before his eyes of such fate, in the case of any people?

These things, then, deserve to be well and seriously considered.

Lastly, We believe, on the faith of the sacred oracles, that the Jews shall never be destroyed utterly, but shall exist a distinct people, as they have hitherto done, till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. But here, you will say, the prophets indulged a natural prejudice in favour of their own nation; it being the way of all people to delight in such dreams of existence and perpetuity. It may be so: But see, whether this dream hath ever yet been so far realized, in the case of other people. The Romans, for instance, were as partial to them. selves, and doted as much on the idea of their perpetuity, as the Jews. But what now is become of their eternal empire? Consider, therefore, the singular fate of the Jews through so many ages, and see whether it be not credible from what is past, that the prophet was moved by something more than a spirit of national vanity, when he said, Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, BUT I WILL NOT MAKE A FULL END OF THEE.*

* Jer. xlvi. 28..

To these prophecies concerning Jerusalem, and the Jews, I add

III. A third, concerning THE CALL AND CONVERSION OF THE GENTILES TO CHRISTIANITY.

This prophecy is very remarkable, whether we consider the matter of it-the persons, by whom it was delivered—or, the manner, in which it hath been fulfilled.

1. As it had been declared from the beginning, that in the promised seed, all the nations of the earth should be blessed, so the gospel, or, the good tidings of that blessing, was, in due time, to be communicated to all nations. Further still, this gospel was not only to be published to all nations, but to be acknowledged and received by them. There are numberless prophecies to this purpose in the books of the Old Testament: prophecies, which say expressly that God would give unto the Messiah the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession*—that from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, his name should be great among the Gentiles -It is a light thing, says the prophet Isaiah, addressing himself, in the person of the Almighty,

to the Messiah, that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth.* And Jesus

himself, when he commissioned his apostles to publish his doctrine, did it in these words-Go YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE.†

It is unquestionable, therefore, from these and other passages, that not the Jews only, but all nations were to be instructed in the Christian faith; that the gospel was to be an universal religion; and that, thus, the Messiah was to be, in every sense, the Saviour of mankind. There is no doubt, I say, but that such is the language of the prophets; and that they clearly suppose the dispensation of the gospel to have these views, and to terminate in this event.

But now, let any man consider with himself, what it is to proselyte the whole race of mankind to one faith, and to one religion. Let him revolve in his mind this great, this magnificent idea.. Let

* Is. xlix. 6.

† Mark xvi. 15.

The reader may see many of them collected, and the general argument from them well enforced, by Mr. Bullock, in his Vindication, Part ii.

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him, next, turn his thoughts on what history and experience may suggest to him on the subject. And let him tell us, whether there be not something extraordinary in this project: whether, indeed, there be any other example of this sort in the annals of mankind.

In the old world the institutors of Pagan religion looked no further, than to single communities: each destined his ceremonies for his own people only; and never presumed so far on the truth or importance of his religious scheme, as to set it up for a standard of belief or worship to the other nations of the earth. Even the Jewish ritual was so constituted as to respect the Jews only, and was even practicable no where but in the land of Judea.

But this idea of universality was equally strange to the Doctors, as to the Legislators, of the ancient world. Sects of philosophy, there were many; espoused with zeal, and propagated with industry; and some of them, of no small extent. Yet the most sanguine, or the most successful of these speculatists never conceived so much as the idea of bringing all nations into their system. They presumed, indeed, that truth, or probability at least, was on the side of their favourite opinions; but they beheld a neglect of them in others, with a sort of indifference; and, contenting themselves

with their own superior skill or felicity, left it to the rest of the world to philosophize in their own way, and on their own principles. They seem not to have thought it either necessary or possible, that their own sentiments should become the standing, universal persuasion of mankind.

Ambition, I know, hath been sometimes enterprizing enough to think of subduing the whole world. But this was the ambition of power, not of religion, or philosophy: it was an ambition to subdue the bodies, not the minds of men. This last was a project, too big for a Cesar or an Alexander, much more, for a Numa or an Aristotle, to entertain. And I think it certain, that, except in the scheme of christianity, or such other schemes of revelation, as have been copied from it,* we shall no where find the idea of universality to have taken place in any religious or philosophical sect whatsoever.†

* As in the case of Mahometanism, for instance.

What the philosopher Celsus thought of such a project, we learn from a curious passage in Origen. It being usual with the Christians of that time, as of every other, to pray for the conversion of the whole world to the Christian faith, the philosopher laughs at the extravagance of this petition. He observes upon it, ŐT Ó T8TO

οἰόμενος οἶδεν εδέν. The words are not easily translated. But

the meaning of them is, That he regarded an universal agreement in one mode of religious belief, as a perfect chimera : and the turn of the words is so contrived, as to express the utmost contempt of those, who, in their supreme ignorance of mankind, could entertain so senseless an idea. Contr. Celsum, l. viii. sub. fin.