/to, A FAN, SUM. &hc Dut|> of grhrtsttaus to the JJetos. DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING PALESTINE MISSIONARY SOCIETY, HALIFAX, Ms. JUNE 18, 1825 BY DANIEL HUNTINGTON, A. M. Of Sorth-Bridqewater. Published by order of the Society, boston: rHINTED BT CROCKER & BREWSTER. 1823. m c But!) of (Ehriflttaus to the Jetos. DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PALESTINE MISSIONARY SOCIETY, IS HALIFAX, Ms. JUNE 18, 1823. BY DANIEL HUNTINGTON, A. M. Of North-Bridgeviater. Published by order of the Society. \ boston: PRINTED BT CROCKER &C BREWSTER 1823. ' SERMON Romans xi, 30, 31. For as ye in times past have not believed God , yet have now ob- tained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed , that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy . — The Jews, in the time of our Savior, evidently con- sidered themselves the exclusive favorites of heaven; sole heirs to all the promises of God’s gracious and everlasting covenant. The dispensation of the Gos- pel, however, soon exposed the arrogance of their claim; for when, in the obduracy of their unbelieving hearts, they put from them the authority and favor of their Messiah, and judged themselves unworthy of eternal life; the inspired messengers of Christ, agree- ably to the intimation of his Holy Spirit, turned to the Gentiles, and presented the offers of salvation to them with abundant success. And now the Gentile con- verts, forgetting that impartial principle of divine government, which had been so admirably illustrated in their own experience, seem to have indulged the same self-flattering delusion which had proved so dis- graceful and ruinous to the children of Abraham; and to have regarded themselves as succeeding to all the 4 exclusive privileges of God’s peculiar people. Indeed such an idea appears to have been too prevalent among professing Christians, from that day to the present. The Gentile church at large, seem to have regarded the Jewish nation as entirely reprobate, and auy plans for their conversion and recovery, as un- scriptural and delusive. Such an impression the apostle of the Gentiles found occasion • to correct, among the Roman Christians; and the words of our text form a part of the argument which he employed for the purpose. He solemnly deprecates the thought that God should cast away his chosen people, and assures his brethren that the unbelief of the Jews was not universal, as they were ready to suppose; for that even in seasons of the greatest darkness and degeneracy, such as that in which the prophet Elijah lived, there is still a remnant among them, according to the election of grace, who form a happy exception to the general character of their nation, and share the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant. He assures them also that the obduracy of the nation at large shall not be perpetual; that their blindness was suffered but for a season, in order to make way for the calling and conversion of the Gentiles; and that when this design shall have been accomplished to a sufficient extent, the veil of wilful ignorance shall be taken from their heart; the prosperity of the Gentile church shall excite them to humble and holy emula- tion; they shall discern the character, and acknowl- edge the claim of that Savior, whom they have hitherto both expected and despised; and, by the influence of a living faith in Him, shall be reingrafted upon that stock — reunited to that church — from which they have been so long separated by their un- belief. He further intimates that the Gentile be- lievers shall themselves be the happy instruments of effecting this desirable consummation, and imparting to their Jewish brethren those rich blessings, in the enjoyment of which they, at first, seem to have entirely supplanted them. This intimation, ray brethren, is appropriate to the object of our present assemblage; and sheds the light of hope, in “bright and balmy effulgence,” upon hearts united in the high and holy purpose of “raising up the tribes of Jacob, and restoring the preserved of Israel.” Such is, in part at least, our object. We are associated to send back that Gospel on which our own hope for eternity is founded, to that most interesting and hallowed spot, where its exceeding great and precious promises were sealed with the blood of the Lamb, and where its truth was first attested by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. There, while the nation at large are “scattered and peeled” — dispersed through the earth, “a proverb and a by-word,” a monument of human obduracy and of divine truth and justice — a remnant still linger, amid ruin and desolation, with the perti- nacity of a most unbelieving faith, expecting a Messiah yet to come. Though their holy and beautiful house where their fathers worshipped is burned with fire, and all their pleasant things are laid waste — and though Mohammedism on the one hand, and a spuri- ous Christianity on the other, crush them to the very dust, under a load of obloquy and oppression, which human fortitude is but just sufficient to bear — they still wait, in uncomplaining patience, for the advent of their almighty Deliverer and King. When we think t> of the degraded character and miserable state of the Jews in almost every quarter of the globe, and espe- cially when we view the melancholy remnant who linger in the land of their fathers’ sepulchres, what benevolent heart does not long to convey to them those glad tidings of good things, for which they are so inconsistently waiting, and to impart to them a correct knowledge of those promises which are given, and of that rest which remaineth, to the people of God? It is no part of my design to disparage missions to the heathen. To them also the nations of Chris- tendom owe a mighty debt — a debt whose immense magnitude and pressing claim would justify an increase of our labors and sacrifices an hundred fold. But is it not surprising, that when so much of a missionary spirit is manifest through all Christian countries, and while the Gospel has been conveyed to the heathen of both hemispheres almost from pole to pole, so little comparatively has been done, or systematically at- tempted, for the spiritual benefit of that people, to whom Christians are under the greatest obligations, and whose history, character and circumstances are most eminently calculated to awaken the tenderest sympathies of a pious heart! Blessed be the God of Israel, there is reason to hope this lamentable dispro- portion in our Christian charities will not long be vis- ible. The followers of Jesus, both in Europe and America, begin to feel the wrongs and miseries of those, to whose inestimable privileges they have suc- ceeded; and are uniting their efforts to convince the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that, for botli Jews and Gentiles, there is now but one fold and one shep- herd. Among the measures which are adopted for 7 the promotion of this most desirable object, there are few, if any, of a more interesting or more promising character than that, in the prosecution of which the society, whose anniversary we now celebrate, is engag- ed. While Jerusalem is a principal medium of commu- nication with all the people of Western Asia, it is and will continue to be, the centre of attraction, and source of religious influence, to the descendants of Abraham in every part of the world. Should the Gospel in its purity be again published and received there, the holy city would become a radiating point, from which the light of divine truth would probably soon reach the remotest of the scattered tribes; “for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The remnants of God’s ancient people in all parts of the earth, whose collec- tive number has been estimated about five millions, have set their faces stedfastly toward the holy city; and there is a strong impression on their minds, that the time is at hand, when their long expected Mes- siah shall appear, to deliver them from their oppres- sors, to gather them from their dispersions, and re- store them to the honors and privileges of which they have been for almost eighteen centuries deprived. Though their views of the divine promises on this interesting subject are exceedingly obscure and defec- tive, yet the general prevalence of so earnest an ex- pectation, and the eagerness with which great multi- tudes of them receive, and apply for, religious instruc- tion, even from the ministers of Jesus, augur most favorably for those who are engaged to promote their spiritual and everlasting welfare. I cannot but con- gratulate you, brethren and sisters of the Palestine 8 Missionary Society, that our operations have been commenced at a period so auspicious; and that while our beloved Missionary and his associates are pursuing their preparatory studies, and performing introduc- tory and not unimportant services, in that island “where Paul shook the viper from his hand and felt no harm,”* others of their brethren have already been permitted to enter the land, which is now in a new and most interesting sense the land of promise, and “say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God.” It is no longer true that “no sweet song of Zion sanctifies the breeze,” which sweeps as a sigh of hea- ven over her long deserted ways — for four of her spiritual watchmen at least, have, we trust, assembled there, to keep the Christian passover near that sacred spot, where Jesus sealed the New Testament with his own blood, as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. — Yes, Fisk, and Wolff, and King, and Way, “lift up the voice, with the voice to- gether do they sing;” for, though commissioned in different and distant lands, they are sent forth on one errand of love — “they see eye to eye” — they “have been made to drink into one Spirit” — and Jew and Gentile tongues unite to celebrate the high praises of Him, who is a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God’s people Israel. O that while they stand together on the hallowed mount, where the command was first given, “Go preach the Gospel to every creature,” they could make their voice of affec- tionate entreaty, and solemn remonstrance, heard by every minister and by every Christian, who has not yet * J.»eUer from Mr. Temple— Missionary Herald, June, 1822. 9 come up to the help of the Lord, in this benevolent and glorious work! Theirs is a crusade in which all hands and hearts should be engaged — for which every soldier of the cross should put on the armor of light — to which the great Captain of salvation calls us forth — and which, whatever conflicts, delays, or losses may intervene, is sure to terminate in a victory that no expense of treasure or of blood could too dearly purchase. When shall all Christian nations imitate the zeal of Godfrey and his six hundred thousand followers, in a nobler cause? Ours, my brethren, is indeed a holy tear. We send forth, not a host of knights and soldiers, clad in steel, and burning with the thirst of fame and vengeance, to destroy men’s lives, and to rear the standard of the cross amid scenes of carnage and desolation, which proclaim the very spirit of the gospel fled — but a band of harmless heralds, ambassadors of peace — bearing glad tidings of good things — publishing salvation — reconciling their fellow sinners to each other, and to their offend- ed God — and ambitious only to build the waste ^ places — to raise up the foundations of many genera- tions, and to be called repairers of the breach, and restorers of paths to dwell in. I have not attempted any formal argument in de- fence of the mission, which we my brethren are asso- ciated to aid. Such an attempt must be deemed superfluous. Yet I may be allowed very briefly to suggest some considerations, which may serve to con- firm us in our good purpose, and animate us to those increasing and persevering exertions , which are neces- sary to its accomplishment. 2 I 10 First, then, we should feel a deep and peculiar interest in the conversion and restoration of the Jews, on account of their relation to those personages, for whom our religion teaches us to cherish the highest veneration; and on account of the agency which, as a nation, they have had, in preserving for us, and trans- mitting to us, the holy Scriptures of the Old Testa- ment, and thus preparing us to receive the invitations and promises of the New. They “are Israelites — to whom pertain the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises — whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Who can think on these things, and not feel some measure of Paul’s heaviness and sorrow of heart, to see these descend- ants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob these sons of the patriarchs and prophets — these kindred of our adorable Immanuel — excluded from the household of faith, and cut off from all the blessings of that reli- gion, which their ancestors maintained with incalcula- ble expense and labor, through a period of near two thousand years! True, they have richly deserved the divine vengeance which they feel. Their fathers in the most daring manner invoked the curse of hea- ven upon them; and they, through successive genera- tions, in the same spirit of hostility to the Lord and his Anointed, have echoed the tremendous impreca- tion “his blood be on us and on our children!” Yet who and what are ice, that we should succeed to their forfeited privileges? Who are we, that we should cast a glance of contemptuous neglect, or of cold in- difference, upon those from whom sovereign and 11 infinite grace alone lias made us to differ? “W ho hath first given to the Lord? and it shall be recom- pensed unto him again.” Let us not be high minded, but fear; lest be who spared not the natural branches of his olive, spare not us. Because of unbelief they were broken off; and it is by faith alone that we can stand: and faith, we must remember, worketh by love. Except we have the spirit of Christ — the spirit of Him who wept over Jerusalem, and who would have gathered her children together, even as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings — we are none of His. And how is this spirit to be manifested? Bv a few inoperative wishes, or faint exertions, or cheap measures, for their relief and restoration? No, my brethren; upon no principle, either of justice or humanity, will these suffice. The Jewish nation, for near twenty centuries, spent half their time and sub- stance to maintain that religion, which, in its new and improved dispensation, we now enjoy; and shall we grudge any labors or sacrifices which may be neces- sary to convey back to them the inestimable treasure, which they have lost, and we have found? And how can we more acceptably acknowledge our obligations to Him who has bought us with a price, than by man- ifesting a warm and efficient charity to those who, “as concerning the Gospel, are enemies to him for our sake; but, as touching the election, are still beloved by Him for the fathers’ sake?” But, Secondly, Had not the Jewish nation any claim on our veneration and gratitude, yet their unparalleled sufferings should excite our tenderest compassion, and prompt us to every hopeful effort for their relief and benefit. No people on earth have endured, or now 12 endure, such a variety or such an amount of insult and injury as they. Men of all other religions, amidst all their mutual oppositions and contentions on other sub- jects, have in this one thing agreed — to hate and oppress and persecute the descendants of Abraham. In scarce any country have they, since the destruction of Jerusalem, enjoyed the common privileges of citi- zenship. • In many they still are subjected to the most iniquitous and cruel impositions. They, as well as their devoted city, are literally “trodden down of the Gentiles.” The description given of those resid- ing at Jerusalem, by a celebrated French traveller who visited them in the year 1807, is affecting in the extreme. “While the new Jerusalem is seen shining in the midst of the desert, you may observe between mount Zion and the temple, another spectacle of almost equal interest: it is that of the remnants of an- other people, distinct from the rest of the inhabitants,- a people individually the objects of universal con- tempt; who suffer the most wanton outrages without a murmur; who endure wounds and blows without a sigh; who, when the sacrifice of their life is demand- ed, unhesitatingly stretch forth their necks to the sabre. If a member of the community thus cruelly proscribed and abused, happens to die, his companion buries him clandestinely during the night in the valley of Jehoshaphat, within the purlieus of the temple of Solomon. Enter their habitations, and you find them in the most abject squalid misery. What these wretched outlaws from the justice and compassion of the rest of mankind did in past ages, they do still. Six times have they witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem, and arc not yet discouraged; nothing can 13 operate to divert their looks from Zion. We are surprised no doubt when we observe the Jews scat- tered over the face of the earth; but to experience an astonishment more lively, we have but to seek them in Jerusalem. The legitimate masters of Judea should be seen as they are in their own land, slaves and strangers; they should be seen awaiting, under the most cruel and oppressive of all despotisms, a king who is to work their deliverance. Near the temple, of which there does not remain “o/ic stone upon another they still continue to dwell; and with the cross as it were planted upon their heads, and bending them to the earth, still cling to their errors, and labor under the same deplorable infatuation.”* And are these the children of him who was called “the friend of God?” And is it their unbelief — their rejection of Christ and his Gospel, which has brought upon them such heavy, such complicated, such dura- ble calamities? O then how earnestly and affection- ately should christians labor and pray for the removal of the veil from their heart — that we may be the happy instruments of dispelling that dark and tem- pestuous cloud, with which the Lord hath covered * them in the day of his anger! Their temporal suffer- ings are sufficient to draw tears of compassion from every eye; and their prospects in eternity are enough to wring every believing heart with deepest anguish. The apostolic anathema upon every man that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, was dictated by the spirit of truth. It remains, and will forever remain, in full force. No man cometh unto the Father but by Him; *Miss Adaius’ History of the Jews, Vol. 2, page 189. 14 neither is there salvation in any other. Who that believes these inspired declarations, and that views the thorny path through which the poor outcasts of Israel are toiling on toward the realms of everlasting woe, will not long and labor to turn their erring feet into the way of peace! Thirdly. This duty is enforced by the express command of God. Did not our ascending Savior give to his primitive disciples the explicit direction “Go preach the Gospel to every creature?” And is not that Gospel manifestly “the power of God unto sal- vation, to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek?” How comes it then, that for so many ages the Jews have been made an exception to this genera! and positive command? Is it written “do good as ye have opportunity unto all men except the Jews?' 1 ' 1 or that God “will have all men but the Jews to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth?” No, my brethren, God hath not thus cast away his people. He has taught us, by apostolic precept and example, that our heart’s desire and prayer for Israel must be that they may be saved — “for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” — “And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. As concern- ing the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election they are beloved for the father’s sake. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, vet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not be- lieved, that through your tnerev they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” Thus, in our text and the context, the path of evangelical duty in this respect is made plain. God does intend to bring his ancient people again into the church, and this through the instrumentality of those Gentile be- lievers who have succeeded them in the enjoyment of their precious privileges. The Christian world ap- pear to have indulged some very unscriptural and ex- travagant ideas on this subject. It seems to have been a prevailing opinion that the Jews are not to be converted by those means which God blesses among other nations; that the foolishness of preaching is not the appointed instrument of their salvation; but that some more immediate and more miraculous interposi- tion of divine power on their behalf is to be expect- ed. But on what authority such an opinion has been founded, it is difficult to conceive. The word of God surely gives no countenance to it, but plainly contra- dicts it. To this effect the apostle argues in the tenth chapter of this epistle. Speaking of the desire which he felt, and the efforts which he made, for the conversion of his brethren according to the flesh, he says, “there is no diffei’ence between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believ- ed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they 16 have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Since then the terms and the means of salvation are the same for Jews and Gentiles, we are debtors to both alike, and for the benefit of both the same measures must be adopted, the same exertions and sacrifices must be made. But it may be said the ignorance of the Jews is not so great as that of other nations, and therefore their claim on us is not so strong: — “they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” — This, as it respects the nation at large, is a mistake. They have not generally Moses and the prophets. Their religion is not the religion of the Bible, but of the Talmud. Very few of them possess the Old Testament, and those who do, are systematically taught from their childhood to misin- terpret both its precepts and its promises; and thus to prevent it from performing its office, as a “schoolmas- ter, to bring them to Christ.” Their religion is little if any better than downright Deism. They are taught for doctrine the commandments of men. Their wor- ship is an empty form, for the most part unintelligible to themselves; and their whole system of morality as far removed from that of the divine code, as are those of the Koran, the Vedas, or the Shaster. How then shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, or of whom they have heard only in terms of contempt and execration? Surely if any people on earth have a claim on us for religious instruction, it is the Jews. Give them the Old and New Testa- ments in one language, and let them have, like the Ethiopian proselyte, “some one to guide them,” while they compare spiritual things with spiritual, and see if many do not soon go forth among their brethren. 17 like Philip of Bethsaida, saying, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.” But some, who acknowledge that the Jews are to be converted by the instrumentality of Gentile believ- ers, think the time has not come , because the heathen are not yet all evangelized, and it is supposed that, ac- cording to the testimony of scripture, this must first be done. The principal foundation of this opinion is the 25th verse of the chapter from which our text is taken. “1 would not brethren that ye should be ig- norant of this mystery — that blindness in part is hap- pened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” This passage has been thought to prove that no mission to the Jews can be successful until the Gentile nations have all received the Gospel, and are included in the church of Christ. But Mr. Faber, whose opinion on prophetical passages is worthy of very respectful attention, says this verse might and probably should be rendered “blindness in part is hap- pened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles shall be about to enter in.” Whether this rendering can be defended on the score of critical accuracy or not, it is now generally acknowledged by the most able expos- itors that the common interpretation of the passage does not comport either with the train of the apostle’s reasoning in the preceding part of this chapter, or with the general testimony of the ancient prophecies relative to the future restoration and glory of Israel. “Have they stumbled that they should fall?” says the apostle — “God forbid: but rather, through their fail, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the 3 18 riches oi the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? — For if the casting away of them he the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” If these interrogatories have any force, they must imply that vastly greater benefits are to accrue to the Gentiles from the general restor- ation of the Jews, than have resulted from their re- jection and degradation — and, to afford ground of com- parison, those benefits, though much increased in measure, must be the same in kind: that is, Christian- ity will prevail among the Gentiles more rapidly and extensively, in consequence of the final restoration of God’s ancient people, than it has in consequence of their excision from the church. Such is the comment of Dr. Whitby on this passage, quoted by Mr. Faber — “The apostle declares that there shall be a greater and more glorious conversion of the Gentiles, than that which happened by occasion of the fall of the Jew-s; that the fulness of the Jews should be much more the riches of the Gentiles than their fall was: and that the coming in of the Jew’s should be unto the Gentiles a9 life from the dead, and should much more enrich them than their casting off.” “I have already shew r - ed (adds that learned commentator) from scripture prophecies, that, after this conversion of the Jews, the nations generally shall flow in to them, and walk in their light; and so their fulness shall be the riches of the Gentiles, and as life from the dead to them. Then the Gentiles shall come to their light, — and kings to the brightness of their rising: and nations that have not known them shall run in unto them: because God hath 19 glorified them.”* The same idea is conveyed in the ' commentary of the judicious Dr. Scott. And with this the language of the ancient prophets well agrees. “In the last days it shall come to pass, that the moun- tain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” •‘And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waifeth for the sons of men.”t “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peo- ple, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the in- habitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.”;}; Here then we find a fourth, and most cogent reason for evangelical exertion on behalf of God’s ancient ’Jewish Expositor for December, 1822. tZech. viii, 20 — 23. •j-Micah iv, 1, 2, and 5, 7. 20 people. We should labor to convert them, not only for their own sake , but for the sake of our Gentile brethren , whose general conversion, as life from the dead, is in a manner suspended upon the faithfulness and success of our efforts for the restoration of Israel. Away then with the slothful and unbelieving plea, “the time is not come that the Lord’s house should be built” — Let no missionary enterprise be abandon- ed or disparaged. Let us do all we can to spread the Gospel through the world; and let us remember that no souls are more precious than those of Jews, and no conversions so ominous of good to the millions of perishing heathen as tiicirs. Our missionary, my brethren, with his associates, will have peculiar facilities for promoting the spiritual welfare both of Jews and Gentiles. Though standing upon ground consecrated by the tears and the ashes of patriarchs and prophets, and surrounded by objects which must move them to weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of God’s people; they will not be tempted to forget that they are “debtors both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise.” They will have occasional inter- course with men of almost all the eastern nations; and without the gift of tongues, may in time nearly repeat the miracle of the day of pentecost; and publish the wonderful works of God to “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and in Capadocia, in Ponlus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Lybia about Cyrenc, and strangers of Rome, Jews and Pros- elytes, Cretes and Arabians.” Whatever, then, may be our private views of the comparative importance of Jewish or Gentile missions, this mission to Pales- tine clainjs our united and vigorous support. No held more urgently invites the spiritual reaper’s sickle, than that which now whitens to the harvest upon the mountains of Judea: — ajid I may add that no laborer has gone forth to the arduous and important work, with a larger share of the affection and confidence of his earthly employers, than he whose temporal suste- nance we have the honor and happiness to provide. And now shall we, my brethren, relax our exertions, or diminish our contributions, for this good cause? — Shall we relinquish, or sluggishly pursue, an enterprise so full of bright and glorious promise to Zion and the world? No. Christian philanthropy forbids it — The word of God forbids it — “The signs of the time” for- bid it. We have every thing to encourage — nothing to dishearten us. The smiles of Heaven have thus far remarkably attended us; and, let me add, they have attended every elfort which has of late been made, whether in Europe or Asia, to disseminate the truths of the Gospel among the descendants of Abra- ham. The time in which Jerusalem was to be trod- des down of Gentiles, is, according to the most authen- tic calculations, drawing to its close. The children of Israel manifest a rapidly increasing desire for reli- gious truth. Many thousands of Jewish hands are eagerly stretched forth to receive the New Testa- ment, and other books of Christian instruction. Num- bers are already convinced that Messiah has come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is he. Some are even now engaged, like Saul of Tarsus, in preaching the faith which once they destroyed: and the zeal and success of those Jewish missionaries who have already 22 gone forth in the name of Christ, may be regarded as a most animating earnest of what the apostle meant, when he said that their national conversion will be life from the dead to the Gentile world. Let us then thank God, and take courage. Let us spare no indi- vidual exertions which may be necessary to preserve and augment our numbers and our resources. Let every breach which is made upon us by the hand of death, or by any other means, be promptly filled; and let every member, and especially every officer, of the society adopt, in God’s strength, the holy resolution — “For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace; and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.” “Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence, and give him no rest, ’till he establish, and ’till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Comfort ye, Com- fort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comforta- bly to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up in the high mountain: O thou that bearest good tid- ings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength: lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Be- hold your God!” \ THE Palestine Missionary Society was organized at Wey- mouth, South Parish, June 20th, 1821. Mr. Daniel Temple, who had been accepted by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, as a Missionary to “Asia Minor, Palestine, and the neighboring regions,” had passed the preceding winter in the eastern part of the County of Nor- folk, and the adjacent towns in the County of Plymouth, as their agent in collecting funds. Thus his object and destination be- came known. In the spring ensuing, it was understood that the state of the Treasury was such as to preclude the prospect of his