fected by a secret influence, operating through a few words, on hundreds of thousands of illiterate men. And what is all this? It is that which has been foretold long before. I will pour out my Spirit upon· all flesh. All men were lying in wretchedness and unbelief. Now the whole earth kindles into love. Princes laid aside their splendor: the wealthy parted with their abundance: girls submitted to martyrdom: children forsook their homes to live in the deserts.Whence is this energy? It is that Messiah has come. This is the effect and the proof of his arrival. For 2000 years the God of the Jews was unknown to the countless multitudes of the heathen; but, at the time predicted,. the heathen rushed in crowds to worship this only God. The temples are thrown down; and kings themselves bend before the cross. Whence comes this? The Spirit of God has been poured out upon the earth. That It was foretold that Messiah should come to establish a new covenant, which should cause them to forget their departure from Egypt. Jer. xxiii. 7. he should write his law, not on an exterior tablet, but on their hearts, Isaiah li. 7.; and put his fear, which, till then, had been only superficial, in their hearts also. Jer, xxxi, 33. That the Jews should reject Christ, and that they should be rejected of God, because the chosen vine brought forth wild grapes only. Isaiah v. e That the chosen people should be faithless, ungrateful, and incredulous, an unbelieving and gainsaying people. Isaiah lxv. 2. That God should smite them with blindness, and that they should stumble like blind men at noon-day. Deut. xxviii. That the church should be small at its commencement, and increase gradually. Ezek. xlvii. It was foretold that then idolatry should be overthrown that Messiah should overturn all the idols, and bring men to the worship of the true God. Ezek. XXX. 13. : That the temple and the images should be caused to cease, and in every place a pure offering should be offered, and not the blood of beasts. Mal. i. 11 That he should teach men the perfect way. Isa. ii. 3. Micah iv. 2. That he should be the king, both of Jews and Gentiles. Psalm ii. 6-8. Psalm lxxi. And never has there come either before Jesus Christ, or since, any man who has taught any thing like this. And at length, after so many individuals have predicted this advent, Jesus Christ appeared and said, I am he, and the time is fulfilled. He came to teach men that they had no enemies but themselves; that their sinful inclinations separate them from God; that he came to deliver them, to give them grace, and to gather all men into one holy church; to unite in this church both Jews and Gentiles; and to` des troy the idols of the one, and the superstitions of the other. "What the prophets have foretold,” said he, “my apostles will shortly accomplish. The Jews shall be rejected; Jerusalem will soon be destroyed; the Gentiles shall come to the knowledge of God; and when you shall have slain the heir of the vineyard, my apostles shall turn from you to them." Afterwards we find the apostles saying to the Jews— a curse is coming upon you: and to the Gentiles, you shall know the Lord. To this dispensation all men were adverse, owing to the natural antipathy of their sinfulness. This king of both Jews and Gentiles, was oppressed by both, who conspired to kill him. All that was mighty in the world, the learned, the wise, the powerful, all confederated against this nascent religion. Some wrote, some censured, and others shed blood. But notwithstanding all opposition, in a short time, we Christ reigning over both,-destroying the Jewish worship in Jerusalem, which was its centre and erecting there his first church; and destroying the wor ship of idols at Rome, where idolatry centred, and establishing in it his principal church. see Jesus The apostles and the primitive Christians, a simple and powerless people, resisted all the powers of the earth; overcame monarchs, philosophers, and sages, and destroyed an established idolatry. And all this was wrought by the alone energy of that word which had foretold it. The Jews, by slaying Christ, that they might not acknowledge him as Messiah, have completed the proof of his Messiahship. Their perseverance in denying him, makes irrefragable witnesses in his behalf. And both by their killing him, and persisting to reject him, they have fulfilled the prophecy. Who does not recognize Jesus Christ in a great variety of particulars predicted of the Messiah? For it is said, That he That he That he should have a forerunner, Mal. iii. 1.. That he should be born as an infant, Isaiah ix. 6. should be born in Bethlehem, Micah v. 2. should spring from the family of Judah and of David: that he should appear chiefly in Jerusalem, Mal. iii. 1. Hag. ii. 10. That he should hide these things from the wise and prudent, and reveal them to the poor and to babes That he should open the eyes of the blind, should heal the sick, Isaiah xxxv. and lead those who languished in darkness, into light, Isaiah xlii. 8, 9. That he should teach a perfect way, and be the instructor of the Gentiles, Isaiah lv. 4. That he should be the victim offered for the sins of the world, Isaiah liii. That he should be the precious foundation stone, Isaiah xxviii. 26. That he should be a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, Isaiah viii. 14. That the builders shall reject this stone, and that God shall make it the head stone of the corner, Psalm cxviii. 22. And that this stone shall become a great mountain, and fill the earth, Dan. ii. 35. That he should be rejected, Psalm cxviii. 22.; disowned, Isaiah liii. 2.; betrayed, Psalm xl. 9.; sold, Zach. xi. 12.; stricken, Isaiah L 6.; mocked and afflicted in many different ways, Psalm lxix. That they should give him gall to drink, Psalm Ixix. 21.; that they should pierce his hands and his feet, Psalm xxii. 16.; that they should spit upon him, Isaiah l. 6.; and kill him, Dan. ix.; and cast lots for his vesture, Psalm xxii. 18. That he should rise again the third day, Psalm xvi. Hosea vi. 2, That he should ascend to to heaven, Psalm xlvii. 5.-lxviii. 18.; and sit down at the right hand of God, Psalm cx. 1. That the kings of the earth should take counsel against him. Psalm ii. That sitting at the right hand of God, he should make his foes his footstool, Psalm cx. 1. That all kings shall fall down before him-all nations shall worship him. Psalms lxxii. That the Jews should subsist perpetually as a people, Jer xxxi. 36. That they should wander about, Amos ix. 9.; without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an altar, Hosea iii. 4.; and without prophets, Psalm lxxiv. 9.; looking for redemption, but looking in vain, Isaiah lix. 9. Jer. viii. 15. 3. The Messiah was to form to himself a numerous people, elect and holy; to lead them, to nourish them, to bring them into a place of rest and holiness; to make them holy to the Lord, to make them the temple of God; to reconcile them to God; to save them from the wrath of God; to rescue them from the slavery of sin, which evidently reigns over men; to give a law to them, and to write it in their hearts; to offer himself to God for them; to sacrifice him for them; to be both the spotless victim, and the offering priest; he was to offer himself, both his body and his blood to God.Jesus Christ has done all this. It was foretold that a deliverer should come, who should bruise the serpent's head, who should deliver his people from all their iniquities, Psalm cxxx. 8.; that he should establish a new covenant, which should be everlasting; and a new priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, to abide for ever; that the Messiah should be glorious, powerful, and mighty, and yet so abject, as to be disowned; that he should not be esteemed for what he really was; that he should be rejected, that he should be slain; that his people who denied him, should be his people no longer; that the idola trous Gentiles should believe, and fly to him for ref uge; that he should abandon Zion, to reign in the centre of idolatry; that the Jewish nation, notwithstanding, should still subsist; and that this person so predicted, should spring out of Judah, at the time when the kingdom ceased. 4. Now consider, that from the beginning of the world, the expectation, or the actual worship, of Messiah, has continued without interval; that he was promised to the first man, immediately after his fall; that other men appeared subsequently, who declared that God had revealed to them also, that a Redeemer should be born, who would save his people; that Abraham then came, who affirmed the fact of a revelation made to him, that the Redeemer should descend from him, by a son of his, who was yet unborn; that Jacob said, that out of his twelve sons, Judah should be the direct ancestor of the Messiah; that Moses and the prophets, at length pointed out the time and manner of his coming; that they declared the then present law, to be only a provincial appointment till the coming of Messiah; that, till then only it should endure, but that the other should last for ever; but so that either the old law, or that of Messiah, of which the first was a typical pledge, should be ever on the earth; that such has been the fact; and that at length Jesus Christ did come, in circumstances entirely conformed to all these minute predictions. Surely this is wonderful! But it will be said, If all this was so clearly foretold to the Jews, why did they not believe, or why are they not utterly destroyed for having resisted so clear a testimony? I answer, that both these facts are in the prediction; both, that they would not believe this ample testimony, and that they should not be exterminated. And nothing could more effectually subserve the glory of Messiah; for it was not sufficient to have the testimony of prophecy on his behalf; but those prophecies must be preserved in circumstances actually free from the slightest taint of suspicion. 5. The prophetic writings have, blended with the |