w

mi

W.i
t > I v-«
' l^"- 1+ 1, . '',1, '
.-"' ''"'I' ' ^ '
, ' . 1- '
,( , »»
1
1
i
1
1
!K*Qb '-Iv SKC
Hn
ffloS
pwg... »i k jHBG
Bffl
S
frViiTf
m
m
^^wm^
::i:Sm
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE
John Elliott Fund

SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
to '
AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH,
IN THE YEAR MDCCXCVIII,

LECTURE
FOUNDED BY
THE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M. A.

BY THE
REV. CHARLES HENRY HALL, B. D.
CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETEK,
AND
LATE STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH.

OXFORD:
JT THE UNIFERSIJY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR ;
ANP SOLD BY HANWELL AND PARKEK, AND J. COOKE J
F. AND C. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUl's CHURCH YARD,
AND HATCHAKD, 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 meknt
by the Scriptural expreifion, " Fulnefs of
Time ;" or, in other words, to point out the
previous fleps, by which God Almighty
gradually prepared the way, for the intro
dudion and promulgation of the Gofpel.
In fuch a defign, the're is little to awaken
the attention of the learned Theologian ;
and, in fad:, the Author has only attempted
to bring under one view, and to render ge
nerally intelligible, topics and. arguments,
which in the writings of our beft and
ableft Divines have long ago been fepa-,
rately and thoroughly inveftigated.

a3

EXTRACT FROM THE
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT ¦ ?
OF THE LATE
REV. JOHN BAMPTON,
CANON OF SALISBURY.

 " I give and bequeath my Lands
" and Eflates to the Chancellor, Mafters,
" and Scholars of the Univerfity of Ox-
" ford for ever, to have and to hold all
" and fingular the faid 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

( vi )
'' for the time being fhall take and receive
" all the rents, iffues, and profits thereof,
'^ and (after all taxes, reparations, and ne-
" ceffary dedudllons made) that he pay
" all the remainder to the endowment of
" eight Divinity Ledlure Sermons, to be
" eftablifhed for ever in the faid Uniyer-
" fity, and to be performed in the man-
" ner following :
" I dlre6l and appoint, that, upon the
" firft Tuefday in Eafter Terrh, a Lec-
*' turer be yearly chofen by the Heads of
" Colleges only, and by no others, in the
" room adjoining to the Prlnting-Houfe,
" between the hours of ten in the morn-
" ing and two in the afternoon, to preach
" eight Divinity Ledlure'Sermons, the ye^r
" following, at St. Mary's in 0.xford, be-
" tween the commencement of the laft
" month in Lent Term, and the end of
" the third week in Ad; Term.
" Alfo I dired and appoint, that the
" 'eight Divinity Ledure Sermons fhall be
" preached

( vii )
" preached upon either of the following
" fubjeds — to confirm and eftablifh the
" ¦ Chriftian Faith, and to confute all here-
" tics and fchifmatlcs— upon the divine
<' authority of the Holy Scriptures — upori
" the authority of the writings of the
" primitive Fathers, as to the faith and
" pradice of the primitive Church — upon
" the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour
" Jefus Chrift — upon the Divinity of the
" Holy Ghoft — upon the Articles of the
" Chriftian Faith, as comprehended in the
" Apoftles' and Nicene Creeds.
" Alfo I dired, that thirty copies of the
" eight Divinity I^edure Sermons fliall be
" always 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 expence of printing them
" fliall

( viii )
" ihall be paid out of the revenue of the
'¦' Land or Eftates given, for eftablifhing
, " the Divinity Ledure Sermons ; and the
" Preacher fhall not be paid, nor be en-
" titled to the revenue, before they ^re
" printed.
" Alfo I dired and appoint, that no
" perfon fhall be qualified to preach the
" Divinity Ledure 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 fhall never preach the Di-
" vinity Ledure Sermons twice,'-

SERMON I.

ACTS 1. 7.
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, IT IS NOT
FOR TOU TO KNOW THE TIMES, OR
THE SEASONS, WHICH THE FATHER
HATH PUT INTO HIS OWN POWER,
SUCH was the rebuke with which
our bleffed Lord repreffed the curi-
ofity of his difciples, when, after he, had
rifen 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
» A£ls i. 6.
s Iting-

2 SERMON I.
klngd&m 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 prepoflTeffioiis, which
they entertained in common with the reft
of their countrymen. They expeded to
be the conquerors of the worlds and, be
ing accuftomed, like their brethren, to in
dulge vlfionary 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 fin.
A life of humlHation and a dtfgraceM
death, were not the charaders by which
the Jewifli nation had hoped to recognize
their promifed Deliverer : with expeda-
tlf3ns of a very different nature, they had
framed a fyftem of their own, calculated to
footh their national vanity, and to fatlsfy
their luft of power: and their attachment
to this fondly cherlfhed fyftem is of itfelf
fufficient to account for their determined rejec-

SERMON I. 3
f ejedion of another fo diredly contradidory
to it — a fyftem, which, inftead of flatter
ing their ambition by the profped of ex
tenfive conquefts, inculcated the duty of
fubmlffion to their prefent rulers ; and, far
from gratifying their pride by promifing
them exclufive privileges as the favourites
of God, avowedly declared, that every na
tion under heaven was to be admitted to
a participation of its bleffings. Had it not
been for this national prepoffeffion, which
their corrupt paffions and profligate moral*
contributed to ftrengthen and confirm, it is
not eafy to conceive how the Jews 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 miniftry, exprefsly
pointed out to them : '* Think not," faid
he, " that I am come to deftroy the Law
or the Prophets : I am not come to deftroy,
but to fulfil":" and which the Apoftles
afterwards explained, not to be an acci-
•> Matt. V. 17.
B z dental

4 S E R M O N L
dental coincidence, or a fanciful analogy,
but the neceffary dependence of an im
perfed preparatory law upon that which
completes it.
We at this day, it is true, have many
other proofs of the divine origin of our re
ligion. We have to urge its rapid progrefs,
by the miniftry of perfons to all appear
ance utterly incapable of producing fo ex
traordinary '' an effed, and its final efta
bllfhment, in defiance of the prejudices,
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
expedations of the Patriarchs, and upon
every former difcovery of his will, which
God had vouchfafed to make to man.
To draw this argument out at length,
to view it in all its parts, and to give it all
the force of which it is capable/ will be
the purpofe cjf the enfuing Ledures; — in
the

S E R M O N I, ^
the courfe of which I fhall attempt tb
fliew, that the whole of God's moral go
vernment of .the world, and all the com
plicated events in' the hiftory of mankind>
were, in /ad, nothing more thari'a prepa
ration, under the guidance and control of
his Providence, for the introdudion of the
ChHflian Religion; " ^e myftery ordained
before the world ',":" 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 ferpeht'."
To Abraham, to Ifaac, and to Jacob, he
repeated the fame promife of a fpiritual
deliverance, conneded with the grant of
worldly bleffings 'and temporal profperity ;
and, when in procefs of time the de
fcendants of the patriarchal family were
become a flourifhlng and populous nation,

fuc-

' I Cor. ii. 7.
' Gen. iii. 15,

a Coloff. i. 26.

B3

af

6 SERMON I.
a fucceffion of infpired Prophets kept alive
the remembrance of the original promife,
and delineated in brighter colours the na
ture of the deliverance to which it pointed,
and the charader 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 dlfcover the wifdom of God
in the progreffive communication of truth ;
who afk with great boldnefs, and with
fome femblance perhaps of reafon, if the
knowledge of Chrifiianity be neceflary to
the happinefs of mankind, why were fo
many generations fuffered to pafs away
without it ? Why were its faving dodrines
^ H»h.i. 1. conveyed

SERMON I. 7
conveyed in dark hints, and obfcure- allu
fions ? And would it not have been more
confiftent 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 objedions as thefe, however plau-
fible they may at firft fight appear, are
founded in ignorance both of the nature of
man, and the ways of God; in narrow
and partial, vie v^^s of his general Providence,
and in mlftaken notions of the charader
and defign of Chriftiunity.
Whether fuch a revelation as that made
by Jefus Chrift was, or was not, neceffary,
can beft be determined by confidering the
a<Sual 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 afk, whether there was not in
thofe days, upon all - the great queftlons
which involve the happinefs of man, an
endlefs variety of difcordant hypothefes ?
Was not the providence of God, his juf-
B 4 tice.

8 SERMON I.
tice, nay, his very exiftence, the theme of
difpute and difcuffion in the fchools of
Philofophy ? Was not the immortality of
the foul contefted by fome, and openly de
nied by others ? And were not the duties
of morality imperfedJy underftood, and the
boundaries of right and wrong inaccurately
definpd ?
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 creatiofi — 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
ajl religion and all virtue. Take away the
hope

S E R M O N I, 9
hope of a future exiftence, and w« lofe all
proper motives for piety to God, or bene
volence to man. What can fupport us
amidft the unequal difpenfations of ;this
life, or give us fortitude to -endure its dlf-
appointments, its difficulties, and its for-
rows, but. the affiirance of future recom-
pence ? And what can induce uS to refift
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 punlfliment, 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 indifpen
fably neceffary to. our happinefs, do we
know of any fyftem of. religion, that ex
prefsly 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 fhould naturally ex
ped to firid it in Judaifm, a religion un
queftionably from heaven: but there it is
not

IO S E R M O N 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 vifitations^,-
of plagues, famine, and defolatlon, in Cafe
of difobedience : but of future rewards, or
future punifhments, no mention is made.
Doubtlefs under the Law, as under
every other difpenfation, holy and virtuous
men, either by their own refledions, or by
the efpeclal 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 paffages, 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 we are not to
K Ep. Bull's Harmonia Apoftolica, Diff. Poft. Chap. X.
^ See the paffages cited by Joitin in his Differtation on
3 Future State,
con-

S E R M O K I, II
conclude from thence, that the notion of a
future ftate was either generally admitted,
er accurately underftood.
Of the two great feds who led the Sy
nagogues, one openly denied the poffibility
of a refurredion ; 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 punifhment.
What the Almighty did not think, fit
clearly and explicitly to reveal to his chofen
people, it would be in vain to afk of thofe
who were left to the guidance of their own
unaffifted reafon. Political fccurlty was
the great objed of Gentile religion, fb that
whilft expiatory facrifices, luftrations, and
coftly offerings were allowed to be a fuffi
cient atonement for the vices of the opu
lent, the idea of futurity w^as 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 S E R M ON L
man derided in fecret what he publicly
fandioned; 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 cherlfhed the
idea with a fond and anxious wilh that, it
ipight be -realized, than with any thing like
convldion or certainty that it would be
fo. . , .J
Since then neither the light of reafon,
nor the light of revelation,: afforded any
certainty upon this important point, no
thing, at beft but a hope and a perfuafion;
finco 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 ger ,
nerality of mankind were given up to the
grofs errors of popular fuperftition and ido
latrous worfhip, living in the world with
out the knowledge of God, or the exped
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 I. 13
the glorious light of his Go^el, for having
in his good time revealed, even unto babes
what was fo long " hidden from the wife
and prudent';" for having given us, not
the hope or ^expedation merely, but the
affurance of hjappinefs, and having made
us, not the believers only, but the heirs of
immortality. /.
But if it be granted that no prior know
ledge fiiperfeded the ufe of a more expli
cit revelation, and that upon this ground
Chriftianity was neceffary, then the other
p,arts of the objed:ion are preffed upon us
with greater force — Why was the com
munication of truths fo effential to our
happinefs fb long delayed ? Where was
the neceffity for a preparatory difpenfation?
And why is not the light 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 fimply to plead our
¦ Matt. xi. 25. Luke X. ai.

14 S ER MO N I.
ignorance of the counfels of God : " it is
not for us to knovv-i the times, or the fea*
ions, 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 life,
and every phenomenon of nature, fo un
queftionably prove it, that the proudeft
reafoner need not be afhamed 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.

Chriftianity is called by the Apoftles,
the " difpenfation of the fulnefs of time',''
*' the myftery referved for the latter days:"
and the terms " latter days"," and " latter
ages," which fo frequently occur in the
" Afts i. 7. I Ephef. i. i o.
" Joelii. 28. Aaa ii. 17. Heb, i. 2, i Pet. i. ^. 20,
writers

S E R M O N I. 15
writers both of the Old and New Tefta
ment, the Jewifh Church always under
ftood to refer to the days of their promifed
Meffiah. The Holy Spirit feems to have
charaderized that period of time by fuch
an appellation, becaufe the Gofpel of Chrift
was to contain the laft inftrudiion' of God
to man, " to clofe the book, to feal up the
?ifion and the prophecy, and to bring in
everlafting righteoufnefs °. "
In lihis fenfe the expreffion is plain and
appropriate ; but no man can with juflice
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 univerfe and
all thg.t is in it fhould fubfift; and fince
this cannot be done, fince the " terrible
day of the Lord," for wife and merciful
reafons, is fhrouded 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.
Surely if God be omnipotent and infi-'
nite, and. man finite and dependent, it is
as unreafonable for man to fay, that God
fiiall 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 would be to
prefcribe what the fubjed;: of the com
mands fhould be, and what the mode in
which they fhould be delivered. In the
wonderfiil and unfearehable plans of Onr*
nifcience, there muft, from their very na
ture, be manyJiidden motives, which will
elude the utmoft keennefs of human pene
tration, and many reafons for delay, which
are known to him alone, with whom " a
thoufand years' are as one day, and one
day as a thoufand years °;" for thefe rea
fons it would 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 effedual purpofe at
an earlier period of fociety.
Through the whole order of creation,
and the whole fcheme of Providence, we
obferve marks of a progreffive 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 laws and government, we
go on ftep by ftep, as leifure and opportu
nities offer, or new wants are created, un
til at laft we have completely filled up the
firft 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 difcovefies, not only, to
the adual wants of mankind, but to their
capacity of receiving truth themfelves, and
their m^eans of communicating it to others.

In

i8 SER M O^N I.
'"In the infancy of the w'orld, 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 r^fcue " 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 rhanifeftatibns of hfs power,
nor even his fenfible prefence in glory
amongft them, were fufficient to retatin
his chofen people in a firm reliance upon
his word, and a fteady 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 abftrad
reafoning, and unable to raife their minds
frdm the objeds of fenfe which furround
ed them; is it at all credible that they
would have embraced a fyfterh of 'religion, whofe

S E R M O N L 19
whofe effential charader is its fpirituality ?
which teaches us, that "the Lord of heaven
and earth, the Lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity"," is a Spirit; that he defires "to
be worfhipped in , fpirit and in truth';"
and that the filent devotion of the heart
is more grateful to him than all the magni
ficence of ceremonious worfhip, the coftly
fhrine, the pompous offering, and the
blood of ten thoufand vidims.
Again, Chriftianity was to be univerfal ;
it was not to be a local worfhip, or a par
tial inftitution, but was defigned 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 inftrudion to diftant
countries, or remote pofterity ? Tradition,
the only fource of Information which the
early ages poffeffed, was flifficient for them ;
few in number, and clofely conneded by
affinity, by alhance, and by fituation ; at a
time too when. the period of human life
was extended fo far beyond its prefent
1" Ifai. Ivii. 15. _ ^ John iv. 23.
¦" ' ' ' ' --¦.-.'
c 2 limits.

.20 SERMON I.
limits, it was eafy for a family or a tribe,
to tranfmit to their pofterity any truth, ot
any fad, without rniflake or material al
teration. But Hvhen population increafed, when
Colonies were fettled in diftant regions,
and unCohned;ed flates were rifing into
power, tradi'libn lofi its ufe, and the in-
ftrudions which it had conveyed were gra
dually forgotten. No important leffons
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, until found philofophy
had preparfed the mind for the ftudy bf ab
ftrad; truths, and the familiar ufe of letters
had fiippiied the means of making them
public. Thus, firom the charad:er 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 th^
bleffing fo long, as it was in giving it at
all ; and, from what our own experience teaclies

S E R M O N I. zi
teaches us, from the infight which we ai^
permitted to have into the divine coun
fels, partial and imperfed as it is, it may
alfo be argued, that, had not the bleffing
been delayed fo long, it would have failed
of its intended effed ; unlefs indeed we
fuppofe a conftant rnlracle 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
convldion. From the period of its promulgation
therefore, which hereafter I Ihali fhew to
have been the moft proper that could have
been devifed, and, from the gradual prepa
ration for its eftabiifhment, we might in
fer the divine origin of Chrifiianity on this
ground merely, that the time and the pre
paration, if properly confidered, reconcile
the foreknowledge of God with the freer
dom of man. And here I would be con
tent to leave the fubjed for the prefent,
c -3 were

zz SER MO N I.
were it not neceffary to notice another
queftion, of high importance, which is fre
quently obtruded upon us. Suppofing that
a knowledge of the Chriftian dodrines be
neceffary to eternal happinefs, what is to
become of thofe who lived before they
were revealed? or of thofe to whom the
glad tidings of peace and falvatioii as yet
have not been preached ?
Here, as before, we might fairly plead
our ignorance of the counfels of God, our
reludance 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, which are folicitous only for truth,
will gladly admit the validity of fuch a
plea : but fimplicity and finglenefs 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
quent comparifons between the intolerance
of Chriftianity and the liberal fpirit of Pa-
ganifm.

SERMON L 23
ganifm. Chriftians 4^1ared, ,t^at, they
would have no fharein the celebratiqn of
Heathen myfteries ; they avowed theif ab^
horrence of their facrifices, and fteadily re>-
fvifed to bow down before thei|-, idols;
therefore they were perfecuted as the ene
mies of mankind, as devoting to endlefs
perdition all but thejfriends of their owtn
fed, and the converts to their ow;n wor
fhip. , , ,.;...
But was this ever a juft accufation?
Far from it ; Chriftians, it is true, from,
the very firft publication 9f the Gofpel,
have uniformly dedared, that to inherit
eternal falvation, we muft have faith in
Jefus 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
faved'." But do Chriftians condemn, or, if fu-

¦¦ I Tim. ii. 5. ' Rom. vi. 23.7
* A£ts iv. 1 3. c 4 rious

^4. SERMON I.
rious and bigoted zealots have evei* done
fo, 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 fhould prefume to fet bounds to his
compaffion, or to fay how far his mercy
and patient abiding fhall be continued.
For thofe indeed, who, having once re
ceived the word, voluntarily apoftatize from
it J who vilify and traduce the Revelation
Jtfelf, 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 interpretatioiis of its dodrihes,
to leffen its praSlical influence upon man
kind; for thofe, we do pronounce, upon
the authority of our holy Teacher and his
Apoftles, that the bitternefs of wrath' is
referved, and that, when he fhall hereafter
appear in glory, the Lord will caft them
out from his prefence, to the punifliment
they have deferved, *
But

SERMON L

zs

But we never affert, that ignorance will
be a reafon for condemnation; we have
been taught, what is ftridly 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 will become univerfal : and, till
that glorious event takes place, we con-
dude that the merits of his death extend
their influence even to thofe who ftill re
main in the darknefs and fhadow of death.
With what confidence, then, can it be
afferted, that God is either partial in his
difcoveries 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. la. reve«-

z6 S E R M O N I.
nevelation could not have: been communi
cated in any 6ther 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
equalities will be done away.
The very delay then, which is com^-
pl^ned 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
vldion of man, fuch an unbroken feries of
teftimony, that no fophiftry will ever be
able to prevail againft it.
Confiftency of condud, and uniformity
of defign, we always confider as Infallible
criteria, of wifdom. We admire the fa-
gaclty of mind, which can promptly choofe
a wife end ; the difcernment, which can
feled

S E R M O N I. Z7
f^e&. 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-
complifhment 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 inftltutions, and
the ritual of their worfhip, were all in
fad preparatory to this defign : whilft the
ftrange reverfes of their fortunes, and their
frequent Ticiffitudes, from power and opu
lence, to captivity and defolatlon, all con
tributed to promote it— if, meanwhile, the
fame governing principle be found to con trol

2^ SER MO N I.
trol the fates of other people, and the revo
lutions of other empires ; if Aflyria, Perfia>
Macedon, and Rome, in purfiiing their own
ambitious fchemes of conqueft and domi
nion, are only the blind 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 Ifai.x. 7. -'¦ Exod. yiii. 19.

SERMON II.

EZEKIEL xxxvi. aa,
i DO NOT THIS FOR YOUR SAKES,
O HOUSE OF ISiElAEL, 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
quent deliverance and reftoration to their
native country. They were to fufter, he
tells them, for their iniquities, for their
negled: of the worfhip 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 fatisfied ; they were to return to
Jud^a, with a new heart and a new fpi
rit ;

30 SERMON 11.
rit; God was to be again their God, and
they were to be again his people ; and this
was to take place, this fignal inftance of
Divine mercy, was to be exhibited to the
world, not for their fakes. He reminds
them, but Ibr the fake of God's holy
name. To glorify 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 Being, and that
He alone is the proper objed of huftian
worfhip ; and to eftablifli the important
dodrine on the indifputable authority of
Revelation, as it was the chief ground and
motive for all the viciffitudes in the for
tunes of the Jewifh people, fo 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 power never could have effeded,
and rewarded his obedience by the pro-
- mife,

S E R M O N II. 31
mife, that " in his feed all the nations of
the earth fhould be blefled^"
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 dedudions of
human reafon, was gradually corrupted,
and loft, as to all pradical 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 which
the fabric of all true religion muft be
raifed, fhould be taught and maintained,
not in an obfcure corner, or a fmall and
infignificant community, but in the efta
blifhed worflilp of a numerous people, con
neded, as has been well obferved, either as
allies, as tributaries, or as fubjeds, with
every part of the civilized world.
^ Gen. xxii. i8. In

¦^2. S E R M O N II.
In reviewing the hiftory of Religion, It
is a point of extreme nicety and difficulty,
to diftinguifh exadly between the difco-
reries of reafon and the remains of early
tradition. Man is undoubtedly, in thef
Tery frame and conftitution of his nature,"
a religious being; God has given him a
confcioufnefs of dependence and inferio-'
rity, a natural anxiety to dlfcover the will
©f his fuperior, and a natural inclinatiori
to offer up his adoration and thankfgiving,
for the bleffings which he enjoys. Feeling
this natural impulfe within us, and having
long been taught to dired it in a reafon
able fervice to its proper objed, we are
apt perhaps to think better of our owil
powers than we ought, and to call fome
truths, truths of natural Religion, which
are 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
we confider as a matter of fad, what our
own reafon has done, we fhall indeed be
little inclined to prize it too highly.
" God,"^ as the ApofHe tells us, certainly " never

SERMON II* ^3
" never left himfelf without a witnefa''."
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 ftrid propriety be called
the Religion of Nature.
But when it came to be a queftibn, how
the Supreme Being conduded his govern
ment, then began the grand mlftake, from
which all the abfurdities of Paganifm date
their origin : for, while the Deity was fup
pofed to be fhrouded in his own ineffable
majefty, and abforbed in the contempla
tion of his own glory, he was beheld at an
awAil diftance, as the objed of fear and
apprehenfion, rather than of love. The
conteipplation of his Power, and his Pro-
^ Afts xiv. 17.
D vidence/

34 SERMON II.
vidence, in fuftaining ¦ and regulating the
complicated fyftem of nature, did not lead,
as it might have done, by fair and rational
analogy, to juft notiotis of his rrroral ' go
vernment ; the clofe and ' intimate rela
tion which fiibfifts 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 fiibordinate deities, who were fuppofed
to be the interpreters of his will, and the
minifters of his power.
From this fource were derived all the
fidions 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 worflilp was aflb-,
elated with theirs, and the glory due only to

SERMON II, .35
to him' was lavifhly beftowed upon the
¦very loweft of his creatures.
The facred Hiftorian has not precifely
marked the firft rife of idolatrous worfhip ;
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 wlckednefs, till " the
meafure of their iniquity was full ;" they
were then fwept away from the face of
the earth, by that great and awful difpen
fation, which has ftamped upon the form
and the fubftance of the material world,
indelible marks of the power of the Q|e-
ator. It was not long however before the de
fcendants of the " righteous remnant,"
who had been faved, forgot the miraculous
prefervatlon of their anceftors ; and as foon
as they had feparated from each other, and
had fettled in the countries allotted to
them by the efpeclal appointment of God,
we find them almoft immediately relapfing
into the very iniquities which had brought
D 2 upon

36 S E R M O N . IL
upon their forefathers fo terrible a punifh*
ment. , - /
When the memory of eariy revelations
was loft, and the Almighty had withdrawn
himfelf from immediate communication
with his creatures, nature taught thern to
look up to the heavenly bodies, whofe
fplendor was the continual objed: of their
admiration, and whofe utility their daily
experience teftified. In thefe glorious lu-
Hiinaries they fixed the refidence of thofe
ideal beings, to whom they had affigned
the office of mediation and interceffion
wi|h the Supreme Lord of the creation.
Planetary worfhip then was the firft
ftcjp in the career of falfehood ; and it was
accompanied, as in rude and uncivilized
focieties it naturally would -be, not with
the cheerful piety, and rational awe, which
true Religion infplres, but with the reftlefs
and haraffing apprehenfions of fuperfti
tion; with fudden and unexpeded changes
from hope to difappointment, and from
joy and .gladnefs to difmay and defpair.
Againft

S E R M O N II. 3;
Againft 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,
*f and be not difmayed at the figns of hea
ven, for the Heathen are difmayed at
them ^"
The effeds of this fuperftition upon the
mind were as various as the viciffitudes of
the elements are various and iriconftant ;
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 defolatlon around.
Hence arofe the diftindion of good and
evil demons, of whom the former were
fuppofed to difpenfe to man the bleffings
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 3 as

38 , SERMON II,
as the beneficent Fathei' of the univerfe,
the Parent of • good, impartially fhowering
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 was to be appeafed by the
blood of his creatures,
; To the worfhip of the heavenly bodies
fucceeded that of deified men, following,
it fhould feem, in a natural, order, the pro-,
greis of civilization, and, the improvements
of ;focial life ; for deified me.n were the,
founders of colonies, the inventors pf ufeful
arts; the legiflators, who by wifdom had
curbed the impetuofity of, man, and taught
him the great duty of ; fubmlffion 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-
fhipplng the benefador ; but pride and va
nity

SERMON II.

39

nity perpetuated what gratitude began ;
and "While the' people offered their incenfe
at ^e fhrinesdf the herdes, whofe adions
they had been taught to venerate,' the de
fcendants of the illuflrious charaders glo
ried in the pofleffion of ftatues, arid gene-,
alogles, which authenticated their alliance
to Divinity.
i From the union of thefe two branches
of idolatrous worfhip 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 pa,ffions, 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. feft. 4.
D 4 general

40 SERMON II.
general principle juay, . be traced from the
Sabian idolatry of Chaldea, through the pbl-
luted ohannel of Egyptian fiiperftition, un
til we -fee it under all the advantages of
beautiful poetry, and . the pageantry o€
games and feftivals, in the , temples of
Greece and Rome.
To give more than the general outline
is not neceffary to my , argument ; and
were it neceflary, I fhould be loth, before
an audience of Scholars, to enter into a
detail which the general courfe of theijr
ftudies has familiarized to them ; and, God
knows, it is at all times a painfiil tafk to
purfue the wanderings of the human mind
throi^gh ihch an inextricable labyrinth of
error and abfurdity.
But whtere, it may be afked, amidft fuch
a muitipLicity 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. 25. was

S E R M O N 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 affert that it was a juft and
accurate knowledge, exifted in the colleges
of the priefls, and the fchools of the phi-
lofbphers ; and of the philofophers, the
weakeft declared, that variety of worfhip
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 doArine, which, had it been pub
licly avowed, would have expofed the fal
lacy of their auguries, their oracles, their
vows, and their facrifices, and have demo-
lifhed at one blow the whole fabric of
gainful fuperftition. ^ Rom, i. 31. Thus,

4z s. E R:M,o:H;- ir. '
Thus, while in the ohe cafe upon prin
ciple, and in the other from felf-intereft, ,
the knowledge of God was hidden in the,
dark and impenetrable fhade of myfteries, ¦
the uninitiated multitude were left to the .
uncontrouled indulgence of their paffions.
At all times, and under, alb. circumftances,
fymbolical worfhip has , been accompanied'
by corrupt and profligate morals ; it is eafy
to fee why it muft. be fo; it follows,
neceffarily and immediately; as a. confe
quence of that mlftake whifch I have ftated
to be the original caufe of Polytheifm^ —
the notion of fiibordinatie Deities, who
have their feparate and diftind offices -af-"
figned to them under the one Supreme
Caufe, in the admlniftratlon and govern
ment df the world. ; .
Moral virtue eonfifts in the pradice 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 fhould. fo
ad, 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 poffible that the ex
ample of any of thofe Gods fhould be vi
cious, • thep we muft conclude it to be
their will, that man fliould be vicious alfo:
and in this way we may account for that
black . and dreadful catalogue of vices,
which the Apoftles continually enume
rate ih their pidures of the Gentile
world, » Such then being the ftate 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 preferved 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 Gofpel was founded, and by
adoring

44 SERMON I!.
adoring in their public worfhip none but
the God of theif fathers, the Holy One of
Ifrael? To eftablifli a new religion in any cafe
muft be a work of great. difficulty ; but to
eftablifli it upon the ruins of inveterate
prejudices, and of opinions fand:ioned 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;" inftead of
granting them the free indulgence of their
inclinat-ions and their appetites, to impofe
rigid and fevere refttaints upon both ; ta
expofe the nothingnefs of the faireft ideal
pi dure ' of ¦^virtue, and the brighteft exte
rior femblance of morality; and to require
truth, and purity in the inward parts ; all
this is a talk 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-

S E R M O N II. 45
Gentiles, to Corinth, Athens, or Rome ;
that, without any previous expedation of
his appearance, he had announced himfelf
as the meffenger of God ; let his addrefe
be made, not to the wealthy, the powerful,
or the wife, but, as our bleficd Saviour's
adually was, to the ppor, the lowly, and
the ignorant ; let him command them,
with the tone and authority of a teacber
fent from God, to give up their eflablifhed
belief, to quit their former habits, to re-/
pent of their fins, and to be converted ; —
what would have been the effed:, 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
fary, in the firft inftance, to have proved the

46 SERMON II.
the exiftence 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 which Chriftianity is founded.
You tell us, they would have faid, that
you are a meffenger 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, direds,
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 own. The foundation of thef
religiori which he defigned to teach was
already laid in the popular opinions, and
the national faith. The unity of God was
acknowledged by all ranks and all de-
fcriptions

-S "E R M O N II. 47
fcriptions of men ; a call to repentance ex
cited no aftonifhment, and caufed no pre
judice, in the firft inftance, againft his doc
trines, becaufe it was immediately con
neded with all the legal ceremonies of
their Religion, and all the principal fads
of their hiftory ; and a claim to the office
and charader of. a Meffiah in the firft in
ftance prepoffeffed 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-
pllfhment. i
" Let the counfel of the Holy One of If
rael draw nigh^, and where is the promife
of his coming'''?" were become almoft pro
verbial expreffions amongft the Jews ; fo
that a teacher, calling himfelf the Chrift,
was certain at kaft of finding hearers ready
to attend to -his inftru6lions, and eager to
examine his pretenfions. Then there was
time to obferve his charader 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 n.
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 adrnitted the
new Rehgion, or not ; indeed their very
rejedion of it was, as it turned out, a con
vincing argument of its truth.
It was with a view therefore to guard
the fundamental dodrines 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 difclofing to them,
from time to time, " the deep and fecret
things of his wifdom ;" and that he made
them the depofitarles of truth, by com
mitting to their cuftody the living oracles
of his word.
In what manner this feparation was ef
feded, and by what admirable methods
the Providence of God contrived to inter
weave

SERMON II. 49
weave and conned their eftabliffiment as
a church, with their civil polity as a ftate,
and to make the religious code of the fpr-
mer both the hiftory and the legal inftl-'
tutes of the latter, fo that no fufpicion of
fraud or forgery can, with any reafen, be
urged againft either, is a point of fuch ma
terial importance, that it deferves a fe
parate difcuffion : I fhall referve it there
fore for a future difcourfe.
,. It cannot, meanwhile, be expeded, that
I ffiould 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 philbfophers
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 him';'' or as if the Father of man
kind, whofe mercy is over all his works,
could have ffiut up the knowledge of him
felf within the narrow precinds of a par
ticular church, unlefs it had been with a
* Micah vi. 8,
E defign,

50 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
diftinguiffied you with peculiar marks of
toy favour; but it is to glorify my great
name, that all the world may fee and con
fefs, that I am indeed the true God, and
that there is none other befide me.
'' Ezek. xxxvi. 2^.

SER-

SERMON III.

NUMBERS xxili. 9.

LO, THE PEOPLE SHALL DWELL ALONE,
AND SHALL NOT BE RECKONED A-
MONGST THE NATIONS.
HAVING ffiewn 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
Jewifh 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 w^as effeded.
E 2 The

52 SERMON IIL
* The Prophet of Midian was fummoned
by the King of Moab, in the true fpirit of
idolatry, to imprecate the vengeance, of
heaven 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 charader, the peculiarity of their
government, and their refidence in the pro
mifed land under the imrnediate protedion
of God ; and in terms of benedidion fi-
milat' to thofe iwhich were ufed by-their
own Patriarch^ and their own Legiflator",
he pronounced- that; " Ifrael .ffiould dwell
alone," As there was at that time no
probabiUty, humanly fpeaking, that .thig If
raelites, would ? ever be ^ able. to expej the
inhabitants of the country which they were
going to invade, ajid even if we fuppofe
that conqueft to have been probable, as a
diftind and. feparate exiftence is contrary
"to all. the maxims,qfhuma,n; policy, and to
th^e natural incUnations and wiffies of the

Numb. xxii. .,¦;,.... ; >> Gen. xlixi 8.
Dcut. xxxiii. 28.

human

SERMON III. ^^
human heart, which lead nations, as well
as individuals, to intercourfe and com
merce, and affociation with each other,
nothing but the forefight of God could
have conceived the poffibility of fo extra
ordinary a fad, and nothing lefs than the
power and the wifdom of God could have ,
brought it to pafs.
Let us fee then how the Almighty con
trived, whilft 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 diftindion.
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-
giftrates, whether they were Judges, Kings,
or High Priefts, they were ftridly and pro-
E 3 perly

54 SERMON III.
perly the delegates of the Supreme God.
Thus there was no diftind:ion whatever
between their eftabliffiment as a church,
and their conftitution as a political body;
for the laws, which were framed to fecure
and preferve the worffiip of the one true
God, were in fad the civil laws of the
people, and a branch of their political go
vernment. Such were the terms of the original co
venant between God and his people. He
had chofen them for his fubjeds, as well
as his worffiippers ; 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 ffiall be
unto me a kingdom of priefts, and an holy
nation'':" and the anfwer of the people
was, " All that the Lord hath fpoken, that
will we do ',"
In all human focieties, obedience to the
^ Exod. xix. ^. « Exod. xix,-8. laws

SERMON III. S5
laws which proted: him is the virtue of
the citizen ; in the Theocracy of the Jews,
it was hi^religion : for, as their own Hif
torian tells us, Mofes did not make Reli
gion a part of yirtue ; but moral virtue,
juftice, that is, temperance, and fortitude,
good order, and all the great duties which
cement and confblidate the fabric of civil
fociety, the Divine Legiflator made parts
of Religion ^
Here then at once there is a manifeft
diftindion between the people of God and
all other nations, in the very effential and
fundarriental articles of their conftitution :
a diftindion, neceffarily caufed by the pri
mary defign and end. of their feparation ;
which, as we have feen, was to preferve
the pure worflilp 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 compad between
^ Jofephus contra Apion, lib. ii. feft. i6.
E 4 the

56 SERMON III.
the Governor and the governed, a tranf
greffion, as it is called, of the covenant,
was puniffied with the fanfe rigour with
.which human legiflators have at all times,
and in all ages, juftly puniffied ads of
treafon and rebellion againft the fovereign
authority of the ftate.
Wherever the Ifraefite came, he was to
affert the great and glorious name of Je
hovah, to proclaim the iniquity of wor-
ffiipping ftrange Gods, to break down their
images, to deflroy their groves, and tram
ple upon their altars ; and with the ido
laters themfelves, if they perfifted in their
crimes,'' he was to form no league or
treaty whatever, to ffiew them no mercy
or compaffion, but to fmite and utterly
deflroy them.
And if' amongft his own people, or his
own tribe, or even in the bofom of his
own family, any inclination ffiould be
found to emulate the corruptions of his
neighbours, or any attempt be made to fe-
duce him from his allegiante to the only
true God, he is commanded to puniffi in-
ftarltly ;

SERMON IIL S7
ftantly ; neither the habits of long and fa-
rniliar acquaintance, nor the endearments
of friendffilp, nor even the ties of filial and
parental aftedion, are to withhold his hand
from ftriking the blow. " If 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 ffialt not confent
unto him, nor hearken unto him ; neither
ffiall thine eye pity him; but thou ffialt
furely kill him, becaufe he hath thought
to thruft thee away from the Lord thy
God^" Thus the great diftindion of Religion
was enforced by the pofitive prohibition of
all community of worffiip with idolaters,
even by thq exprefs command of extirpat
ing them wherever they exifted ; and^ upon
their fteady and faithful perfeverance in
the worffiip of the God of their fathers,
depended entirely their poffeffion of the
country which he had given to them, the
peace and happinefs of individuals, and the
general profperity of their empire.
s Deut. xiii. 6 — 9.
To

58 SERMON IIL
To forbid, under fevere penalties, w hat
others love and cultivate, is the fevereft
method of drawing a boundary between
thofe we wiffi to feparate : thus the Jews
were exprefsly commanded not to pafs
their children through the fire, like the
barbarous worfhippers of Moloch ''; not to
disfigure or wound their bodies, like the
followers of Baal ; not to perform the ads
of devotion in high places, in gloomy ca
verns, or obfcure recefl!es ; nor throw the
ffiade of myftery over their worffiip, 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 pradical fyftem of worffiip,
which of itfelf was 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 difplay of ceremonious
^ Levit. xviii, 21. ' Deut. 16. 21.
worffiip

SERMON III. 59
worffiip was not neceffary ; the fruits of
the earth, and the firftlings of the flock,
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 difficulty, to offer up thankfgivings for
mercies and benefits received, and to pour
forth prayers for future happinefs.
But in after times a numerous multi
tude, devoted to fenfible objeds, pleafed
with the falfe worffiip of the country
which they had quitted, and in that in
which they were afterwards fettled, fur-
rounded by nations who delighted in ffiew
and pageantry, and all the external glare
of fymbolical worflilp ; * 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 therefore in his mercy, allowing for

6o SERMON IIL
for their patUral weaknefs, and wiffiing
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 confideration to their infirmities gave
them vifible tokens of his continual pre
fence amongft them. Here it was that
the patience and long fuffering of God
difplayed themfelves in the moft ftriking
manner, by every poffible accommodation
to their inclinations and their prejudices,
nay, I may fay, even to their capricious
partialities. It was not enough that the great truth
of the unity of the Godhead was formally
announced in the prefence of the affem-
bled congregation, and that the adoration
of ftrange Gods was exprefsly forbid ; in
addition to the pofitive command, and the
pofitive prohibition, other means were tried
to guard the chofen race from the pollu-'
tions of idolatry.
To their great progenitor the Almighty had

SERMON IIL 6i
had announced himfelf as the God of his
family, and to his defcendants afterwards,
as the tutelary God of the nation. Whilft
the nations of Canaan are ereding 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
Ifrael, in conipliance 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
diftinguiffied by the appearance of Divine
glory before it. Afterwards the chofen
fervant of the Almighty was commanded
to ered 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. iii. 14.
* 2 Sam. vi. 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 itsr
conqueft of . the promifed land, this holy
tabernacle was fixed at Shiloh ; and when
the conqueft was complete, as far at leaft
as God intended that it ffiould 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 hoiife of God with all the
pomp and decoration of oriental magni
ficence. ,
From the earlieft times therefore they
were never without the adual prefence of
God dwelling amongft them ; the external
fymbols 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
was the glory of the world.
¦" I Kings iv. 25.
As

SERMON III, 63
As the Almighty, though a pure Spirit',
and to be adored in fpirit and in truth,
dlfdained not to refide, and to be wor-
ffiipped, 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.
J mean not at prefent to enter into a
minute examination of the ceremonial
Ivaw ; at a future time I ffiall attempt to
explain the figurative nature of this Law,
and to ffiew that, under the wifeft 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 ffiew, and
prefenting continually to their minds the
power and the goodnefs of their own
God. The.

64 SERMON HL
The fabbath itfelf, the earlieft and rrioft
facred of their religious inftltutions, 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 they
were good. The Pafchal fupper reminded
them of their deliverance, when the angel
of the Lord, fmote the Egyptian, and
:^ared the Ifraelite. The feaft of Taber
nacles recalled to their recolledion their
long and fevere trials in the wildernefs,
when every moment of their exiftence
was in fad a teftimony of the power of
God, and of his Providence watching over
their fafety ; and the feaft of Pentecoft
was 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
wonders which accompanied the fearful
prefence of their God.
Thus it was wifely and providentially
contrived, that the moft public and folemn
ads of their Religion ffiould perpetuate the
memory of the moft ftriking occurrences in

SERMON :IIL 65
in their, hiftory ; and upon all thofe occa
fions it was ufual to fix 'the impreffiOn ftill
deeper in the rriinds of the people, by a fum-
mary recapitulation of all which had been
done for them, and all the fignal ads which,
, by the Providence of God,: they had .at-
.chieved ; and; • this :W"as done with all the
glow and the; ardour, of poetical enthu-
.fiafm-; in fongs, of triumph for deliverance
and vldory, and hymns of. gratitude for
quiet and peaceable poffeffion .of the pro
mifed land, ¦' ;;...: . .
Whilft the folem,n preparation, and the
fplendid exhibition of thefe ftated feftivals,
attached the people to their religion, they
alfo ;anfwered the important piirpofe :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 wiffies to their poA
feffions in the land of Canaan, will be feen
hereafter ; at prefent I am only concerned
to prove the fad>
From the original promife made to A-
braham, the inheritance of the land of
F Canaan

66 SERMON III,
Canaan had been at all times the great
objed of the wiffies of his pofterity, and
the point to which all their views were
direded. A period of more than four cen
turies of fervitude and oppreffion in Egypt
had not obliterated the remembrance of
the promife, nor leffened the fond expec
tation of its accompliffiment. At the firft
fummons they were ready to put them
felves under the guidance of a leader, w^ho
undertook to condud them to the haven
of their wiffies ; 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 condudor, and even
to accufe the moft High God of injuftice,
yet ftill they could not extlnguifh, nay,
they even increafed, the ardent longing for
the poffeffion of that happy land, which
was to repay them for all their ffiffer
ing. It was natural, therefore; when they at
laft poffeffed this expeded country, when
they found it to be fertile and rich beyond
their hopes, " a land of wheat and bar-

SERMON IIL 6;
ley, and vines, and fig trees, and. pome
granates, a land of oil-olive and hoiiey","
it was natural that they ffiould love and
cherlffi it with the moft partial attach
ment ; but this attachment the wifdom of
God augmented and confitmed.
In the firft place their • religion was lo
cal ; It was fixed folely to Jerufalem; and
the great duties of it could be no where
elfe performed, fo that as often as the
ftated feafon of their feftlval returned, all
Jews, of whatever jdefcriptlon, 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 law, fandified indeed by a reli
gious ceremony, but in itfelf of a nature
purely, civil : it was impoffible for an If-.
raelite to alienate his property ; the ori
ginal allotment was to remain unalterable ;
and w'hatever changes or variations might
be riiade, they were conftantly to be rec-
» Deut. viii. 8.
-:'j ; F z tified

68 S E R M 0*N IIL
tified at" the. feaft of Jubilee; " for then,"
fays. the law, " ye ffiall return every man
unto his. poffeffion °." jti,',:-
It is eafy -to fee -the confequ^npes* of
this right of -redemption ; that while the
nation at large was preferved. one and en
tire, each -tribe feparately, apd. 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^ djlpen:fetions ; of ^.Pro-
vidence. Bethlehem Ephratah thus re
mained in the portion of Judah, and the
lineage' of Jeffe was preferved to the daysr
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 divifions, "and all the inferioR^
claffesi of fociety ; and whilft the nation.
was diftinguiffied as a peculiar people from
all other . people, every tribe and every fa-
• Deut. Iii. 30. mily

SERMON IIL 69
mily 'had fome appropriate charader, atid
feme peculiar privileges, by which they
were feparated and difcriminated froni
one another.
If, from their public inftltutions, and the
greater" ceremonies -of their Religion, we
turn our eyefe to their ordinary occupations,
and the' habits of cbrhmon life, we ffiall
fee throughout the marks of the fame de
fign, and the effeds of the fame prificiple
of difcrlminatioh. .
From the ] moment of his birth the Jew
was marked as a being diftind: from the
reft of mankind : the initiatory rite of cir-
cumcifion firft ftamped him as the fervant
of God, and admitted him td the privi
leges of the Patriarchal covenant. As his
reafon opened, he was educated, not in
the rudiments of human fcience, but in
the precepts of Divine wlfdom ; 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 walked by the
way ; to bind it for a fign iipon his hands,
F 3 and

;o S E R M O N 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 ibr the higher rmoralitles, arid the
more important duties, upon which the
very exiftence of civil fociety depends, but
for all the minute occiirrences of common
life, and all the accidental circumftances
which huijian legiflators pafs by without ,
notice, becaufe they either confider them
as matters of indifference, or do not forefee
that tliey will happen-
For the faffiion of his drefs, his diet,
and the conftrudion of his dwelling, the
Jew found in the volumes of his Law, cer
tain and precife 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.
•" Deut. vj. 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 was not matter
of choice whether they ffiould follow this
rule or not ; it was indlfjaenfably necef
fary ; and puniffiment inftantly 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 muft, in the effential cha-
raderiftics of his nature, be ftill the fame ;
his paffions, and his affedlons, however
modified by circumftances, in their origin
and their principles were precifely fimilar :
but climate will femetimes 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 ffich

73.

S E R M O N^ IIL:

fuch ftrong: and legible 'charaders, as in the
people of Ifrael.
Apud ipfos fides obftinata, fed adverfus'
omnes alios hoftile odium ^, was the well
known cenfure of Tacitus. But we need
not go to i the hiftorians or the fatirifts of
Rome, who defpifed and hated them, .for>
a pidure of their defeds ; 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 invedives, in all their Hiftorians
and all their Prophets ; and In later times,
the holy Apoftle, who knew them well,-
declares, " that they pleafed-not God, and
were contrary to all men':";
If we advert to the fpirit,' nay, even to
the letter of the Mofaic Law, though' all
communion with idolaters was cut off,
there was nothing that could be conftrued
into an approbatioh of want of friendffilp,
or want of hofpitallty; nothing certainly
that juftlfies enmity or hatred to the reft

'' Tacit. r , Theff. ii. 15.

of

SERMON IIL

73

of mankind. Let him forfake the wor
ffiip of ftrange Gods, and the ftranger that
fojourned in the land' was to be loved
and cherlffied, 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
purpofes an Ifraelite, and was admitted to
a participation of all the privileges of the
nation. But ftill the real defcendants of the Pa
triarch cheriffie,d in their own minds a fan
cied fuperlorlty over the convert, whoever
he might be ; the promifes 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 bleffed
him, and cnxie them that curfed him;"
" thkt nations and kings would come from
him ;" and that " in his feed all nations
would be bleffed'." As thefe prorhlfes they.

" Levit. xvii. 5,3., xxv. 35. Numb. xv. 14.
' Gen. xii. 2.
con-

74 - S E Ri M O N IIL
confidered to be the bafis of their national
eftabliffiment, as they had been accom-
pliffied in part, by the rapid conqueft and
lecure poffeffion of the land of Canaan,
and as all their great leaders, and jaU their
holy Prophets had taught them to attri
bute their fucceffes to the original cove
nant, they vainly and foolifhly fuppofed that
they ffiould be, the lords of the univerfe,
and that every nation under heaven would
in time bow down before them.
From this falfe and mlftaken 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
themfelves; and this national vanity was
fti mulated and encouraged by fomenting
the rivalfliip and jealoufy of the neigh
bouring nations; of the Moabites, the
Ammonites, and the Eddmites, who ftill
contended for the birth-right of which
their anceftors had been defrauded ; and
the fons of Iffimael, who never forgot the
ftock from which they fprang, or the re
wards which were annexed to the obe
dience

SERMON IIL 75
dience of their great progenitor. It muft
be remembered too, that thefe nations, al
though conned:ed 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 pr6felyte.
On thefe principles we may account for
the pride and the bigotry of the Jewiffi
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 juftice 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 ihe vices and the faults in
their charader, which arofe perhaps from
their miftaking the objed of their inftltu
tions, aided the defigns of Providence, by
keeping up the great national diftindion, till

76 SERMON IIL

/

till the end of the feparation was attained^i
but at the fame time they deluded the-
unfortunate people, and taught them to '
exped permanericy and immutability : in •
that which was intended to anfwer a tem-->
po^ary purpofe. ., , . ;
That In the days of our Saviour, when
their Temple was ftill ftanding, and . their
ceremonial Law in full force, wheii even
our Lord himfelf conformed to its - cuf-
toms, and its ceremonies — that the Jews?
of that time ffiould 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
apalogy of all languages, that when the
perpetuity of the Mofaic Law is fpoken.^
of, the expreffions can only mean that it
fliould lafl for a long time, as long as the-
' .; nature

SERMON III. 77
nature and defign of the inftitution would
allow : indeed, if Canaan was given to the
people of Ifrael for an " everlafting 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 ffiould endure for
ever, ,
But I would afk the modern Jew in
the firft inftance. What was the great ob
jed of the ceremonial Law ? To feparate
the .people, he will fay, from communi
cation with idolaters, and to leave the
worffiip of the true God undefiled. Doubt
lefs it was fo ; the ftrange deviations of
mankind from the truths revealed to the
Patriarchs, made it neceffary,
V The Law was added," fays the Apo
ftle, " becaufe of tranfgreffionsu." This be
ing acknowledged, what is its ufe when
idolatry has ceafed, when the found of
the Heathen oracles has long been huflied,
the ftatues of their corrupt Deities have
been crumbled to the duft, and all the ci-
" Galat. iii. 19. villzed

78 SERMON IIL
vllized nations of the world unite in th^
adoration jof the one true God ?
Then I would afk him, whether- in
their Law, which he afferts to be Immut
able, there were not adually changes made,
as the time approached at which the obli
gation was to ceafe, and all its partial dif-
tindions 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
diftlndions had before excluded from it,
" My falvation," fays the Holy Spirit, " is
near to come, and my fighteouffiefs 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 everlafting name, that
ffiall not be cut off ^"
''.Ifaiah Ivi. I. y Ifaiah Ivi. 3. ^ Ifaiah Ivi. 5.
At

SERMON IIL 79^
At the fame time a , changp was an-
oouneed in the mode of God's govern
ment; for the iniquities of the fathers were
no more to be puniffied upon the children,
but every one was to bear his own fins :
it was alfo declared, that the external and
pofitive duties of facrifice and oblations
were inferior to the inward and unbidden
worffiip of the heart, and that " God de-
fired mercy and not facrifice"," and the
knowledge of God more than burnt of
fering. If thefe material alterations are not fuf
ficient to prove that the whole was a
preparatory difpenfation, and confequently
might ceafe when its objed was accom-
pliffied ; 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 ; they are no longer the
" habitation of the Lord;" nor do they dwell
in fafety under "his everlafting arms •>;" all
the diftindions, which would now be ufe-
lef^, are gone ; the genealogies, which they
once preferved v* ith fuch anxious care, are
* Hofea vi. 6. ' Deut, xxxiii. 27.
con-,

8o SERMON IIL
confounded with each, other, and the tribe
of Judah is mingled and loft in the com^-
mon mafs of .their countiryrnen '. ¦!
Thus their temporal, and- their fpiritual
ftafe, which were in fad one and the
fame thing, which gradually, rofe together
to the height of their fame and fplendour,
were both deftroyed ;when the purpofe of
their eftabliffiment was fulfilled,
Laftly, let him recoiled, that the whole
of his worffiip, as I have before remarked,
was locaf; 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,
when " God is not to be worffiipped on
mount Gerizim', or at Jerufalem," but in
the hearts ,of all his creatures ?

' Newton on the Prophecies, vol. i. p. 215,
^ Judges ix. 7. John xxi, ai.

SER-

SERMON IV.

COLOSSIANS ii. 17.
WHICH ARE A SHADOW^ OF GOOD
THINGS TO COME, BUT THE BODY
IS OP CHRIST.
HAVING already explained for what
purpofe the Almighty feparated the
Jewiffi nation from the reft of mankind,
and by what methods that feparation was
effeded, the courfe of my argument leads
me to examine what fort of connexion
there was between the religious inftltu
tions of the Jews, and the effential doc
trines of Chriftianity ; and in what fenfe,
and under what - limitations, the former
G are

83 SERMON IV.
are to be, confidered as Figures and Types
of the latter.
The Apoftle in this Epiftle to the Co-
loffiahs takes great pains to caution the
Jewiffi converts againft a pradice, in thofe
days very common, of mixing and uniting
the complicated ritual of Mofes with the
fpiritual precepts and the fimpler facra-
ments of Chrift. He tells them, that the
Gofpel into which they had been baptized
was all in all ; that it contained " all the
treafures of wifdom 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
laws which Chrift had abrogated, and of
rites, which, as they were nothing more
than images and ffiadows of the truth,
confequently were of no avail to thofe
who pofl^efiTed the reality and the fub-
» Col. ii. 9. ftance.

SERMON 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 ffiadow of things to come,
but the body is of Chrift \"
The Apoftolic Epiftles abound with ex
preffions of a fimilar tendency. The priefts
under the Law are faid " to ferve unto the
ffiadow of heavenly things ';" the Law it
felf is faid to have " a fliadow. of good
things to come, and not the very image of
the things ^;" the laberna;cle and its deco
rations are called the patterns or copies,
UTToSaiyfAoiTx, of heavenly things ; and Chrift
is declared to have entered not " into the
holy places made with 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 ffiadow, a fi
gure, or a type of future good things, and
" Col.ii. 16. ' Heb. ii. 5.
¦* Heb. x. I. ' Heb. ix. 24.
G 2 Chrift

84 SERMON IV-
Chrift the body, the fubflance, and the
truth, do they mean merely to urge the
fuperiority of Chriftianity over Judaifm,
of the Gofpel over the Law, and the fa
crifice of Jefus over the ftated facrifices of
the Aaronic priefthood ? Or do they mean,
that the ordinances of the Mofaic difpen
fation were defigned ,by God to prefi
gure future events in the hiftory of our
Saviour, and to reprefent, under the ffiade
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 Chriftianity the
Commentators of the Gofpel began to in
dulge themfelves in the licence of allego
rical and myftical interpretations. The
Jews 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 obfeurities of their
Scriptures to their own vifionary notions ;
of drawing parallels, which in all probabi
lity never were defigned ; and of difcover-
ing fimilitudes, which at all times it is eafy to

SERMON IV- 85
to trace in the analogous operations of na
ture, and ftill eafier 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 blafphemed the word
of God, as if it contained nothing but
doubtfol phrafes, and unffibftantial alle
gories, upon which no certain dependance
could be placed, believers of cool and tem
perate judgments have betn fearfol 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 wie may not ei
ther abufe or rejed any portion of the light
which God hath mercifully given us, to af-
G 3 certain.

86 S E R M O N 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 difpenfation of the
Jews, and what degree of force they may
fairly and juftly be allowed to have as evi
dences of the truth of Chriftianity.
In its primitive and original meaning, a
type is merely the pattern, or impreffioni,
the tough draught, or fketch, from which
a more perfed work is made : in this fenfe
the word is ufed by the facred writers.
Our tranflators have given a yariety of in
terpretations of the Greek word tutto? : in
St. John's Gofpel it is rendered by the
word' Print; " Except I ffiall fee in his
hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, I will not
believe V in the Ads of the Apoftles it is
tranflated a Figure, or Model : in St. Paul's
Epiftle to the Romans, the term Form is
ufed— ^" That form of dodrine which was
delivered to you^:" and in the courfe of
the Apoftofical Epiftles it is continually
tranflated. Example ; " Now all thefe things
^ John XX. 2^. E Rom. vi. 17. hap-

SERMON IV'. 87
happened unto them for examples*;" "Now
thefe things were our examples';'' and
" M^rk them which walk fo as ye have us
for ari example''.'

.fc "

It is evident, that in all thefe paffages,
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 pidure,
and the pidure completely finiffied'

|! "

The language of the firft fimple ages of
mankind was neceffarily very Imperfed
and defedlve. 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 affedlons and paffions :Obut it was
not fo with the primitive ages. As yet
unaccuftomed to refled, to abftrad and

*¦ I Cor. V. 7. ' I Cor. x. 6. "" Phil. iii. 17.
' Jortin's Remarks on Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, vol. i.

04 to

88 S E R M O N IV,:
to generalize their ideas, they had nothing
to reprefent by their fymbols of . fpeech,
but the common neceffities; and the ordi
nary employments of life ; and when any
thing farther was requifite, when they had
occafion to fpeak of any thing out of the
beaten track of their uffial wants and oc
cupations, it was not to be done by words,
but by fome material fign, fome fenfible
image taken from the objeds that imme
diately furrounded them : thus arofe a
mode of communication by figns or by
adion, which amply fupplled the deficien
cies of language, and enabled mankind, in
the earlieft periods of fociety, to commu
nicate to each other thofe ideas for which
as yet they had invented no fignificant
words. This fpecies of language was 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 didated 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. Sg
Whenever the Almighty vouchfafes to
deliver his inftrudions to mankind, the
mode in which they axe, delivered is al
ways mercifully accommodated to the cha
rader of the people who are to receive
them — to their popular opinions, to their
cuftoms, and their circumftances : 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 wiflied to imprefs more forcibly
upon the minds of his hearers the expeda
tion of fome approaching event, he drew his
parable, or his fign, from the furrounding
objeds, precifely in the fame way that our
bleffed Lord himfelf was accuftomed to en
force his holy leffons, 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 charaders and the employments of the
perfons

go SERMON IV,
, perfons to whom he was fpeaking, .Thus
it was that the holy Samuel fignlfied 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 conqueft of
the Jews by Sennacherib, and their fubfe
quent return to Jerufalem". Sometimes.
the Prophet himfelf in his own perfon
aded the event which the Spirit of God
empowered him to forefee ; thus, by break
ing in pieces a potter's veffel, Jeremiah
prefigured to the Jews the utter deftruc-
tlon 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 fubjedlon to the king of Ba-
bylonP — by binding the book of his Pro
phecy to a ftone, and cafting them both
into the Euphrates, he announced that Ba
bylon ffiould fink, and never rife from the
evil that was to be brought upon her''. In
the fame manner the Prophet Ifaiah, by
the name which he gives to his child, fore-

" I Sam. xv. 27, " Ifai, xxxvii. 30. ° Jer. xix.
P Jer. xxvii. 9 Jer. Ii. tels,

S E R M O N IV. 91
tels, that the riches of Damafcus and the
fpoil of Samaria ffiall be feized by the Af
fyrians ". And Ezekiel, by going forth in
the drefs, and with the trembling adion of
a captive, exemplified 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 wdth the
common and familiar ufage of the Jewiffi
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 ffiewn " the
refurredion 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. viii. 3, 4. ' Ezek. xii. 8.
' Jer. i. II. 13. " Ezek. xxjivii. notion

93

SERMON IV-

notlon of futurity,' fomething is reprefented
that Is to happen at a greater or lefs dif
tance of time; and this is the effential
charader 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
ftates : but In thefe emblematic reprefenta
tions there Is no idea of ffiturity, or of fu
ture events implied, confequently they are
not types, but fymbols.
So far then we have confidered the general
charader 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 adions or thofe cere
monies In the oeconomy of Judaifm, which
wc fuppofe to have been preparatory repre
fentations of Chrift and his Gofpel.
Chriftian writers have divided thefe types ,
Into three claffes, ift, the remarkable events
in the hiftory of the Jewiffi people ; 3dly, the

SERMON IV. g3
the charaders of illuftrlous perfons. Pa
triarchs, Kings, or Conquerors ; and 3dly,
the rites and ceremonies of their Religion.
But it is abfolutely neceffary, that we may
not be loft in the labyrinth of fanciful aha-
logies and abfurd comparifons, which are.
the delight of fanatics and enthufiafts, to
fix fome 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 fimihtudes, and
other paralfelifms, may have the appear
ance of reafon, and may perhaps be juft,
we cannot ffirely be wrong in refufing to
acknowledge any circumftance in the Old
Teftament to be a ffiadow or token of
Chrift, unlefs the writers of the New Tef
tament have declared it to be fo.
In the Jewiffi hiftory doubtlefs there is.
a ftriking analogj"^, an analogy pointed out
and illuflrated by the Apoftles themfelves,
between many of the moft miraculous
events, and the general ftate of mankind,
and their particular fituation under the
Gofpel

94

SERMON 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 wildernefs,
and the temptations, trials, and difficulties
of the prefent world ; 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 we cannot well
ffippofe 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
Jewifli people, to trace refemblances be
tween the moft diftinguiffied of their coun
trymen and the glorious Meffiah, who, in
the latter age of the world, was to condud:
them to power 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. gs
moft part, the neceffary fandlon of infpi
ration. The father indeed of the human
race is declared by the Apoftle to be the
" figure of him who was to come "" :" but
of the reft, of Jofeph, Sampfon, or Joffiua,
no ffich declaration Is made ; and although
it muft be allowed, that there is a ftriking
fimilitude between the events of their lives, '
and the charader, 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 fads
and diftinguiffied perfons, to the Ceremo
nies of the Jewiffi Law, the fimilitudes
become more' obvious and more fatisfac-
tory. ' ^
The ceremonial Precepts of the Mofaic
Law relate either to the worffiip 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.

gS SERMON IV,
occafion, by a diftindion of drefs, of diet,
and of occupation, to keep up the great fe
paration, " the parti tion- wall," between the
people of Ifrael and the nations who fur
rounded them. Whether befides this ob
jed, 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 worffiip.
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 fundions of their mi
niftry ; but into the holy Sanduary, which
the Jews confidered as a fymbol of heaven,
the High Prieft went alone, annually, with
blood to atone for the fins of the people — •
a circumftance defigned, it ffiould feem,
to prefigure the one oblation and fatisfac-
tion to be made by Chrift, who, after his
death, was to reafcend to the glory which
he had with the Father before the worlds. It

S E R M O N IV. g'j
It can fcarcely be fuppofed; that the
flrlklng' fimilitude between the facrifice of
the Pafchal Lamb . arid the facrifice of our
Redeehier was accidental : ¦ let ¦ us attend
to the circumftanOes. ' Chrift was flain on
the fame day that the Pafchal Lamb "was ;
no ^bones of either were broken ; as the
Lamb w^as without fpot or blemiffij fo was
Chrift without fin> and as the- blood of
the Latilb fprinkled on the door-poft's ' was
a token and memorial of deliverance frorri
the flaughter of the firft-born ; fo the blood
of' Chrift purchafed for us a fpiritual deli
verance from the thraldom of fin and ini-
¦quity. ¦ ¦' ! * ..:.nj;. '
But if this refemblance between the.
Paffover 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 cariip, whether they
were offered as an atonement for the fins of
the community at large, on the great day
of expiation ; or for the fins of particular fa
milies or Individuals, upon the commiffion
of the offence; irifomuch as they contained
H the

^8 g.'E RlM O N IV.
the principle of expiation; and atonement,
and redemption from fin, they all repre
fented the future deathrof Chrift.; and upon
this account it may not appear perhaps fo
extravagant an expreffiori. as has been fup
pofed,' to affert, that the Gofpel is con
tained in the Law ; for the ceremonial part
of thq Mofaic Law was; in fad,,, a conftant
allufion to the Gofpel ; and there is no
reafon, prima facie, why it fliould not be
fo : on the contrary, there is eyery reafon
from the nature of the cafe to fuppofe; that
a difpenfation, which Was a preparation and
rudiment for a better and more perfed: fyf
tem to come, would contain in its inftltu
tions, frequent tokens and indications to
that future fyftem.
Chrifiianity aiid Judaifm, it muft ever be
remembered, are not independent, uncbn-
neded 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 neceffa
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 differerit times,
to make two covenants with his creatures :
the one carnal, fandioned by temporal pro
mifes, and enjoining the performance of a
multitude of external ordinances ; the other
fpiritual, applying to the heart and under
ftanding, and raifing our thoughts beyond
the frivolous concerns of our prefent tran
fitory exiftence, to the enjoyment of a
boundlefs eternity. But however different
they might be in form, in inftitution, and
in ceremonies, in fubftance the tv^o 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 puniffi
ment of death which they, had incurred,
H z and

loo SERMON IV.
and to reftore them to immortality, was
the one great fcheme of Providence ; for
this gracious purpofe, Chrift was to ffiffer
death upon the crofs. The time at which
this awful event was to happen, and the-
fteps which were gradually to lead to its
accompliffiment, were all fixed by God,
long before the ratification of the firft co
venant, before even the ad 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 with corruptible things,"
fays St. Peter, " but with 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 ffiould
make an atonement for the fins of man
kind, by a voluntary oblation of himfelf
upon the crofs, was from all eternity the
y I Cor. ii. 7.- * I Pet. i. 18. ao, » Rev. xiii. 8.
purpofe

SERMON IV. loi
purpofe of Almighty wifdom. In the Di
vine mind, the whole myfterious fcheme
extending throughout all ages, from the
very commencement of time to the final
confummatlon of all things, was compre
hended under one point of view, as one
complete and perfed 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 ob-
fcurity ; and even now we comprehend
them imperfedly. 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 effeds of
Sandification and Redem.ption. The righ
teous Patriarchs before the promulgation of
the Law, and all holy and religious men
under the Law, .were juftified, as we are,
by the free gift of God, through the me
diation -of Chrift. " Abrahams" they are
the words of our Saviour himfelf, " Abra-
•> Afts XV. 18. "^ John viii. 56.'
H 3 ham

loz SERM O N 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 are told,
" and his faith was counted unto him for
righteoufnefs \" 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 Chrifti." ^
The Fathers therefore were all juftified,
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 yefterday, and to-day, and for ever*"."
In what way the future death of the
Redeemer could operate, fo as to fave thofe
who died before he came into the world,
it ^l^icefumptuous in man to inquire ; it is
amihgft the deep and hidden counfels of
the Almighty : It Is enough for us that it
didCpj and it is certainly confiftent with our
notiS&s of the goodnefs of God, to fuppofe
that it would do fo; that faith, under etery
* Gen. XV. 6. ' I Cor. x. i — 4. f Heb. xiii. 8. dif-

SERMON IV. 103
difpenfation, would operate unto falvation ;
and th^t at all times a repentant ; finner
wouild receive pardon and remiffion of fins,
provided that he perforrried the facrificatory
rites, and complied with the ads 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
fpeak to thofe which live under: it."
And this being the cafe, it is unquef
tionably confiftent with the ufual method
which God takes to inftrud i 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, ffiould, in their form
and all external circumftances, reprefent
the great and final facrifice, whofe efficacy
was to be univerfal and endure to the end
of time. . ;
That God ffiould thus foreffiew.to his
chofen people thofe truths which it was not
poffible at the time fully to reveal to them
by a mode of Inftrudion familiar to their
H 4 con-

104 SERMON IV.
conceptions, and adapted to their, capaci
ties, by material reprefentations, is no
more difficult to conceive, than that he
ffiould impower his Prophets to reprefent
the future glories of Chrift's kingdom, by
expreffions and defcrip tions taken from the
fertility, the opulence; and the fplendor of
their temporal pofl^ffions; or that he ffiould
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 what way they may
be produced as evidences of the truth of
Chriftianity. No perfon, I apprehend, woiild attempt to

SERMON IV. 105
to make a cpnvert to the Chriftian faith, by
typical reafoning ; he would argue indeed
frorri Prophecy; he would ffiew him whom
hewiffied 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 charader, his office, and his death, had
been minutely deferibed. He would tell
him that Chrift claimed to be this perfon,
and that he ffipported his claim by ads of
fuperhuman power, and this would amount
to proof.
A Prophecy accompliffied 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 dired
demonflrative 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
ma/ie by him ? That

io6 SERMON IV,
That men of religious, minds, who ftu-
died their Law with devout hearts, and
really wiffied to dlfcover the will of
God, might fee and underftand the in
efficacy of their own facrifices, cannot be
denied : " without ffieddlng of blood they
knew there could be no remiffion offing^"
whatever, " Fleffi 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
ffieddlng of blood did- not expiate. for all
fins. The fin-offering and the trefpafs-
offering expiated fins of ignorance, and fins
of inferior magnitude : but there were fins
for which no fuch expiation could ,.be
made; Idolatry, for, Inftance, and contempt
of the Law of Mofes : they were to be pu
niffied with death without mercy. Upon
fuch occafions, therefore, we can fcarcely
conceive, but that ferlous and pious men
muft have raifed their thoughts to fome
s Heb. ix. 2 2. '' Lev. xvii. 14. ' Lev. xvii, u.
1.,:„i 

SERMON IV. 107
higher and better atonernent, td be granted,
as the/Holy Pfalmift expreffes it, " by the
loving-kindnefs of God, and the multitude
of his tender mercies''."
From their own Prophets too they muft
have learnt to exped a change in their le
gal ceremonies, and the introdudion of
another fyftem, otherwife 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 difpleaffire
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, arid of he-goats ; your new moons
and your appointed feafts my foul hateth;
they are a trouble to me, 1 am weary to
bear them'." The prophet Daniel ex
prefsly tells them, that the time would
come, when the facrifice and the oblation
ffiould ceafe™. And both Ifaiah and Daniel,
when they are painting In lofty terms, and
fplendid imagery, the expeded Chrift, and
the glories of his kingdom, declare, that he
'' Pfalm Ixix. 16. ' Ifa. i. 1 1 — !.(.. '" Dan. ix, 27.
v^ill

f o8 SERMON IV-
wlll be both -the prieft and the vidim 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 fins
©f t]jie whole world,' If, from the opirilon
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 Infift upon types as
dired proofs; that they place them upon ,
a level, for Inftance, with the two great
proofs of the truth of Chriftianity, the ac
compliffiment of Scriptural prophecy, and
the difplay of miracles. St. Paul in his
Epiftle to the Hebrew converts (if at leaft
I may be permitted to attribute to that
holy Apoftle a compofition which is ftamp
ed with the ftrongeft charaders both of
his eloquence and his mode of arguing) Is >
drawing throughout a comparlfon between
the Law of Mofes and the Gofpel of
Chrift. His objed Is to perffiade the con
verts to perfevere in the faith into which
they had been baptized. Some of them
had been feduced by the fubtle reafoning of

SERM ON IV.^ .109
of Jewiffi teachers; and the ' firmnefs of
others had been ffiaken 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 unffiaken coriftancy ; and
on the other, the dangers and the puriiffi-
ments which are referved j for apoftacy.
With this view he enters into a minute
comparlfon 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 mjniftry of angels; the
Gofpel, by the Son of God ; the brlghtnefs
of his glory, and the ^exprefs image of his
perfon. The ceremonies of the Law were
admlniftered to the Jews by a fucceffion
of m^ortal men : the Gofpel had one High
Prieft, even Jefus the Son of God, who
was invefted tvith 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 High God. The firft covenant
had its ordinances, Its tabernacle, and its
fane-

I ID S E R M O N- IV,
fanduary ; but " Jeffis Chrifl is gone into
a better tabernacle, into a temple not.
made with hands, into heaven itfelf"."
Under the Law, the blood of bulls and of
goats was ffied to atone for tranfgreffions ;
but Jefus Chrift hath offered up hirafelf
once for all, and by his own blood hath
entered into the holy place, having ob
tained eternal redemption for us. Who
then, is the conclufion of the Apoftle,
would quit a more excellent and more per
fed Religion, to return to one lefs perfed,
and lefs efficacious ? Or if tranfgreffion and
difobedience under the latter received their
juft puniffiment, who can fuppofe that it
is not in the higheft degree criminal to re
jed the falvation offered by the former?
In all this comparlfon which the Apoftle
makes, which in fad is a comparlfon be
tween the Type and its Antitype; between
the rough draught or ffiadow 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
pel, from the figurative charader of the
Law; on the contrary, the Apoftle exprefsly
" Heb. ix. 1 1 — 24.
^ calls

S E R, M O N IV. Ill
calls upon the Hebrews, to leave the prin
ciples; of the dodrine of Chrift, and to go
on unto perfedion ; not to return again to
the. elements, to the fundamental argu
ments, and the neceffary evidences of their
faith, which he ftates to be the dodrine of
repentance, of faith in God, of baptifm, of
the refurredion of the dead, and of the
eternal Judgment". This therefore is the
nature , of his argument ; it was addreffed,
wfe know, to Jews, and to thofe w^ho, hav
ing embraced Chriftianity, wiffied to re
turn to Judaifrn. You prefer, he would
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 fin. Could your
legal facrifices have atoned effedually for
fin, would it have been neceffary to repeat
them fo often ? Would not one expiation
have been fufficient ? And then would
they not have ceafed to be offered ? But
your Priefts dally , mlnifter 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, 2. gures

112 SERMON IV.
giires or ffiadows, by which the Holy, Ghoft
fignified a more perfed facrifice to be
made hereafter. That facrifice is made ; Je
fus Chrift hath offered himfelf without fpot
unto God for us ; he is our Paffover, which
is facrificed for us ; he is the very Lamb
of God, which taketh away the. fins Of the
world, and by one facrifice he hath per
feded 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, we
may ventufb to conclude, that the defign
of God in prefiguring the death of our Sa
viour by the tokens and ffiadows of the
Law, was to facilitate the promulgation of
Chriftianity, and to prepare the Jewiffi na
tion, and through them the whole race of
man, for the awffil and myfterious doc
trines of Sandification, and Redemption, and
adoption to eternal life. Our bleffed Re
deemer himfelf, it may be obferved, when
p Heb.x. 14. he

SERMON IV. 113
he is celebrating the laft Pafchal Supper
with his difciples, ufes the very form of
expreffion which the Jewiffi 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 ffied for
you for the remiffion of fins^;" as Mofes,
vvhen he took the book of the covenant,
fprinkled it with blood, and faid, " This is
the blood of the covenant, which the Lord
hath made with you'." And when a
Jew heard that Chrift 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
unjuft," that " he gave his life, himfelf
a ranfom," that " he redeemed us with
his blood," and " by his death deftroyed
hiiri that had the power of death ;" the
ideas raifed in his mind by fuch expreffions
were familiar to him ; they were the firft
and earlieft leffon of his childhood : the
conftant habits of his life, his dally 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 SERMON IV.
had, in fad, only to transfer to Chrift 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
dodrines, which would otherwife have
been perfedly 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
fubjed, 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 decifive proof of the
unity 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 inftrudion 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
lieveth'." ' Rom. X. 4.

I z 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, ffiould be announced
to the world long before its adual 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
reded them.
Of the firft of thefe two methods of
previous reprefentation, I have attempted
13 in

1x8 SERMON 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 poirtt out the origin of the fecond,
and to trace its progrefs, from its earlieft
commencement to its ceffation in the
Jewifli Church.
In the addreffes of our bleffed Lord to
the Jews of his days,; one of the charaders,
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 cmphltical expreffion to the woman
of Samaria ; and when, , after his reffirrec-
tion, he is converfing with the two difct-
pks who knew him not, he fpeaks of his
own adions, and his own fufferings, as ¦
being , neceflary, , becaufe , they had been
foretdid ; he fays, " O fools, and flow of
.heart, to helieye all that the Prophets have
written ! Ought not Chrift to have fuffered
thefe things, and to enter into his glory ¦> ?"
The awful fcheme of Prophecy, if it be
» John iv. 26. b Luke xxiv. 25, 26.
¦ con-

SERMON V. 119
confidered in a general view, not only re
fers to the coming of Chrift in the fleffi,
and to the introdudion and final efta
bliffiment of Chriftianity, but includes alfo
in its comprehenfive range the fortunes of
almoft all the kingdoms of the antient
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 predids; but with
equal precifion, and equal certainty, it
marks the time, and the manner, in which
the inferior kingdoms of Moab, and Edom,
of Ammon, and of Amalek, are gradually
to yield to the increafing power of their
neighbours ; and it does fo, becaufe all the
kingddms of the ancient world, as they
rofe fficceffively 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
niffi that people for difobedience and re
bellion, or as the agents of his mercy, to
refcue them from banlffimerit, and to re-
inftate them In the poffeffions of their In
heritance. I 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 negleded, 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,
with full meafure, upon the heads of their
oppreffors. But thefe gracious affurances had
alfo the higher view of infplrlng them with
confidence in the power and the promife
of their God; that when they faw the tem
poral predldlon literally verified, and the
temporal promife adually 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 were

SERMON V. 121
were to be anfwered ; whatever light the
omnlfcience 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
rader, office, and fufferings, of the bleffed
Jefus ; and to defcribe the nature of that
Religion, which he came into the world to
eftabliffi, " To him," faid St. Peter, " give All the
Prophets witnefs ^" And upon another oc
cafion, the fame Apoftle tells the Jews,
" that Chrift hath fulfilled the things,
which God hath ffiewed 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 bleffed Lord
himfelf, when he wiffied to convince his
doubting and Incre^dulous difciples, explained
to them his own hiftory, " beginning at
Mofes," as the hiftorian informs us, " and
All the Prophets V

' Aftsx,43.

^ Aftsiii. 18.

' Afts iii, 24.

*' Luke xxiv. 27.

From

IZ2 SERMON V.
From thefe paffages of Holy Writ it may
be inferred, that the Prophecies of the Old
Teftament are not to be confidered feparate
ly, as fo many detached and diftind reve
lations of God's defigns ; but as forming a
complete and conneded fyftem, tending to
one and the fame 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 accompliffied Prophecy is
a demonftration of the interpofition of God,
cannot be difputed ; becaufe in any inftance
to reveal the fectets of futurity, is beyond
the reach of human powers. But allowing
this to be true, it muft be granted alfo,
that the proof of Divine agency will have
a ftronger effed upon the mind, in propor
tion to the variety of circumftances pre
dided ; to the diftance of time between
the Prophecy and its accompliffiment ; to
the ftrangenefs and improbability of the
fads revealed, and to the minute delinea
tion of particulars ; and of courfe it will
follow, that the mind cannot poffibly re
ceive fuch convldion from any fingle Pro
phecy apphed to Chrift, as from a con
neded

S E R M O N V, 123
neded view and comparifon of the whole
together. Such a comparifon as this, or rather the
outline of fuch a comparifon, it is my in
tention to trace on the prefent occafion ;
more than the outline it will be impoffible
for me to give ; and the nature of my fub
jed Only calls upon me to fhew, that Chrif
tianity was foretold by a regular fucceffion
of Prophecies, commencing from the fall
of our firft parents; and that thefe Prophe
cies, neceffarily obfeure, at the time of their
delive'ry,' from the ambiguity of figurative
phrafeology, the extraordinary circumftances
foretold, and the defeds of a partial reve
lation, were ftill clear enough to keep alive
the conftant hope of the promlfed Deliverer,
and precife enough, when he came at
length in the fulnefs of time, to prove, that
he really was the perfon promifed and ex
peded. For this purpofe it will be fufficient to
feled from the infinite variety of Prophe
tical defcriptions to be found in the Old
Tefiament, a few of the moft ftriking, and '
the

134 S E R M O N V.
the moft appropriate ; fuch as the moft
zealous adherents to the Mofaic Law have
allowed to be defcriptions of their expeded
Meffiah, and fuch as the advocates of Chrif
tianity have proved, beyond all controverfy,
to relate exclufively to the Author and Fi-
niffier of their faith.
The fcheme of Prophecy commerices
with the fall of man ; in compaffion to the
afflided 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 fingly, and without any connexion
with the fubfequent Prophecies, it would
be difficult perhaps to affign a reafon, why
this declaration ffiould 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
affurance of future Redemption.
The Jewiffi Church always confidered it
to be fo ; and, in later times, the Prophet
s Gen. iii. i^. Ifaiah

SERMON V. 12^
Ifaiahi alludes^ to it, as a known and efta
bliffied point, when he is defcrlblng the
glories of Chrift's kingdom, and the happi
nefs which awaits the feed of the bleffed
of the Lord ; for " then," fays he, " duft
ffiall 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, which
is now become a ffire and certain confi
dence ; " a light," as the Apoftle fays,
" fliinlng in a dark place, which gradually
became more vifible, till it opened into
perfed 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 were permitted to take
their courfe, till the ineafure of iniquity
was full : nor does it appear, that the fa
ther of the reftored world, the j"ff and
righteous Noah, although gifted occafional
ly -with fome portion of the Holy Spirit,
*' Ifai. Ixv. z_5. ' 3 Pet. i. 19. for

1-6 S E R M O N V.
for the good of his contemporaries, was
empowered to make to them any more exr
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 ^ ;" alclivog Sia,--
^-^jcTi', as the Seventy have tranflated it ; '
from the time at which it was made, and
the fign or token which accompanie4 it,
appears to have been a temporal covenant
merely; a promife, that the earth ffiould
not be deftroyed again in the fame way :
and afterw"ards,when he predids the fortunes
of his fons, the benedidion of Shem, whe
ther with our common verfions we read,
" Bleffed be the Lord God of Shem '," or
with a great oriental critic, " Bleffed 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
protedion and government of God.
•^ Gen. ix. 16. ' Gen. ix. 26.
•", Kennicott's DliTertation on the Hebrew Text, p. j6i.
We

SERMON V. 127
We may go on then to the call of A-
braham : at that time we learn that the
extraordinary perfon, who was firft fpoken
of generally as " the feed of the woman"
(was defigned, that is, to be born in the
fleffi, and to come in the form and fub
ftance of a man), was to be a defcendant
of the Holy Patriarch ; " in theei" fays the
Almighty, " ffiall all families of the earth
be bleffed "." Ifmael, the firft born, is af
terwards excluded from the envied inherit
ance; he Is promlfed the enjoyment of tem
poral profperity indeed, that his dominions
1 fhall be fertile, that he ffiall be the head
of a princely line, and the founder of a
great and mighty nation " ; but the cove
nant of grace meanwhile Is eftabliffied with
Ifaac, and in the fame manner It was after
wards taken from Efau, and limited to the
pofterity of Jacob ^
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. xvii. 20.
P Gen. xxvii. 29. ' Gen.' xxviii. 13. that

128 SERMON V.
that the bleffing 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 ffiall praife; thy hand ffiall be in the
neck of thine enemies, thy- father's children
ffiall bow down before thee ;" " the Scep
tre ffiall not depart from Judah, nor a law
giver from between his feet, until Shiloh
come; and unto him ffiall 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 : ^:he 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, ^i mittendus efl, he who
' Gen, xlix. 8 — lo. is

SERMON V. 129
is to be fent ; whether we read with fome
copies of the Septuagint verfion, ra d-n-oKst-
fjt,evoc oiVT'u, the things referved for him, or
with other copies, Z a'TTOKiTToa, he for whom
it Is referved ; It cannot be difputed, 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 time at which
the Prophecy was delivered, and ' the lan
guage in which it is conveyed ; If we confi
der, that the defcendants of Abraham were
now recently fettled in the land of Goffien ;
that they were to continue there in flavery
for four generations ; and that God thus
promifed them a perpetuity of temporal
dominion — a continuance of it at leafl, un
til the appearance of their great Deliverer ;
we may conclude, that it was mercifully
given to fupport them under the hardffiips
which they were to endure, and to con-
vince them, that the covenant made with
their anceftors would be religioufly per
formed. The promife thus limited to the tribe of
K Judah

130 S E R M O N V.
Judah refted there for feveral centuries :
during the whole of the captivity in Egypt,
no farther intimations are given of future
redemption. But when the Jews had efcaped
from their long fervitude, and, after all their
trials and fufferings, were entering, under
the guidance of their Legiflator, upon the
promifed land, the Holy Spirit compels a
Heathen Soothfayer to confirm and ratify
thei 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 Meffiah : " I ffiall
fee him, but not now ; I ffiall behold him,
but not nieh : there ffiall come a ftar out
of Jacob, and a fceptre ffiall rife out of If
rael ; out of Jacob ffiall come he that fhall
have dominion, and ffiall deftroy him -that
remaineth of the city '."
That the Holy Spirit, when thefe ex
preffions were ufed, might defign in the
^ Numb. xxiv. 9. ' Numb. xxiv. 17 — 19. firft

S E R M O N V. 131
firft inftance to allude to David, and his
conquefts of the Moabites and the Edomites,
I do hot deriy: 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 w?is now a very Important crlfis in
the hiftory of the Jews : they were upon
the point of entering that country which
God had promlfed to their anceftors ; and
at this critical period, Mofes their leader,
he who had conduded 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 me ; unto
him ffiall ye hearken ''." If it be quef-
tioned, whether this be a Prophecy of
Chrift or not, we may appeal not only to
*¦ Deut. xviii. 15.
K 2 the

132 SERM ON V,
the fimilitude between the bleffed Jefus
and the Jewiffi Legiflator, or the degree of
Infpiration, or their perfonal converfation
jwith 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 ffiall the Lord God raife up unto you
of your brethren, like unto me ; him ffiall
ye hear in all things, whatfoever he ffiall fay
unto you\"
Thus it was that the Jews were taught
to exped in their Meffiah the gifts and
endowments of a Prophet; and the holy
Evangelift informs us, that the multitude,
when they were miraculoufly fed by Je
fus, cried out Immediately, " This is of a
truth that Prophet that ffiould come into
the world ^,"
In the interval between the death of
Mofes and the eftabliihment of David
upon the throne of Ifrael, the Prophetic
oracles are filent : during that period, the
" Afts iii. 23. y John vi. 14. chofen

SERMON V, 133
chofen people were gradually extending
their conquefts, and acquiring a fecure and
permanent eftablifliment in the land of Ca
naan. Then God was ever prdfent 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 fullaln
and confole them under their adual pref-
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 acquifitlon of the con
quered provinces of the Canaanites. With
juft confidence, therefore, they might an
ticipate its full and final accompliffiment.
But it ftill continued to be the general in
heritance of Judah, till the eftabliffiment
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

SERMON V.

phet Nathan, " Go, and tell my fervant
David, Thus faith the Lord — When thy
days be fulfilled, and thou ffialt fleep with
thy fathers, I will fet up thy feed after
thee, which ffiall proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will eftabliffi his kingdom. He ffiall
build an houfe for my name, and I will
ftabliffi the throne of his kingdom for ever;
and thine houfe and thy kingdom ffiall be
eftabliffied for ever before thee ; thy throne
ffiall be eftabliffied for ever ''."
If it be faid, that this is a prophetical
defcription of Solomon, and not of Chrift,
we may afk, whether it is true of Solo?-
mon to fay, that he ffiould be raifed to the
throne, when David flept with his fathers,
that his kingdom ffiould be perpetual, and
his throne eftabliffied 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 ffiould give unto him the
throne of his Father David, " that he ffiould
reign over the houfe of Jacob for ever; and of
* 2 Sam. vii. 5 — 16. his

SERMON V- 135
his kingdom there ffiould be no end " ?" As
the temporal fplendour of the Jewiffi nation
was at its height during the reigns of Da
vid and Solomon, fo alfo their Religion was
at that time more -free thari ever from Pa
gan fiiperftitloris, and their attachiiient to
the God of their fathers more fteady and
more inviolable.
But from that period, idolatrous wor
ffiip began to gain ground amongft them ;
a fficceffion of vicious princes corrupted
the public ritual, and debafed the Religion
of their people. Then it w^s, 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 charader and the office of
him, which was to accbmpliffi the original
promife, Whilft fome of the -Infplred Prophets are
commanded to cenfure the prevailing vices,
and the crimes of the people ; to paint in
* Luke i. 33 .
K 4 ftrong

136 SERMON V.
ftrong colours the odious fin pf Idolatry,
and to call them back, if poffible, to the
¦worffiip 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
Ifaiah, being fent to announce to Ahaz the
affurances 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,
ffiall 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 ffiall be called Imma-
nuel \" " There ffiall come fdrth a Rod,"
fays the fame Prophet, " out of the ftem
of Jeffe, and a Branch ffiall grow, out of his
roots: the Spirit of the Lord ihall reft upon
him— with righteoufnefs fliall he judge the
poor, and reprove with equity for the meek
pf the earth — righteoufnefs ffiall' be the gir-
'' Ifai. vii. 14. die

SERMON V.

^1>7

die of his loins, and faithfulnefs the girdle
of his reins '."

Other fimilar predidions of the fame
Prophet I pafs over purpofely,: my wlfii 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 miffion,
and to prove his Divinity by a difplay of
benevolent miracles ; that he, was to be
rejeded by the Jev/s to whom he was
fent, and received by the Gentiles, al
though defcended from the royal houfe
of David ; that his Immediate Pare'nts werb
to be in a ftate of humiliation and indi
gence ; that he " was to be a man of for-
rows, and acquainted with grief;" to be
wounded for our tranfgreffions, and to
fuffer for our iniquities''; and yet, that " his
name ffiould be called Wonderful, Coun-
fellor, the mighty God, the everlafting Fa
ther, the Prince of peace\"
' Ifai. xi. I. ^ Ifai. liii. 3. ' Ifai. ix. 6. It

138 SERMON V.
It would be eafy to cite the paffages
themfelves, in which thofe extraordinary,
and to all appearance contradidory, cir
cumftances are foretold: but I haften to
other Prophecies. About the fame period
of the Jewiffi hiftory, the Prophet Micah
marks the place in which the Meffiah was
to be born. " But thou, Bethlehem Ephra
tah," fays he, " though thou be' Httle 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 everlafting V
As we proceed in the hiftory of the
Jewiffi 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 afffirances
were continually given them of future de
liverance. In the days of afflldion and public ca
lamity, the unbeliever was always ready
to deride the expedations of the faithful,
and to accufe the Almighty of tardinefs
^ Micah V. 3.

SERMON V,

^39

in the execution of his promifes : " 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
Yiigh aijidcome, that we may know^." God
therefore vouchfafes to afford to his righ
teous fervants, that they might refute the
cavils of the galnfayers, a clearer and more
explicit affurance, that his proriiife was ne
ver forgotten.
" Behold, the days come, faith the
Lord," by the mouth of his Prophet Jere
miah, " that I will 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 ffiall execute judgment
and righteoufnefs in the land: in thofe days
ffiall Judah be faved, and Jerufalem ffiall
dwell fafely ; and t^is is the name where
with he ffiall be called, the Lord our Righ
teoufnefs''." And when thofe days come, the
Holy Spirit by the fame Prophet declares,
that the Mofaic Law ffiall 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 ffiall be
my people'."
The Prophet Ezekiel, who was himfelf
a captive in Chaldea, declares, that " the
fcattered flock ffiall at length be gathered
into their fold; and I will fet up one fliep-
herd over them, and he ffiall feed them,
even my fervant David ; he ffiall feed them,
and he ffiall be their ffiepherd, and I the
Lord will be their God, and I will make
with them a covenant of peace'

,k "

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 puniffi
their tranfgreffion, and to make an end of
fins ; to bring In everlafting righteoufnefs,
and to feal up the vlfion, and the Pro-
' Jerem. xxxi. 33. '^ Ezek. xxxiv. 23.
phecy.

S E R M O N 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
Jerufalem unto the Meffiah, the prince,
ffiall be feven Weeks ; and alter threefcore
and two weeks ffiall Meffiah be cut off,
but not for himfelf."
I forbear all comment upon this ftrik
ing predldlon ; it is impoffible for lan
guage to be more precife ; and it has
been the ftudy of pious and learned men,
to fliew how exadly it was verified by the
event. We are now come to the laft period in
the hiftory of Prophecy : the Jews were 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 p'refence of their tutelary
God. The Holy Spirit, at this time, while it
' Dan. ix. 35.

fia'nifi

cs

142 SERMON V-
fignlfies the approach of their Deliverer,
ufes that method of confofing 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 ffiall grow up out of
his place, and he ffiall build the temple of
the Lord : even he ffiall build the temple
of the Lord ; and he ffiall bear the glory,
and ffiall fit and rule upon his throne, and
he ffiall 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 Haggal, re
minds them of the covenant he had made
with their fathers, and- of his fixed and in
violable purpofe ; and affures them, that
he will make the latter houfe more glori
ous than the former. " Yet once it is a
little while, and I will ffiake all nations,
and the defire of all nations ffiall come ;
and I will fill his houfe with glory— the ,
glory of this latter houfe ffiall- be greater
than of the former, faith the Lord of
"" Zechar. vi. 13. ,
Hofts;

SERMON V. 143
Hofts ; and in this place will I give
peace"." •
Malachi, the laft of the illuftrlous 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 ffiall prepare the way
before me : and the Lord, whom ye feek,
ffiall fuddenly come to his temple, even
the meffenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in : behold, he ffiall come, faith
the Lord of Hofts°,"
With this exprefs and pofitive affurance
the vlfion was fealed up, and the book of
Prophecy clofed : for a period of more than
two centuries, God left his people to re
fled upon the revelations which he had
already given them, to meditate conti
nually upon the holy .Oracles which were
committed to their cuftody, and to cherifli
in their minds the anxious exipedatlon of
that glorious Perfon who was to come.
Thus I have traced, from the fall of
" Hagg. ii. 6. * Mai. iii. i.
man.

144 SERMON V.
man, a regular fucceffion of Prophecies,
delivered at diftant intervals of time, and
under very different circumftances pf tem
poral fortune and profperity ; but all com
bining to ffiew, that 'at a certain time an
extraordinary perfon would appear arnong
the Jews, 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 cpme 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 feleded,
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-
ousi Ifraelite, and in their fecondary only
to Chrift, Is not as clear, as conclufive,
and as fatisfadory ; for fo it certainly Is :
when the holy Pfalmift fays, " Thou ffialt
not leave my foul in hell, neither flialtthou

S E R M O N V. 14^
thou ffiffer thine holy one to fee corrup
tion''," he is clearly fpeaking, 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 referehce ultimately to 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 predldlon is more expofed
to cavil, and mifconception, and mifinter-
pretatlon ; while the force of the dired
Prophecies, neither the artifices of the
Jew,iffi 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
peded that I ffiould fay much ; it is
f Pfalm xvi: 10, "J A£ts ii. 27. xiii. 35.
L enough

1-46 SERMON V.
enough for my purpofe to have ffiewn,^
that the Holy Spirit gradually annbunced
with more and more perfpicuity, as the
fulnefs of time drew near, the advent of
the Mediator, who vv'as to effed the great
purpofe of man's redemption. Every thing
befide is foreign from my fubjed. But as in
our days the frivolous cavils and the petu
lant declamations of forgotten fceptics are
continually received by the Sophifts ,of the
modern fchoob of infidelity, it would be
wrong perhaps to pafs over in total filence,
a topic fo nearly conneded with the argu
ment before us.
It was faid by Porphyry, and by Celffis,
in the earlieft days of Chriftianity; it has
been faid by the Delfts 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 enlight
ened by philofophy, and which foar above
the bigotry of vulgar prejudices. What- '

SERMON V. 147
What then if it can be proved that an
event, of which at the time there was no
appearance or probability whatever, was
literally predided 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 all 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 Iffimael, that " he ffiould be a wild
man ; that his hand ffiould be againft every
man, and every man's hand againfl him;
and that his feed ffiould 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
ffiould be " a fervant of fervants unto his
brethrenV and' we fee his wretched pofte
rity ftill groaning under the yoke of the
crueleft and moft oppreffive fervitude : if
Tyre, Nineveh, Babylon, and Jerufalem,
' Gen. xyi. 10 — la. ' Gen. ix. 2 j.
L 2 were

148 S E R M O N V.
were all deftroyed precifely as , the Pro
phet has declared that they ffiould be, are"
not all thefe fads plain and forcible appeals
to the underftanding of eVery human being,
who is capable of thinking or reaforiing at
all? But the obfcurlty of Prophecies, It Is
faid, gives fuch a latitude of interpretation,
that no certain dependance Is to be placed
upon them. That Prophecies are obfeure
cannot be denied ; they muft all be mOre
or lefs fo, from the Yery 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-
iary 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 obfcurlty,
and precifely fix its meaning ; if it be figu
rative, the difficulty arifing from figurative
and fymbolical expreffions cannot be done
away even by the event ; for, as the great
author of the difcourfe on the Ufe of Pro--
phecy has obferved, a figurative defcription of

SERMON V. 149
of a future event will be figurative ftill, and
will have all the obfcurlty of a figurative
defcription as well after, as before, the
event'. But to bring the whole queftion , to an
iffue : there are in fad but two points to
be confidered ; and no honeft and impartial
mind, that has fatisfied itfelf upon thofe two
points, can fail to look with a firm and un
ffiaken faith, till it ffiall pleafe the Al
mighty to make known to us, what even
now continues to be ffirouded from our
view; for, " as yet the vlfion Is for an ap
pointed time"."
In the firft place, is it poffible, ^hat the
Prophecies, which fo clearly and pointedly
announce a Redeemer to come, ffiould be
forgeries ? That they undoubtedly could
not be 'fo, muft be evident to every one,
who recolleds, 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 cha-
' See Sherlock's Difcourfe on the Ufe of Prophecy.
" Habbak. ii. 3.
L 3 rader

150 SERMON V,
rader and office the people were taught to
admire and to venerate, were enrolled in
the public and authentic ads of their na
tion ; that they were recited daily in their
fynagogues ; were guarded with the moft
fcrupulous and jealous care ; and cherlffied
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 inftant to entertain the ffif-
picion of a forgery, or to queftion the au
thenticity of the Prophetical defcriptions
of our bleffed Lord ; the next point to be
afcertalned is, whether the perfon fo de
feribed did adually appear in the world :
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 periffi
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
juftlfication ?" If all this be true, if it be
an undoubted hiftorical fad, that a perfon,
with fuch claims, and fuch pretenfions,
did adually 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 V
"" John i, 45.

L 4 SER-

SERMON VL

JEREMIAH xlvi. a8.
I
FEAR THOU" NOT, O JACOB MY SERVANT,
SAITH THE LORD : FOR I AM WITH
thee; for I W^ILL MAKE A FULL END
OF ALL THE NATIONS WHITHER I
HAVE DRIVEN THEE: BUT I WILL NOT
MAKE A FULL END OF THEE.
HAVING ffiewn in my former Lec
tures what were the great ufes of
the preparatory difpenfations 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 Jewiffi people, their political revolu tions.

^54

SERMON VI,

tions, and their alternate fchanges from
power and profperity to humiliation and
flavery, ffiould 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 diftinguiffied from all others,
in the effential features of laws, cuftoms,
and religion, ffiould alfo be diftinguiffied
by fome ftriking peculiarity in .their exter
nal circumftances, that the viciffitudes of
their fortunes would 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 frorri 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 condud 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 beeii the
minifters of my vengeance to puniffi thee,
ffiall be fwept away from the face of the
earth : but of thee I will not make a full
end." This then is the peculiarity by which
the Jews, as a natidn, were ftrongly con-
trafted, in their external circumftances, with
every other nation exifting; that they were
' not at all affeded by thofe circumftances
of alliance, of commerce, of migration, or
of conqueft, which either infenfibly change
the manners and habits pf a people, or force
them reludantly into new affociatlons, till
every trace of their original charader be
loft : that although unfortunate as no peo
ple ever were (for they ftridly verified
what their Legiflator had foretold, " that
no mifery ffiould be like their mlfery"),
they tenacioufly preferved the remembrance
of the promife of Abraham : although
fcattered and difperfed over the face of the
globe, their national charader was as dif
tind as if they had never quitted the con
fines of the promlfed land : and although
reduced by the ravages of inceffant wars, and

U6 S E R M O N VI.

1.5

and the fevere hardfliips of fervitude, their.
population continually increafed; and the
remnant, to whofe forrow and contrition
God once more granted the poffeffions of
their forefathers, became again in no long
time a flouriffiing and powerful people.
Thus It was contrived by the wifdom of
God, for the inftrudion and benefit of all
his creatures, that the whole tenor of the
Jewiffi hiftory ffiould 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, w^e are to profit from the leffons it
conveys, as much as thofe who were fpec-
tators of the fad recorded : nor are we
left to the fallible and uncertain fconclu-
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 fingular prerogative above
all that have been written by the moft fuf
ficient of merely human authors — it fetteth
down exprefsly the true and firft caufes of
all that happened, not imputing " the death of

SERMON VI. 15;
of Ahab' to his over forwardnefs in battle,"
the " ruin of his family to the fecurlty of
, Jehoram in Jezreel ;" nor the " vidorles of
Hazael to the great commotions raifed in
Ifrael, by the coming of Jehu ; but refer
ring all unto the will of God, I 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 diredion of God's pro
vidence, as thofe of the people of Ifrael :
but the interpofition of that providence
was not fo vifible, 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 ftops there, and
is content to attribute the effed produced
to the immediate caufe before us ; to the
operation of the paffions, or the appetites,
or the underftanding of man, without raif
ing its thoughts to him who ufes the agen
cy of human affedlons, and hum^n appe
tites, to' bring to pafs, the purpofes of his
= Ralegh's Hiftory of the World, Book II. Part I. chap.
xxi.
own

158 SERMON VI.
own eternal will. But when we open the
facred Volume of infpiration, the cafe Is
widely different ; the tranfition from the ef
fed 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 vldory — regu
larly follow the performance or the viola
tion of the original compad made between
God and his people. Thus we 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
conneds and harmonizes the whole.
God, wlien he firft fummoned the father
of the Jewiffi people from his native coun
try, exprefsly told him, that his defcendants
ffiould 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 ffiould fpread to the Eaft and the Weft,
'¦ Gen. xii. 2. xiii. 16.
the

SER MO N VI, iS9
the North arid the South'." But when
the Patriarchal family went down to Egypt
with their flocks, what reafon had they to
exped the accompliffiment 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 cherlffied 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 paffed away, before they
could have been numerous enough to jufti
fy in any degree the expedations, which
the promife made to their anceftors had
raifed. But we know that their lives were
neither eafy nor undifturbed; a fpirit of jea
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 expeded to find a
rival, and an enemy, and perhaps a con
queror. Laborious tafks were impofed
upon them, under which it was conceived
their ftrength muft fail ; the rigour of their
fervitude was increafed, and eyery fcheme,
"^ Gen. xxviii, 14. that

i6o SERMON VI.
that the bittereft mahce could deyife,- 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
flided the more they multipfied and grew ."
And when the days of their bondage were
accompliffied, , they came forth, in defiance
of all the attempts to detain them iri fla
very, or to reduce them to infignificance, a
numerous and wealthy people.
It was this miraculpus increafe, under
circumftances fo Inaufpicious, that they
were afterwards commanded by their Le
giflator to commemorate, when they of
fered up to God the firft-fruits of their har
veft. The form of thankfgiving, which the
Law prefcribed, upon that folemn occafion,
commences with a comparifon between
their firft entry Into Egypt, when they
were going to feled 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-
t
¦• Exod. i. 12. fit

SERMON VI, i6i
fit the hoft of their purfuers : " thou flialt
fpeak and fay," faid the Law, " before
the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to pe
riffi was my father; and he went down
into Egypt and fojourned there v»'Ith a'
few, and became there a nation great,
mighty, and populous'."
This was the firft ftep in the gradual
accomplifliment of the temporal covenant :
redeemed from oppreffion and from fla
very, enriched with the treafures of their
enemies, and evidently proteded and
guarded by God, the people of Ifrael now
anticipated with confidence the poffeffion
of that good land which had been pro
mifed to their fathers : but they yvere not
aware of the trials and the difficulties
which ftill awaited them; that they were
to wander for forty years, without any
fixed or regular fettleraent, in the pathlefs
defert before them ; and that the land of
plenty was only to be acquired by the
conqueft of the warlike nations who then
poffeffed it. On the events which befel
them in the wildernefs it would be idle to
^ Deut. xxvi, 5.
M dwell ;

i6z S E R M O N VI.
dwell ; 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 fubfifterice,
their drefs, and their diet, during their te
dious marches, were all miracles, and only
to be accounted for by the conftant inter
ference of God. So their own great leader
told them; " I have led you fprty years,"
faid he, " in the wildernefs : your cloaths
are not waxen old upon you, and thy ffioe
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 God^" 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 convldion 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 fyftem
of morality, and a ritual of worffiip, all
vouchfafed to them by God himfelf; that
f Deut. xxix. 5. Mofes,

SERMON VI, 163
Mofes, their Deliverer, their Mediator, and
their Guide, after a formal ratification of
the covenant- with the Almighty, and a
prophetic delineatlori of the bleffings and
the curfes which would Inevitably attend
their obedience, or difobedience, has de
parted from them for ever ; that, under the
aufpices of his fficceffor Joffiua, the tribes
are fettled in their refpedive allotments,
precifely as the holy Patriarch Jacob, in
.his parting benedidion^, and Mofes after
him'', had predided that they would be
fettled. It is fearcely credible how ffiort an In
terval had paffed, before this perverfe and
ungrateful people not only forgot all that
they had been taught, and all that they
had fuffered, but violated even the ex
prefs condition upon which they knew
that their exiftence as a nation depended.
Inftead of ading as the delegates of God,
and the minifters of his vengeance, to pu
niffi the idolatrous Canaanites to the utter
moft, they became their partners and com
panions in wlckednefs, and offered up at
s Gen. xlix. '' Deut. xxxiii.
M z the

i64 SERMON VI.
the ffirines of the Syrian Deities of Baal
and Affitarbth, 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 them the reproach of Egypt'," a
greater reproach, and the ftain of fouler
impiety, was fixed upon them.
During the admlnlftration of their
judges, the Jewiffi hiftory prefents to us
little more than a pidure of their ftrange
infatuation and blindnefs, and of the mer
cy and long fuffering of God ; a conftant
repetition of the fame crimes, and the
fame puniffiments, the fame repentance,
and the fame rewards : idolatry puniffied
by flavery, and fincere acknowledgement
of the offence, and return to the worflilp
of the true' God, rewarded by a reftoration
to liberty, ' and the poffeffion of their pro
mifed inheritance. Of this difpenfation
of providence, we cannot fail to remark,
that the mode of puniffiment, and the
mode of reward, which God thought fit to
adopt, were calculated in an eminent de
gree, not only to corred the idolatrous pro-

SERMON VI. i6s
propenfitles of the Ifraelites, but to imprefs
furrounding 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, ,wh6
from antient times had poffeffed 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 inftance, came
the two great families of Moab and Am
mon ; of Efau, the Idumseans ; of Ma-
dian, the Madianites ; and of Ifmael, the
Ifmaelites and the Amalekltes: 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 diftindion
or limitation. In the fight of thefe na
tions, therefore, no puniffiment 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 urider the yoke of the
very rivals who hated and defpifed them ;
and thither he brought them back again,
when they were repentant and forrowful,
with " a mighty hand, and outftretched
arm," by the fingle and unaffifted efforts
of his chofen fervants, of Sampfon, of Gi
deon, of Jepthah, and Deborah. Thus it
was, that, during, the alternate viciffitudfes
of comfort and flavery, the nation flill
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 ffieep-fold to fit upon
the throne of Ifrael, when "the fame of
him

SERMON VI. i6y
him went out unto all lands, and the fear
of him through all nations ;'' we find, that
In repeated confllds , they have conftantly
been vldorlous, that they have gradually
triumphed over their enqmles, and ex
tended their dominions almoft, although
riot entirely, to the boundaries which God
had fixed himfelf, from the "Red Sea even
unto the fea of the Phillftine, and from
the defert unto the river"."
To the extent pf country which David
acquired by conqueft, under the peaceful
fway of his fucceffor, they added the ad
vantages of commerce. His aUIance 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
fycamore trees that are in the vale for
abundance, and filver in Jerufalem as
ftones." If, from this period of fplendour
^ Exod. xxiii. 31. ' i Kings x. 27.
M 4 and

i68 SERMON VI.
and profperity, 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 with increafed ardor. The
worffiip of the golden calves at Bethel
juftified the pradice, and led the way to
all the monftrous corruptions, and the
prophane rites, which the kings of Ifrael
were eager to fandlon 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 pidure of ruin and defolatlon,
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. i6g
and longeft captivity, the providence of
God was watching over them continually :
they were kept diftind In every refped,
and feparate from their conquerors. Of
Jeholakim their King, It is faid, that " his
thrbne was fet above the throne of the
Kings that were in Babylon "." Many of
the principal leaders were raifed to fitua-
tlons 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
diminlflied "."
Repentance and a confeffion of their
guilt, after the period had elafped, which
was ordained before of God, produced their
cuftomary effed ; 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 th6 prefent, the fate of the
" a Kings xxv. 28. " Jer. xxix. 6. other

lyo SERMON VI.
other ten tribes has continued to be in^
volved in obfeurity. ' Where they have fub-
fifted, what their fituation 'has been, and
whether at this day traces of them are to
be found, as mpdern travellers inform us,
in the plains of Hindoftan and China, are
queftions of curiofity, which have no con
cern with our fubjed : and whatever their
fate may have been, the predldlon of the
Prophet would equally have been verified,
that " within threefcore and five years,
Ephralm ffiall be broken, that it be not a ,
people °." Judah meanwhile, to whom
' belonged the adoption and the glory ^ ; and
of whom, " as in the fleffi, Chrift was to
come ;" he of whom his Father, in his laft
prophetic' benedidion, had faid, " that he
ffiould be more numerous and more power
ful than his brethren '^ ; and that his polity,
as a nation, ffiould not be dlffolved, till the
adual 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
" Ifai. vii. 8. f Rom. ix. 4. ^ Gen. xlix.
Jews

Sermon vi. 171
Jews feem entirely to have conquered that
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
the illuftrlous line of infplred 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 fitua-i
tion was more fecure, and more fettled :
the Princes of Perfia, whofe vaft empire
extended over the greater part of the Eaft-
crn hemifphere, from India, as it is faid
in the holy Scriptures' of the kingdom of
Ahafuerus, from India even unto Ethiopia,
over one hundred and feven and twenty
provinces'" — thefe powerful Princes be-
' Mai. iv. 4. . ? Efth. i. I. ftowed

173

sermon VI.

ftowed upon the Jewiffi naf:ion 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 vidorles fpared 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
ftances of the Jews In their own country,
we find that they were fecure frorii the
attack of furrounding nations, which before
were haraffing them with perpetual inour-
fions. Moab was gone : the Holy Spirit
had declared, that it would be fo, that
" the fpoiler fliould come upon every
city, and no city ffiould efcape : that the
valley alfo ffiould periffi, and the plain
be deftroyed'." And this had been ac
tually accompliffied : the Philiftlnes alfo,
and the Ammonites, had yielded to their
fate. And Efau was adually in fervitude
under the Jews : the very people whom they
' Jer, xlviii, 8.
had

SERMON VI. 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
Epliefus, 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 Law of Mofes was preached ;
continually, and even in Rome : jealous as
the Romans were of any privileges, and
much as they difliked the Jewiffi people,
there were times, when the Jews were per
mitted to leglflate for themfelves.
In the confllds between the Macedo
nian Princes of Syria and Egypt, Judea,
from its fituatiori, was naturally expofed to
perpetual incurfions : but of thefe Princes
almoft all but one were the friends and
protedors of the Jewiffi nation. That one
indeed, as their Prophets had foretold, vvas a
cruel and mercilefs perfecutor : he defaced the

174 SERMON VI,
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 fufferings : " The
fleep," fays . he, " Is gone from mine eyes,
and my heart falleth 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 now 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 were 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
periffi through great grief. In a ftrange
land °." Such was the confeffion of Antlo-
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, vi, IO. Polyb, Fragra. p. 997. edit. Cafaub. their

SERMON VI. 1-5
their own internal divifions foon opened
the way for a new conqueror ; and the Jew
iffi nation became at length the tributaries
of Rome : but ftill they continued a dif
tind people ; and with the legions of Rome
in their city, the religion of Mofes was the
fame, and the authority of the Sanhedrim
continued inviolate.
In this latter aera of their hiftory, there
fore, it appears, that they were expofed to
fewer viciffitudes, and fewer 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 puniffiments : 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 tp the principal epochs in

176 SERMON VL
in their hiftory, to their deliverance from
Egypt, their fettlement in Canaan, the
flouriffiing days of their monarchy, their
captivity in Babylon, and their ffibfequent
eftabliffiment 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, when in the latter days the Mef-.
fiah came unto his own, he found them
ftill exifting, with a civil polity, and a, Re
ligion diftind from that of any other na
tion in the world.
But more than this ; if we look to
them under all their circumftances, and all
their revolutions of fortune, whether they
were profperous or unfortunate, whether
they were at reft within the fertile borders
of Paleftine, " every man under his vine,
and under his fig-tree *," or " mourning in
flavery by the waters of Babylon " ;" we
" Mic. iv. 4, y Pfalm cxxxvil. 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 impoffible to fuppofe 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 Mofes, the ra
pid augmentation of the Ifraelites, and the
deftrudlon of the mighty hoft of Pharoah,
were all convincing evidences, that this
fingular people were under the guidance
and protedion of a God, far fuperior in
power to the fabled divinities of Egypt,
It is equally impoffible to fuppofe, 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 war ; and, above
all, the exad conformity of the fucceffes or
j\r the

lyS SER M^O N'' VI,
tie failures of the Jews,to.f£he;dlbiferKa3iifceJCtf
negled. of thelrTeligion^— it is not|)Qffi"bdte to
fuppofe, that' they who wese ;wistnseilfe. af
fads fo furiufual, and '& jcontrary tio the
common courfe of human events, woohid
not frequently be induced to turn from the
lying vaaalties of Pgganrfm, ' lo the worffiip
©f the Hving God, The facred Hiftorians
inform us, that this was the cafe, that the
number of profelytes increafed cantiaaaaaiEy,
and that in the beginiaing of the reign, of
Solomon they were found to be " an him-
dred and fifty, thoufand, and three thoufand
and fix hundred '." The Jewiffi commen
tators affert, with what foundation I can
not pretend to determine, that, in the days
of David and Solomon, the Sanhedrim were
very cautious in their admiffion of the nu
merous Gentile converts to the privileges of
Judaifjn^, left fear of David's power, and ad
miration of the glory and fplendour of So
lomon, ffiould have been their fole motives
for wifliing to join in the worffiip of the
Ifraelites. If this be true, we muft fuppofe,
diat. 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 Babylon,
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 infplred Prophets, but all
the devout Ifraelites, all the 'fincere believers
in the God of their fathers, were conftant
ly exhorting their conquerors to believe and
be ¦ converted ; " Confefs him," is the lan-
gua,ge 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 living, 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
jefty to a finful nation \"
From the time that the captives In Ba
bylon were reftored by CyruSj they who
were left behind feem .gradually to have
» Tob. xii. 3, 4.
N z difperfed

i8o SERMON VL
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 ffiewn the poffibility of
an intercourfe between the two continents ;
and the Macedonian conqueft of Afia ef
fected this Intercourfe, Thus the know
ledge of the true God, of the Laws, and
the Religion, 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
fufed more generally, and with greater fa
cility ; It was ordained, that the facred
Oracles of his word ffiould be promulgated
in that language, which was not only the
language of philofophy and fiterature, but
the medium of general communication to
the Gentile world. When the Greek ver-
^ A61s ii. 5, fion

SERMON VL i8i
fion of the holy Scriptures was made by the
Jews of Alexandria, it was in the power of
every Gentile to fludy the hiftory of Reli
gion ; to trace the origin of mankind ; their
fall from innocence; the promife of re
demption; and the prophetic delineations of
that glorious perfon, by whom it was to be
effeded. It cannot therefore be doubted, that
whether the Almighty fcattered his pecu
liar people over the face of the earth, or
whether he preferved 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 fubjed with
out obferving, that the prophecy, from
which I have taken the words of my text,
points to a farther accompliffiment.
The proud oppreffors of God's peculiar
people have long ago beeii humbled to the
duft : of them God has made a full end :
their power, their wealth, and their mag-
N 3 nificence,

i8-3 S E R M O N>- VI.
nificence, are gone for ever. If we afk for
Egypt, who was once the glory of the
world, the parent of arts and fcienees, and
the great mart of indiiftry and eomnaerce i
has fhe not long ago exadly verified the
declarations of the Pi-ophet, that " ffie
ffiould become a bafe kingdom " ; that
there ffiould be no more a prince of the
land of Egypt ¦*; and that Ham in his pof
terity- ffiould be a fervant of fervants'?"
If for Babylon, is ffie not become " a
defolatlon, a dry land, and a wildernefs ;
a land wherein no man dWellcth, neither
doth any fon of man pafs thereby ^ V If
for NIneVeh, did not God Ibng ago accom-
plifa what he had faid, that " the gate
of the rivers ffiould be opened, and the pa
laces diffolved ^ ;" arid that " with an over
running flood, he would make an \atter end
of the place thereof' ?" Thus the Almighty
hath made an end of the nations, who were
the enemies and the oppreffors of his peo
ple : but of them he hath not made an end.
He hath driven them, it is true, from the
holy city, and given up ^e land of pro-
' Ezek. xxix. 14.. "^ Ezek. xxx. 13. ' Gen. ix. 2^.
f Jer. Ii. 43. g Nah. ii. 6'. ^ Nah, i. 8.
mife

SERMON VL 183
mife to be trod under foot by the Hea
then. But of the people he hath not made a
full end: though perfecuted, oppreffed, 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
" ±0 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-
compliffi, we cannot pronounce with cer
tainty, until it ffiall pleafe the Almighty
to remove the veil from our eyes : and
that will not be, till all human diftindions
of religion ffiall be done away; till the Jew,
the Gentile, and the Mahometan, ffiall unite
in a common faith, and we ffiall all " be
one fold under one Shepherd, Jefus Chrift
the Righteous '."
' John X. 16. Ezek. xxxvii. 32.
N 4 SER-

SERMON VII.

DANIEL ii. 20, ai, 33.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF dOD FOR
EVER AND ever; FOR WISDOM AND
MIGHT ARE HIS: AND HE CHANGETH!
THE TIMES AND THE SEASONS; HE
REMOVETH KINGS, AND SETTETH UP
KINGS J HE GIVETH WISDOM UNTO
THE WISE, 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 fubllme ftrain of dc-
yotion, the holy Prophet offers up his
thankfgiving to God, for that commuriica-
tion of the Divine Spirit, which had re
cently

i86 SERMON VIL
cently been vouchfafed to the prayers of
himfelf and his companions. To this man
of the captives of Judah, as he was invi-
dioufly ftyled by the attendants of N<ebu-
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 of earthly govern
ments in regular fucceffian, until the efta-'
bliffiment of that glorious kingdom, befisre
which all human dominions, all prindpadl-
tles, and all powers, were to fede away, and
fink into obfeurity.
In that vlfion which the holy Daniel was
impowered by God to interpret^ that vifion
which had troubled the fpirit of NebuelKBd-
nezzar, had broken his reft,, and given him
vcp a prey to forrow and inquietude ; Hin
der the fymbol of an imag^e conjpofed' of
different materials, the Holy Spirit had re
prefented the four gireat Monarchies, which
were fucceffively t© rule the civilized
world. After

SERMON VII, 187
After an Interval of feveral years, the vi
fion was repeated, under different fymbols,
to the Prophet himfelf, and th« Angel of
God* was the interpreter. Th6 four Beafts,
like the component parts of the great image,.
were explaintd to- be the powerffil Monar
chies, which were to fiicceed each other in)
a regular order : the fourth to be different
from the other three, " dreadffil, and terri
ble, and flrong exceedingly*^;" to devour
the whole earth, arid 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 difmem-
berment of the fourth Monarchy, but ex
tends its view through a long ffi'cceffi'on df
ages, to the triumphant dominion of the
Son of Man; the everlafting kingdom, which
aUdomiijiioris were to ferve and obey; and
thus it conneds under one view the efta
bliffiment of Chtlftianity, and the fates of
the' Chriftian Church, with the various re
volution's 111 the political fituation of man
kind". It wotild be foreign to my purpofe
» Dan. vii. 7. to

i88 SERMON VIL
to enter into a minute examination of thefe
awful revelations. I follow the general
fenfe of the moft approved commentators,
in fuppofing the four kingdoms of the Pro
phet to be thofe of Aflyria, Perfia, Mace
don, and Rome, I have referred to t^e'
prophecy itfelf only for the purpofe of ffiew
ing, that while the chofen. race of Abrahani
were fulfilling the purpofes. for which they
were feparated, and diftinguiffied as a pe
culiar people, the Almighty Dlfpofer 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 i 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 iritrodudion 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 VIL 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 inflid
the puniffiment, as the people are obedient
or rebellious, but we are alfo told diftindly
why he is fo appointed ; and thus the ef
fed produced can always be affigned, not
to the agency of rnan, 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 ad entirely for it
felf, without the continual interference and
control of God's particular providence ; and
in this Confifted the ftriking contraft be
tween the relative fituation of the Jew and
the Gentile : the Jew was fubjed 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 colledively as a ftate, was im
mediately marked by the fandlon or the
difapprobation of God, as their fupreme Go
vernor,

1^0 SERMON VII,
yernor, the Gentile was permitted to fol
low, without interruption, the bias origi
nally given to his nature ; his .paffions, his
affedlons, his appetites, all tending ulti
mately to produce the good defigned by
God, while the wifdom which planned
the important end, and the power which
direded to that one end all the varied
combinations of human condud, was far
removed from mortal eyes.
On this account it naturally becomes a
tafk 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 conjedures, and more
neceffity therefore for that diftruft of our
own opinions, which ought ever to guide
our enquiries Into the hidden and myfteri
ous ways of Providence. Surely it is rea
fonable to prefume, that the Almighty Go
vernor of the world in his good time
would bring his creatures into that parti
cular ftate of fociety, and of government,
which vvas likely to be moft favourable to
the eftabliffiment of the religion, which in

SERMON VIL 191
in his mercy he intended to reveal to
them ; and what that ilate would be,
muft be jcolleded from the diarailer of
the religion, and the mode in which it
was to be propagated.
Chriftianity was not to be like the rell-
giions' of Paganifm, a partial fyftem of wor
ffiip, confined .to the country in which it
was firft taught, or to the people who firft
embraced It ; it was defigned to be the re-
ligicHi of the world, and in God's good
time the glad tidings of falvation were to
be -conamunicated to " all languages, peo
ple, and nations, under heaven." But in
what way was this to be effedled.? and
were the glorious dodrines of man's re-
dei!H?ption from fin, and reftoration to eter
nal life, to be generally diffufed over the
civilized world? and by what force, or
what artifice, was that fabric of error and
falfehood, which the fuperftition of* the
Gentiles had reared with all its fplendid
accompaniments of facrifices, and feftivals,
and oracles, to be demoliffied for ever ?
The Providence of God defigned ffrom the

igz SERMON VIL
the very beginning, that this great change
in the religious ftate of mankind ffiould be
jproduced by methods which human pru
dence never would have devifed, and by
inftryments which the vanity of human
reafon would have rejeded, had they been
propofed, as totally inadequate to ffich a
tafk. It was not his intention to over
power the feeble minds of his creatures
by a difplay of pomp and majefty, nor to
fafcinate their fenfes by the alluremerits
of art and elegance, nor to force their will,
by the fword of the conqueror, reludantly
to accept the proffered terms of falvation.
The pure wifdom of heaven was to be
taught by a few unlearned men, feleded
from the lower claffes of fociety, and the
moft ordinary occupations of civil life :
they were to go forth alone, and unpro-
teded, and without any even of the cuf
tomary provifions for diftant expeditions:
they were to traverfe reniote countries,
and to preach the crofs of Chrift; fome
times to a refined and poliffied 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 VIL

^93

It is clear therefore, that this gracious'
defign of diffufing the light of the Gofpel
of truth over thofe dlftarit nations who
" were fitting In darknefs and the fliadow
of death," could never be fo well effeded,
as when countries the moft removed from
each other in natural pofition were con
neded by a bond of union under one com
mon government, when habitual inter
courfe had been eftabliffied between them,
and It was eafy to pafs from one to the"
other, without danger or Interruption.
It was to tills point, that the Providence
of God gradually direded all the, great "re
volutions in the political ft.ate'of mankind :
and whoever meditates upon the Inftruc-
tive page of hiftory, with this idea in his
mind, .cannot fail to obferve. In how many
Inftances the plans, which were formed by
legiflators and philofophers, to conned and
affociate diftant countries with each other, ^
and the fchemes of aggrandizement and
univerfal dominion, which were the de
light of ambitious conquerors, were all un-
expededly fruftrated, when upon the prin
ciples of human policy fuccefs appeared to
o be

fp4

SERMON VII.

be certain, until the proper time arrived,
0 'l^iog Kxipog, as the Apoftle calls it, the
time which Almighty wifdom had chofen
before the world begari, as the propereft
and the beft, for the adual appearance of
the Meffiah upon earth.
It would not be poffible for me, in the
compafs of a fingle ledure, to enter into
the detail of fads which involve the hif
tory of mankind, from the earlieft ages to
the asra of Chriftianity, or to mark all the
circumftances in the fficceffion of the four
monarchies, which bear in legible charac
ters the Impreffion of the finger of God.-
It is enough for my purpofe to ffiew, that
at a certain period of time fore- ordained
of God, and not before, the civilized
world was to be placed under the domi
nion of one particular people, and that
with 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 direded in this place to the ftudy
of prophane hiftory, will learn to confider
that hiftory, not merely as a jejune narra
tive of uninterefting fads, nor as a fplendid
^ argu-

SERMON VIL 195
argument for the pen of the hiftorian, 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 inftead 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 fadious, 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, who, 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 community
ffiould rife from very poor and low begin
nings, till in procefs of time it became a
flouriffiing and mighty empire. The virtues
neceffary to an infant ftate, fimplicity, fru
gality, temperance, patience, and valour,
while they formed the charader of its ci
tizens, enabled them at the fame time
gradually to extend the limits of their pof
feffions : firft the conqueft of their imme-
o z diate

195 SERMON VIL
diate neighbours, then of remote countries,
by degrees give it opulence and power, till
in time ppwer 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
when, to the narrow views of human poli
ty, its permanence and ftability appeared to
be moft certain; " dies, bora, momentum
fufficit evertendls dominatlonlbus quas ada-
mantlnis credebantur radicibus effe fun-
datce ',"
By this courfe of events, the moral go
vernment of God has ever been vindicated,
becaufe the mifguided appetites and paf
fions of human nature thus eventually
bring upon themfelves their own puniffi
ment : and, in the mean time, the viciffi
tudes of profperity and misfortune ; the air
ternate elevation and depreffion, which the
various nations of the world experienced ;
and the changes from abfolute dominion to
ruin and to fervitude, tended ultimately
to produce that general ffibjedion to one
'¦ Vide Caraub. Praefat. quse Polybii Hiflc r. prsemittitur.

SERMON VIL 197
power, which was neceffary to the pur
pofes of God,
If we carry back our refearches to the
earlieft age of mankind, after the confufion
of languages, and the difperfion of thofe
tribes who 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 attrads 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 Afia ; and the monarchs
of Affyria, whether they wellded 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 poffeffion : " fwlft and
impetuous in their careers as the eagle %"
to ufe the emblem of the Prophet, they
<^ Dan. vii. 4.
o 3 were

198 SERMON VIL
were continually lofing the advantages
which they had gained : the univerfal mo-.
narchy, at which they afpired, they never
in reality poffefled ; and they may be faid
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 puniffi 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 Ifrael and Judah into captivity. But in
the pride of their hearts they attributed to
themfelves the glory which belonged to
God ; and while they were ading 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
Aflyrlan, " he meaneth not fo, neither
doth his heart think fo ; for it is in his
heart to deftroy and cut off nations not a
few: for he faith, by the ftrength of my
hand I have done it, and by my wifdom,
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 VIL

199

tants like a valiant man\" But the Al
mighty puniffied this idle boafting, he
brought to nought the counfels of the am
bitious, he numbered their kingdom, and
finiffied it ; and he gave up Babylon, the
" glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of
the Chaldees excellency"," as he had given
up Nineveh before it, to become a defola
tlon without an inhabitant.. Thus it may
be obferved how clofely and intimately
the fortunes of the other nations of man
kind were conneded with thofe of the peo
ple of God : Babylon was to be deftroyed
for the defolatlon 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 Aflyrlan
monarchy, and the deliverer of the Jewiffi
natiori, 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 vidorles and
" Ifai. X. 7—13. " Ifai. xiii, 19.
o 4 prof-

20O SERMON VIL
profperity. " The Lord of Ifrael," fays he,
in, the decree which he iffued for the re
ftoration of the Jews, " the Lord of If-.
rael, the moft high Lord, has made me
King of the whole world V Coming forth
from a poor and barren country, and inur
ed from his earheft childhood to toils and.
hardflilp, he became, under the protedion
of the Almighty, the fovereign of a power
ful empire, whofe boundaries to the Eaft
and Weft were the Indus and the j^gean
Sea ; to the North, the Cafplan and the
Euxine ; and to the South, Ethiopia and
the Arabian Gulph. Under the dominion
of his fucceffurs, the Afiatic empire of the
Perfians was enlarged and confirmed : but
all their attempts fo fubjugate the nations
of Europe were frultlefs ; the time for unit
ing the two continents under the fame
dominion was not yet arrived.
It is one of the moft curious and Inftruc-
tive leffons in the hiftory of mankind, to
obferve with 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. ZOI
publics of Greece, terminated In their own
deftrudlon ; to mark how the reftlefs fpirit ,
of thofe turbulent democracies, their jea
loufy and hatred of each other, and their
own internal diffenfions, reduced them to
ffibmlt at laft to a foreign yoke ; and then
to notice how the accompliffiment of their
long projeded vengeance upon their eaftern
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 undlftinguifliing pane
gyric, I have only to remark, that. In obey
ing the didates of his own Inordinate am
bition, he carried on the general delign of
Providence ; that with wifdo^i to devlfe,
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 vaft empire ; that he would have con-

zoz SERMON VII,
conneded them by alliances and intermar
riages, have enriched them by commerce,
and perhaps have pollflied and refined them
by arts and literature. But the hour was 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 vidorles. It was not, however, by his
own premature death alone, that the vices
of Alexander, his pride, his Intemperance,
and his fangulnary cruelty received their
puniffiment ; the juft vengeance of God
purffied him to the ruin of his houfe, and
the deftrudlon of all his deareft connec
tions. The extenfive dominions, which his
prowefs had acquired, were fplit and di
vided, as the%Prophet of God had declared
that they ffiould be; and the endlefs dif-
putes and ffiffenfions of his fucceffors con
verted the world into a theatre of war and
bloodffied, and defolated the faireft provinces
of Europe and Afia. In the mean time, that
people, for whom God had deftined the
fovereignty of the univerfe, had been gra
dually increafing in ftrength and confe
quence ; the valour of their foldiers, and
the wifdom of their fenators, had been uni-

SERMON VIL Z03
uniformly direded from the very firft dawn ,
of their power, to the aggrandizement of
their territories. No opportunity was ever
loft, no means were negleded, 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-
tradlons, which convulfed the empire of
MacedoUi
. 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
neceffary for me to infift upon at prefent.
" Macedon," fays an hiftorian, who flou-
rlflied In the days of the empire, " never
did reduce the world to obedience ; for nei
ther did it poffefs 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 kingdoms of

204 SERMON VIL
of the earth, made the Eaft and Weft the
bounds of its empire ^."
Thus we have feen that the uniform plan
of Providence was preferved throughout ;
that the Monarchs of the Eafl, although
they ftyled themfelves the Lords of the
univerfe, and, in the hyperbolical language
of their countr}^ were ufed to addrefs their
public decrees to all nations, people, and
languages upon earth, were in reality li
mited to their Afiatic poffeffions ; and that
ever}' attempt to extend their dominion,
and to eftabliffi an univerfal empire, was
checked and retarded, until the appointed
time was come ; and the people, for whom
this dominion was referved, were able to
acquire and maintain It.
It remains only briefly to confider. In
what way the fubjedlon of the world to
one government tended to promote .the
interefls of Chriftianity.
Chriftianity, as I have faid above, was to
8 Dionyf. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. lib. I. p. 3. Edit. Hudfon. be

SERMON VII. 205
be propagated by human means, by argu
ment, by perfuafion, by a fair and candid
addrefs to the underftandings of mankind ;
and this appeal was to be made perfonally
by thofe, to whom the blefled 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 poffible to conceive, how the
Apoftles could have executed their taflv, un
lefs indeed we fuppofe the interpofition of
Providence, by a continued miracle, dif
tind; ' 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 exifted 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 VIL
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 bleffed Jefus, to every nation
under Heaven.
' It has been obferved, and perhaps with
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 fubjed to
the iurlfdldlon of the Empire, and confe
quently enrolled in the general reglfter of
the imperial fubjeds, the predldlon 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 Jewifli
Sanhedrim, ' by their ovvn law, could not
'' ]\Iic. V. 2,
have

SERMON VIL

-207

have condemned our bleffed Redeemer to
that death, which it was ordained that he
ffiould fuffer as an atonement for the fins
of Man. ^
If there be truth and reafon 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 paffions, by
his unerring wifdom, to the minute accom
pliffiment of his gracious purpofes. But
all that I have endeavoured to fliew is, that
the world was fubjeded to the dominion
of Rome, in order to facilitate the promul
gation of the Gofpel,
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 ffich a conclu
fion in thofe wonderful produdlons, which
the venerable Mede has called" the facred
Calendar and Almanack of Prophecy :" it
is eafy to trace one great defign throughout.
The four Monarchies are to rife in regu lar

zo-8 SERMON VIL
lar fucceffion, to exeeed.each other in power
and extent of territory; and the fourth is
to furpafs the Other three, and to poffefs
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 was to be broken, the
fufferings of the true Church, and, finally,
the everlafting kingdom of Chrift. We
know that the remarkable predidions of
the holy Daniel, which relate to events
prior to the publication of Chriftianity,
were.fully. confirmed ; that the bittereft
enemies- of the Chriftian faith confeffed,
that they were fo. We have a right there
fore to conclude, that what relates to events
fubfequent to that period will be verified
alfo ; and, with this refledion to cheer him,
a Chriftian ought never to defpond. For
whatever be the fate of earthly governments '
and human inftitutions ; whatever be the
fate even of thofe eftabliffiments, by which
human prudence' hath cherlffied and fup
ported true Religion, we have a fure and
certain hope, that Chrift at laft will be
" all in all ;" and under every diftrefs and^
perfe-

SERMON VIL zog
perfecution of this life, 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 ffiall come with
the clouds of Heaven ; and he ffiall come
to the Ancient of Days ; and, there ffiall be
given to him dominion and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and lan
guages, ffiould ferve him ; his dominion is
an everlafting dominion, which fliall not
pafs away, and his kingdom, that which
ffiall not be deftroyed'."
^ Dan. vii. 13, 14.

SER-

SERMON VIIL

GALATIANS iv. 4.

WHEN THE FULNESS OF TIME WAS COME,
GOD SENT FORTH PUS 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 wiffied
to impofe upon them the work of the Le
vitical ceremonies: "There was a time," he
fays, " when thofe ceremonies were necef
fary ; when the rite of circumclfion, the
attendance at the ftated feftivals of the
Jewiffi Church, and the obfervance of the
Sabbatical years, were not only allowable,
p 3 but

212 SERMON VIIL
but obligatory ;" but that all thofe ordi
nances, which, in fad, were nothing more
than faint and partial reprefentations of the
truth, were now at an end, for that " the
fulnefs of time/Twas come," when the Son
of God had appeared to redeem thofe who
were under the bondage of the law. This
expreffion of the Apoflle, " 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, were now completed, and
that nothing more of preparation, or intro-^
dudion, was neceffary ; 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-
teft 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 accompliffiment. It
has been the objed of my former Dif-
' courfes

SERMON VIIL Z13
courfes to enumerate. We have feen, that
a pefculiar people were feparated from the
reft of niapkind, to preferve the belief of the
one true God ; that a country of peculiar fer-
tihty was affigned to them for their refidence;
that God himfelf was their King ; that while
the ceremonies of their religion prefcribed
an outline, a fliadow of the good thins^s
of which their future Meffiah was to be
the body and the ffibftance; a fucceffion of
infplred Prophets from time to time un
folded the glorious plan of redemption, fpe-
cified the feafon at which the Redeemer
was to appear in mortal fliape, and the na
ture of the fufferings which he was pa-
tieintly to endure ; and that, in order to
fecure the permanence of this preparatory
fyftem, for fo long a time, at leaft, as Its
exiftence was neceffary, the providence of
God miraculoufly preferved the Jewiffi 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
was moft likely to facilitate the general
diffufion of the Gofpel. r 3 To

314 SERMON VIIL
To affign the reafon for every ftep in
this gradual preparation, is a tafk beyond
the reach of human abihtles. -In that one
comprehenfive plan, which extends from
the very foundation of the world to the fi
nal confummatlon of all things, there muft
neceffarily be many hidden motives, and--
many nice connedlons between the effed
and its caufe, which will elude the fearch
of beings who fee imperfedly, 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, would have died away. In the very
infancy of their promulgation, unlefs we
fuppoie, 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 VIII. Z15
of the neceffity of the preparation, it
is alfo within the compafs of our know
ledge to judge of its effed^ — fo that we
have only to appeal to the evidence of fads:
for it is an hiftorical fad, that when our
Lord came into the world, he did adually
find the chofen race of Abraham, amidft
the errors and corruptions of Idolatry, ftill
worffiipping " 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 Simeon,"
and " the daughter of Phanuel," were look
ing for the confolatlon. 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.
f , '
The whole of Judea; indeed, Herod, and
p 4 all

2i6 SERMON VIIL
all Jerufalem with him, was troubled,
when: the birth of the hofy Jefus at Beth
lehem was announced ; sftx^ax^fja-av, is the
very ftrong expreifion, which the Evange
lift ufes ; they were thrown into an agita
tion : fome, no doubt, dreading the poWer
of that glorious Peirfon, who at length vi^as
come to rvile over therii; others anticipating
the fplendour of- his vidorles, and the iinll-
rnited extent of his dominions ; and perhaps
the few of better minds and jufter expe-da-
tlons, -looking forward with delight to a
reign bf peace, arid equity, and righteouf
nefs. Nor were thefe expedatiori§ 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 raifed the
expedation of the Meffiah, fiirnlffied the
means of knowing him, when he adually
came : it was natural to , exped, that irri-
poftors

SERMON vm. 217
poftors would avail themfelves of this ge
neral eagernefs ; that, under the glorious ti
tle of the promifed Deliverer, they would
ffimriion their countrymen to their ftan
dard ; and would attempt to acquire power
and opulence for themfelves, under the
-fpecious pretext of refcuing their country
from the Roman yoke. God therefore had
given his people infallible criteria, by which
they were to dlftlnguiffi- their Meffiah
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 ; reftore fight to
the blind, and vigour and adivity 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 P^rieft and the Scribe, but the Illite
rate defcendant of Abraham, in whatever
fituation of life he was placed, had been
taught to diftinguifli the charader of their
Chrift.

So

ziS SERMON VIIL
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 expeded ; 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 was fitter for his appearance than any
other would have been, why a farther de
lay would not have been pradicable, 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" ill this fenfe, it will be necef
fary to confider, what really was the ftate
of mankind, when the Saviour of the world
entered upon his public miniftry, and what
they adually knew of their duty to God,
and to each other. When the holy Fore
runner of the Meffiah announced to his
countrymen the fpeedy approach of the
kingdom of Heaven, and warned them to
fave

SERMON VIIL 219
fave themfelves from future mifery, by a
timely repentance, the general depravity
of mankind, both of Jews and Gentiles
alike, was at its height ; a depravity, which
puffoed its coUrfe without any check or
control ; for they who wiffied to ftem the
torrent, had not the power of doing it ;
they had no barrier to obftrud 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 Jewiffi Church), the
Jews, from the time of their captivity in
Babylon, had been pundual in their ob
fervance of the Mofaic 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 fufferings 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 land of
promife, or that the nearer approach of the
great

zzo SERMON VIIL
great Redeemer kept them in continual
awe and fufpenfe ; whatever was the real
caufe, the fad is: undoubted, that at no pe
riod of their hiftory were, the Jews fo te
nacious of their own law, or fo free from
the bafe and abominable contamination of
Idol worflilp, •
But it does not follow, becaufe they had
lefs Idolatry, that they had therefore more
true Religion; the very reverfe of this was
in fad the cafe. Worflilppers 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 were 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, were 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 ads of his Provi
dence; and admitting that he was the
Creator and the Governor of the univerfe, tliey

SERMON VIIL 'zzi
they ftill proudly and fooliffily fuppofed,
that they were the fole apd exclufive ob
jeds of his paternal folicitude. 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 sethereal fpirit, and that he was
only "to be worffiipped in fpirit and in
truth." V,
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 fincere piety. Such
of its minute ordinances as were inftituted
for temporary purpofes, to wean 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 bis;otted Tew efteemed as
highly as the weightier matters of the Law;
as the neceffary ceremonies of his ritual, or
the Important obligations of the Decalogue;
while the rulers pf fynagogues, the guides and

2ZZ SERMON VIIL
and inftrudors of the people, fo far from
correding their errors, impofed upon them
an additional weight of ceremonies, and re
quired them to pay the farrie obedience to
their own abffird traditions, as they did to
the facred mandates of the Law and the
Prophets, That the Mofaic Law itt its beft ftate,
and when entirely free from ' the gloffes and
fanciful additions of the Cabbala, was de
fedlve iri many points, cannot be denied,
and it had the defed neceffarily belonging
to it, as a preparatory difpenfation. The
Law made nothing perfed, but was the
introdudion of a better hope: it was a par
tial law, fulted to the circumftances of one
particular people alone, and limiting its
fervices to a particular place. It per
mitted, if it did not fandlon, ads, 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 perfed
law enjoins as duties. As a ritual worffiip,
its true and only ufe was, to preferve the
people from the contagion of idolatry, and, by

SERMON VIII. 223
by the ufe of expiatory facrifices, to ac
cuftom them to the idea of vicarious pu
niffiment, and to prepare their minds for the
great Chriftian dodrine of atonement to
'be made for the fins of man by the blood
of the Redeemer. As a rule of fecial duty
between man and man, it was incomplete,
becaufe, although It checked and repreffed
the Inordinate affedlons of man, and for
bad all flagrant violations of moral juftice ;
yet -we try in vain to find in it the duties
pf mutual forbearance, or .forglvenefs of in
juries, of -lowlinefs of mind, of patience,
humility, and all enduring charity.
FiiUy competent therefore, as It was, to
anfwer the purpofes which God defigned it
to anfwer, as a law of general obligation
it was materially imperfed : 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 fubjedlon to a curfe ^ a kilhng
letter '."
» 2 Cor, vii, 9. ^ Gal. ii. 13. " 2 Cor. iii. 6.
But

024 S E R M O N VIIL
But the Law, faulty as it was in itfelf,
was rendered flill more fo by the corrup
tions, which the Jews themfelves had in
troduced into it, by the difputes of their
fedaries, and the chimerical inventions of
their Rabbins.
At the head of their Church were the
Pharifees, a corrupt and odious fed, whofe
principles and condud are uniformly marked
by our bleffed Lord with the fevereft terms
of reproach. With all the external appearr
ance of fandity ; 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 religlou§ du
ties: in his ideas, minute attention to drefs,
to his prayers, and his phyladeries; the ex
ad performance of the legal ablutions, and a
fcrupulous obfervance of the holy day of reft,
were more than fufficient to compenfate
for the negled or the violation of the great
obligations of morality. That he ffiould 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-

S E R M O'N VIIL zzs
expedation. His foul, he thought, after
death, would reanimate fome other body,
different from his, and totally unconneded
with it. Conceiving therefore, as he did,
that all merit confifted in the pundiial
performance of ceremonies, and that that
alone would entitle him to the favour of
God, beneath the fpecious mafk 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 ftridly
and literally to the written precepts of his
£)ivine Legiflator. But then he Mid 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 expedations, were limited to the
prefent world : the rewards which he hoped
to receive. If he obeyed the command
ments of his law, w-ere power, and wealth,
and temporal profperity ; and the only pu-
Q niffiment

Z26 SERMON VIIL
nifliment 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 puniffiment, the Jewiffi nation gra
dually rofe to fuch an enormous pitch of
profligacy and wlckednefs, that, as their
own hiftorian confeffes (and furely he can-'
not be acculed of want of partiality for his
countrymen), if the Romans had delayed
to ftrike the blow, God would have pu-
niflied them by an earthquake, or a peftl-
Icnce, 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 ^.
IjQt us now turn from the Jews to the
Gentile world, a.nd fee whether the Hea
then, when the Gofpel of righteoufnefs was
^ See Jofephus Antiq. offered

SERMON VIIL ZZ7
offered to him, poffeffed any knowledge of
religious duty, or any moral law, which
the Jew had not.
It; had' pleafed the Almighty, for what
reafon it would be folly and prefumption
in man to enquire — but it had pleafed the
Almighty "' to wink at," " UTrs^i^s;!/," 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 iri 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 light of reafon, might have had upon
the few, who could think and reafon, it
never can be fuppofed to have had any
pradical influence upon the great mafs of
mankind. The popular fyftems of Heathen
mythology, and the ceremonies of Heathen
worffiip, inftead of purifying the heart, and
correding the evil propenfitles of human
nature, were, in fad, a fertile fource of er-
Q 2 ror

228 S E R M O N VIII,
ror in opinions, and profligacy in pradice.
Corrupt arid diffolute; manners, the open
violation of decency, and the ffi am elefs in
dulgence of licentious paffions",* were the
fatal but neceffary confequtences of the exhi
bitions, the fliews, arid the feftivals, which
the ritual' of Polytheifm requited. The
temples 'of their Gods were too often the
fcene of the moft fcandalous exceffes, while
the delufioris of their Oracles, which were
now become a conftant theme bf ridicule,
and the artifices of their Priefthood, which
the man of letters delighted in expofing to
the vulgar, gradually inclined them to doubt
the reality of "what they had been taught;
to~ think that there was no fuch Beiiig ex
ifting as a God, and that the whole fabric
of Rehgion was a fyftem of falfehood, the
iriveritibn of artful ftatefmen and politicians.
', , ' jj;. . , ,.;K>i ..... -f' ¦...."
Thus then, faid the freethinker, meaning
to Infinuate that the Chriftian Revelation
could" not be neceffary, the evilof Poly-^
theifni correded itfelf: but how did it cor
red Itfelf? By creatine in the mind a eene-
ral Indifference to all religion whatfoever :
arid it would be a difficult tafk to ffiew, that

SERMON VIII, 229
that mankind would have been better, or
happier, had Athelfm 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 the.ir paffions ? And hgd not philofgphy
ffifficiently 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 illuftrlous few, who
quitted the abftrufe refearches of iiietaphy-
fi'cs, for the more plain and more ufeful
inveftigation of moral duty ; who taught
that there was" a Supreme God, by vvhofe
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 diffolution
of the body, it would ftill have life and
Q 3 vigour.

230 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 unaffifted reafon to go,
with the humility of real fcience, fcrupfed
not to aver their ignorance : the beft 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 w^ould 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
down all the unprofitable theories, the high
imaginations, and the idle boaftings of hu
man reafon, and have aequiefced with gra
titude in the revealed will of God.
Unfortunately,, however, the influence of
the beft philofophy was confined to the
few who profeffed it, and to their imme
diate followers. Truths, which are only to
be learnt by a regular dedudion of reafon,
are not calculated for common minds ; the
faireft

SERMON VIIL 231
faireft ideal pidures of virtue, however juft,
or however beautiful they might be, had no
allurement for the generality of mankind ;
and even the hope, or the expedation, of a
future exiftence was of little real fervice,
when It was a matter of doubt, whether
the foul, after Its feparation from the body,
was to be confcious of what 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 viciffitudes of ading and fuffering
upon earth. In endlefs revolutions,
If fuch was the Inefficacy of thofe fyf
tems, which alone deferve the name of
philofophy, what was to be expeded from
the croud of difputants, who contended for
fame and vidory, and not for truth ; from
thofe who could juftify by arguments the
worft exceffes, or thofe who maintained,
that all adions were equally Indifferent ;
that nothing In nature was either good or
bad ; and that vice and virtue were diftlnc-
tlons Invented by man, and only to be
found in the inftitutions of human policy ?
Q 4 C)r

232 SERMON VIII.
Or what reafon was there to fuppofe, that
the morals of the vulgar would be reformed,
when the pradice of the very philofophers
themfelves was continually at variance with
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
was 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 maiikind eagerly
attached themfelves to that fed, which
promifed to fatlsfy their fcruples, and to
allay their fears. That they would emanci
pate mankind froVn the fhackles of fuper-
flition, would empower therri to think and'
ad for themfelves, and teach them the
true ufe of their reafon, was the fpeciqus
bpaft of Epicurus and his fchdol ; and this
glorious liberty was to be acquired by the
rejedion of all thofe great truths, which were

SERMON VIIL 233
were the cement of human fociety, 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, flumbering 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
felf; his own profit, and his own pleafure,
were the only incitements, that could roufe
him into adivity : and neither friendffilp,
nor good faith, nor juftice, 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 faffilonable Philofophy,
which all defcriptloris of men began to ad
mire, and to adopt : to the vulgar and the il
literate.

234 SERMON VIIL
literate, it offered the enticing profped of
freedom from all reftralnt, and emancipa
tion from all obligation ; to the learned
and the wealthy, it recommended itfelf, by
the elegant manners of thofe who profeffed
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, inftead of improving and
cultivating the light of nature, it would
have extlnguiflied 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 Athelfm.
But at this period precifely, when the world
was almoft 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 falfe philofophy, had thrown a
mift over the feeble hght of natural rea
fon — at this period, " God fent forth his
Son, to teach the way to righteoufnefs,"
and " to awaken finners to repentance." Surely

SERMON VIIL Z3S
Surely then we cannot but admire the
wlfdom of God, and adore his goodnefs
with humble gratitude, for fending into the
world the Heavenly Inftrudor whom he
had promifed, at the very moment that his
inftrudions were moft neceffary 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 rejeded,' and perfecuted even
unto death, the very Perfon whom they
had fo long expeded ; 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 derlfion, arid 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 profeffed to
be ; or that his dodrines did not contain the
leffons of wlfdom and righteo.ufriefs, vvhlch
we maintain they did ? The

Z36 SERMON VIIL
The fad is undoubted ; but the inference,
which the Sceptic would draw froni 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 pradical Religion, and the
want of proper criteria, by which to dlf
tlnguiffi 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 awak.enlng call
to repentance, by which the harbinger of
the Meffiah had proclaimed his near ap
proach, contained a command, to which
minds hardened in wlckednefs, 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 fliare the rewards of his
king-

SERMON VIII, Z37
kingdom, they muft abandon, without de
lay, all their habitual indulgences ; they
muft renounce and execrate,the vices v.hlch
they had pradifed with impunity, and with
humble and fincere 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 Jewiffi Teacher and the Gen
tile Sophift revolted at once : in the mean
time their appropriate charaders, and their
refpedive fituations', gave them other pre
judices, and other prepoffeffions, peculiar
to each.
The Jew had always mlfunderftood 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 Spiritu-;! kicgdom ;
but a mighty Prince, and an ear'Jily Sove
reignty. Ever inclined to fadioa ai,d fedl-
tlon, and uneafy under the dominion, of
Rome, the Jewifli people looked '"^r a
leader*

Z2S SERMON VIIL

'O

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 demoliffied at once, wheii
they faw the Perfon, who 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
queft and dominion vanlffied, when they
faw, that, inftead of calling his followers to
a military ftandard, or animating them
with the hope pf that liberty, for which
they pined, his time was paffed In healing
the fick, and cheering the unhappy ; in dic
tating to the poor and the lowly the plain
and eafy leffons of his pure morality ; and
promifing 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-
away before them, when they found, that,
to obtain an Inheritance in his kingdom,
they muft quit the pofleffion of worldly
honours and worldly riches ; muft for-
^ Matth, xxi. 5. fake

SERMON VIII. Z3g
fake their kindred, their families, and their
friends, and become the ; poor and perfe
cuted followers of a defpifed Nazarlte.
, The Jew had alfo been taught to exped,
that his Law would be perpetual ; that its
ceremonies were of univerfal obligation ;
and that the holy Temple of Jerufalem, in
the days of the Meffiah, would be thronged
with flippllants from all the nations under
heaven. He was perfuaded alfo that fal
vation belonged exclufively to himfelf, and
.was to be obtained only by the pundual
obfervance, not of the Mofaic ritual merely,
but of all the frivolous peremonles, which
the Scribe and Pharifee had ingrafted upon
it. What then was his furprlfe, his morti
fication, and his refentment, when he heard
from the rnouth of our bleffed Lord, that
his kingdom was referved not for thofe
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 juftl
fication of his pradice, that " God would
have mercy, and not judgment !" What
was his indignation, when he heard, that the

240 SERMON VIIL
the Apoftles were eommiflioned to an
nounce ^' the tidings 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
projeds, excited In the nation at large, the
leaders of the people,' the chief Priefts and
Elders, the Scribes arid Pharifees, added a
peculiar fpirit of refentment and revenge
againft the pradice of our bleffed Lord ; for
he had unmafked their hypocrlfies, and ex
pofed their vices to the multitude : thus
they all confplred to execute the eternal
purpofe of God — for " bf 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 '."
' Ada iv, 27,
The

S E R M O.N VIIL 241
The Gentile, to the prejudice which he
had in common with the Jew, added alfo
particular .prepoffeffions 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, his indifference and care-
leffnefs about all religions prepoffeffed him
againft that, which claimed an exclufive
preference above all others, Chriftianity,
in hia idea, was a gloomy, unfocial fyftem
of Athelfm ; for the followers of Chrift de
clared, that they would hold no fellowffiip or
correfpondence with the works of darknefs;
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 Sophift, It was a thing
ftrange and Incredible, that a God had ap
peared upon earth, in a ftate of poverty
and humiliation, and had fubmitted to a
painful and ignominious death ; that the per
fons, whom he had appointed to diffemi-
nate the precepts of his Religion, were not
men of lea^rnlng and edpcation ; not Philo-
R , fophers,

243 SERMON VIII.
fophers, but plain, unlettered Fiffiermen ;
and that the hiftories, which recorded his
adions, and his difcourfes, were written in
a fimple. Inartificial method, without any of
the graces of ftyle, or compofition.
The magiftrate and the ftatefinan mean
while dreaded the introdud:iQn 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-
bhffied. Thus it appears, that they, who rejeded
the defire of all nations when he came,
were influencfd by their own corruption,
and their own fatal prepoffeffion ; and it is,
as I obferved before, an inconteftible evi
dence of the truth of ovur holy Faith, that
it triumphed over all thofe obftacles ; that,
in fplte of diftrefs and perfecution, the
number df Its converts increafed conti
nually ; and that, in God's good time, it
became the eftabliffied belief of the Gen
tiles, Still,

SERMON Virt. 243
Still, fays the adverfary of our Faith,
granting its progrefs, what were its ef
feds ? Did it really accompliffi 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 wifer and better now, than they
were before the eftabliffiment of the Chrif
tian Faith ?
. Now in order to determine, with falrnefs
and candour, what the efficacy of Chrif
tianity really has been, arid to afcertain, as
far as we are permitted, why it has not
been greater, we muft recoiled what was
the real defign of its inftitution, and what
was Its true charader.
Chriftianity profeffes to give mankind a
moral Law, for the regulation of their con
dud in this fife ; 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 ;
B. 2 whe-

244 SERMON VIII.
whether it does not -far furpafs all the fyf
tems of Ethics, which human reafon had
frame4 and all the precepts, which God
had before vouchfafed to reveal, it is eafy
to detefmlne,, by opening the facred vo
lumes of the Evangellfts 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 rifing
wiffi, and the fecret Intention to fin, are as
guilty in the fight of God as the criminal
ad; itfelf.
Such then being the morality 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 fyftem, in both Its parts, is offered
to our acceptance ; our affent to it is not
extorted

SERMON VIIL 245
extorted from us ; we are required to ex
amine its evidences, and to receive it upon
convldion ; it is offered to us therefore, as
beings refponfible for our opinions and our
adions ; and it leaves us, as it fourid us, free
agents : we may therefore mlftake or mif-
interpret its dodrines, from ignorance or
from prejudice, or, from the ungoverned im
petuofity 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 leffons, 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, arid to
death, while they evince the fincerityof
R 3 their

246 SERMON VIIL
their beUef, at the fame time, are a deci
five proof of the ftrong influence of their
religion upon their minds.
If we trace the courfe of civilization, we
ffiall find, that the progrefs of Chriftianity
has ever been accompanied by progreffive
reformatiori, and improvement in the laws,
the literature, and the manners of man
kind. It was the mild and peaceable fpirit
of the Gofpel, that ftopped the fangulnary
fports, which, with all their boafted refine
ment, the nations of antiquity delighted to
behold: it was the fame fpirit, that checked
the wanton barbarity, with which the maf
ter was authorifed to tyrannize over his
flave : it Is the fame fpirit, that has miti
gated the grIevGufnefs of war, and taught
contending nations, that a ftate of warfare
need not impede the exercife of the duties
of common humanity ; that the extenfion
of fcience, and the courtefy of individuals
to each other, might ftill be maintained.
To the morality of the Gofpel private
life Is indebted for all its comforts, and all
its regulated enjoyments ; and the forrows, which

SERMON VIIL 247
which he cannot avoid, are comparatively
light to a Chriftian, 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 diffiifed impartially
over the whole world, its efficacy will be
come complete. Then we may exped,
that the ftormy paffions, which at prefent
agitate and convulfe the moral world, will
be huffied into repofe, and the whole race of
man will be knit together in the bonds of
Chriftian 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 ffiall lie down with the
kid ; and the calf, and the young lion, and
the fatling together, and a little child ffiall
lead them ^." " The wildernefs and the fo-
f Ifai. xi. 6.
B. 4. lltary

248 S E R M O N VIIL
litary place ffiall be glad ; and the defert
fliall rejoice, and bloffom as the rofe.^."
" For judgment ffiall dwell m the wilder
nefs, and righteoufnefs remain in .the fruit
ful field ; and the work of righteoufnefs
ffiall be peace ; and the effed of righteouf
nefs, quiet and affurance for ever ''."
s Ifai. XXXV. I. ' *¦ Ifai. xxxii, ;4i

SER.

SERMON IX.

MATTHEW xxviii. 19.
GO TE THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL
NATIONS.
Ouch was the parting command, which
^ the Son of God gave to thofe righteous
perfons, who had been the companions of
his miriiftry, and to whofe guardlanflilp- he
had committed his infant Church. " Go,"
faid he, " to every creature, without any
diftindion or partiality, and preach to all
the dodrines of repentance, and remiffion
of fins :" and, that they might not be dif-
couraged by the difficulty of the tafk, he
cheered them with the confolatory promife of

2^0 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 religion, which the
Son of God came in " the fulnefs of time"
to eftablifli, was not like the law of Mofes,
or the fuperftition of Paganifm, a partial,
local, or temporary fyftem of worflilp, but
was defigned to conned the whole race of
man in one common faith, and to endure
till the final diffolution of the world. Such
was the language, in which the Holy Spi
rit had invariably fpoke of that kingdom,
which 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 world began ; " in thee, and thy
feed, ffiall all the nations of the earth be
bleffed"." And as the fcheme is gradually
unfolded, as the intimations of future de
liverance become more explicit, and the
• Gen, xii, j. dellnea-

SERMON IX, 251
delineation of the perfon and cliarader
of the Deliverer more minute, the religion
which he was to preach is always charac
terized by the fame properties of univer-
fality and perpetuity,
" In Judah," fays the royal Pfalmift, al
luding to the peculiarity of the Jewifli co
venant, and the limitation of their worflilp
to a particular country — " in Judah was
God known, and his name was great in If
rael ;" " in Salem was his tabernacle, and
his dwelling-place in Sion ''," But not fo
does he fpeak of the Meffiah ; for God faid
unto his Son, " I will 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 figurative lan
guage of Prophecy, that in the laft days,
" it ffiall come to pafs, that the mountain
of the Lord's houfe fliall be eftabliflied on
the top of the mountains, and ffiall be ex
alted above the hills, and all nations fliall
flow unto it '." At another, that " there
ffiall be a root of Jeffe, which fliall ftand
for an enfign to the people, and to it fliall
•> Pfalm Ixxvi. i, 1. ' Ifai. ii, 2. the

252 SERMON IX,
the nations feek,^" 'Sometimes the pre
valence of Chriftianity Is fpoken of by the
Holy Spirit, as the eftabliffiment of the
kingdom of the Lord : " all nations," it is
faid, " ffiall remember and turn unto the
Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations
ffiall worffiip 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 ever
lafting dominion extended over all people,
nations, and languages, that ffiould not pafs
away, nor be deftroyed V ,
The Prophets therefore having taught us
to exped, that Chriftianity would in God's
good time become an univerfal Religion;
and the bleffed Jefus having direded his
Apoftles to publlffi 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 flill inflexibly adhering to his law, and
the difciples of Mahomet ftill adoring the
hallowed name of their falfe Prophet, whilft
¦' Ifai, xi, IO, ' Pfal. xxii. 27. ' Dan, vii. 14.
a con-

S E R MON IX. 253
a confiderable part of the habitable world
has never yet emerged from the dark and
barbarous fuperftition of Paganifm ?
It is natural, doubtlefs, for every reffed:-
ing mind, when it contemplates the moral
and religious condition of man, to afk, why
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 dodrines,
which' Chriftians maintain to be neceffary
tp the:ffiture 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 would 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 voltime of our
Faith, that Chriftianity, whether we confi
der 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

254 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 with the multifarious fuperftitions
of the Heathen ; and then they will confefs
the decided fuperiority 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 which teaches us, that
as the children of one common parent, as
fubjed to the fame viciffitudes of mifery
and happinefs here, and heirs of the fame
immortality hereafter, we are to conimife-
rate and relieve each other, to live for
others more than for ourfelves, and' to " do,
unto all men, as we would they fliould do
unto us." The duty of prayer, the fecret
unoftentatlous worffiip of the heart, which
God, under a former difpenfation, had de
clared to be more valuable and more pleaf
ing to him than all the incenfe of facri
fice and burnt-offering, and which Chrift en
joined by his precepts, and fandioned by his
pradice — this great duty is as univerfally
pradicable, as it is univerfally obligatory. The

SERMON IX, 2SS
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 traverfe 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, Inftead of relieving 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 neceflary occupations of civil
life ; and his firft and earlieft leffon, to love
his God, to believe in him, to ferve him,
and to pray to him in fecret, it is eafy for
him to pradlfe 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 receffes of his clofet.
Thus, while the moral precepts and
the religious exercifes of Chriftianity are
adapted to the circumftances of evxry in
dividual.

2^6 S E R M O N IX.
dividual, the religion »4tfelf, 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 refufes 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 fubmlffion to efta
bliflied authority : but it leaves to the wif
dom of man to determine in what way
thofe principles are to be applied ; and
what form of public inftitution is moft
congenial to his charader and his circum
ftances, and moft likely to enfure 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 comfort of all his creatures. The

SERMON IX. 2S7
The Sceptic, the ja-ughty Sophift, or the
indifferent Polytheift^ might indeed fool
iffily and ignorantly maintain, that the fu
preme Being did not require or exped uni
formity of worflilp ; nay, that he even took
delight In the varied forms of devotion,
which the Ingenuity of his creatures de
vifed, and the different and even contra
didory opinions, which they formed of his
nature and his attributes. But he, who be
lieves that God Is one, will inftantly re
volt from fo monftrous an opinion ; he
will know, that the unity and fimplicity 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
penfe his bleffings with an impartial hand
to all his creatures. It is on this ground,
that we arc at iffue with the Delft : I ad
mit, he would fay, that If God were to com
municate to man a fyftem of religious be
lief, fuch as Chriftianity profeffes to be, we
might conclude, as well from the nature of
God, as from the charader of the Religion,
that all men wpuld be Chriftians ; that all
would have heard the word ar^d received
s it,

258 S E R M O N IX.
it, and have embraced with joy the cer
tain hope of everlafting life : but the fad
Is otherwife ; therefore, his conclufion is,
that becaufe the Religion is not gerieral, it
is not the w^ord 0/ God.
Now, in the very principle of this ob
jedion, there feems to be at firft fight a
ftrange abfurdity. 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-
tated univerfally ? If it be true, why call
Upon us to rejed the precious gift of God,
becaufe there are perfons exifting in the
world, to whom He has not yet vouchfafed
to Impart it ?
To call the Almighty partial, is as ab
furd 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. 259
of God, than we have to complain, that all
men are not precifely alike, that they have
not the fame health, the fame ftrength, the
fame perfonal beauty, and the fame men
tal endowments; that they were not placed
higher In the fcale of created beings, that
they were not angels Inftead of men I
Is it not equally abfurd and impious, to
call the beneficent Author of our being un
juft, when he himfelf hath condefcended to
tell us, that we ffiould be tried, not only
by what we know, but by what we are ca
pable of knowing ; that he will make al
lowances for want of talents, want of op
portunities, and all the defeds of unavoida
ble ignorance ; and, as I had once before an
occafion to obferve, that the precious facri
fice of .the Redeemer extends its influence
to all mankind, even to thofe whom the
day-fpring from on high has never vlfited ;
'f' for thou waft flain," fays the Apoftle, " and
haft redeemed us unto God by thy word,
out of every kindred, arid tongue, and people,
and nation^." If then God hath voluntarily
given us more than we have a right to
t Rev. V. 9.
s 3 afk

z6o SERMON IX.
afk, and hath declared, that he will not
puniffi 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 wlfdom 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 were 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 inftrudor from hea
ven, and were duly prepared to liften to
his inftrudion. But the warning voice of
the Almighty had not at any time been
filent ; God had fpoken to his fallen crea
tures at " fundry times, and in divers man
ners ;" he had promifed in early times, that
a Deliverer ffiould one day come to refcue
them from the dominion of fin : by his
holy Prophets, he had repeatedly affured
them, that the promife would be per
formed ; and, as the appointed hour drew
near, he had given clearer intimations of
his

SERMON IX. 261
his defign, and ampler defcriptions of the
nature of the deliverance, which they were
to exped. Thus, the awful dodrine of re
demption was unfolded by degrees, at dif
tind 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
charaderifed, 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-
terlng 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, 35.
s 3 one.

ii62 SERMON IX,
orie, 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 ffiall
bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be
a goodly Cedar ; and under it ffiall dwell all
fowl of every wing ; In the ffiadow of the
branches thereof ffiall they dwell '." Some
times it is a " river whofe waters are at
firft ffiallow, till by degrees they rife to
a great height, and become waters to
fwim in, a river that cannot be paffed
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 will be progreffive, that its com
plete eftabliffiment will not be immediate,
but that It will advance frpm fmall begin
nings, till it has poffeffed 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 becometh a tree, fo that the
^ Ezek. Xvii. az, a^. ^ Eaek. xlvii, 5. birds

§ E R M O N IX. 263
birds of the air lodge in the branches
thereof '."
It was the defign therefore of God, that
Chriftianity ffiould be progreffive, and that
as its publication had been delayed until
" the fulnefs of time" was come, fo its full
and complete efficacy ffiould be delayed,
until the whole race of man were fully
qualified to receive its faving truths. But
here the queftion of the captious objedor
returns : Why was this progrefs neceffary ?
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 ceafed to
be a miracle, and would have loft all its
force and efficacy, as an evidence of truth.
' Matt. xiii. 31. Mark iv. 31. Luk. xiii. ,19-
s 4 Upon

264 SERMON IX*
Upon no other fuppofition whatever, can
we conceive the general diffufion of the
great truths of Chriftianity, without any
preparation, any previous moral difclplirie,
or any foundation of knowledge.
Follow the miffionary Into the hut of
the Indian, and obferve what a frultlefs tafk
it is to preach the crofs of Chrift crucified,
to bid the favage repent, and confefs his
fins, and be baptized into the faith of the
bleffed Jefus.
What impreffion can fuch a fummons
make upon a mind that has never been
taught to elevate its thoughts above the
fenfible objeds immediately before it? From
the teacher > of Heavenly truth he turns
with contempt to the objeds before him,
to the glorious luminary, whofe fplendid
orb he contemplates with aftoniffiment,
or even to the ffiapelefs mafs of wood or
ftone, which he conceives to be the refi
dence of a Being fuperior in power to him
felf; who direds all the wonderful opera
tions of nature, and rides in the ftorm and
the whirlwind. And

SERMON IX. 265
And Can we exped In fuch circumftances
to find converts, rational and fincere con
verts to the Chriftian faith ? Or Is It any
Impeachment of the authenticity or the
truth of the Gofpel, that when its dodrines
have been preached to fuch hearers, they
have either been unwilling to liften, or un
able to comprehend them ?
We who are Chriftians by education,
who 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 convldion, 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 poffefs even the great fun
damental truths of natural religion.
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 116 fimilarity
whatever between the two cafes: that con
verfion

266 SERMON IX.
verfion was a miracle. The pride of learn
ing, the obftinacy of ignorance, the fafti-
dlous contempt of the rich, and the fan
gulnary cruelty of the perfecutor, all gave
way before the irrefiftible -force of truth.
But why was this the cafe ? It was becaufe
the Apoftle went forth to execute his mif
fion, under the immediate guidance of God.
When he addreffed the affemblies of the
learned, the Holy Spirit gave him utter
ance, that he might confound the wifdom
of the wife, and make vain the fooliffinefs
of men : and when he fpoke to the igno
rant multitude, the fign and the wonder
accompanied his reafonings, and convinced
them, that he was a meffenger from God.
The Chriftian miffionary 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 affifted, by the ordi
nary grace of God, but without any of
thofe gifts or graces, which were poured
'down fo liberally from Heaven upon the
chofen preachers of Chrift. He has to ar
gue.

SERMON IX. 267
gue, to perffiade, and If poffible to convince;
but he cannot ftrike the minds of his hear
ers by a ftrain of Infplred eloquence, nor
overcome the ftubbornnefs of ignorance by
a difplay of fupernatural power.
Surely then we may infer, that if the
tafk of inftrudion 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 poWer of
man to remove it. It is a iiatural obliga
tion; natviral reafon teaches us, that if we
poffefs any knowledge, which is likely to
improve the condition of our fellow crea
tures, or in any degree to promote their
happinefs, we are bound to commuriicate
it to them. In the cafe of religious in
ftrudion, the command of our bleffed Lord
to his. Apoflles is binding upon every Chrif
tian, and every Chriftian may hope to 1^-
ceive

268 S E R M O N 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 wiffied, it by no means
follows, that it will never fucceed. The
counfels of God are not to be meafured by
our impatience : the time, which to beings
of fo fleeting and tranfitory 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 unfearehable 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 anfwerable to our hopes ; and ad
ing under the authority of a Divine com
mand, we are not to fuppofe, as it has
fome-

SERMON IX, 26g
fometimes been foohffily argued, that it is
wrong in man to try to haften what God
evidently purpofes to retard ; and it may be
worth while to confider after all, whether
we attribute our failure to Its true caufe.
Do we know whether the motives of the
teacher have always been pure, or the
mode of his inftrudion 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 baptifmal vow, and
that the emiffary of the Papal fee hath
made the miniftry of the Gofpel fiibfervlent
to the purpofes of ambition, and difcredlted
the fandity of his religion, by accepting
conditional vows, and partial confeflions of
the truth ?
If the motive upon which we ad be
right, it can fcarcely be doubted, whether
we are performing an acceptable fervice to
God or not. In attempting to diffufe the
knowledge of his will, let no fuch ground-
lefs doubts reprefs our zeal; for, after all that
we can do, we may reft affured, that our
feeble

2;o SERMON IX.
feeble efforts will never accelerate what the
wifdom of God hath chofen to delay, and
that the " fulnefs of the Gentiles will not
come In" till the hour arrives, which God
hath appointed from all eternity.
To his chofen people, to thofe who were
under the protedion of his peculiar pro
vidence, and of whom It was faid, that
" to them fah ation belonged ;" to this
favoured race, God hath promifed, if we
interpret aright the oracles of his word,
that the hour ffiall come, when " their
eyes fliall be opened, and their hearts no
longer hardened," and they ffiall fee and
confefs, that the Meffiali, whom their fa
thers crucified, and whom they ftill fo ob-
ftinately rejed, is very Chrift and God."
" The children of Ifrael," fliys Hofea,
" ffiall abide m.any days without a king,
and without a prince, and without a facri7
fice, and without an image, and without an
ephod, and without teraphim : afterward
fliall the children of Ifrael return, and feck
the Lord their God, and David their King ;
and ffiall fear the Lord and his goodnefs in

SERMON IX. 271
in the latter days " ;" and " it ffiall come
to pafs," fays Zechariah, " in that day, that
I will feek' to deftroy all the nations that
come againft Jerufalem ; and I will pour
upon the houfe of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerufalem, the fpirit of grace
and of fupplicatlons; and they fliall look upon
him whom they have pierced, and they
ffiall mourn for him, as one mouriieth for
¦his only fon "." Thefe are two out of many
prophecies, which point to the fame gre^t
event ; but thefe are two of the moft re
markable, and they cannot be thought to
allude to any event, or to any fituation of
the Jewifli 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 beft 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 will ceafe
when the fulnefs of the Gentiles ffiall be
come in, and then all Ifrael ffiall be fayed °."
™ Hof. iii. 4, 5. ' Zeck, xii, 9, 10. " Rom, xi, 25,
In

212 SERMON IX.
In what way convldion will operate at
laft upon the mind of the Jew ; whether he
will yield his affent 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 we muft wait in filent
awe, and with full and certain confidence,
that all the deftinatlons df Divine wifdom,
as they have been announced to us by the
voice of Prophecy, will receive their full ac
compliffiment, Chriftians meanwhile will be wanting
to their duty, if they do not perfevere in
their endeavours to, convert that mlftaken
people to the true faith ; If they do not lay
before them the evidence which they poffefs
in every poffible fliape, and try, by every ar
gument, to overcome their rooted prepoffef
fions. Chriftians will do well alfo to remem
ber the injundion of the Apoftle; " Boaft not
thyfelf againft the natural branches ; be not
high minded, but fear: for if God fpared
not the natural branches, take heed, left he
alfo

SERMON IX. 2-3
alfo fpare not theeS" Our humble efforts,
and our difereet endeavours, to forward the
great caufe of truth will receive, we may
be affured, the gracious afliftance of God, ;
and to an attentive obferver it muft be
evident, that his providence is continually
opening the way for the general diffufion
of the Gofpel : for what other reafon can
we fuppofe, that the powers of Chrlften-
dom were permitted to extend theif 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 wifli to Inftrud
then fliould keep pace with the power and
the means of Inftrudion ; and It ffiiould be the
firft and greateft duty of Chriftian coun
tries, to Impart to others "the bleffings of
civilization, which they have long enjoyed
themfelves ; to call the ignorant barbarian
from th^ purfuit of his fcanty and pre
carious ffibfiftence, to the enjoyment of the
comforts, the conveniencies, and the ele- •
gancies of focial life, and to give him the
S Rom. ii. 12, 21.
T leifure

274 SER .MO N 'IX.
leiffire and the opportunity to prepare his
mind for the reception of thofe facred truths,
which are to conned 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 ultimately to that de
fign ; and furely in the fficcefsful cultiva
tion of fcience, in the corredlon of flagrant
errors, both in dodrine and in pradice, in
the enlarged and liberal intercourfe between
remote countries, and the invention of that
art, which facilitates the diffufion 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 theorifts have long been
attempting to force upon, us. Bleffed

SERMON IX. 275
Bleffed be God, that odious Philofo-r
phy, which was diffufing its baneful polfon-
through every country of Chriftendom, hath.
loft the attradions which it once poffeffed.
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 ignprance; 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 ^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 of
Mahomet. While the operation of moral caufeg 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 ftridly conformable to the gene
ral tenor of the Divine government, from the
evil which prevails jn the worid, from the
fierce

276 SERMON IX,
fierce conflid of human paffions, and the
oppofition 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
promlfed, after perfecution, and diftrefs, and
apoftafy, a long period of retribution and
reft upon earth, " when the power of the
evil one ffiall be overthrown, and the Saints
of the Moft High ffiall reign/' " Of the
times, or the feafons, no man k'now eth ; 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 affurance,
that " the myftery of God fliall be finiffied,
as he hath declared to his fervants the Pro
phets "," and that " all the kingdoms of the
' ASts 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 kingdpm 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. Ij. .'

Finis,

, " E B R ATA.
Pag, 58. 1. 2, Teadjiirej^
To npte "J, p. 72. add Hif. v, $..
Pag, 74, 1. 18. dele fomenting
133, 1. 4. read their
J35. 1. 20. read to^o.
146. I. 9, read revived
160. 1, 20. read folicit .
— — 1, 21, read triumphant
211. 1, 5. neadjo/lj
i2a. 1. 24, read ofworjbip
226. note ^, read S^^ Jojeph. An'tlq§.
lib. xi, c, 13.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08844 6787