of the Mo- 
 faic Law, and corrupted the letter of it by 
 his fanciful interpretations ; and the Gen- 
 tile, by his faife philofophy, had thrown a 
 mift over the feeble light of natural rea- 
 fon — at this period, '* God fent forth his 
 Son, to teach the way to righteoufnefs," 
 and *^ to awaken linners to repentance." 
 
 Surely 
 
SERMON VIII. z^s 
 
 Surely then we cannot but admire the 
 wifdom of God, and adore his goodnefs 
 with humble gratitude, for fending into the 
 world the Heavenly Inftruftor whom he 
 had promifed, at the very moment that his 
 inftruftions were moft ncceffary to the 
 happinefs of his creatures. 
 
 But if the neceffity of a better guide 
 and a wifer teacher was admitted, how did 
 it happen, that when a Teacher came, call- 
 ing himfelf the Son of God, and proving 
 his title by miracles — how did it happen, 
 that the Jews rejected, and perfecuted even 
 unto death, the very Perfon whom they 
 had fo long expefted ; and that the Gen- 
 tiles, above all, the rich, the powerful, 
 and the learned, who ought to have been 
 amongft the earlieft converts, treated the 
 Religion, which he offered them, with fcorn 
 and derifion, and purfued his followers with 
 the bittereft malignity ? Is not this a proof, 
 fays the unbeliever, either that he was not 
 in reality the Perfon whom he profcfled to 
 be ; or that his doSrines did not contain the 
 leffons of wifdom and righteoufnefs, which 
 we maintain they did ? 
 
 The 
 
236 SERMON VIII. 
 
 The facS is undoubted ; but the inference, 
 which the Sceptic would draw from it, by 
 no means follows : on the contrary, the 
 conqueft which Chriftianity obtained over 
 the obftacles, by which its enemies tried to 
 retard its progrefs, is in itfelf the ftrongeft 
 proof, that it really was the word of God. 
 
 The general depravity of the times, the 
 decay of all practical Religion, and the 
 want of proper criteria, by which to dif- 
 tinguifh right from wrong, created preju- 
 dices againft the Gofpel of Chrift, which 
 were common to all mankind, to Jew and 
 Gentile alike. The very firft awakening call 
 to repentance, by which the harbinger of 
 the Meffiah had proclaimed his near ap- 
 proach, contained a command, to which 
 minds hardened in wickednefs, and accuf- 
 tomed to the uncontrouled indulgence of 
 their paffions, could not immediately re- 
 concile themfelves. But when the holy 
 Teacher appeared himfelf in perfon, they 
 found, that the whole fyftem of his Reli- 
 gion was founded upon this dodrine of 
 repentance ; that, in order to become his 
 difciples, and to fhare the rewards of his 
 
 king- 
 
SERMON VIII. 2^7 
 
 kingdom, they muft abandon, without de- 
 lay, all their habitual indulgences ; they 
 muft renounce and execrate the vices which 
 they had praftifed with impunity, and with 
 humble and fmcere contrition muft con- 
 fefs their own unworthinefs, and their ut- 
 ter inability to obtain falvation, without 
 the free grace and pardon of God. 
 
 From fo humiliating a confeffion, the 
 pride of the Jewifh Teacher and the Gen- 
 tile Sophift revolted at once : in the mean 
 time their appropriate characters, and their 
 refpecftive fituations, gave them other pre- 
 judices, and other prepofleflions, peculiar 
 to each. 
 
 The Jew had always mifunderftood the 
 promife originally made to the Patriarch, 
 and repeated continually by every one of 
 the infpired Prophets. He had accuftomed 
 himfelf, as is well known, to exped: not a 
 Spiritual deliverer, or a Spiritual kmgdom ; 
 but a mighty Prince, and an earthly Sove- 
 reignty. Ever inclined to tadion and fedi- 
 tion, and uneafy under the dominion of 
 Rome, the Jewifli people looked for a 
 
 leader. 
 
onS SERMON VIII. 
 
 leader, who would drive out the imperial 
 legions, from Jerufalem, and extend his 
 conquefts far beyond the confines of the 
 Holy Land. All their ambitious views 
 therefore, were deinoJilhed at once, when 
 they faw the Perfon, wdio announced him- 
 felf as the Chrift, entering the holy. city; 
 not with the fplendid pageant of a con- 
 queror, but *' meek, and lowly, and fitting 
 upon an afs ^" All their dreams of con- 
 quell and dominion vanifiied, w^hen they 
 faw, tbat,.inftead of calling his followers to 
 a military flandard, or animating them 
 wath the hope of that liberty, for w^hich 
 they pined, his time was paiTed in healing 
 the fick, and cheering the unhappy ; in dic- 
 tating to the poor and the lowly the plain 
 and eafy leflbns of his pure morality ; and 
 promifmg even to publicans and finners, the 
 bleffed fruits of repentance, and the glo- 
 rious hope of eternal life. And all the vifion- 
 ary fchemes of grandeur and power faded 
 aw^ay before them, when they found, that, 
 to obtain an inheritance in his kingdom, 
 they mufi: quit the poifeffion of worldly 
 honours and worldly riches ; mull for- 
 
 ^ Matth. xxi. 5. 
 
 fake 
 
SERMON VIII. 2^c^ 
 
 fake their kindred, their famihes, and their 
 friends, and become the poor and perfe- 
 cuted followers of a defpifed Nazarite. 
 
 The Jew had alfo been taught to exped:, 
 that his Law would be perpetual ; that its 
 ceremonies w^ere of univerfal obligation ; 
 and that the holy Temple of Jerufalem, in 
 the days of the Meffiah, would be thronged 
 with fuppliants from all the nations under 
 heaven. He was perfuaded alfo that fal- 
 vation belons^ed excluiively to himfelf, and 
 was to be obtained only by the punctual 
 obfervance, not of the Mofaic ritual merely, 
 but of all the frivolous ceremonies, which 
 the Scribe and Pharifee had ingrafted upon 
 it. What then was his farprife, his morti- 
 iication, and his refentment, when he heard 
 from the mouth of our bleifed Lord, that 
 his kin^fdom was referved not for thofe 
 
 o 
 
 who purified their bodies by ablutions, but 
 for the pure in heart ; when he faw him, 
 as he thought, violating the Law, and de- 
 fpifing the Sabbath, and declaring, in jufti- 
 fication of his practice, that '' God would 
 have mercy, and not judgment !" What 
 w^as his indignation, when he heard, that 
 
 the 
 
240 S E R M O N VIII. 
 
 the Apoftles were commiffioned to an- 
 nounce " the tidhigs of falvation to all na- 
 tions" indifcriminately, and to declare, that 
 God was not to be adored in this or that 
 particular place, but that the reafonable 
 fervice of the heart might be offered to 
 him in every climate^ and by every created 
 being ! 
 
 To the anger, which the defeat of their 
 fondeft hopes, and the lofs of their favourite 
 projefts, excited in the nation at large, the 
 leaders of the people, the chief Priefts and 
 Elders, the Scribes and Pharifees, added a 
 peculiar fpirit of refentment and revenge 
 againft the practice of our bleffed Lord ; for 
 he had unmafked their hypocrifies, and ex- 
 pofed their vices to the multitude : thus 
 they all confpired to execute the eternal 
 purpofe of God — for " of a truth, Lord,'* 
 fays the facred hiftorian, '' againft thy holy 
 child Jefus, whom thou haft anointed, the 
 people of Ifrael were gathered together, for 
 to do whatfoever thy hand and thy counfel 
 determined before to have done \" 
 
 * Ads iv. 27. 
 
 The 
 
S E R MO N Vllt. 241 
 
 Tlie Gentile, to the prejudice which he 
 had in common with the Jew, added alfo 
 particular prepoffeiiions of his own : whilft 
 the corruption of his morals, his profligacy, 
 and his wickednefs, rendered him equally 
 averfe to a Religion of purity, of conftraint, 
 and felf-denial, iiis inditlerence and care- 
 IciTnefs about all religions prepofieiTed him 
 againlt that, which claimed an exclufive 
 preference above all others. Chriftianity, 
 in his idea, w^as a gloomy, unfocial fyftem 
 of Atheifm ; for the followers of Chrill de- 
 clared, that they would hold no fellowfliip or 
 correfpondence w ith the works of darknef.; 
 that the idols of Paganifm were an abomi- 
 nation ; and that it was an impious ad: 
 even to enter the Temples confecrated to 
 the impure divinities. 
 
 To the proud Sophlft, it w^as a thing 
 ftranee and incredible, that a God had an- 
 peared upon earth, in a ftate of poverty 
 and humiliation, and had fubmitted to a 
 painful and ignominious death ; that the per- 
 sons, whom he had appointed to diiremi- 
 nate the precepts of his Rchgion, were not 
 men of learning and education ; not Philo- 
 
 R fophers, 
 
543 SERMON VIII. 
 
 fopliers, but plain, unlettered Fifhermen ; 
 and that the hlftories, which recorded his 
 a<5lions, and his difcourfes, were written in 
 a fimple, inartificial method, without any of 
 the graces of ftylc, or compofition. 
 
 The magiftrate and the ftatefman mean- 
 while dreaded the introduction of a new 
 Religion, which tended immediately to ef- 
 fed: a change in all the cuftoms and habits 
 of life, and to overthrow all the rites and 
 ceremonies, which long pradice had efta- 
 blilhed. 
 
 Thus it appears, that they, who rejected 
 the defire of all nations when he came, 
 were influenced by their own corruption, 
 and their own fatal prepoffeffion ; and it is, 
 as I obferved before, an inconteftible evi- 
 dence of the truth of our holy Faith, that 
 it triumphed over all thofe obttacles ; that, 
 in fpite of diftrefs and perfecution, the 
 number of its converts increafed conti- 
 nually ; and that, in God's good time, it 
 became the eftabliflied belief of the Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 Still, 
 
SERMON Vlir. 543 
 
 Still, fays the adverfarj of our Faith, 
 granting its progrefs, what were its ef- 
 fcds ? Did it really accomplifh the pur- 
 pofe for which, you fay, it was providen- 
 tially introduced at that particular period 
 of time ? Did it inftrud: mankind in their 
 duties to God> and to each other ? And 
 are men wlfer and better now, than they 
 were before the eilabhilimcnt of the Chrif- 
 tian Faith ? 
 
 Now in order to determine, with fairnefs 
 and candour, what the efficacy of Chrif- 
 tianity really has been, and to afcertain, as 
 far as we are permitted, why it has not 
 been greater, we muft recolleft wdiat was 
 the real defign of its inftitution, and what 
 was its true character. 
 
 Chriftianity profcfles to give mankind a 
 moral Law, for the regulation of their con- 
 dud; in this life ; and to point out to them 
 the means, by which they are to obtain 
 everlafting happinefs in another. 
 
 Whether the moral Law be not as per- 
 
 fed as it is poffible for us to conceive ; 
 
 R 2 whe- 
 
-44 SERMON VIII. 
 
 whether it does not far furpafs all the fyC- 
 terns of Ethics, which human reafon had 
 framed;, and all the precepts, which God 
 had before vouchfafed to reveal, it is eafy 
 to determine, by opening the facred vo- 
 lumes of the Evangelifts and the Apoftles : 
 there we find '' a new commandment," 
 delivered to us by the bleffed Jefus, '' that 
 we love one another." There we find that 
 humility, meeknefs, moderation, forbearance, 
 and charity, are the virtues, which can 
 alone make us happy in ourfelves, or ufe- 
 ful to our fellow -creatures. There too we 
 find that the evil inclination, the rifmg 
 wifh, and the fecret intention to fin, are as 
 guilty in the fight of God as the criminal 
 act itfelf. 
 
 Such then being the miorality of the Gof- 
 pel, falvation and future happinefs are offered 
 to us, after a virtuous and religious life ; not 
 in confequence of our merit, but as the free 
 and voluntary gift of God, obtained for us 
 by the precious blood of our Redeemer. 
 
 This fyfi:em, in both its parts, is offered 
 to cur acceptance ; our afl^ent to it is not 
 
 extorted 
 
SERMON VIII. 545 
 
 extorted from us ; we are required to ex- 
 amine its evidences, and to receive it upon 
 convidion ; it is offered to us therefore, as 
 beings refponfible for our opinions and our 
 aclions ; and it leaves us, as it found us, free 
 agents : we may therefore miftake or mif- 
 interpret its doctrines, from ignorance or 
 from prejudice, or, from the luigoverned im- 
 petuoiity of paffion, we may tranfgrefs its 
 plaineft commands. 
 
 If then the efficacy of Chriftianity has 
 been partial, let the fault reft with man, 
 and not with God ; and let us not dare 
 impioufly to arraign the juftice or the 
 mercy of the Creator, becaufe his creatures 
 have not profited, as they ought, by the fa- 
 lutary leiTons, . which he has given them : 
 at the fame time, it cannot be denied, but 
 that the real and pofitive efficacy of Chrif- 
 tianity has been very confiderable. If we 
 look to the earlieft period of its promulga- 
 tion, the morals of the earlieft converts, 
 the unexampled purity of their lives, and 
 the fteady fortitude, with which they fub- 
 mitted to perfecution, to tortures, and to 
 death, while they evince the fmcerity of 
 
 R 3 their 
 
!z^6 SERMON VIIL 
 
 their belief, at the fame thne, are a deci- 
 live proof of the ftrong influence of their 
 religion upon their minds. 
 
 If we trace the courfe of civihzation, we 
 111 all find, that the progrefs of Chriftianity 
 has ever been accompanied by progreffive 
 reformation, and improvement in the laws, 
 the literature, and the manners of man- 
 kind. It was the mild and peaceable fpirit 
 of the Gofpel, that flopped the fanguinary 
 fports, which, with all their boafted refine- 
 ment, the nations of antiquity dcUghted to 
 behold: it was the fame fpirit, that checked 
 the wanton barbarity, with w^hich the maf- 
 ter was authorifed to tyrannize over his 
 flave : it is the fame fpirit, that has miti- 
 gated the grievoufnefs of war, and taught 
 contending nations, that a ftate of warfare 
 need not impede the exercife of the duties 
 of common humanity ; that the extcnfion 
 of fcience, and the courtefv of individuals 
 to each other, might ftill be maintained. 
 
 To the morality of the Gofpel private 
 life is indebted for ail its comforts, and all 
 its regulated enjoyments ; and the forrows, 
 
 which 
 
SERMON VIIL ^47 
 
 which he cannot avoid, are comparatively- 
 light to a Chriilian, becaufe he has the 
 bleffed hope of futurity before him; and 
 under the unequal difpenfations of this life, 
 he anticipates the time, when the Father 
 of mankind will fummon all his creatures 
 to judgment. 
 
 If then Chriftianity has already done fo 
 much, it may fairly be prefumed, that it 
 will do more ; that its influence bears a 
 proportion to its progrefs; and that, when 
 its glorious light is difFufed impartially 
 over the whole world, its efficacy will be- 
 come complete. Then w^e may exped:, 
 that the flormy pafTions, which at prefent 
 agitate and convulfe the moral world, will 
 be huflied into repofe, and the whole race of 
 man will be knit together in the bonds of 
 Chriflian charity, and univerfal love. Then 
 all the imagery of the Prophets, and all 
 their beautiful defcriptions, will be real- 
 ized : '^ the wolf fliall dwell with the lamb, 
 and the leopard fliall lie down with the 
 kid ; and the calf, and the young lion, and 
 the fatling together, and a little child fliall 
 lead them ^" ^' The wildernefs and the fo- 
 
 f liai. xi. 6. 
 
 R 4 litary 
 
548 S E R M O N VIII. 
 
 litary place fliall be gl?A ; and the defert 
 fhall rejoice, and bloffom as the rofe "." 
 *' For judgment ihall dwell in the wilder- 
 nefs, and rightcoufnefs remain in the fruit- 
 ful field ; and the work of rightcoufnefs 
 fhall be peace ; and the effed: of righteouf-- 
 nefs, quiet and aifutancc for ever ^/ 
 
 h " 
 
 5 Ifai.xxxv. lo ^ Ifai, xxxli. i6>. 
 
 SER- 
 
SERMON IX, 
 
 JNIATTHEW xxviii. 19. 
 
 GO YE THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL 
 NATIONS. 
 
 ^UCH was the parting command, which 
 ^^ the Son of God gave to thofe righteous 
 perfons, who had been the companions of 
 his miniftiy, and to whofe guardianfliip he 
 had committed his infant Church. " Go/' 
 faid he, '^ to every creature, without any 
 diftlnftion or partiaUty, and preach to all 
 the doftrines of repentance, and remiffion 
 of fms :" and, that they might not be dif- 
 couraged by the difficulty of the tafk, he 
 cheered them with the confolatory promife 
 
 of 
 
-so SERMON IX. 
 
 of his conftant affiftance, for '' Lo," faid 
 he, *' I am with you alway to the end of 
 the world." 
 
 From this command and this promife, 
 it is evident, that the reUgion, w^hich the 
 Son of God came in '' the fulnefs of time'* 
 to eftabhfn, was not hkc the law of Mofes, 
 or the fuperftition of Paganifm, a partial, 
 local, or temporary A'ftem of worfliip, but 
 was defigned to connect the w^hole race of 
 man in one common faith, and to endure 
 till the final diflblution of the world. Such 
 w^as the language, in which the Holy Spi- 
 rit had invariably fpoke of that kingdom, 
 w^hich the Redeemer of mankind was to 
 found ; that it was to be univerfal in its 
 extent, and perpetual in its duration : '' in 
 thee," faid the Almighty, when he firft an- 
 nounced to the Patriarchs the merciful de- 
 fign of redemption, which had been formed 
 before the w^orld began ; '^ in thee, and thy 
 feed, fliall all the nations of the earth be 
 blefred\" And as the fcheme is gradually 
 unfolded, as the intimations of future de- 
 liverance become more explicit, and the 
 
 * Gen. xli. 3. 
 
 , delinea- 
 
SERMON IX. 251 
 
 delineation of the perfon and charafter 
 of the Deliverer more minute, the religion 
 which he was to preach is always charac- 
 terized by the fame properties of -unlvcr- 
 fality and perpetuity. 
 
 " In Judah/' fays the royal Pfalmlft, al- 
 luding to the peculiarity of the Jew illi co- 
 ,venant, and the limitation of their worfliip 
 to a particular country — ** in Judah was 
 God known, and his name was great In If- 
 rael ;" '^ in Salem was his tabernacle, and 
 his dw^elling-place in Sion ^." ' But not fo 
 does he fpeak of the Meffiah ; for God fald 
 unto his Son, '' I w411 give thee the Hea- 
 then for thine inheritance, and the utmoft 
 parts of the earth for thy pofleffion." At 
 one time we are told, in the fi2;uratlve Ian- 
 guage of Prophecy, that in the lafl: days, 
 '* it fhall come to pafs, that the mountain, 
 of the Lord's houfe fliall be eftabliflied on 
 the top of the mountains, and 111 all be ex- 
 alted above the hills, and all nations fliall 
 flow unto it \" At another, that " there 
 fhall be a root of Jelfc, which fliall ftand 
 for an enfign to the people, and to it fliall 
 
 ** Pfalm Ixxvi. i, 2. <= Ifai. ii. 2. 
 
 the 
 
z^z S E R M O N IX. 
 
 the nations feek ^^ Sometimes the pre- 
 valence of Chriftianity is fpoken of by the 
 Holy Spirit, as the eftabhfliment of the 
 kingdom of the Lord : "' all nations/' it is 
 faid, ^' fiiall remember and turn unto the 
 Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations 
 lliall worfliip before him, for the kingdom 
 is the Lord's ^" And fometimes in lof- 
 tier ftrains the Prophet celebrates the ex- 
 - tent and continuance of this empire : '^ the 
 kingdom of God, it is called, and an evcr- 
 lalllng dominion extended over all people, 
 nations, and languages, that ihould not pafs 
 away, nor be deftroyed ^" 
 
 The Prophets therefore having taught us 
 to expeft, that Chriftianity would in God's 
 good time become an univerfal Religion; 
 and the blefled Jefus having directed his 
 Apoftles to publilli the glad tidings of falva- 
 tion to all mankind, how are we to account 
 for its partial propagation, or why, it may 
 be afked, at the prefent day, do we fee the 
 Jew ftill inflexibly adhering to his law, and 
 the difciples of Mahomet ftill adoring the 
 hallowed name of their falfe Prophet, whilft 
 
 *• Ifai. xi. lo. " Pfal. xxii. 27. ^ Dan. vil. 14. 
 
 a con- 
 
S E R M O N IX. 2S3 
 
 a coniiderable part of the habitable world 
 has never yet emerged from the dark and 
 barbarous fuperftltion of Paganifm ? 
 
 It is natural, doubtlefs, for every refleft- 
 ing mind, v^dicn it contemplates the moral 
 and religious condition of man, to aflc, w^hy 
 it is, that the truth hath been fo partially 
 communicated ? why it is, that fo many 
 myriads of created beings are ftill permitted 
 to continue in ignorance of thofe dodlrincs, 
 which Chriftlans maintain to be neceiTary 
 to the future falvation and happinefs of us 
 all : and whether it be not reafonable to 
 fuppofe, that before the clofe of feventeen 
 centuries, '^ at the name of the holy Jefus, 
 every knee vv^ould have bowed," and every 
 tongue have confeffed the wonders of his 
 love to man ? 
 
 It will fcarcely be denied by any man, 
 who hath ever opened the volume of our 
 Faith, that Chriftianity, whether we conii- 
 dcr it as a rule of moral obligation, or a ri- 
 tual of religious fervice, or as the union of 
 both, is far more calculated for general ufe, 
 than any other religion that ever exifted 
 
 . in 
 
-54 SERMON IX. 
 
 in the world. Let thofe who doubt it^ 
 compare the Gofpel of Chrift with the 
 Law of Mofes, with the Koran of Maho- 
 met, or w4th the multifarious fuperftitions 
 of the Heathen ; and then they will confeis 
 the decided fuperioritj of the Chriftian 
 Law. The moral precepts of the Gofpel 
 are adapted to every poffible variety of cli- 
 mates, of fituation, and of employment : 
 they all flow from the fource of univerfal 
 charity, that charity wdiicli teaches us, that 
 as the children of one common parent, as 
 fubjecl to the fame viciffitudcs of mifery 
 and happinefs here, and heirs of the fame 
 immortality hereafter, we are to commife- 
 rate and relieve each other, to live for 
 others more than for ourfelves, and to '' do 
 unto all men, as we w^ould they fnould do 
 unto us." The duty of prayer, the fecret 
 unoftentatlous worfliip of tlie heart, v^hich 
 God, under a former difpeniation, had de- 
 clared to be more valuable and more pleaf- 
 ing to him than all the incenfc of facri- 
 fice and burnt-oiTering, and which Chrift en- 
 joined by his precepts, and fanftioned by his 
 prac^Vice — this great duty is as univerfally 
 pradicable, as it is univerfally obligatory. 
 
 The 
 
SERMON IX. 255 
 
 The Chriftian is not called upon like the 
 Jew of old, or the Mahometan of our days, 
 to quit his ufual refidence, and his ordinary 
 occupation, to traverfc diftant and inhofpi- 
 table countries, and to proftrate himfelf be- 
 fore the Altar of his God at a ftated feafon, 
 and in a particular place ; he is not bur- 
 thened with a yoke of particular ceremo- 
 nies, of periodical ablutions, which purify 
 the body, but not the heart, or of minute 
 and trifling obfervances, which vex and 
 harrafs the mind, inllead of relieying and 
 confoling it. The two fimple facraments, 
 which mark the profeffion of his faith, in- 
 terfere with no local duty, and interrupt 
 none of the ncceflary occupations of civil 
 life : and his firfl and earliell leilbn, to love 
 his God, to believe in him, to ferve him, 
 and to pray to him in fecret, it is eaiy for 
 liim to prad:ifc at all times, and in all cir- 
 cumftances, in the place of his cuftomary 
 refidence, in the bofom of his family, or in 
 the private recefles of his clofct. 
 
 Thus, wdiile the moral precepts and 
 the religious exercifes of Chrittianity are 
 adapted to the circumftances of every in- 
 
 dividuuK 
 
2s6 SERMON IX. 
 
 dividual, the religion itfelf, as a fyftem, is 
 compatible with every form of political fo- 
 ciety. While it is indeed the only bafis 
 upon which any government can exift 
 with ftability and firmnefs, it neither pre- 
 fcribes to man any particular form of go- 
 vernment, nor refufcs to conned: itfelf with 
 any. It gives the outline, the great and 
 fundamental principles, upon which the 
 very exiftence of civil fociety depends, mo- 
 deration, good order, and fubmiffion to efta- 
 bliflied authority : but it leaves to the wif- 
 dom of man to determine in what v/ay 
 thofe principles are to be applied ; and 
 what form of public inftitution is moft 
 congenial to his charafter and his circum- 
 ftances, and moft likely to enlure his hap- 
 pinefs. 
 
 If then there be nothing in Chriftianity 
 itfelf, to impede its progrefs ; if, on the con- 
 trary, it addreffes itfelf to all men alike, 
 and is confiftent with every poffible form 
 of civil community, this alone is a con- 
 vincing proof, that the Omnifcient Author 
 of our faith originally defigned it for the 
 ufe and the comJbrt of all his creatures. 
 
 The 
 
SERMON IX. c^-^y 
 
 The Sceptic, the haughty Sophift, or the 
 indifferent Polytheift, might indeed fool- 
 iilily and ignorantly maintain, that the fu- 
 preme Being did not require or expedl uni- 
 formity of worihip ; nay, that he even took 
 dehght in the varied forms of devotion, 
 which the ingenuity of his creatures de- 
 vifed, and the dirlerent and even contra- 
 didory opinions, which they formed of his 
 nature and his attributes. But he, who be- 
 Heves that God is one, will Inltantly re- 
 volt from fo monftrous an opinion ; he 
 wqll know, that the unity and fimpllclty of 
 truth can alone be pleafing to Him ; and 
 that, as the Creator of the world, the Au- 
 thor of all good, and the benevolent Father 
 of mankind, he cannot but choofe to dif- 
 pcnfc his bleffings with an impartial hand 
 to all his creatures. It is on this ground, 
 that we arc at iifue Vv^lth the Deift : I ad- 
 mit, he would fay, that if God were to com- 
 municate to man a fyftem of religious be- 
 lief, fuch as Chrillianity profeffes to be, we 
 might conclude, as well from the nature of 
 God, as from the charadter of the Religion, 
 that all men would be Chriftians ; that all 
 would have heard the word and received 
 
 s it, 
 
258 SERMON IX. 
 
 it, and have embraced with joy the cer- 
 tain hope of evcrlafting Ufe : but the fafl: 
 is other wife ; therefore, his conchifion is, 
 that becaufe the Rehgion is not general, it 
 is not the word of God. 
 
 Now, in the very principle of this ob- 
 jeftion, there feems to be at firft fight a 
 ftrange abfurditj. If Chriftianity be not 
 really a Divine revelation, if its morality be 
 no better than human fyftems of ethics, if 
 its promifes of future life be delufive and 
 falfe, why lament, that it is not communi- 
 cated univerfally ? If it be true, w^hy call 
 upon us to rejed: the precious gift of God, 
 becaufe there are perfons exlfting in the 
 world, to whom He has not yet vouchfafed 
 to impart it ? 
 
 To call the Almighty partial, is as ab- 
 iurd as it is impious ; becaufe whatever re- 
 velation of his will the Creator thinks fit 
 to make, it muft be, on his part, a free vo- 
 luntary gift ; the creature can have no 
 right to demand it : and if it be not diftri- 
 buted in equal portions to all, we have no 
 more right to murmur at the difpenfations 
 
 of 
 
SERMON IX. 2S9 
 
 of God, than we have to complain, that all 
 men are not preclfely alike, that they have 
 not the fame health, the lame ftrength, the 
 ft me pcrfonal beauty, and the fame men- 
 tal endowments ; that they were not placed 
 higher in the fcale of created beings, that 
 thty were not angels inllead of men ! 
 
 Is it not equally abfurd and impious, to 
 call the beneficent Author of our being un- 
 iuft, when he himfclf liath condefcended to 
 tell us, that we Ihould be tried, not only 
 by what we knov/, but by what w^e are ca- 
 pable of knowing ; that he will make al- 
 loY/ances for want of talents, want oi op* 
 poTtunities, and all the defeats of unavoida- 
 ble ignorance ; and^ as I had once before an 
 occafion to obferve, that the precious facrl- 
 fice of the Redeemer extends its influence 
 to all mankind, even to thofe wdiom the 
 day-fpring from on high has never vilited ; 
 *' for thou waft flain," fays the Apoftle, *' and 
 haft redeemed us unto God by thy word, 
 out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
 and nation^." If then God hath voluntarily 
 given us more than we have a right tq 
 
 8 Rev. V, 9, 
 
 s ^ afk 
 
266 SERMON IX. 
 
 aik, and hath declared, that he will not 
 puniili his creatures for an ignorance, 
 which they cannot avoid, every fufpicion 
 of partiality or injuftice is done away at 
 once ; and we have only to admire the 
 mercy and the wifdom of God, in preferv- 
 ing throughout the uniform plan of gra- 
 dual revelation, and in accommodating 
 the holy leffons of his will to the circum- 
 ftances and capacities of thofe who wxre to 
 receive them. 
 
 God did not fend forth his Son till '' the 
 fulnefs of time" arrived, till men felt their 
 want of a guide and inftru6tor from hea- 
 ven, and were duly prepared to lillen to 
 his inflruftion. But the warning voice of 
 the Almighty had not at any time been 
 filent ; God had fpoken to his fallen crea- 
 tures at " fundry tim.es, and in divers man- 
 ners ;" he had promifed in early tim.es, that 
 a Deliverer fliould one day comx to refcue 
 them from the dominion of fni : by his 
 holy Prophets, he had repeatedly alTured 
 them, that the promife would be per- 
 formed ; and, as the appointed hour drew 
 near^ he had given clearer intimations of 
 
 his 
 
SERMON IX. o6i 
 
 his defign, and ampler defcriptions of the 
 nature of the dcUverance, which they were 
 to expeft. Thus, the awful doilrine of re- 
 demption was unfolded by degrees, at dif- 
 tlnd; intervals of time, and only to one 
 particular people, chofen by God, to be the 
 guardian of his revelations. From all others 
 it was purpofely withheld ; and even they, 
 to whom the truth was revealed, neither 
 felt its full value, nor comprehended its 
 real purport. 
 
 If we turn to the prophetical defcriptions 
 of the Redeemer's kingdom, we find, that 
 one of the marks, by which it is conftantly 
 charafterifed, is its gradual progrefs. This 
 progrefs is reprefented under various images: 
 fometimes the kingdom of heaven is a 
 ftone, which gradually becomes ^' a moun- 
 tain, and fills the whole earth ^;" fometimes 
 it is a tender plant, which, under the fof- 
 tering hand of God, is reared to a fair and 
 goodly tree. '' I will take," faith the 
 Lord God, '^ of the higheft branch of the 
 high cedar, and will fet it; I will cut off 
 from the top of his young twigs a tender 
 
 ^ Dan. ii. ^^. 
 
 s 3 one, 
 
26z Sermon ix. 
 
 one, and will plant it upon a high moun* 
 tain and eminent: in the mountain of the 
 height of Ifrael will I plant it ; and it iliall 
 bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be 
 a goodly cedar ; and under it iliall dwell all 
 fowl of ev^ery wing ; in the fliadow of the 
 branches thereof faall they dwell '." Some- 
 times it is a '^ river whofe waters are at 
 firft fhallow, till by degrees they rife to 
 a great height, and become waters to 
 fwim in, a river that cannot be pafled 
 over ^, 
 
 In ftrid: conformity with thefe prophe- 
 tical defcriptions of his kingdom, and with 
 images of a fimilar nature, our bleffed Lord 
 informs the Jews, that the kingdom of 
 heaven w'll be progreiiive, that its com- 
 plete eftablifhment will not be immediate, 
 but that it will advance from fmall begin- 
 nings, till it has poffcired the whole earth. 
 ** The kingdom of heaven," fays he, *' is 
 like unto a grain of muftard feed, which in- 
 deed is the leaft of all feeds ; but when 
 it is grown, it is the greateft amongft 
 herbs, and beconieth a tree, fo that the 
 
 * Ezek. xvii. 22, 23, ^ Ezek, xlvii. ^. 
 
 birds 
 
SERMON IX. 263 
 
 birds of the air lodge in the branches 
 thereof ^" 
 
 It was the defign therefore of God, that 
 Chriftianity fliould be progreffive, and that 
 as its pubUcation had been delayed initll 
 ^' the fulnefs of time" was come, fo its full 
 and complete efficacy fliould be delayed, 
 until the v/hole race of man were fully 
 qualified to receive its faving truths. But 
 here the queftlon of the captious objecSor 
 returns : Why was this progrefs neceflary ? 
 Could not the Gofpel have been preached 
 at once in all places ? and would it not have 
 been better to have given to all men at 
 once the opportunity of embracing it if 
 they pleafed ? 
 
 That God could have done this, had it 
 fo feemed good to his eternal wifdom, can- 
 not be denied, for '^ with God all things 
 are poffible :" but then, we muft fuppofe 
 a conftant miracle, or a miracle fo frequent- 
 ly repeated, that it would have ccafed to 
 be a miracle, and would have lofl all its 
 force and efficacy, as an evidence of truth. 
 
 ' Alatt. xiii. 31. Mark Iv. 3J. Luk. xiii. 19 
 
 s 4 Upon 
 
264 SERMON IX. 
 
 Upon no other fuppofition whatever, can 
 we conceive the general dlfFufion of the 
 great truths of Chriftianltj, without any 
 preparation, any previous moral difciplinc, 
 or any foundation of knowledge. 
 
 Follow the milTionary into the hut of 
 the Indian, and obferve what a fruitlefs tafk 
 it is to preach the crofs of Chrifi: crucified, 
 to bid the favage repent, and confefs his 
 fins, and be baptized into the faith of the 
 blefied Jefus. 
 
 What impreffion can fuch a flimmons 
 make upon a mind that has never been 
 taught to elevate its thoughts above the 
 fcnfible objects immediately before it? From 
 the teacher of Heavenly truth he turns 
 with contempt to the objects before him, 
 to the glorious luminary, whofe fplendid 
 orb he contemplates with aftonifnment, 
 or even to the ihapelefs mafs of wood or 
 ftone, which he conceives to be the refi- 
 dence of a Being fuperior in power to him- 
 felf ^ who directs all the wonderful opera- 
 tions of nature, and rides in the ftorm and 
 the whirlwind. 
 
 And 
 
SERMON IX. 565 
 
 And can we expeft in fuch circumftances 
 to find converts, rational and fmcere con- 
 verts to the Chriftian faith ? Or is it any 
 impeachnnent of the authenticity or the 
 truth of the Go/pel, that when its doctrines 
 have been preached to fuch hearers, they 
 have either been unwiUing to hften^, or un- 
 able to comprehend them ? 
 
 We who are Chriftians by education, 
 w^ho imbibe in our very infancy the firft ru- 
 diments of our faith, who receive it as an 
 impreffion upon our minds, long before we 
 are capable of examining its evidences, and 
 believing upon convi6lion, we are fcarcely 
 competent judges of the difficulty of preach- 
 ing the faith of Chrift to thofe who have 
 every thing to learn, and who in fome in- 
 ftances do not poifefs even the' great fun» 
 damental truths of natural relii^ion. 
 
 And it muft be obferved, that no argu- 
 ment, drawn from the converfion of the 
 Gentiles in the Apoftolic age, can be ap- 
 plicable to the propagation of the* Gofpel 
 in thefe times. There is no fmiilarity 
 whatever between the two cafes: that con- 
 verfion 
 
266 S E R M O N IX. 
 
 verfion vi as a inlracle. The pride of learn- 
 ing, the obflinacy of ignorance, the fafti- 
 dious contempt of the rich, and the fan- 
 guinarj cruelty of the perfecutor, all gave 
 way before the irrcfiftible force of truth. 
 But why was this the cafe ? It was becaufe 
 the Apcftle went forth to execute his mif- 
 fion, under the immediate guidance of God. 
 When he addreffed the ailemblies of the 
 learned, the Holy Spirit gave him utter- 
 ance, that he might confound the wifdom 
 of the Wife, and make yain the foolifanefs 
 of men : and when he fpoke to the igno- 
 rant multitude, the fign and the wonder 
 accompanied his reafbnings, and convinced 
 them, that he was a meflenger from God. 
 
 The Chriftian miflionary has no fuch 
 advantages : in the difficult and important 
 enterprize of converfion, he has nothing to 
 truft to but the powers of his own mind, 
 affifted indeed, as we believe all good and 
 pious defigns will be affifiied, by the ordi- 
 nary grace of God, but without any of 
 thofe gifts or graces, v^hich were poured 
 down fo liberally from Heaven upon the 
 chofen preachers of Chrift. He has to ar- 
 gue. 
 
SERMON IX. z^j 
 
 gue, to perfuade, and if pofTiblc to convince; 
 but he cannot ftrikc the minds of his hear- 
 ers by a ftrain of infpired eloquence, nor 
 overcome the ftubbornnefs of ignorance by 
 a difpiay of fupernatural power. 
 
 Surely then we may infer, that if the 
 tafk of inftruftion be committed merely to 
 human agency, if all the extraordinary aids 
 of the Spirit be withdrawn, fome previous 
 knowledge muft be neceffary to form the 
 mind of the convert ; and want of civiliza- 
 tion will be always an impediment to the 
 general diffufion of the Chriftian Law. 
 
 This impediment it is eafy for man to 
 fee, and perhaps it may be in the pov/er of 
 man to remove it. It is a natural obliga- 
 tion; natural reafon teaches us, that if Vv'C 
 poffefs any knov/Iedge, which is likely to 
 improve tlie condition of our fellow crea- 
 tures;, or in any degree to promote their 
 happinefs, we are bound to communicate 
 it to them. In the cafe of religious in- 
 ftruclion, the command of our bleffed Lord 
 to his Apoftles is binding upon every Chrif- 
 tian, and every Chriitian may hope to re- 
 ceive 
 
268 SERMON IX. 
 
 ceive the benefits of that gracious promife, 
 that he would accompany and affift his 
 faithful difciples in the execution of the 
 truft committed to them, '' even unto the 
 end of the world." 
 
 If the attempt to diffufe the light of the 
 Gofpel more widely has not hitherto been 
 attended with all the fuccefs that Chrif- 
 tians could have wifhed, it by no means 
 follows, that it wall never fucceed. The 
 counfels of God are not to be meafured by 
 our impatience : the time, which to beings 
 of fo fleeting and traniltory an exiftence as 
 ours, appears to be of endlefs duration, to 
 an eternal and infinite God is as nothing, 
 a mere point in the boundlefs fpace of eter- 
 nity ; and, in the unfearchable ways of his 
 providence, there may be numberlefs rea- 
 fons for delay, which our feeble capacities 
 cannot fathom. 
 
 We are not therefore to be difcouraged, 
 becaufe the fuccefs of our endeavours has 
 not been anfvverable to our hopes ; and aft- 
 mg under the authority of a Divine com- 
 mand, we are not to fuppofe, as it has 
 
 fome- 
 
SERMON IX. 559 
 
 fometimes been fooliflily argued, that it is 
 wrong in man to try to haften what God 
 evidently purpofes to retard ; and it may bs 
 worth w^hiie to confider after all, whether 
 we attribute our failure to its true caufe. 
 Do we know w^iether the motives of the 
 teacher have always been pure, or the 
 mode of his inftru6iion always wife ? In 
 tracing the hiftory of the attempts to pro- 
 pagate the Chriftian faith, have we not 
 caufe too often to lament, that the con- 
 queror has forced his trembling captives re- 
 ludantly to take the baptifraal vow, and 
 that the cmiffary of the Papal fee hath 
 made the miniftry of the Gofpel fubfervient 
 to the purpofes of ambition, and difcredited 
 the fand:ity of his religion, by accepting 
 conditional vows, and partial confeffions of 
 the truth ? 
 
 If the motive upon w^hich we acS be 
 right, it can fcarcely be doubted, whether 
 we are performing an acceptable fervice to 
 God or not. In attempting to diffufe the 
 knov/ledge of his will, let no fuch ground- 
 lefs doubts reprefs our zeal; for, after all that 
 we can do, w^e may reft afiured, that our 
 
 feeble 
 
270 SERMON IX. 
 
 feeble efforts will never accelerate what the 
 wifdom of God hath chofen to delay, and 
 that the " fulnefs of the Gentiles w^ill not 
 come in" till the hour arrives, which God 
 hath appointed from all eternity. 
 
 To his chofen people, to thofe w^ho were 
 under the protediion of his peculiar pro- 
 vidence, and of whom it was faid, that 
 *' to them falvation belonged ;" to this 
 favoured race, God hiith promifed, if w^e 
 interpret aright the oracles of his word, 
 that the hour lliall come, when '' their 
 eyes fliall be opened, and their hearts no 
 longer hardened," and they fnall fee and 
 confefs, that the Mefliah, whom their fa- 
 thers crucified, and whom they ftill fo ob- 
 ftinately rejed:, is very Chrift and God." 
 
 ^' The children of Ifrael," fays Hofea,» 
 " fliall abide many days without a king, 
 and without a prince, and without a facri- 
 fice, and without an image, and without an 
 ephod, and without tcraphim : afterward 
 fhall the children of Ifrael return, and feck 
 the Lord their God, and David their Kin2; ; 
 
 ■■"Mr *" 
 
 and lliall fear the Lord and his goodnefs 
 
 in 
 
SERMON IX. 271 
 
 in the latter days "" ;" and '' it fnaU come 
 to pafs,'* fays Zechariah, '' in tliat day, that 
 I will feek to dcftroy all the nations that 
 come agalnft Jcmfalem ; and I will pour 
 upon the houfe of David, and upon the 
 inhabitants of Jerufalcm, the fpirit of grace 
 and of fuppllcations; and they fliali look upon 
 him whom they have pierced, an/i they 
 friall mourn for him, as one mourneth for 
 his only fon ''." Thefe are two out of many 
 prophecies, wiiich point to the fame great 
 event ; but thefe are two of the moft re- 
 markable, and they cannot be thought to 
 allude to any event, or to any fi tuation of 
 the JewKli nation, prior to the crucifixion of 
 our bleffed Redeemer. Upon all thefe pro- 
 phecies of the Old Teftament, the holy 
 Apoftle of the Gentiles is the bcft com- 
 mentator ; he warns his converts^ not to 
 triumph and infult over the Jews, as if 
 they were the outcafts of God, and aliens 
 from his favour, for '' blindnefs has hap- 
 pened," it is true, fays he '' unto Ifrael ; but 
 it has happened only in part — it w411 ceafe 
 when the fulnefs of the Gentiles fliall be 
 come in, and then all Ifrael fhall be faved °/' 
 
 *'Hof. ili. 4, £;. " Zeck. xii. 9, 10. ° P.om. xi. 2 'J. 
 
 Ill 
 
%y% SERMON IX. 
 
 In what way conviclion will operate at 
 laft upon the mind of the Jew ; whether he 
 will yield his aflent to the arguments of 
 Chriftian writers, or whether the irrefifti- 
 ble grace of God will withdraw the mift 
 from his eyes, it is not poffible for us to de- 
 termine. However this may be, it is enough 
 for us to know, that he will be at length 
 convinced ; and w^e muft w^ait in filent 
 awe, and with full and certain confidence^, 
 that all the deftlnations of Divine wifdom, 
 as they have been announced to us by the 
 voice of Prophecy, will receive their full ac- 
 complifliment. 
 
 Chrlftians mcanw^hile will be wanting 
 to their duty, if they do not perfevere in 
 their endeavours to convert that miftaken 
 people to the true faith ; if they do not lay 
 before them the evidence which they poflel's 
 in every poffible (liape, and try, by every ar- 
 gument, to overcome their rooted prepoflef- 
 iions. Chriftians will do wxU alfo to remem- 
 ber the injunftion of the Apoftle ; " Boaft not 
 thyfelf agalnft the natural branches ; be not 
 high minded, but fear : for if God fpared 
 not the natural branches^ take heed, left he 
 
 alfo 
 
SERMON IX. nz 
 
 alfo fpare not thee'^." Our humble efforts, 
 and our dilcreet endeavours, to forward the 
 great caufe of truth will receive, we may 
 be affured, the gracious affiftance of God ; 
 and to an attentive obferver it mull be 
 evident, that his providence is continually 
 opening the way for the general diffufion 
 of the Gofpel : for what other reafon can 
 wx fuppofe, that the powers of Chriften- 
 dom were permitted to extend their em- 
 pire to the Weftern world ? and why elfe 
 is the adventurous fpirit of modern naviga- 
 tors fo frequently rewarded by the difcovery 
 of new countries, and untried channels of 
 communication between the various inha- 
 bitants of the globe ? The wiili to inftrud: 
 then iLould keep pace with the power and 
 the means of inftruction; and it fnould be the 
 firft and greateft duty of Chriftian coun- 
 tries, to impart to others the bicffings of 
 civilization, w^hich they have long enjoyed 
 themfelves ; to call the ignorant barbarian 
 from the purfuit of his fcanty and pre- 
 carious fubfiftence, to the enjoyment of the 
 comforts, the conveniencies, and the ele- 
 gancies of focial life, and to give him the 
 
 ^ Rom. ii. J2. 2T. 
 
 T leifure 
 
5/4 SERMON IX. 
 
 leifure and the opportunity to prepare his 
 mind for the reception of thofe facred truths, 
 which are to conneft us all in the unity of 
 fpirit, and in the bond of peace. The 
 preparation of caufes, it is true, may be 
 diftant; but when God himfelf has vouch- 
 fafed to announce his defign, we cannot 
 err in tracing them iiltimately to that de- 
 fign ; and furely in the fuccefsful cultiva- 
 tion of fcience, in the correction of flagrant 
 errors, both in dodrine and in practice, in 
 the enlarged and liberal intercourfe between 
 remote countries, and the invention of that 
 art, which facilitates the dlffufion of know- 
 ledge, we may difcern the hand, that is 
 imperceptibly guiding us to the great and 
 final change in the religious ftate of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Perhaps too amongft the caufes which 
 feem likely to promote and extend the 
 knowledge of Chrift ; to the love of true 
 fcience, I may be permitted to add, the ha- 
 tred and contempt, which we now enter- 
 tain of thofe falfe and pernicious tenets, 
 which chimerical theorlfts have long been 
 attempting to force upon us. 
 
 Bleffed 
 
SERMON IX. 275 
 
 Blefled be God, that odious Philofo- 
 phy, which was difliafnig its baneful poifon 
 through every country of Chriftendom, hath 
 loft the attractions which it once poifeffed. 
 It has been tried, and we know it by its 
 fruits ; and it is to be hoped, that our ears 
 will no more be infulted by fulfome pane- 
 gyrics upon uncivilized ignorance; we fliall 
 not again be told, that a ftate of nature is 
 preferable to a ftate of civilization ; that a 
 favage in the defert is a better, wifer, and 
 happier being, than an educated Chriftian ; 
 and that if a man be moral, it matters lit- 
 tle what God he adores, or whether he be 
 a difciple of Jefus Chrift, of Mofes, or ot 
 Mahomet. 
 
 While the operation of moral caufes is 
 thus filently going on, under the control 
 of Providence, the partial fufferings, the 
 misfortunes, and the deprivations, which 
 afflid the vifible Church of Chrift, ought 
 not to deprefs the hope of the believer, or 
 raife the wanton triumph of the infidel, be- 
 caufe it is ftriftly conformable to the gene- 
 ral tenor of the Divine government, from the 
 evil which prevails in the world, from the 
 
 fierce 
 
276 SERMON IX. 
 
 fierce conflid: of human paffions, and the 
 oppoiition of human interefts, ultimately to 
 produce that good, which the Divine na- 
 ture requires. 
 
 Sorrow, perfecution, and martyrdom, are 
 the trials of the faithful fervant of God, 
 and ^^ for him that overcometh there is re- 
 ferved a crown of immortal glory." To 
 the Chriftian Church, the Holy Spirit hath 
 promifed, after perfecution, and diftrefs, and 
 apoftafy, a long period of retribution and 
 reft upon earth, '^ when the power of the 
 evil one ihall be overthrown, and the Saints 
 of the Moft High Ihall reign." '' Of the 
 times, or the feafons, no man knoweth ; the 
 Father hath put them into his own power ^" 
 
 Let the Chriftian wait then for ^^ the 
 defire of all nations %" as the devout If- 
 raelite of old did for the " confolation of 
 Ifrael ^ ;" let him wait in full aflurance, 
 that " the myftery of God ftiall be finiflied, 
 as he hath declared to his fervants the Pro- 
 phets ",'* and that '^ all the kingdoms of the 
 
 ' A6ls i. 7. ^ Hagg. ii. 7. 
 
 * Luke ii, 25. ° Rev. x, 7. 
 
 earth 
 
SERMON IX. 277 
 
 earth will become the kingdom of God, 
 and his Chrift '^ ;" and, in the mean time, 
 let him recoiled:, that when the fulnefs of 
 that glorious kingdom is come, happy will 
 that man be, who by the purity of his life, 
 the energy of his precepts, or the prevail- 
 ing influence of his example, hath contri- 
 buted in any degree to accelerate its ap- 
 proach. 
 
 ^ Rev. xi. i^. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Pag. 58. 1. 2. r^di^ fur ejl 
 
 To note S P- 72. add Hijl. v. 5» 
 
 Pag. 74. 1. r8. dit\t fomenting 
 
 133. 1. 4. read their 
 
 235. 1. 20. read io>&£7 
 
 146. 1. 9. read revived 
 
 160. 1. 20. YCcidfoIicii 
 
 1. 21. read triiwipbant 
 
 211. 1. 5. readj'o^^' 
 
 222. 1. 24. read of luorfhip 
 
 226. note ^, read &^ Jofeph. Antlqf^, 
 UK xi. c. 13. 
 
™™^T2 01130 9442 
 
*/',',» 
 
 'Mm 
 
 
 
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