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foresee, and yet so certainly and punctually fulfilled, that nothing short of divine inspiration can possibly account for them. The prophecy, in all its parts, is divine but in these, its divinity is clear and incontestable.

II. THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS, is another event, which deserves your consideration.

Moses himself had predicted this circumstance of their fortune, in terms of the greatest energy. He had told them-that they should be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, and that they should be scattered among all people from one end of the earth even unto the other that, among the nations, into which they should be driven, they should find no ease, nor rest, and that they should be only oppressed and crushed alway-that they should become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all nations—and that their plagues should be wonderful, and of long continuance.* These prophecies had been, to a certain degree, fulfilled in other parts of their history but there was to be a time, when the wrath of God should come upon them to the uttermost. This time was now come, when their city was destroyed, and their land desolated, by the arms of Titus. Then, as Jesus prophesied of them, were the days of ven

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geance, that all things, which were written, should be fulfilled: then, were they to be led away captive into all nations and thenceforth, was Jerusalem to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES SHOULD BE FULFILLED. *

Nor say, that this last prophecy is indefinite: for the times of the Gentiles is a period, well known in the prophetic writings; a period, of long duration indeed, as the event hath shewn; yet a period, marked out by other prophecies (which may come, in turn, to be considered in this Lecture) no less distinctly, than their other captivities had been.

For, to all these predictions there must be adled one more, which expressly asserts the return of this people, in some future age, from their long and wretched dispersion: for blindness, in part, only, hath happened to Israel; and that again, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.† This, St. Paul terms a mystery: and yet the ancient prophets had a glimpse of it, when they foretold, that the Lord would not make a full end of them, and that a remnant of them should remain, and should return in the latter days. Moses himself, who had denounc ed such heavy judgments upon them, and of so

• Luke xxi. 22. 24.

†Rom. xi. 25.

+ Jer. xlvi. 28.

Isa. x. 21. Ezek. vi. &

long continuance, during their dispersion, had mingled, with his woes, this one note of mercy-And yet for all that, when they lie in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them UTTERLY and to break my covenant with them.*

Consider these predictions, and compare them with the present and past state of this people for seventeen hundred years; and see, if there be nothing to take your attention, or, rather, your astonishment, in the completion of them.

Why is this dreadful vengeance, singular in its circumstances, and never yet experienced by any other people on the face of the earth, why is this peculiar vengeance executed on the Jews?-Or, whatever the cause may be, is not the fact, such as was predicted?

"The predictions, you will say, have the appearance of being fulfilled. But where is the wonder, that a people, distinguished by a singular religion, and above measure addicted to it, should continue to exist under that distinction, and should be every where known by it? That a people, on account of their profession, more than commonly obnoxious to the other religious sects, among whom

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the earth hath been chiefly parcelled out-to the Heathen, for their unconquerable aversion to idol atry-to the Christians, for the atrocious murder of their Founder-to the Mahometans, for the constant rejection of their prophet-should be the scorn and outcast of all three; and that, being excluded from the only country to which they have any attachment, they should be vagabonds on the earth, and should disperse themselves indifferently through every quarter of it, as caprice, or interest, or convenience, invites them? That, lastly, being thus distinguished from all men, and thus at enmity with all, they should never be suffered to enter into any other civil community, or to establish a distinct community of their own?"

But the wonder doth not lie, altogether, where these questions seem to place it. That the Jews, while they profess themselves such, should be thus treated, may be natural enough: but that they should continue, for so many ages, under such treatment; every where and always spurned, reviled, oppressed; yet neither worn out by this usage; nor induced by it to renounce their offensive profession, and take refuge in the mass of people, among whom they live; that neither time, nor custom, nor suffering, should get the better of their bigotry or patience; but that they should still subsist a numerous, a distinct, a wretched people, as they do, to this day-all this hath something pro

digious in it, which the common principles of human nature will not easily explain.*

We, who admit the divine origin of their religion; and adore, with them, the extraordinary providence, by which their polity was so long administered and upheld; can better, than any others, explain this difficulty. For, what so likely to produce an invincible attachment to their law, as the abundant evidence, they had of its authority? But neither will this account of the matter be found satisfactory. For, as if on purpose to discredit this solution, their history informs us, That ten of the twelve tribes, which originally composed their nation, did, in fact, disappear under their last captivity, and were, in a good measure at least, absorbed in it. If such, then, was the fate of Israel in its dispersion, within the compass of not many generations, and yet the relics of Judah are still preserved in all countries to this day, what better or other reason can we assign for this difference of fortune in two branches of the same people, equally attached to the same divine law, than that the former were left to the natural consequences

Hear the profound and reflecting M. Paschal-L'etat ou l'on voit les Juifs est une grande preuve de la religion. Car c'est une chose etonnante de voir ce peuple subsister depuis tant d'annees, et de le voir toujours miserable-et, quoique il soit contraire, D'ETRE MISERABLE, et DE SUBSISTER, il subsiste neanmoins toujours malgre sa misere. PENSEES, p. 115.

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