TITK ANNUAL SEEMON, rRi:ACDSD BcrcmB (ZM) c American 0 o c i c t n FOB MELIOBATING THE CONDITION OP THE JEWS, ON -MAY 9, 1847, IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MERCER ST., NEW YORK. BT THE REV. WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D-, 01 ALBXinr, K. T. \ MIDDLEBURT ; jrsrca cobb, fejkxbb, 184T. -i'j ::/v. ■ ■ ■ ■ - . : . ‘V-’ . '.^r !>rf aJv. «., *,W V - - 4 ---- . . ^ ?« 1 ^ 4 - 4 f,;;:j:., ' ^ 4i ;v S t a t«t ^ V 5 » • V '■> 4 '':? '■. -». .■■y-y *<■..'» «».>•• ■ .j^.'‘t' » » ', - ,.-■». >:': f.:- V . . ■. ^ -- r-j*' 7 * V - .r ■' *.i/|C' '" - y ’. 'I* v:^ • '^.' ■' • - » - ' • :' ; : i.r „ -.-V ‘ •' / ‘$“4*. ■ « ’ ' a»y'rj|iL- >*- •■• -*>i 71 ■■• - J5 V' H’ • •* \ - t , , T' V •»(»* , «i^'.-^. t'-i ^ . Tw . '2- - ’ ‘ *5 i. - !•';• , ■'-• ••«'> ,>,|*!. .ai ¥* *^4*t^§tf;v45y*JAjii j ■ ,4 fcu\iXaUF ■;' • •* i'. , - . V' ^ 'i “ ■ ' _i. 4 *.rv ‘ ■ . •• , ;.? >»l^ ii««i;.i , ‘ • .-^-a_'( S E B M 0 1^. NUMBERS XXIII. 23: ‘•1.CCOKDING TO THIS TIME IT SUA.LL BE SAID OF JACOB AND OF ISBAEL, WHAT HATH GOD WBOCGHT ! ” The narrative, in which this passage occurs, exliibits two wicked men engaged in earnest cooperation, and yet in some re- spects, with very dififerent feclhigs, for the accomplishment of the same evil purpose. The people of Israel, on their march from E- gj'jB to Canaan, became, to some extent, the terror of the nations tlirough which they passed. While they were encamped in tlie plains of Moab, Balak, the kmg of that country, became alarmed for the safety of liis nation ; and forthwith despatched messengers to Balaam, a noted diviner, mth a request that he would come with- out delay, and curse the hostile people that were hovering upon his borders. The message was accompanied by valuable presents, and tliis, to a man whose ruling passion seems to have been the love of gain, was all that was necessary to secure to the request a prompt and earnest attention. But notwithstanding Balaam was well enough disposed to do all that the king of Moab desired, yet God miraculously interposed his prohibition ; and the prophet, cor- rupt as he was, had too much conscience to venture in the face of it : he therefore reluctantly sent word back to the king, that he could not obtain the divine permission to comply with his request. WTien this message was communicated to Balsi, he instantly re- newed the application, accompanying it with a more tempting of- fer ; and though Balaam still resolutely declined doing anything that should contravene the divine wUl, yet he showed himself more than willing to accede to Balak’s proposal, provided the divine pro- hibition might be withdrawn. In the course of the night, while the messengers were yet waiting for his answer, God came to him in some miraculous way, and gave him permission to accompany them on their homeward journey, but requiring, most explicitly, a strict obedience to whatever subsequent commands he might receive from Him. 4 At length Balaam, after a journey signalized by one of the most remarkable events on record, arrived mthin the territories of Mo- ab ; and Brlak, in token of the satisfaction which he felt on the prophet’s arrival, went out to meet him, and conducted him to his capital, that he might there make the necessary arrangements for the accomplishment of his object. The next day the king took Balaam up into the high places of Baal, that he might have a view of the people whom he had been sent for to curse, as they lay densely covering the plains below him. But behold, after they had built their altars and offered sacrifices, and the divine communica- tion actually came, instead of the expected curse, it was a glorious prophetical blessing upon the people of Israel ; and Balaam was constrained to utter it, notwithstanding tke disappointment and mortificatian to which it must have subjected him. JBalak, howev- er could not rest satisfied without another trial ; and he tharefore takes the prophet to the top of Pisgah ; and there the ceremony of offering sacrifices is repeated ; and another meeting takes place between God and the prophet, and the result is just as it was be- fore, except that the blessing pronounced upon Israel is still more extended and particular. The text is part of this second message to Balak, with wihich Balaam was charged ; and it expresses, in the strongest manner, God’s graeious interposition for the safety of Israel, amidst aU the perils to which they w’ere exposed. “ Ac- cording to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, "What hath God wrought !” Norivithstanding tins exclamation had particular reference to the condition of the people of Israel at the time when it was uttered, it may very properly be extended to the general course of God’s prov- idence towards them, as exhibited in them entire history. It will be no misapplication of the passage, to use it, as I design to do on the present occasion, in illustration of the importance of this WONDERFUL PEOPLE, as tjviiiccd by dealings of God towards tlicniy and the purposes which lie ctccorrplishes hy them. I. Let us contemplate the deedings of God towards the Jews. “ What hath God wrought” for them ! What is the character of the agency here referred to V First of all, I would say, it is a lenignant agency. Wlietlicr wo contemplate the past in the light of history, or the future in the light of prophecy, this rcmai’k will be found to have a manifold il- lustration. Look, then, at the origin of the Jewish fiation, in the call of Abraham. God, in llis unsearchable wisdom, singled out this ven- erable patriarch fi’om the j’cst of the world, to become the head of '5 a peculiar pcojilo,” tlic Jopository of influences to which no limit, either of time nr of space, couhl bo assigned, it were, indeed, a mark of sig!ial favor towards the patriarch himself, that ho should bo selected as th« subject for such honour ; but the blessing be- stowed upon Idm was a public blessing : it was a blessing upon tho nation that was to spring from him — a blessing that had in it the elements, not only of perj)etuity, but of inereasc to the end of time. All the manifestations of God’s goodness, not to the Jewish nation OTdy, but to tho Christian Church, through all generations, past, present and future, may be said, in some .sense, to have originated in tho coll of Abraliam, and tho gracious promises which attend- ed it. As the immediate design of God, in this primary dispensation towards the father of tho faithful, was to found a new and distinct nation, destined to occupy the most glorious place in tlie world’s history, so He has carried out his glorious design in always keep- ing up the barrier that was necessary to secure their continued identity, by preventing their commingling with other nations. There was that in the very nature both of their ciril and religious econo- my, that not only constituted a broad distinction between them and every other people, but that was eminently fitted to perpetuate it- self — to say nothing of the fact that the truth and the power of God were always pledged to the accompUshment of this end. Ac- cordingly, we find that through all the ricissitudes of their condi- tion, and amidst all the shocks wliich, at various periods, seemed to threaten their distinct existence, God graciously continued to them the substance botli of their civil and ecclesiastical economy, till the fulness of time for the introduction of a more perfect dis- pensation had come. And even since that period, they still remain one people : they cling to the usages of their fathers, so far as they can, with unyielding tenacity ; and though this may justly be con- sidered, in itself, not a blessing, but a curse, yet, when viewed in connection with the future, as preparatory to that glorious gather- ing and triumph which await them in the ages to come, we may re- cognize a beneficent agency in respect to thegi, even here. Yes, God has manifested his goodness towards the J’ews, in preserving them as a distinct people to this hour. But we shall not adequately appreciate his beneficent manifesta- tions in their preservation, uidess we consider also the circumstan- ces in which it has been efiected — the gracious interpositions and deliverances which it has iavolved. God saved them from the WTath of the Egyptian kmg. God preserved them amidst the ter- rors of the wilderness. God gave them possession of the promised land. God protected them, ago after age, against the power of 6 - their enemiea. God reinemhered them in the days of their exile, and in the house of their bondage, and set even the heart of a hear then prince to beating in kind emotions towards them, the conse- quence of which was, that they took do^vn their harps from the willows, because the period of their captivity was ended. And the day will come when it shall bo said that God has finally brought the wanderers home : that, under His gracious guidance, they have gone up to J erusalem with shouts of joy and thanksgivmg, to perform the last office allotted to them in the regeneration of the world. Let it be considered, moreover, that, while God bas presen’ed the J ews as a distinct nation^ and while their preservation has in- volved a long series of signal interpositions in their behalf, it re- sults from the very purpose for which they have been preserved, that they have enjoyed the highest religious pririleges. It was for a religious purpose that they were set apart ; and hence we find that all the religious light in the world shone immediately upon them : that all God’s cemmurrications were addr-cssed directly to them : that all the instituted meairs for securing God’s favor and finally obtaining heaven, were in their possession. While the sur- rounding nations Avere left to the mercy of a dreaming pliilosophy, or rather of the most profound ignorance, in respect to their highest concerns, the Jews Avere not only Avalking in the light of a written revelation, but they heard, or might have heard, the voice of the living and true God, speaking to them through the Avhole stracture of their economy. So long as the dispensation lasted, they were the sole possessor’s of the true rehgion ; and, when Christianity came in its place, her offers Avere made first to them ; and they Avere repeated, and repeated after they had been rejected ; and, blessed be God, noAV, after the lapse of centuries, Christianity is looking up these outcasts, Avith a vicAV to gather them into tlie fold ; and everything indicates that she avUI never intci’mit her labor’s till the Avork is done. Israel shall no longer be forgotten in the great effort to evangelize tire world. The gospel is already, to a gr’eat extent, Avithin their reach ; and, in the future progress of the mis- sionary cause, it will be brought hr contact Avith the eye and the mind of the nation at large. Am I not right, then, in saying that it is pre-eminently a benig- nant agency, in Avhich God has been, and is hereafter to be, passing before the Jcavs ? Whether Ave consider the fact of their being preserved as a distinet people, or the wondei’ful deliverance inci- dent to their preservation, or the peculiar religious privileges con- ferred upon them, are ayc not brought irresistibly to the conclusion that God hath not dealt so with any other nation ? But it is not more a benignant, than a oorrective agency. In- deed, the latter is only a mollification of the former ; for though correction involves the idea of suffering, yet it is suffering design- ed to accomplish a benevolent purpose. The parent corrects his child, not merely in obedience to the dictates of justice, but from the promptings of parental love. Our heavenly Father corrects his erring children as individuals, in testimony of their sustaining to Him the filial relation : “ Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” And in all His man- ilold Inflictions upon the Jews as a nation, how manifestly is the merciful mingled with tho retributive ; wliilc the evils which they suffer fall far short of their deserts. They are designed to work reformation, and thus ensui'C ])rosperity. In other words, they bear the character of merciful corrections. The conduct of the Jews throughout every period of their histo ry, has been such as eminently to require correction ; and hence we find that they have almost always been under the rod. They fell into tho most degraded idolatry, wliilc they were yet at the foot of the buniing mount ; and God caused that the sword should be unsheathed, for the destruction of three thousand of the principal ofienders. They became tired of theiv daily food, which was mi- raculously supplied to them ; and though God yielded to their im- patience by giving them flesh, he punished it by sending also the plague. They foolishly credited the evil report of the spies con- cerning the promised land — thus "virtually pouring contempt upon the divine testimony ; and for this God condemned them to wan- der in the wilderness forty years, till that whole generation, with only two exceptions, had passed away. They resisted the divine will in attempting prematurely to enter Canaan : the consequence of which was, that they experienced a terrible discomfiture at the hand of the neighboring nations. They rebelled, in the person of some of their great men, against the authority of Closes and Aaron, and the earth instantly cleaved asunder to make a grave for the rebels , and when the multitude complained of this as an unright- « eous infliction, the plague, another of God’s ministers, came, and numbered upwards of fourteen thousand "victims. They became discouraged in their journey, and murmured against God and against Moses, that they had not suffered them to remain in Egypt ; and for this God commissioned the fiery serpents to do among them a terrible work of death. After them settlement in Canaan, they still manifested a perpetual proneness to idolatry ; and hence God often suffered them to fall vmder the power of their enemies. At length, such was the enormity of their guilt, that they were given ' up well nigh to utter extinction : them cities were sacked — their temple razed to the ground — their whole country pervaded by a 8 ministration of tmTor and death ; and the small portion that esca- ped, were carried otf in ignoble captivity by a heathen prince.-—* And after their restoration to their own country, though they seem to have been »ured in a gi’cat measure of their idolatrous propen- sities, yet were they as much in league as ever with various other forms of evil ; and during the ages that intervened between that period and the period of their final dispersion, they were guilty of a succession of crimes wliich make the heart sick — the last and most terrible of which was the murder of their iMcssiah. But cc»i- sequent upon this were the scenes of their ruin — scenes of horror, that stand out with an affecting prominence upon the world’s lusto- tory, — the result of which is, that this singular- people have, to this day, no homo upon the earth, but arc scattered everywhere among the nations. But you will inquire, especially in respect to the later calamities of the Jews', whether they were not so entirely retributive in their character as to preclude the idea of merciful correction. I an- swer, it is not with nations as is-ith individuals ; and it is not with the Jews as with any other nation. When God cuts off an individ- ual sinner, or any number of siimcrs, in a career of transgression, it must be said that mercy has had its day in respect to them, and that justice has begun its work, inasmuch as death tennmates the period of ti'ial. But the pestilence, or the sword, or any other of God’s tciTible agents, may light upon a nation, and may perform a work that shall seem to change the world itself into a charnel-house, and yet the nation, as such, may still continue ; and this work of death may actually stand related to it as a ministration of mercy ; because it may be a channel through which God calls to repentance and reformation. But then how many nations have c.visted, which have sinc(^bccn blotted out, and their very memorial has perished ! So long as they had a being, they had national responsibilities ; — they were subject to a national discipline ; and that discipline, how- ever severe, was designed to bring them to national virtue, and se- cure to them national happiness. But when they lost their distinct existence, and became merged with other nations, God’s discipline ^ towards them in their collective capacity ceased, though as indi- viduals they still continued to bo the subjects of it. Not so, how- ever, with the Jews. Tliough they are scattered, it is with refer- ence to their being re-colloetcd. Though their national policy has ceased, yet their national character remains ; and it is as certain as the word of the Lord can make it, that they are yet to accom- plish a most glorious destiny, not only for themselves, but for the world. It is reasonable then to regard, not only their present dis- persion and degradation, but the appalling cakuuities that immedi- ately preceded, as belonging to a corrective agency ; and no doubt 9 the generatiou that shall return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, will feel that it is because they have been chastened, not only in their own person, but in the person of their ancestors, that they are pennitted, at last, to witness tho day of redemption. It is also a miraculous agency. It is wonderful to observe how different in this respect has been God’s treatment of the Jews from his treatment of any other nation. He has not indeed been indif- ferent to the character or the destiny of other nations. He has passed before them both in mercy and in judgment ; and in duo time He hath written concerning them, that their days arc number- ed and finished ; but then this is always brought about in the ordi- nary com-se of providence — always, I mean, except where they have been in some way connected with the Jews, and have thus indirect- ly felt the influence of a miraculous agency. But the history of liis dealings towards Israel is the history of an unbroken series of mir- acles. In instances scarcely to be numbered. He hath moved in an unaccustomed way, — has suspended the operation of his own laws, now actmg directly upon the elements, and now making an insect’s weakness the channel of almighty power. Open to whatever part of the inspired record you will, whether it be history or prophecy, and you will find this statement amply illustrated and confirmed. It was in a miraculous interview with Abraham, that God firet intimated to him what He would have him to do, and what He designed that he should be ; and it was by a succession of miraculous communications that Abraham, and the patriarchs who succeeded him, became more fully acquainted with the dinne will and the divine purposes, and were enabled to com- prehend, in no inconsiderable degree, the glory of the mediatorial dispensation. It was by a seines of miracles of the most appalling kind, that the Israelites were rescued from the tyranny of the Egyp- tian king, and were conducted through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. It was by miracle that the waters of the Red Sea parted to save the Israelites, and rolled back to destroy the Egyp- tians. In the scenes that occurred at Mount Sinai, there was a wonderful display of miraculous power. The manna from the clouds was miraculous. The pillar of cloud and of fire was miraculous. — The water gushing forth from the smitten rock was miraculous ; and so was the opening of the earth in judgment upon the guilty ; and so were the fiery serpents sent forth to kill, and the brazen ser- pent set up to cure ; and so was the passage over Jordan, and the fall of the walls of Jericho, and the manner of recovery from the Babylonish captivity, and indeed almost every great event by whioh 2 10 their history is marked, until the catastrophe which destroyed their zxational polity, and occasioned their final dispersion. Nor may we forget that the miracles of Christianity belong, in an important sense, to the Jewish nation. For Jesus himself, the great worker of miracles, the very source of miraculous power, was a Jew ; and his apostles, to whom the same power was committed, were also J ews ; and so were the seventy, to whom He gave a spe- cial commission ; and so indeed were all the early Christians, so far as we know, who were privileged to share in these supernatural en- dowments. The gift of inspiration in the Christian Church has been confined to the descendants of Abraham ; and with the sin- gle exception of the Book of Job, the origin of which is involved in much obscurity, there is no doubt that the whole Bible is the pro- duction of Jewish writers. Notwithstanding the Jews are now no longer the depositories of a miraculous agency, they are, nevertheless, by their preservation as a distinct people — a standing miracle before the world ; and hereafter, when they shall go back in joy and triumph, to their own land, and shall, as a nation, embrace that Messiah whom their fa- thers crucified, and finally shall stand forth in their collective ca- pacity, earnest, mighty in accomplishing the great purposes of the mediatorial reign, — then both heaven and earth will take knowledge of them that, from first to last, a miraculous agency has marked out their path, and directed their destiny. I only add that this is an uninterrupted agency. It is true, in- deed, that God acts by an unceasing influence in respect to every nation and every individual ; but it is true, also, that there is a speciality in His treatment of the Jews, which has never discover- ed itself towards any other people. He has always kept them pe- culiarly in his eye, — has borne them peculiarly upon his heart. — He has rendered other nations tributary to their authority, and sub- servient to their interests. It has seemed as if the mighty move- ments of his providence, through a long course of ages, were spe- cially with reference to them ; while the rest of the world was con- sidered important, chiefly from the relation which it bore to this wondcrftil people. Even now, wliile they are in the depths of their humiliation, despised and trodden under foot by the nations among whom they are scattered, — even now, God has not ceased to care for this outcast race, but is working in a thousand ways, some of which we can, and some of which we cannot understand, to bring about their ultimate restoration. And His agency will, no doubt, be more and more strongly marked, till tliis great event shall actu- tually become matter of history. Israel shall ore long know that 11 they ara the beloved of tho Lord for the fathers’ sake ; and that the Messiah whom they rejected has not forgotten them, even in their greatest extrenuty. Such are the leading characteristics of God’s dealings towards the Jews. Let us now, II. In the second place, contemplate the purposes which He ao- complishes through their instrumentality. “ \Miat hath God wrought” by them ? We shall, of course, still keep in view the fu- ture as well as the past. I say, then, God employs the Jews to illustrate the various fea- tures of His moral government — particularly its wisdom, its right- eousness, its stability. Is there anything more importaftt to man, than to understand his own character and the character of God ? Could infinite benevo- lence devise an end more worthy of itself than this ? Look then at the history of tho Jews, and see whether this end has not been most signally accomplished. If we would know what there is in the heart of man, we must see what comes out in the hfe. Nor is it safe to form our opinion from superficial or partial views — from having noticed the develop- ments consequent upon merely one set of circumstances ; for while circumstances, under the ordering of Providence, constitute our trial, they are so diversified as to appeal to all the various princi- ples of human action ; and hence we must see man in various con- ditions, and with a great variety of influences operating upon him, before we can be prepared to form an intelligent estimate of his character. But it is not easy to conceive of a condition by which the heart of man could be tried and proved, in which the Jews were not actually placed ; and hence the conduct which they ex- hibited, may be regarded as an unexceptionable testimony in re- spect to the moral state of human nature. Their course was an al- ternate scene of prospeiity and triumph — of depression and defeat, so that the goodness and severity of God, in regard even to their temporal condition, were both tried upon them. And then they were brought continually in contact Avith Deity, not merely through those miraculous interpositions and judgments, which constitute so large a part of their history, but by means of their Avhole religious economy ; so that they were incomparably the most pri\fileged peo- ple on the face of the earth. ^Miat then is the judgment which their history renders in respect to human nature ? Is it not that the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil ? Notwith- standing all that God did for them by his providence and his grace, they departed from Him by a perpetual backsliding. They have 13 been from the beginning stiffnecked and unclrcumclsed in heart, and have always resisted the Holy Ghost. Do they not then, in the general course of their conduct as a nation, constitute a moral mirror, from which is reflected an exact image of the human heart ? Such an exhibition of the depravity of man was a most fitting pre- paration for the advent of the Messiah ; for it was a demonstration that, without some special divine interposition, th(v world must per- ish under the weighl of its own wickedness. And it is of most im- portant use in every age, as a means of convincing the world of sin, in order to an acceptance of the proffered salvation ; for they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I say, then, it is a striking illustration of the wisdom of God’s government, that He should have suffered the Jews to become the involuntary exponents of the human heart, for the benefit of all coming gene- rations. Here also is a corresponding development of the divine charac- ter. Anything like an adequate illustration of this point would lead me into a wider range than the time allotted to this exercise would justify. Sufiice it to say, that every divine attribute here shines forth in the splendor of the sun. Infinite power, justice, ho- liness, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, you can trace in glowing characters, on every page of this glowing histoi-y. It is not merely the fact that God claims to Himself these attributes that demands our consideration, but the fact that He constantly e.xhibits Himself as in possession of them : that He demonstrates their reality by bringing them constantly into exercise. Some of them might, in- deed, have been learned from the silent teachings of nature and providence ; but it is only through the Jewish nation that He has revealed to the world His whole character ; — I mean, so far as it has been revealed at all. And yet without such a revelation, what would have been man’s condition ? The world itself, with all its magnificent garniture, — Avhat better would it have been than a place of dreai-y sojourn, where agonizing uncertainty, not to say black despair, would have cast its shadows upon every prospect ? God’s revelation to the Jews is the medium, through which chiefly He has manifested His glory to the world ; and as His glory is the worthiest object which can occupy even His own regards, it surely evinced the Avisdom of His government that He should have made such a manifestation. There is also evidence the most ample, from the conduct of God towards the Jcavs, that He reigns in righteousness. I have spoken of the calamities with which they were so continually visited, as con- stituting part of a merciful discipline towards them, designed to se- cure their reformation and ultimately their prosperity ; but they are to be viewed also as having a retributive aspect, — as being the IS merited inflictions of the righteous Governor of the world, and as shadowing forth yet more terrible inflictions upon the ungodly, in that coming world where retribution shall be complete. If you read the history j'articularly, you will see how, in all ordinary ca- ses, the punishment connects itself with the crime ; and not unfre- qucntly the crime has within itself the elements of its own punish- ment. God selects the ver^* instruments of sin to act as a scourge, thus causing them literally to cat of the fruit of their own doings, and to be filled with their own devices. J3ut while the history of the Jews most fully vindicates the right- eousness of God in the matter of retribution, it teaches us also that retribution is not the less certain, because it may be indefinitely de- layed. The whole course of Ills dealing toivards them illustrates His forbearance and long-suffering : it goes to prove what He di- rectly declares, — that He delights in mercy, and that puni.shmcnt is His strange work ; but after all, if there be no repentance, pun- ishment always comes at last. Man sometimes forgets the injuries which he has receii'cd, but God forgets nothing. Man, if he re- members injuries,, may be prevented from vindicating himself against the offender by want of power, or by considerations of self-interest : but God’s arm is always nerved Avith omnipotence, and His inde- pendence of Ilis creatures places Him infinitely above all temptor tion to compromit the honors of His throne. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His word never fails. He waited long to be gracious, before the final destruction of the Jewish state. He com- missioned His prophets to speak words of mercy, hut they Avere not heeded. He unsheathed His glittering sword, and Avarned them that it would pierce their very \dtals, unless they should repent ; but they did not CA'en falter in their rebellion. And they practi- cally yielded to the delusion that He Avas such an one as themselves, until His hand took hold on judgment, and swept them aAvay with the besom of destruction. Thereby has He proclaimed to the Avorld,' in language not to be mistaken, that He is not straitened in respect to the time of punishing his enemies : that notAA'ithstanding He is merciful to endure, He is also righteous to avenge. Is not the stability of His government also here most strikingly set forth? We knoAV nothing of God’s purposes in respect to the future, except as He is pleased to reveal them ; but this He has actually done, in respect toaU the greater issues of His proA'idence. He has assured us that Messiah is to reign over the'Avhole earth, and that Avith that reign is to be identified the universal triumph of holiness and peace. Now, if we look back through all the prece- ding ages of Jewish history, what countless influences do we find hare Iwn at work, apparently adverse to that glorious oonsumma- 14 tioa that prophecy reveals to us. It has seemod sometimes for ages as if the adversary had almost the whole world entirely under his dominion', and even within the bosom of the Church, there have been such disastrous and conflicting agencies, that human sagacity Avould have been as likely to prophecy of her death as of her life. But behold, now, how the hght shines out of the darkness ! Be- hold how one divine dispensation towards the Jews furnishes the explanation of another, until the whole brightens into a manifest chain of causes and eSects, which we can already see must have its termination in the predicted glorious result. However improb- able such an event may have seemed in former ages, especially in the more gloomy periods ot Jewish history, the Messiah has actu- ally long since come, and He is already travelling rapidly in the greatness of His strength* towards a universal triumph. ^Miat higher evidence could be given to the world that God’s government is sure in all its results : that whatever obstacles may oppose, will certainly be overcome, and the counsels of Infinite Wisdom will in- fallibly prevail ? But if God employs the Jews to illustrate the great principles of His moral government, so also He employs them to smtain the mighty interests of the mediatorial economy. This economy is in itself strictly and essentially supernatural.- — The law under which man was originally placed, regarded him as an innocent being, and required tliat he should continue so ; and that may properly be called the law of his nature. But the change in man’s character, and the consequent change in his condition, produced by sin, created the occasion for a new economy, — the e- conomy of grace ; and as this had its foundation in the divine sove- reignty, and brought into exercise the attribute of mercy, the ex- istence of which had not before been known, it is manifest that this dispensation must have been directly revealed ; for tliough the light of nature was sufficient for all the purpose^ for which it was designed, yet it was not sufficient for the discovery of the secrets of the divine will. Hence we find that, immediately after the fatal- lapse, the merciful design of God towards man was faintly shadow ed forth in connection with the sentence pronounced upon the in' strument of transgression ; and it became more and more apparent from a succession of divine communications made to the early patri- archs ; but the call of Abraham marked a distinct epoch in the un- folding of the scheme of mercy ; and from that time till after tho actual advent of the Messiah, (I may say till after the canon of Scripture was closed,) the descendants of Abraham wore put in keeping with all the dinne communications that were made to the world. As God designed by means of them to prevent tho extinc- tion of pure religion from tho earth, He manifested himself to them 1 .) in various ways in His own proper character, and entrusted to them that whole apparatus of means and influences by which he designed to open the way for a more perfect dispensation. In all this they were indeed an eminently favored people ; but we are to bear in mind, that the purpose of God in thus distinguishing them was not merely their own elevation and profit, but the ultimate regeneration of the world — the complete establishment of His mediatorial reign. He made the Jewish Church the depository of His religion, that through her ministrations, both voluntary and involuntary, she might hasten the triumph of Him whose right it is to reign over the nations. When the fulness of time had come, that is, the time to which all the prophecies pointed, the time which had been designated by the movements of God’s providence, the time for which the saints had waited in long and longing exjjcctation, God sent for his Son ; and lo! He appeared in the person of a Jew. This fact had been ascertained to tlie beheving Jews by a line of predictions reaching back through many succes.sivc ages. In the very communication which God made to Abraham, when He called him to be. the father of a distinct people, especially in the declaration that in him all the fiimilieS of the earth should be blessed, the Jewish origin of the Mes- siah was distinctly marked ; and the predictions of patriarchs and prophets, in succeeding ages, designated the line of his descent with greater and still greater particularity, till they had well nigh sup- plied the materials for his full genealogy. To the Jewish nation, then, belongs the honor, little as they themselves have appreciated it, of giring to the world its Redeemer. He who was “ the bright- ness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person,” became, according to the flesh, a Jew. It was a Jew who went a- bout doing good among those who unscrupulously branded him as a \Tle deceiver. It was a Jew who gave lessons of morality that cast into the shade the purest teachings of earthly wisdom, and even e- clipsed whatever had before proceeded from inspiration itself. It was a Jew who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for iniquities — who slept three days in the tomb of Joseph, and then came forth in triumph ; and who hath now gone up to heaven, to prosecute in person the great ends of His mediation. And it is not irreverent to say, in respect to Christ’s glorified humanity, that it is a Jew who will hereafter occupy the judgment-seat, and decide the everlasting destinies of men. Oh, when I remember that my reigning Saviour is a descendant of Abraham, I cannot but venerate the nation to which He belonged, even though I cannot forget that that nation is responsible for the shedding of his blood ! I Jesus introduced, not a new religion, but a new dispensation ; and though immediately after his death it seemed as if his cause had 16 •pti-ished too, aiid there atoo n^hody who had the courage ao stand up in defence of its claims, jet it still had an existence : it hved in the tender recollections, the warm and grateful regards of a few friends who lingered despairingly around Ilis tomb ; and those friends were His brethren according to the flesh — so that, in that darkest hour, the interests of His cause were actually in the keep- ing of Jewish hearts. And even after His resurrection, the Jews were, for a considerable time, the sole guardians and promoters of Chris tianit\^ The rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah by the nation at large, indicated but too clearly that there was little to be hoped in regard to the immediate success of the gospel among them. Nev-. erthelcss the apostles, all of whom were Jews, scrupulously obey- ed their Saviour’s last command, to preach tho gospel to all na- tions, beginning at Jerusalem. And though the whole world seem- ed arrayed against them, some of their earliest labors were identifi- ed with the most signal triumphs of divine grace which the world has ever seen. And thus, for years, the Church, under the minis- trations of Jewish Christians, |i-ew and multiplied. But as God designed that the gospel should be carried to other nations, in due time He made eSectual, but most terrible prepara- tion for this, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the consequent dispersion of those who escaped with their lives. Many of these had already been converted to the Christian faith ; and wherever they went, they would, of .course, carry their religion aloijg with them ; and by awakening curiosity and interest in the minds of those with whom they mingled, they would naturally prepare the way for the more direct efforts of the preachers of the gospel who should come after them. Besides, if nothing had occurred to force the a- postles and primitive Christians from their native country, not im- probably their attachment to it might have prevented them from ex- tending their sphere of labor so much as the necessities of the case required. But in consequence of their persecution by the Jews, and dispersion by the Homans, they Avent abroad, in the spirit of the Master’s instruction, to preach the gospel to every creature. — Thus not only the friends, but the enemies of the IMcssiah rendered good service to the cause. His friends, by direct and vigoi*ous ef- forts for its promotion — His enemies, by uuAvittingly becoming the occasion of opening a passage for the gospel to the ends of the earth. From that time to the present, the Jews have alAA-ays maintained the most active hostility towards the Redeemer and His cause ; and yet, as God pressed into the service of Christianity tho evil deeds of their fathers, so lie does not fail to turn to good account (heir 17 opposition as involving the fulfilment of prophecy, and the conse- quent authentication of the Christian record. Behold this singular people, living everywhere, and yet having no home — maintaining a complete identity amidst the most various circumstances — revi- ling Jesus of Nazareth as an impostor, and, alas, despised and jier- sccuted by many of Ilis professed disciples ; — mark tho peculiar features both of their character and their condition, and then say whether, if all other miracles have ceased, there be not one mira- cle yet remaining, that ought to put an end to the cavils of the skeptic and the jeers of the profane. Be it so, that the Jews are no longer in trust with the true religion, yet they arc the involun- tary witnesses for it even during this dark season of their unbe- lief and c.xile, they are accomplishing a work, through which, in a greater or less degree, the Saviour sees of the travail of Ilis soul. But any view of the importance of the Jews in tho mediatorial economy would be inadequate, that should not include the influence which they are to exert hereafter. There is everything in prophe- cy — ever}dhing in providence, to warrant the conclusion, that a brighter day will ere long open upon them ; and, I verily believe, that they will return to take possession of the land of their fathers. And though their national rejection has done much for the conver- sion of the Gentiles, their national recovery will do more. Be it so, that they shall go back in the character of Jews, and shall set up Jewish institutions, and practise Jewish rites : yet this shall bo only for a brief period. Ghod “ will pour upon” them the spirit of grace and of supplications, and .they shall look upon Him “ whom they have pierced” — the Messiah, whom their fathers crucified, and whom they have crucified afresh ; “ and they shall mourn for him as one moumeth for Ids only son.” This mourning, beginning with the more prominent characters, will spread through all the families of the house of Israel : other nations, for a season, will array themselves in hostility against them ; but God will work mighty deliverances in behalf of His people, and will puadsh the nations that come forth to afflict them. And then, those very nar lions that remain shall have such a signal demonstration of God’s favor towards Israel, that they shall eagerly embrace their new re- ligion, and “ shall come to seek the Lord in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.” Is there a more magnificent spectacle which the imagination can Cvertake, than recovered and converted Israel finally bending be- fore the cross, and doing her last work to crown the Mediator’s triumph ? I see the nations, among whom her people had been scat- tered, looking at her with amazement, as a monument of the truth 3 18 and the jx)wer of God. I see her missionaries, already schooled by dispersion in the various languages of the earth, going forth with martyr-llke zeal to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. I listen to their teaclmgs, and behold there is a fervor, an energy breathing through them, that seems to say that they have to make up for the unbelief of many generations. I behold them gaining the ear of thousands to whom the Gentile missionary had spoken in vain; and these thousands quickly become feUow-helpers with them in the renovation of myriads more ; and thus the work goes on till there is a jubilee proclaimed in the earth, because aU the nations are in voluntary subjection to Messiah’s reign. Oh ! ye were out- casts once — ye were a company of rebels, disbanded indeed, but still fighting under the banner of the prince of darkness ; but now ye occupy the high places of Zion, and look exultingly over a world which hails you as its best benefactors. Is anything more needed to illustrate the paramount Importance of the Jewish nation ? Whose estimate is so much to be depended upon as that of the omniscient God ? And what testimony is so im- pressive, so satisfactory, as that which is rendered by a long course of decided action ? But, in the progress of this discourse, we have seen what God hath wrought for the Jews, and what He hath wrought by them. His agency in respect to them has been benig- nant, corrective, miraculous, uninterrupted. And He has employ- ed them as the instniments of illustrating, in an eminent degree, the character of His moral government— of sustaining, in an emi- nent degree, the great interests of the mediatorial economy. I ask again, if the practical decision of Infinite Wisdom is to be received as authoritative, must not we regard the Jews as incomparably the most important nation that ever has dwelt — that ever \vill dwell, up- on the face of the earth ? And now, if you acknowledge that my position is fairly estabUslT- cd, I would fain hope that you will be ready to recognize it as the legitimate basis of an appeal to your sympathy and charity in be- half of this wonderful people. IVho are you,. — who am I, — that we should think to set aside the testimony of God ? If God has re- garded them of so much importance, that He has even miraculous- ly wielded the elements in their behalf — that He has permitted them to walk for ages almost in the very light of His throne — that He has honored them with a special instrumentality in the ftilfilmcnt of His noble ends, — what other argument can we need, to induce our earnest ccHipcration with Him in His revealed purposes of mercy towards them ? If we have forgotten and neglected tliem hitherto, shall not the care which God hath e.xercised towards them, the ob- jects which He hath accomplished by them, the promises which He 19 }»ath made conceroing them, rebuke our criminal sloth, and lead us to say of do^TO-trodden Israel, in the spirit of fei-vent charity, “ If 1 do not remember thee henceforth, let my tongue cleave to the root of my mouth.” But I think I hear an objector’s voice. I hear it breathed forth from some cold heart, that thie effort to convert the Jews is pre- mature : that the time fixed in the divine counsels for this event has not yet come ; and that, when that period actually does arrive, God Ilimself will see to it that Ilis own purposes are accomplished. But who has told you that the time to do good to Israel has not yet come ? Surely God has not told you this, cither by Ilis word or by Ilis providence ; for even though it were admitted, that the Bible has fixed the date of their general restoration to a somewhat later period than this ; and though it be admitted, further, that the great body of the nation are to be converted subsequently to their return to their own country ; still, where hath God told us that there is not to bo a course of prepai’ation for this event, by the previous conver- sion of many of these scattered outcasts ? He hath certainly com- manded His ministers to go into all the world, and preach the gos- pel to every creature ; — not to every Gentile, but to every being that hath intelligence and immortality ; and this is required as a present, urgent, indispensable duty ; and let whoever can, show that the Jews do not come legitimately within the scope of this be- neficent provision. And then we must be utterly blind to the move- ments of God’s providence, not to see that He is constantly crea- ting new facilities for the furtherance of this object, by rendering the Jews not only more accessible, but more impressible also. And more than that. He has actually wakened up in the Church a new interest concerning them — a spirit, not only of inquiry, but of soli- citude and of charity ; and there are great, and philanthropic, and venerable minds, both here and abroad, that are intensely occupied in finding out, and putting into operation, means for meliorating their condition. The very occasion which hath assembled us, is a testimony that God’s hand is moving in their behalf, — an evidence that the time to labor for their conversion actually has come ; and whoever pleads for longer delay, on the ground of conformity to God’s purpose, does it in the face of both revelation and provi- dence, — does it at the expense of showing hinjself a fatalist. I re- peat, let the time for the ixltimate conversion of the Jews be near- er or more remote, the time for the Church to labor and pray for it is already fuUy come. I hear it said again, in an undertone of elimination, “ If the Jews have been the most favored nation on earth, so also they have been the most obdurate : they deserve all that they suffer ; 20 tind who shall attempt to take them out of the hands of God's retri- butive justice ?” Yes, doubtless they deserve all that they suffer ; but they do not deserve it at your hands, or at mine, or at those of any Christian nation. God’s purposes in respect to them, Avhatev- er they may be, certainly uill be fulfilled ; but in the mean time He requires us to do good to all men — Jews and Gentiles : He has not given us the shadow of an apology for taking the sword of ven- geance into our hands. Besides, who are we, that we should ad- duce the obduracy of the Jews as an argument for letting them a- lone ? If we are not ourselves, at this hour, practical rejectors of the gospel, it is only because the God of Abraham hath enhghtened our minds, and subdued our hearts, and made us willing in the day of His power. Lay thine hand upon thy mouth, 0 man, who art venturing to invade the protdnce of Infinite Justice, when thou art thyself, at best, a monument of God’s forbearing mercy. I will listen to but one more objection. It is said, “ "Why divert the attention of the Church now from the conversion of the Gen- tiles, — a work on which the ^Master has evidently deigned to smile ? The Jews are scattered among the Gentiles ; and let them hear the gospel as the Gentiles hear it, — let them receive a blessing, if they wiU, through those Christian ministrations which the charity of the Church hath provided for the heathen ; but let there be no distinct instrumentality with special reference to their benefit.” We reply to this, in the first place, that w'e liave no idea of pleading for the Jews at the expense of the Gentiles, — nay, we would that the Church might receive a fresh baptism of the general missionary spirit, and that her messengers of truth and grace among the hea- then might be multiplied by scores and hundreds. Still, we main- tain that the condition of the Jews is sufiiciently peculiar, and their claims are sufficiently distinct to justify, to demand, a specific ac- tion in their behalf. But the cro^^•ning answer to this objection is, that, if there is anything to be known from prophecy, the conver- sion of the Jews is to precede the general conversion of the Gen- tiles, — the former sustaining to the latter the relation of a cause to an effect. Let the man, then, who fears that we shall prosecute our effort at the e.xpense of the heathen, know, that, if he is labor- ing for the heathen, so are we also : that, under God, we are put- ting in operation causes of moral renovation, that will be found to operate all over the world ; and that, sooner or later, an army of missionaries will go forth from collected Israel, that will never wea- ry in their tvork, till the Ijist memorial of paganism is blotted out, and the standard of truth and holiness waves “ far as the curse is found.” Brethren and friends of the Society whose claims I have been re- n quested to present, I congratulate you on all tho favoring circum- stances which mark your annivei’sary. I rejoice that you have so much occasion to thank God for the past — so much encouragement to trust Him for the future. You have had your day of small things ; hut I trust that it is now nearly past, and that your future opera- tions will be characterized by a constantly Increasing vigor, and will embrace a wider and still wider range. And then, you are not a- loue : you have efficient coadjutors in other lands : every effort that you put forth, meets a grateful response from many hearts, in which, but a little while since, there was no chord to vibrate to Is- rael’s woes ; and more than all, you are sustained by a full confi- dence that, in proportion to the importance which God attaches to this people, is the favor with which he regards every effort to do them good. !May a still brighter light shine upon your path — a stUl warmer zeal glow in your bosom — a still idcher blessing crown and reward your efibrts. I am desired to ask the aid of this congregation in prosecuting this benevolent object. If my subject has not furnished arguments to induce you to give, then I have nothing more to say. If there be nothing in the importance which God attaches to tins people, as evinced by what He has done, and what He is hereafter to do, for and by them, to entitle this object to your considerate and charita- ble regards, then I must e.\pect you to shut up your bowels of com- passion, and must repose in the mortifying reflection that I have been beating the air. But I cannot admit the possibility of such a result. I cannot doubt that, while I have spoken, both your con- victions and your feelings have been with me, and that you are ready now to ofler efficient aid to this pre-eminently Christian en- terprise. It were httle to say of what you give, that it will be a merciful oflering to outcast, sufifering humanity : it is humanity that has fallen from a lofty elevation, and that is hereafter to rise to an elevation still more lofty : it is humanity which has inherited God’s richest blessing as well as His heaviest curse, — nay, which is en- shrined on the mediatorial throne, in the person of God’s only be- gotten and weU-beloved Son. 'i’i’Iiat you give will be given in hon- or of Abraham, the father of the faithful ; and who knows but that the old glorified patriarch may actually be here, the approHng wit- ness of your gifts ? "What you give will be given in honor of Christ, the seed of Abraham ; and of Sis presence we are assured ; be- cause He is everywhere in the assemblies of His saints, and His eye is like a flame of fire. I entreat you to give so as to satisfy all the bright -n-itnesses that may be hdvering unseen around you. And when Israel shall have been gathered, and the hills and val- leys of Judea shall echo to her songs of praise, — nay, when glori- fied Israel shall have taken her place on Mount Zion above and witliin the eternal temple, as the most Illustrious trophy that grace hath gained, the brightest gem in the Mediator’s crown, who £xows but that the contributions and resolutions of this hour may coimect themselves, in the minds of many in that vast assemblage, with the Imperishable triumph to wliich they will be exalted ? A SERMON, rE£ACllEO BEFORK THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CHRISTIANITY AMONOSX THE JEWS, BY THE Rev. GEORGE STANLEY F.cVBER, B. D. TOGETHER WITH EMBRACING THE TWENTY^FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY, FOR MELIORATING THE CONDITION OF NHDDLEBURY : JUSTUS COBB, PRINTER. 1847 I, ' '-V A ' . ^ - ■ iA '0 tf if a •'1 » _ ; i\ Hirt : : ■• ■ ■£ f; ■# , ■ '^1 ' ■»l usuoAMi^-^ i' ^ ^ W O (i w 0 lV a u t ' W5)J(‘,MA,jrrn5AJ3'-j.{i:» non)Cik.o.? ^V: • ^ ‘t'<'»>m«irin »BT ii*iT*itp’,nuf iij ! 'jf M r . .SUJj!; 3{i^ ♦Nf. '%• :Yiija44taaj4 .• I • nar«o^ .■:m. jid ■ ^ * t« ^ !&■ •uA r • • / SEEMON. ISAIAH LX. 1—5* Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall bo seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall oomc to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see ; all they gather themselves together — they come to thee : thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nui-sed at thy side. Tlien thou shalt see, and flow together ; and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged ; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee — the for- ces of the Gentiles shall come unto tliee. There is a very peculiar circumstance, respecting the propaga- tion of Christianity , which can scarcely fail, I think, of arresting the attention even of the most cursory .‘student of history, though it may well excite both wonder and curiosity. The circumstance to which I allude, is this : Hie amazingly wide and rapid diffusion of the gospel^ during the earlier centuries after our Lord's ascension to heaven^ and its comparatively slow and trifling progress during the middle and later centuries. In the course of a very few years, the religion of Christ had more ■or less pervaded the whole Roman empire, and had made success- ful inroads into the -contiguous nations, both barbarous and civili- zed. In the course of httle more than three centuries it became the established theological system of the greatest and the most pol- ished monarchy then subsisting. Succeeding events seemed to threaten, if not its absolute extinction, yet at least its contraction within its original nanow limits. But the result was the very op- posite of what, by pohtical sagacity, might reasonably have been anticipated. The religion of the conquering Goths was, in every instance, nationally abandoned : the religion of the conquered Ro- mans was, in every instance, nationally adopted. Some of the northern warriors might be earlier, and some might be later, pros- elytes ; but the ultimate universal concomitant of Gothic national invasion was Gothic national conversion. IVhen this great moral revolution was effected, the victories of the cross seemed, as it were, to be suddenly arrested m their mid- 4 career. Much about the time that our Saxon ancestors were ex- changing the ferocious idolatry of their fathers for the milder reli- gion of Christ, the Saracens attacked the whole southern line of the Koman empire ; and, after the interval of a few centuries, they were followed by the Scythic Turcomans. Each division of these irresistible conquerors obtained permanent settlements upon the Roman platform : the Saracens, in Syria, and Africa, and Spain — the Turks, in the entire territory of the eastern empire. — Yet, mark the wide difference of the result. All those earlier inva- ders, who seized upon the fragments of Roman dominion from the north, embraced the religion of the vanquished ; though in direct opposition to the woU-known maxim of Paganism, that the success of their votaries was the surest test of the power of the gods ; ,all those later invaders, who planted themselves upon the Roman territory from the south-east and the east, not only rejected the religion of the vanquished, but continued to be pertinaciously animated by a most violent spirit of hostility against it. The difference between the two cases is sufficiently striking ; bilt the matter does' not rest here. It is not, that other remote nations with an unhappy singularity, were rejecting it : so far from such being the fact, it would be difficult, I believe, to produce any prom- inent instance ot a national conversion to Chiistianity, subsequent to the period during which the ancestor’s of the present EuitJjMjans received their public rule of faith. The Mexicans aud the Peru- vians, indeed, may have been half exteminated, and half forced into a semblance of our reli^on ; and in our own days, on better principles and to a purer mode of faith, the petty islands which are washed by tlic great Pacific ocean, may have l>een nationally con- verted ; but what are these, when contrasted with the vast field for missionary exertion, which stretches far into comparatively civilized Asia? Individually, some conquests may have been made by, the pious and laborious men, who have undertaken the mighty task.' — But what has been done nationally ? 'WTrat has been done upon a grand scale ? ^Vl^at has been effected, wluch bears any resemblance or proportion to the earlier triumphs of the cross ? Both Romanist, and Pi’otestant, and Greek, are alike compelled to give the same desponding answer — ^JUST xOTiiixa. Look at Persia — look at Ara- bia — look at Boutan and TTiilet — look at Tartary — look at Ilindo.s- tan — ^look at China, — in one word, cast your eye over the whole of southern Asia, with its dependent islands ; and what do you behold ? 'Nowhere is the cross nationally triumphant — everiiwhere an incalcu- lable majority of the people either bows to the idols of Paganism, or besotted through the delusion of Mohammedism. AVhat I have stated, though it may well serve to produce abun- dant speculation, is itself a mere naked matter of fact. However we may account for it, and however wo may regret it, still nothing i) can be more clear, than that the progress of the gospel has now for many ages been almost completely arrested. Nor must we at- tribute this notorious circumstance altogether to want of exertion. — The depressed oriental church may indeed have been long in a state of constrained torpidity ; but neither the Romanist nor the Protest- ant has discontinued the holy Avarfare : and yet avc all too well know, what very trifling effects have been produced cither by the one or by the other. 1 say not this as undervaluing even the most trifling effects ; for, in one pomt of vicAv, they are infinitely impor- tant, and as such amply repay every exertion ; but still, Avhen we look back to the earlier centuries, what az'c a few thousands of scat- tered indiriduals, if compared to the imreclaimcd millions Avliich tlirong the vast continents of Asia and Africa ? I. Extraordinary as the fact before us may appear, it is both re- cognized and (unless I greatly mistake) explained also in Holy Scripture. 1. Its anticipatory recognition is more or less involved in almost all the prophecies which respect the last ages. (1) Let us first hear the voice of symbolical prophecy, as it speaks through its inspired organs, Daniel and John. The figurative stone, cut out of the mountain Avithout hands, does not itself become a great mountain so as to fill the AA'hole earth ; until that concluding period, when the entire compound imperial image shall be broken and and dissipated to the winds of heaven. * The predicted unh’^ersal dominion of the Son of man, so that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him, is not estab- lished ; until after the day, Avhen the fourth great empire, in its last form of sovereignty, shall bo utterly destroyed, f The croAvned boAvman on the white horse, who in the first ages of Christianity goes forth conquering and to conquer, disappears during the whole intermediate prophecy of the Apocalypse : nor do we again encounter him, until the same fatal period, when the last imperial form of the last apostate kingdom is destined to fall before him, and to make room by its subversion for his ultimate reign up- on earth. J (2) Such are the intimations conveyed to us in the language of figured prophecy — intimations abAindantly plain and intelligible, e- ven if nothing more had been said on the subject ; but, with the language of figured prophecy, the language of literal prophecy ex- actly corresponds. “ In the last days,” we are assured, “ the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills : and all nations shall flow unto it.” |1 ♦Daniel ii. 34. 32, 44, 4.5. § Daniel vi. 2. xix. 11 — 16, 17 — 21. t Eevelations Tii. 7 — 14, 19 — 27. || Isaiah ii. 2. 6 “ The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” * “ The Lord shall be king over all the earth : in that day shall there bo one Lord, and liis name one.” f (3) Now it is perfectly clear, that the accomphshment of these, and many other parallel prophecies, would have been frustrated, if the conversion of the Gentiles had gone on equably and rapidly in proportion to its original progress ; for, had the whole Gentile world been converted in the course of the first nine or ten centu- ries, there would have been no room for the accomplishment of those numerous predictions, which fix their general conversion, up- on a grand and national scale, to the latter ages. Hence every prediction of this nature involves an intimation, that a long stop would be put to the progress of the gospel, during a middle inter- vening period : so that, after a certain number of the pagan nations should have been converted during the first ages, a pause (as it were) would take place ; and then at length, in the last ages,, all those, which had hitherto remained m a state of moral darkness, would be happily and triumphantly brought witliin the pale of the Clmstian church. J * Isaiah xi. 9. t Zechai'iah, xiv. 9. t This p.ausc, or at least something very nearly allied to it, is intimated by tlie prophet Is.aiah. “All the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers upon earth, shall see tlie lifting np, as it were, of a banner upon the mountains ; and shall hear the sounding, as it •were, of a trumpet. For thus saith .Jehovah unto me : “ 7 will set still (but I will keep ray eye upon my prepared habitation.) as the parching heat just brtore light- ning — as tlie dewy cloud in the heat of summer. For afore the harvest, when the bud is coming to perfection, and the blossom is become a juicy ben-y, he will cut otf the useless shoots with pruning-hooks, and the bill shall take away the luxuriant branches.” — Isaiah xviii. .3 — 5. Upon this passage, (Bishop Horsley remarks, that the Imnner is the banner of the cross, to be lifted up more conspicuously than ever before ; and that the t umjKt is the trumpet of the gospel, to be sounded more loudly than ever before, in the latter ages. This, then, he adds, is the sum of the projihecv. In the latter age.s, after a long suspension of the visible interpositions of Fiovidcnec, (jod, who all llie while re- gards that dwelling-place wliich he will never abandon, and is at all times directing the events of the world to the accomplishment of his own purposes of wisdom mid mercy, immediately before the tinal gathering of his elect from the four winds of heaven, will purify his church by such signal judgments as shall rouse the attention of the ■whole world, and in the end strike all nations willi religious awe. At this jie- riod, the apostate faction will occupy the Holy Laud. This faction will certainly bo an instrument of those judgments, by which the ciuirch will lie ])urified. That ])uri- fication, therefore, is not at all inconsistent with the seeming prosperity of the atlaii-s of the atheistical confederacy. But. after such duration as (iod shall see fit to allow, to the plenitude of its power; the .Jews, converted to the faith of Christ, will be unex- pectedly restored to theirancient possessions. The pruning will immediately precede the harvest and the in-gathering. The season of the Imrvest and of the in-gathering of the fniit, is the prophetic imtige of that period, when our Ixird will send forth his angels to gather his elect from the four winds of heaven — of tliat jicrioil. u hcii a re- newed preaching of tlic gospel .slnill take place iu all parts of the world. — Horsley on Iseuah xviii. p. 95 — 97, 88, 89, 65. ♦ It is impossible not to observe, that, at the very time when an anxious desire to conuuuuicale tlic light of .Scripture to tlie wiiole world, has sprung up after a man- 7 2. Thus explicitly is the fact itself recognized in Scripture. Jhit it is more than recognized : the rationale of it fif 1 may so speak ) is also most fully ami lucidly explained ; and uj)on this rationale 1 have ever thought the importance of a society for the express ))ur- pose of converting the house of Judali to bo pre-eminently estab- lished. The truth is, that, whatever partial success may attend mission- ary exertions in regard to individual Pag:ms or Mohammedans, the Gentiles will never be converted nationally and upon a larye scale, until the Jews shall have been first converted : and the ground of this very important position is, that the converted Jews are desti- ned, in 4he unsearchable tvisdom of God, tsj be tlw sole finally suc- cessful missionaries to the Gentile world. Such I believe to be the true secret of the small emolument, with which we Gentiles attempt the conversion of the yet mme- claimed Gentiles. The fact of oui- little success is notorious and indisputable : the reason is, because an honor, reserved for others, neither •will nor can be conferred upon us. For, if it be the special allotcd task of the converted Jeivs to efiect the conversion of the gi’eat national mass of the Gentiles, nothing can be more clear, than tliat the conversion of that gi’eat national mass will never be eflected by ourselves, whatever partial success may attend our efforts with in- sulated individuals. But, that such is the special allotted task of the converted Jew^s, is set forth with sufiicient plainness in the Vol- ume of Prophecy. (1) "VVhether the language of prophecy be figurative, or wheth- er it be literal, still it ceases not to maintain the same important po- sition. Zechariah teaches us that, in the day when the Jews shall be re- stored to their own land, and shall be delivered from their congre- gated GvmsiiQB,living waters shall go out from Jerusalem : and, in the parallel passages of Ezekiel and Joel, which similarly treat of Judah’s restoration in the last ages, these same living waters are said to flow out of the temple. The language, here employed, is doubtless figurative ; but, tho’ figurative, it is stiU perfectly familiar and intelligible to those who have paid even a moderate attention only to prophetic phraseology. As it is justly observed by Mr. Lowth, while commenting on the ner long unknown, tke spirit of the antichrist, which is defined by St. John to con- sist in a more or less intense denial of the Father and the Son, is also peculiarly rampant and active. — 1 John ii, 23, 23. iv. 1 — 3. 2 John 7. Thus are the materials preparing for the last great contest, which, according to the general voice of proph- ecy, win be decided between the two seas of Palestine.' The apostate empire, or the embodied antichrist, lies at present in its predicted state of heedlessness or political death ; but we are assured, that the same short-lived seventh head, which in our own day has been mortally wounded by the sword of war, will hereafter be healed and restored to life and activity. See my Dissertations on the 1260 days, volume iii. Dissertation 1. 5 jiassage from Zechariah, the supplies of grace are often repre- sented in Scripture by rivers and streams of water, which both cleanse and make fruitful the ground through which they pass.” On this well-known principle, then, of interpretation, as the mean- ing of these parallel principles is obviously the same, so it is hard to say what can be intended by the efflux of living waters fromJe- rmalem or from the temple during the period which immediately follows the restoration of the Jenvs, unless it be the communication of the gospel to the great body of the now unbelieving Grentiles by the ancient people of God immediately after their own conversion, Under the image of a river flowing out from the temple of Jerusa- lem, the waters of which gradually rise until they become a mighty stream which cannot be passed over, and which itself communicates health and life whithersoever it cometh, is clearly and aptly shad- owed out the benefleent progress of the gospel from the metropolis of the converted and restored Israelites through every province and kingdom of the Gentile world. Accordingly, what these three prophets teach us figuratively, others teach us plainly and literally and unequivocally. Isaiah tells us that, when “ in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the momitains, all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say. Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob : and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Fi*om this passage we learn, that the figurative living waters, flow from the temple immediately after the restoration of the Jews, are in truth the law and the word of the Lord ; which similarly and at the very same period go forth from Jerusalem and mount Zion, and which similarly and at the very same period bring about the healing, or the life, or the conveision of all nations. Nor can we allow, agreeably to the once-prevalent mischievous humor of what was called spiritualizing the prophecies, that the present Gentile Christian church is spoken of in the predictions which have been cited. Isaiah is careful to tell us, that the word, which he saw, concerned Judah and Jerusalem : and the whole context of the or- acles of Zechariah, and Joel, and Ezekiel, proves, I think, indispu- tably, that they arc incapable of any other application than to God’s ancient people, now happily converted and restored. The same remark may be made upon anotherJweU-known proph- ecy of Isaiah, which, by the process of spiritualization, has often been perverted from the literal house of Israel, to the Clmistian church already gathered from among the Gentiles. “ Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth. y ajul i2;ross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise upon theoj and Ids glory shall bo seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light ; and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Jdft up thine eyes round about, and see : all they gather themselves to- gelhei' — they come to tliee : thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nui-sed at thy side. Then thou shall see, and Ilow together ; and thine heart shall fear, and be oidarged : be- cause the abundance of the sea shall bo converted unto thee, tho forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Let any ono read attentively the whole prediction, whence this passage is taken ; and he will, I tlunk, be satisfied, that tho literal Israel of God, now converted ;uid restored to their own land, is tho community addressed by the prophet. Lut, if .so, then undoubted- ly the house of Israel is described as the appointed instriuueut of conveying the light of Christianity to the Gentiles. As tho progress of the gospel through the agency of the Jews is represented under the image of living waters i.^uld any miprejudiced person, understand by such declarations ? Would it ever be for one moment imagined, that by the people of the prophet the holy people were meant, not the Jews, but certain pious Gentile Christians (^tlie spiritual people, I presume it would be said, of Daniel) who, in quite a difterent prediction, are represented as being in a state of persecution during tlie same pe- riod of three times and a half ? Certaiidy, when the angel said to Daniel, at that time TilY people shall be delivered, the prophet would obviously conclude, that Ins own literal people, or the house of Judah, was intended ; and afterwards, when he heard it further declared that the scattering of the holy people should be finished at close of the throe times and a half, he would just as obviously con- clude, that by the holy people was meant his otvn people, of whom the angel immediately before had been speaking ; and whose deliv- erance he had fixed to an epoch, wliich (as all agree) coincides with the termination of tlie three times and a half — a calculation to which he would be the more naturally led, from the application of the epithet holy, so familiar to Jewish ears whenever ei^er the na- tion or the metropolitan city was spoken of. So again, if we advert to the peculiar phraseology of the pas- sage itself, we shall still find the same interpretation irresistibly forced upon us. Daniel’s people, or tlie holy people is said to have been scatter- ED ; and tins their scattering is to be finished at the close of the three times and a half. WTiat then are we to imdei-stand by the SCATTERING Or the DISPERSION, here predicated of Daniel’s holy people ? And who are the people tlius scattered or dispersed for a season, and at length at the end of the three times and a half brought back from this their scatterinc or dispersion ? Shall we say, that this dispersed people are certain pious Gentile Christians, who labor under persecution during the term of 1260 years ? — 16 Those good men have doubtless lived, according to the several pla- ces of their nati\'ity, some in Bohemia — some in Germany — some in Savoy — some in Provence — some in England ; but can this di- versity of local habitation be meant by the Spirit of God, when ho so em])hatically speaks of the scattering of Daniel’s holy people ; and is it from such a scattering that they are all to be gathered to- gether into some one particular region at the close of the appointed period T Surely this is a mere childish trifling with words ; and yet, save such trifling emigrations as those produced by the revocation of the edict of Nantz, or by the synchronical persecution of the "W'aldneses, it is not easy to , point out any other scattering, wliich the harrassed Christians of the middle ages have experienced. — What then is the result, which (I think) inevitably springs from the peculiar phraseology of the passage ? Clearly it is this : that Daniel’s people, who are said to be scattered, and whose scattei-iim is accomplished or finished at the end of the three times and a ha* can only be the natural house of Judah, the remarkable circum- stance of whose dispersion is notorious and familiar to the whole world. (4.) This old and (if I mistake not) irrefragable Interpretation of the passage exactly agrees with the parallel prophecies of our Lord and St. Paul ; for all the three, in truth, mutually elucidate and corroborate each other. Our Lord assures us, that the Jews “ shall be led away captive into all nations, and that Jerusalem shall he trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles he fulfilled.” Here, a fix- ed terra is assigned for the end of the captivity or dispereion of J u- dah ; and that fixed term is the expiration of the times of the Gen- tiles. What then are these times of the Gentiles ; and to what does our Lord refer, when he thus speaks of them ? He refers, I think, ])lainly enough to the very passage in Daniel which we Imve been considering ; for such an expression as the times of the Gen- tiles is not to be deemed a mere arbitrary and accidental phrase — a phrase then first employed — a phrase wholly indefinite — a phrase which has no relation to more ancient prophecies. Accordingly, “ the captivity of Judah among all nations,” foretold by our Lord, corresponds with the “scattering of the holy people,” mentioned by Daniel ; and “ the mighty revolutions in the course of which the captivity of Judah is to be turned,” as announced in the prophecy of Christ, answer to “ the period of unexampled trouble during which the pcojde of Daniel is to be delivered,” as predicted in the oracle of the Ilcbrew seer. Such being the case, “ the times of the Gentiles,” as Alede long since rightly pronounced, arc the same period as “ the three times and a half” — unless, indeed, what how- ever will make no difference in regard to termination, we may rath- er choose to identify them with that integral tenu of seven times. 17 the latter moiety of which is the celebrated three timet and a half, of Daniel and St. John, and the complete duration of which meas- ures the chronological length of the four great Gentile empires, when computed from the birth of Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold. Hence it follows, thut our Lord, thus confinning and explaining the oracle of Daniel, similarly declares, that the captivity or scattei-ing of Judah shall come to an end when three times and a half shall expire. In like manner, St. Paul teaches, that “ blindness in part is hap- pened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come.” The apostle docs not mean to say, as many have eiToneously understood him, that the fulness of the Gentile converts must come into the church, before blindness shall depart from Israel : for, if he did, ho would contradict the whole tenor of prophecy, which makes the con- version of Judah yweetfe andy>ro(fMee the general conversion of the Gentiles, and succeed and he produced by it. But he means to say, that Israel for the most part ■will remain in a state of spiritual blind- ness, until the fulness or accomplishment of the times of the Gen- tiles shall arrive. He refers to the prophecy of oiu* Lord, just as om' Lord referred to the prophecy of Daniel ; and thus all the three agree in telling us, that Judah will be restored and in part converted at the close of the times of the Gentiles, or of the three times and a half, or of the 1260 years. (5.) Tliis point being suflBciently established, it is plain, that, if we certainly knew the precise year in which tliis grand period com- menced, ■v\'c should also certainly know the precise year in which the dispersion of Judah will tenaoinate. But here ■we are encountered by that mixture of certainty and uncertainty, which I have already taken occasion to notice and ac- count for. We are certain, that by far the greater part ot the 1260 years more, for instance, than twelve centuries, must needs have runout ; because, according to the excellent remark of Bishop Hurd, if we simply turn to the history of the middle ages, we shall find, that a notoriously corrupt ecclesiastical power, which in every respect an- swers to the symbol whose antitype is destined to reign tyrannical- ly in the church through a period of three times and a half, has been destmed, in its apostatic state, on the far-famed seven hills of the imperial city, at the very least, twelve centuries : consequent- ly, in the present day, we caimot be very far removed from the 1260 years. Yet we are necessarily uncertain as to the precise year in ivhich this grand period ■will expire ; because, there being several eras whence the period may plainly enough be computed, we can never decide a priori with absolute certainty, "WHICH of these eras affords the true date of the period. Hence we are certain, that the 1260 years have not yet expi- 3 18 red ; because tbe restoration of Judah, which distinctly marks their expiration, has not yet commenced. Hence too we are certain, that the restoration, and therefore the antecedent partial conversion of Judah cannot be very remote ; be- cause that restoration commences at the end of the 1260 years ; and liistory proves, that more than twelve centuries of that period must already have run out. But then hence too we are uncertain as to the exact year when -Judah will be restored ; because, as wo know not, with absolute certainty, the precise era whence the 1260 years are to be reckoned, we know not, with absolute certainty, the precise year when they expire ; and, as we know not certainly the precise year when they expire, we know not certainly the precise year when Judah will be restored. 2. Thus is the comparative nearness of this great event estab- lished on the sure word of arithmetical prophecy ; and the result, to which we have been brought, is confirmed alike by chronological prophecy and by the singplarly corresponding signs of the times. (1.) Of chronological froyhecy the definition is a chain or se- ries of predictions extending in regular chronological order through a long period of time ; and it stands contradistinguished from in- sulated prophecy, which annomices only some single insulated oc- currence. Now', if we attend to the remarkable chain of chronological pro- phecy with which the Holy Spirit of God has been pleased to fur- nish the church, not giving the reins to an uuchastised fancy, but soberly takmg up tliis chain where Mede and others of our excel- lent predecessors have laid it down, we shall find, that only two eminent prophetic events remain to be accomplished, ere the 1260 years shall have run out, and ere Judah consequently will begin to be restoi’ed. These two events are, the subversion of the Ottoman power, and the revival of the noio defunct Roman empire under its last form of government. The former of the two, as all our best commentators allow, marks the commencing effusion of the sixth Apocalyptic vial : the latter of the two is indefinitely described, as having taken place while that vial is in operation. But, with the seventh vial, at whatever pre- cise time it may begin to flow, the 1260 years will expire. There- fore, with the same seventh vial, tlie restoration of Judah will com- mence. Such is the striking mode in which chi’onologlcal prophecy is found to agree with arithmetical prophecy. (2.) E(|ually accordant arc the signs of the times, and equally encouraging therefore to the benevolent views of tliose who seek to bring the house of Judah within the pale of the Christian church. Whatever reaaon there may be to expect some miraculous inter li) position at tha timo ^rhen the Jews ehaU be restored to their own land, we may much more prudently and safely anticipate, that, when the time for their conversion shall draw nigh, God, who ordi- narily works by second causes, will stir up the hearts of his people, vigoi'ously to attempt the task, will remove that violent prejudice against them which has so long subsisted among Christians, and will excite a strong degree of interest in their behalf, mingled with an intense cmiosity in the bosoms (we may avcII nigh say) of wholo communities. Now this, I need scarcely observe, has actually ta- ken place, after a manner unknown and unexpected in the days of our fathers. The congregation at present before me — the nume- rous friends of tho Hebrew cause both in the British islands and on the continent — nay, the very existence and increase of a society whose special object is to evangelize the house of Judah in every quarter of the globe, arc all proofs, when taken in connexion with tho chronological and arithmetical argument ah-cady set forth with sufficient copiousness, that the baud of God is now specially stretch- ed forth upon the earth. Equally striking again is the altered temper of many of the Jews themselves. Time was, when the converse of a Christian and the veiy contact of the sacred volume of the new covenant was an utter abomination to the houso of Judah. Iso argument would be heard, no book would be read, which in the slightest degree countervailed their prepossessions. Hedged in as it were, and firmly intrenched within the lines of prejudice, they bade defiance to every attempt at conversion, even had the Christian world at large been disposed to trouble them. But at present, so far as can be collected from various published accounts, there evidently seems to be an unusual excitation among them. They no longer, at least in many instan- ces, refuse to hear our pleaded reasons : they readily accept and perase our sacred code ; and they seem universally impressed with an anxious and eager and thrilling expectation, that they are about to experience some great and wonderful national revolution. "Wheth- er this originates from their calculating, like ourselves, the arith- metical three times and a half of their owir prophet Daniel, or wheth- er it arises from observing the singular interest which has sprung up on their behalf, in the breasts of Christians, I shall not pretend to determine. Certain, however, it is, that from perusing the writings of their ancient prophets, the Rabbles laid it down as a canon of their church, that the fall of Rome would be the rise and salvation of Israel. III. After this protracted discussion, little need be said in con- clusion. So far as I can judge,, we have every reason to expect the com- paratively near restoration of the house of Judah. Whence, if their restoration be near at hand, their conversion, at least their partial conversion, must be still nearer ; for it is plainly enough revealed, that one gi*and division of the Jews will be restored in a converted state. Under such circumstances, so far from despondently fearing that our labor my be in vain, we have abundant encouragement to expect the most complete ultimate success. I say not that this year, or the next year, or the next twenty years, our efforts may prevail upon any large or national scale ; because I have no sure warrant to assert, with positiveness, the precise day of their resto- ration. But this I will venture to say, that their restoration can- not be very distant, and consequently that their partial conversion must be yet less remote. On such reasonable grounds, unless indeed all that I have said be deemed imreasonable, we may advance in our career with that feeling of lively and cheerful energy, which an assured prospect of ultimate success can only impart. Nor can I conclude without ex- pressing the high satisfaction which I experience, at finding, that our society is in avowed and immediate connexion with our venera- ble mother the Church of England, and that, as such, it is express- ly patronized by two of our spiritual fathers whose sanction may well remove every imaginable objection to it from the minds even of the most scrupulous. In making this observation, I mean to show neither ill-will nor disrespect to our protestant dissenting brethren. They prefer, I presume, their own separate communities, from what they deem sufficient reasons : hence, as we conceive that we have quite as good reason to prefer the Church of England, I see not why we need dissemble our satisfaction, that she taking her proper place as the main bulwark of Protestantism — an honor which was always conceded to her m the days of our Elizabeth and our third William. Go forth, then, and prosper in the name of the Lord. Lift high the blazing torch of revelation to the benighted stock of Abraham. And doubt not, that, in God’s o\vn good time, your labor will not be in vain in the Lord. “ The^^dsion is yet for an appointed time ; but at the end of it shall speak and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it ; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” APPENDIX. TWENTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 'IVincvican Sodctn FOR MELIORATING THE CONDITION OF THE JEWS. The Twenty-fourth Anniversary of the American Society for Me- liorating the Condition of the Jews, was held in the Central Presby- terian Church, in Broome-strect, on Thursday evening. May 13th. Rev. Dr. De Witt, one of the Vice Presidents of the Society, in the chair. After prayer by the Chaii-man, and the singing of an anthem by the choir, the usual abstracts of the Treasurer’s and of the Annual Reports were read by the Corresponding Secretary, Rev. Joidf Little. The Rev. E. W. Andrews, of Troy, New York, then rose to of- fer the foUoAving resolution : Resolved, That the Annual Report, an abstract of which has now been read, be adopted, and that it be published and circulated under the direction of the Board. I move the adoption of thi.s resolution, Air. President, because I thhik the Report is happily adapted to awaken a new mterest in the minds of Christians on the great and solemn work which it contem- plates. I say the great work which it contemplates. Some, per- haps, will deem this a misnomer — for 1 am aware that, to the pop- ular view, our enterprise is almost lost in the shadows which other, and so-called mightier movements of the age, cast upon it ; but, re- garded in the hght of inspii'ation, I must thuik of it, and be permit- ted to speak of it, as a great and solemn work, second, in the real benevolence of its nature, the importance and grandeur of its ulti- mate purpose, and the richness of its promise to a dying world, to no other enterprise that can awaken the sympathies, enlist the ef- forts, and draw forth the prayers to heaven of the people of God ; n nnd I can most heartily respond to the language of the eloquent ^ryng — “ There is not a Christian enterprise of the day ■\Yhich so deeply interests my heart, as this.” The Jews, independent of the ten tribes, are now thought to num- ber from eight to ten millions of souls. If, therefore, we estimate them numerically, few nations, to whiclj missionary efforts are di- rected, will be found to have a stronger claim on the sympathies cf the Christian Church. The great mass of these millions are walk- ing in darkness, tar removed from the light of Chx-istian truth ; and unless speedy efforts are made for their convereion, must eternally perish. ' As men, our brethren in the bonds of a common humanity and common redemption, the heirs of immortahty, destined, after a few circling years, to stand with us before the judgment-seat of Christ, their future destiny is to us a subject cf the deepest mterest, and the most solemn moment. And why, Mr. President, should this people be the objects of neglect, to the degree they have been ? Why should we not labor as earnestly, as devotedly, for the conver- sion of the Jew as of the Gentile ? Why confine our efforts to one portion of our race, and allow another, brought by God, in his prov- idence, so directly within our influence, to go doum to death with- out a note of warning, or an invitation of mercy ? To my own mind. Sir, the thought is melancholy, that Christians have so generally departed from the plan of God and the exainple of the apostles, in preaching the gospel to a dying world. That plan and that exam- ple both point “ to the JeAv first, and also to the Greek,” as the or- der of procedure, in fulfilling the great commission of our Master. But, until lately, it will not be denied, Christians have not only em- ployed no direct means to bring Israel to the faith of Christ, but have passed them by in utter scorn, and, by cruel wrongs, by per- secution and oppression, have made stronger and heavier the chains which prejudice had fastened upon their minds. And even now, after the deep slumbers of ages are in some measure broken, and Christians are awaking to some concern for the advancement of tho kingdom of our Lord in the earth, it is to the Gentile nations, that first, and almost exclusively, they are directing their attention and efforts. The people whom our Lord and his apostles first address- ed, have scarcely a place in our benevolent regards. I verily be- lieve, Sir, the Church is guilty in this thing, and I rejoice. Sir, in any signs of repentance discoverable among any of the ranks of her members, iiv our own or foreign lands. But, Sir, besides the importance that is to be attached to the conversion of the Jews, regarded as individuals, there is a new, and if possible, higher importance added to it, if wo regard them as a nation. No truth, to the mind of the faithful student of tho pro- phetic Word of God, is more clearly revealed than this — that the restoration and conversion to Christianity of this wonderful people, ?3 will be cotcmporaneou3 with the gathering-in of the fulness of the Gentile nations. With the return of their national happiness ami glory under Christ, then to be acknowledged as their tavior King, is inseparably connected the triumph, and happiness, and glory of the Christian Church. In what order, precisely, these events are to follow each other, and just what are to be their relations of de- pendence, it perhaps would be presumptuous for us to say. But this Avc do know', that God, in his infinite wisdom, has so interwo- ven the destinies of the Gentile race with the fortunes of tho Joav- ish nation, that so long as the latter remains in a state of wander- ing and dispersion, and in the rejection of Jesus of Nazareth, our world Avill continue the abode of sin, and under the dominion of Sa- tan. Sir, the Jewish nation is the centre of all true history. Upon its fate, in an important sense, hangs suspended the late of all na- tions. Tho time comes, when “ the nation and kingdom that will not serve this people, shall perish ; yea, those nations shall bo ut- terly Avasted.” If Avo turn to the Ave find that to no people has it been given to perform so important a part in the execution of the divine purposes concerning our Avorld, as to tliem : that no na- tion, in its career, has made so deep an impression on the mind of the Avorld wo inhabit. To the historian, the statesman, and the philosopher, the history of this people presents a most interesting and fruitful study, aiAtl their future destiny offers a most important problem. It is not extraA'agant to say, that no race has exerted half so powerful an influence in moulding the character of our race, as this helpless, weak, and wandering people. Upon almost every feature of our social and political institutions, their influence is dis- tinctly Ansiblo. The spirit of the great IlebrCAv legislator pervades all our sj'stems of goveraments and our codes of laAvs ; and the gems of everything truly excellent and noble in our social organi- zations ma}" be found in his idea of the IlebreAv commouAvealth. — Upon our literature, also, the JcAvish mind has stamped its indelible impress. After the lapse of tAventy centuries, with all the accumu- lated Avisdom of ages, and all the boasted efforts of the enlightened mind of modern civilization, we still turn back to those rude tribes, dwelling on the hills and in the valleys of Palestine, for our richest lessons of Avisdom, and our highest models in oratory and song. — True, the strains of many harps, in these latter days, sanctified by the Spirit of God, are sweet and melodious, and w'e listen to them refreshed ; but before the heavenly breathings of the harp of Israel’s honored king, they are silent ; and in the presence of David’s wise successor, and before the rapt Isaiah, and the inspired Paul, tho the teachings of modem philosophy, and the utterances of modern genius, and the tones of modem eloquence, cease to be heard. In short, Sir, in whatever direction we turn, we everywhere see tho traces of their influence and power, if not manifested in crumbling 24 pyramidd and moss-grown ruins, engraven on the heart of man, written on the face of civilized society, and daily becoming more and more visible in shaping the destinies of the world. But, Sir, if to the historian, the scholar, the statesman, this peo- ple are a subject of such importance and interest, what must they be to the Christian — to him who, sustained by faith, waits to see the full revelation of the mysteries of the kingdom of God ? Around their history, in Ids mind, cluster a thousand associations, tender, sacred and sublime, beyond the power of language to utter. The great events of that history are mingled in the recollections of his ten- derest years. The names of its heroes, judges, kings — its poets and prophets, are to him as household words. He remembers them as the chosen people of God, selected from amongst all the nations of the earth, to be the depository of his truth, the arm of his power, and the abode of his glory. He beholds the Almighty for many a- ges, exercising over them a peculiar care, manifesting himself to them by the most wonderful exhibitions of his power, and even con- descending to speak with them face to face. Isow inflicting pun- ishment for their sins by some terrible example of his justice, and now winning them to submission by the revelations of his love. And at length, when the last scenes of the old dispensation are passing, and their mational glory is fast losing itself in the shadows of that long night which is still upon them, it is as a Jew that he beholds the Son of God visiting our world, and restormg, for a few years, in his own person, the pristine glory of man. 0, Sir, Judea, Ju- dea, it is indeed, to the Christian, a land of “ hallowed memories,*’ invested with a sacred splendor, compared Avith wliich, the splendor of the mightiest monarchies and republics of antiquity waxes faint and dim. We may gaze Avith intense, high-wrought emotions, up- on the battle-fields moistened by the blood of freemen ; but Avith far different feelings do Ave gaze on the hill of Calvary, wet with the blood of Jesus Christ. We may wander amid the rivers of classic lands with all the lively interest and pleasurable emotions of the scholar ; but Avith far ^flerent sentiments stirring our hearts and SAVclling our bosoms, do we stand on the heights of Zion, Avhere ar rose in beauty and strength the temple of God, and Avhere the splen- dor of the Bhekinah revealed to human vieAV the glories of the pres- ent diAanity. It is a land honored and blessed in the recollections of the past, nor to be less blessed in the gloi'ies of the future — con- secrated, ennobled, as the place of the lledeemcr’s birth, and liis grave ; but to be more glorious, as the place of his rejoicing and the scene of his eternal triumphs. We s.ay, then. Sir, from the part the Jewish nation hasalreatly played in human affairs, avc might reasonably, and Avithout the gui- dance of Scriptiu-e, conclude, that they are reserved to fill some high and momentous purpose. Their present condition — their na 25 tional identity in their long dispersion, is a phenomenon which un- aided human reason is utterly unable to explain. Yes, Sir, it has been well said, “ The Jew remains a problem which infidelity can never solve.” A nation, now in the close of the eighteenth centu- ry of her dispersion, as distinct from the fluctuating multitudes of the nations, as the islands are from the surroundmg oceans. The waves rise and fall, rage, and subside again into quietness ; but the firm rooted rocks of the islands remain unmoved. The empires of the earth, from Nimrod to Napoleon, like the waves of the sea, have chafed each their little hour of rage against the rock of Judah, and have each sunk out of vision, to rise no more. But the Jewish na- tion, the mountain of the Lord’s house, based on a sure foundation, has stood, and now stands, and will stand, established in the top of the mountains, that all the earth may know, and consider, and un- derstand together, that the power of the Lord hath done it, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it ; according as it is wTitten — “ Tliis people have I formed for myself : they shall show forth my praise.” But, Sir, we are not left here to inference and conjec- ture. In the light which prophecy has shed over the future pros- pects of tills nation, all becomes clear and plain. Their national existence is never to cease. “ Though I make a full end of all na- tions where I scatter thee, I will not make a full end of thee.” — “ Ye shall not be reckoned among the nations.” They are to be restored to the land of their fathers. “ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised, unto the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of Righteous- ness to grow up unto Darid, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely ; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called. The Lord our Righteousness.” They shall be converted to the faith of Christ. “ I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of aU countries, and will bring you in- to your own land : then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Km as one moumeth for an only son, and shall be m bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-bom.” “ And I will remove the miquity of that land in one day.” 0, Sir, what scales of darkness will faU from their eyes, when the long-re- jected and despised Jesus shall be revealed to them as them own, their trae, their ever-glorious Messiah ! With what wonder and rapture wiU they gaze on the divine glories beaming from his per- son, and making radiant the whole of his mysterious work of grace and love ! YThat a blessed reality will it give to their system of 4 - types and sacrifices ? Wliat a beauty, and power, and coloring of heavenly grace, to their wonderful hi^ory as a nation ! Then, in- deed, the harp so long silent and unstrung, or waked only to breathe forth the notes of lamentation and sorrow, shall be attuned to the divine melody of the Eedeemer’s praise — infidelity give place to a firing faith, and “Holiness unto the Lord, be inscribed on all the worl^ of his hands.” Then, in the language of the prophet, “ They shall be all righteous — they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glo- rified.” Thus brought within the fold of Christ, they shall prove an organ of spiritual blessing to aU the nations of the earth. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but fife from the dead?” “ If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the* Gentiles, how much more their fulness ?” “ Sal- vation is of the .Jews.” This is true of the post ; and in regard to the Gentile nations, I believe it is to be true in a stiU larger and more glorious sense, in the future. The promise, that in them “ all the families of the earth should be blessed,” has never yet been ac- complished. The blessings they have conferred up(^u the Gentiles, are only a partial realization of this rich promise — a few scattered rays, merely, of that unrivalled glory which is yet to be concentra- ted in them, and to radiate from them, on the length and breadth of a dying world. “ Gentiles shall come to their fight, and kings to the brightness of their rising.” “ Men, out of all languages of the nations, shall take hold of the skirts of him that is a Jew, say- ing, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” Then shall be ushered in a new and bright era in the reli^ous his- tory of the Gentile race. Under the visible headship of their glori- ous King, these restored exiles will lx; found “ as a dew scattered over all the earth,” and, in their influenoe upon the world, will prove as “ fife from the dead.” Then, and not till then, will the cherished hopes of the people of God be realized, in the conversion of the earth to Christ ; and the good seed which, amidst the storms and darkness of a wintery night, has been scattered over the nations, spiing up to its rich and abundant harvest. Mr. President, for the salvation of a people honored by such a Past, and authorized by the Spirit of eternal tnith to anticipate such a Future, it is good, it is honorable, it is blessed, to labor. — Let us, then, go forward, strong in the righteousness and greatness of our work, ’'and believing that “ the set time to favor Zion” draws near. Rev. !Mr. Harkxes.<, Mnlttiawnn, Nm York. — Mr. President, I owe you, this audience, and myself, an apology for my appearance before you at this time. I had not the remotest idea of such a fl thing, until, as I was coming in at the door this evening, the fol- lo'wiiig resolution was put into my hands : Resolved, That tlic great aim of this Society is to declare the gospel of the grace of God to the long-neglected children of Abraham ; and that our sole reliance for suecees in tliis work is on the promise*! inllueuces of the Holy Spirit, who is able even to subdue all tliiugs uuto Clirist. Fortunately, this resolution requires no argument from me, in its support. It speaks of the Jews as having been “long neglected and who does not know tliis to be the fact ? — long and utterly neg- lected. Trace them whore you may, you find them everywhere a neglected people. Sometliing is done to carry the gospel to all oth- er famibes of our fallen race, wliile we have only neglected, where ivc have not persecuted, those from whom we received that gospel. Yes, even in the Christian Church, what sympathy has been shown for the Jew ? Oh, her charities have been few — her love cold, and when she had uttered an occasional bi-icf petition for the in-gaiher- iug of Israel with the fulness of the Gentiles, she felt that her re- sponsibilities in this department were discharged, and her labors ended. To tliis day they are a neglected people. The gi’eat aim of this Society is — the first aim of the Church should be — to go and tell these Jews, to whom the covenant and the promises belong, that Shiloh has come, and that he is coming again. Yes, the Jew thinks we tell him that all the promises con- nected witli Messiah have already been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazar reth, and tliis he cannot believe. He expects a victoiious Prince : point liim to the I\Ian of Sorrow. Put tell him that he who came in sorrow, as the sufieriug Lamb of God, will come again in glory and majesty, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and that Jew and Gentile wiU then bow themselves doiiTi before him, and by thus con- ceding to the Jew the appropriate design of the second advent, you will be more likely to succeed in persuading him of the suitableness and necessity of the first. It is well that your great aim is to de- clai-e the gospel of tlie grace of God to Israel. The 67th Psalm is sufficient to show, that Israel is to be the grand instrument in de- claring it efficiently to the nations. Your success in the work I cannot doubt, when I see that your sole reliance for success is on the promised influences of the Holy Spirit. That blessed Spirit,, speaking by prophets and apostles, has has abxmdautly testified bis sympathy with your efibrts. “ Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen up- on thee. For, behold, the darkness sh^ cover the earth, and gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” — Isaiah lx. 1-2. “ Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee ; and I will save her that healeth, and gather her that was driven out ; and I wfll get them praise and fame in every land where they have r28 been put to shame.” — Zeph. iii. 19. “ Neither shall they defile themselves any more Tvith their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions : but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them : so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them.” — Ezek. xxxvii. 23, 24. “ And the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusa lem, and before his ancients, gloriously.” — Isaiah xxiv. 23. In like manner the Apostle of the Gentiles tells us tha t the natural branch- es were cut off only for a season, jand for a specific purpose, and, when that is accomplished, they'shall be “ graffed in again.” “ A nation shall then be bom in a day” — who doubts that that nation is Israel ? “ And_^the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion ■with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” — Isaiah xxxv. 10. God will be tme to his promises. The Kov. John H. Bernheim, one of the Society’s IMissiona- ries, offered the next resolution, 'viz : Resolved, Tliat the present remai-kable agitation in the Jewish mind, and the spreading spirit of rebellion against Rabbinical bondage, furnish a strong motive for greatly enlarged efforts to save this ancient and interesting race from tlie depths of Rationalism and Infidelity. The present religious condition of the Jews, said Mr. Bernheim, in Europe, as well as in this country, belongs to the remarkable ap- pearances of our age. Till lately, the Jews formed, not only their statutes, customs and laws, but also through their relation with their neighbors, an entirely separate community ; and altho’ some of them had gained great riches, yet not the general respect of the people. The last Jewish generation perceived tho chasm which separated them from the moral element of Christianity, and believed that a reform of their condition only could fill it up. And thus began, consciously and unconsciously, the intellectual fermen- tation within Judaism. They began to lay aside old customs and ceremonies, and accommodate themselves to the ways and customs of the Christians among whom they lived, without giving up entire- ly the source of their contempt, the Rabbinical statutes. The re- sult was, that the Jew’s remained Jews still, and their condition still comfortable. And now the very name “ becomes irksome — they substitute the name ‘‘’•Israelites.^’ But still the Jew remained a Jew — only, in place of being in collision witli Christianity alone, he came into conflict with Judaism also, and his condition became more and more entangled. There were but two ways of escape — either to turn to orthodox Judaism, or, to embrace Christianity. The first was a burden to them which they were unwilling to bear: and, as for tho second, although many embraced Christianity, yet the greater part could pot encounter and overcome tho obstacles which are generally in the way of proselytes. A change from Judaism to Christianity ef- fects the dissolution of fixmily connections w'hich even nature has sanctified. Whoever knows the power of habit, and tho iuefifacca- ble impression mado’^on youth under parental training, can easily conceive what conflict every proselyte has to endure — a conflict which would surely last^foreAer, if the Prince of Peace did not be- stow upon them that peace which the world cannot give. Again, there are some difficulties in the way of the proselyte from the side of tho Christians. Every convert is treated by the Christians with distrust, their candid design doubted — they may ba carnal — their intention selfish, kc. Expelled from tlieir father’s house, persecuted by their brethren, distrusted by tho Christians, and despised by the cliildrcn of the world, they looked out for some other way to escape these evils. At first they became indifferent to religion in general ; then, disbe- lieving the Bible and reading the works of infidels and rationalists, they imbibed their sentiments, and as they found, even among Chris- tian divines and professors, those who cried, with the Jews of old, “ away with tliis man !” they united with them, and cried, even louder than these, “Away, away wth the old and the new ; we we believe notliing but what reason teaches us to believe.” And such is now the creed of their reformers, and of the majority of Jews. One violent schism after another has sundered thoir communi- ties ; the rituals of their synagogues are changed ; the Talmud is a fable ; the Word of God nothing more ; circumcision an oriental custom, and Jerusalum an ancient ruin, of which nothing is to be expected. Well enough could some of them unite with Ronge, and receive baptism ; his creed is theii’S, and theirs his ; Jesus the reformer they confess, but he came 2000 years too soon ; his generation could not understand him, and he became a second Socrates. What arc the Jews now ? Their own confession is : We are neither Jews or Christians, we do not keep the law, neither do we believe Christianity ; we believe nothing. Behold, in the people of the covenant, a nation without religion ! They have separated from the Old Testament, without receiving the New. They renounce all pos- itive belief, and every historical basis. They set aside the book of revelation of the living God, as well as the Talmud, and they be- lieve that in this consists their complete redemption from misery, and the salvation of Zion. We are sorry to make such statements, and we could shed tears of blood over the abberration of our brethren, who give up and cast away their old inheritance, the law and the prophets, and refuse the grace in Jesus Christ, their Messiah. 20 The appearance of Christianity ^yas the tnie reform of Judaism for the whole human family — and why should it not be for the Jews now? We are firmly convinced, that from no other quarter can deliverance come to Israel. Shall we, then, as Christians, leave the Jews in their miserable condition, without making an effort to relieve them, when we arc con- vinced that nothing else can, or will, save them, except the gospel ? Shall we leave them to perish in their infidelity and sin ? Did Christ not command, “ Go and teach all nations?” Did not this make it the duty of the primitive Christians, even under much per- secution, to proclaim to the Jews the glad tidings of a redeemer; and should we, who have nothing to fear, neglect this important du- You know their bitterness and enmity against Christianity ; you are acquainted with the fact that some of the most eminent fa- thers of relationship and fidelity, were Jews — (Philo, Spinoza and Mendelsohn.) If this poison -would remain within the walls of the synagogues, it -would be sufiiicient reason to labor -with all might to save this ancient and interesting race ; but, Avith shameless face and reckless hand, they spread it through states and coimtries. In Eu- rope they have the press in their hand, and publicly blaspheme the name of the Lord. An eminhnt divine, (Mr. Bellson) in Berlin, Prussia, Avrites : “ The JcAvigh leaders of public O|iuion domineer over us, more than the Jesuiis have ever done, and in such a de- gree, that Avc, to make this statement, had to create a ncAv organ, as Ave hardly can find one in all Prussia.” The gospel must be preached to the J ews ; enlarged efforts must be made to save them ; the law must still become their school- master to h'ring them to Christ ; they must be led to see the folly and wickedness of modern Judaism, and retui'ii to the Lord. T’hink of their deplorable condition ; think Avhat responsibility rests ujwn you, if you let ihem starve a spiritual death, Avhilst the means arc in your hands to saA’c them; think v.liat you haA'e re- ceived throng them — :ncrcy. “ Even so have these also noAv not believed, that through your mercy they also may- obtain mercy.” If one spark of gratitude is left in your bosom, it must biu n Avith sympathy and commiseration, to save this interesting race from c- ternal ruin. To human poAver it is indeed impossiWe ; only' faith in the prom- ises, that the Son of God Avill lead them to eternal glory and hap- piness, can redeem Israel from all misery. 'I'hc power of this be- lief, as Avell as the conviction that he alone can malce them happy and free, be tlie AvatchAvord and strength ot your Society'. But “ hoAv shall they believe in him of Avhom Uioy have not hcai’d ? and hoAv shall they hear without a preacher ? and how sliall they preach, except they be sent ?” “ ShoAv your faith by your works.” “Now is the Jay of Grace — now the day of salvation.” Now is the time to labour amonj; the covenant people — now they mast learn to see their lost condition — now they arc in a state of mind to li.st- en to the trutlis of Christianity — now, or never ! Go to work, re- lying on the prruni-sesof the eternal Jehovah — defy the scorn of the (ievil and his emissaries — let your light shine, and you will gain fnends, even those who arc now opposed to your Society and op- erations. Send missionaries to our ports and cities filled with Jews, in which, in some measure, your missionaries have gained already access, and broken doA\'n’ toe wall of partition. Let them preach Christ, the atonement for our sins, hohling forth the tnith which is in Christ Jesus ; proving, by Closes and the Prophets, that he is the promised seed, to bimise the serpent’s head — convincing, by history, that Christianity is the only religion which makes the nations happy, and secures their welfare — helping those imiuirers who ask, “ what must we do ?” and strengthening those who have confessed the Lord, which is as necessary as it was to convince them of Christ. “ For tliis” — saith the celebrated Dr. Tholuck — “ for this is the rea- son, tlic great reason, wliich must hinder the efficacy of all our mis- sionary actlvdty among the Jews ; that in the Church there is not that community of feeling and brotherly love udth which these new conVerts should be welcomed and encircled, so that the tender plant may grow into a vigorous tree. AVc sow the seed, but when it be- gins to grow, there is none that watereth ; we water, but there is none, in ease of a stonu, that would bind fast the young, wavering tree. AYlio should believe it, that converted Israelites in the midst of Christians find less supporting and nourisliing care than those a- mong the heathen ? Among the heathen, the missionaries gather around them their little flock, that they may cherish and nurse them till they have become strong in faith and in the Lord ; whilst here among Chiistians, the new converts are pushed into the world, after they have received baptism, and left to their fate, if they might, by chance, find one true among the thousands of nominal Christians, who really takes an interest in their spiritual welfare. Therefore, before we complain about the deceits and hardness of heart of tlie carnal Israel, let the sjnritual Israel accuse us that we are wanting of the salt of brotherly love. Provide for those who forsake all and follow Jesus, and I assure you your labor shall not be in vain. The time is fast approaching when all “ the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord.” Let the Jews have the gospel, and you will see that “salvation is of the Jews “ the receiving of them'wiU be as life from the dead.” Infidelity will then be an impossibility ; for thus saith the Lord : “ They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them ; neither shall they defile themselves any more ; and living water shall go out of Jerusalem.” 3 ^ Friends of Christ and Israel ! help to speed this glorious time, and, whilst you give blessings to others, yourselves Trill be blessed. And to you, my brethren, I say : Believe in him whom your fa- thers crucified, and ye shall be saved. Kev. Dr. Bond, New York, offered the last resolution. Resolved, That this Society renews its earnest appeal to all the churches of Christ in this land, for a more general and hearty co-operation in prayer and effort, in be- half of this cause of Israel, and the world. I have listened to these addresses with attention, with delight, and I trust with some measure of edification ; and it has happened just as I expected. I came wholly unfurnised Tvith material for a speech, and, therefore, requested to be put last ; and now, sure e- nougii, the whole ground has been gone over. Those who have preceded me have made me regret that I am an old man — a feehng that I am not sure that I ever had before. But really I see growing up around me so many noble institutions — so be- nevolent — so full of the spirit of the gospel — that I do regret that I shall pass away soon — so soon. I must confess. Sir that this par- ticular effort I have not estimated as I ought to have done. I say that I have never before appreciated it as I have been taught to do by the previous speakers. And now I start up, and ask myself. Why have we neglected the Jew ? I recollect that the command was to “ begin at Jerusalem," the secne of the crucifixion ; and those who were sent, so far from neglecting the Jew, and withold- ing the gospel from him, almost forgot that any body else was to have it. In aU their journeyings, they never failed to repair to the synagogue ; and a special revelation was needed, before Peter would condescend to visit Cornelius. How comes it, then, that the Christian Chnrch, so soon after the apostles’ days, began to neglect the Jew, and cut him off from their sympathies ? Ah ! Sir, here is the thing that should cover us with shame. We lost not only the zeal of the first missionaries, but their message also. Why, Sir, it had seemed as if the gospel were about to take the uings of the morning and sweep all roimd the globe. And what arrested its flight? No wonder we forgot the Jews. The very heathen were shut up from us — scaled up hermetieally a- gainst Christianity — and all because it ceased to be Christianity. IVTiat gain would it have been for the nations to have cast their i- dols to the moles and bats, had they merely substituted the idols of Ilomanism ? Surely, it was a mercy of God, to circumscribe tho dominion of such a gospel ; and how great a mercy, that he left us a little remnant. But then, towards the beginning of the 16th century, it pleased God to rcrive His work. Then we should have expected, tho mes- sage being restored, the Jew would have been thought of again. And why not ? Sir, we Methodists have a way of talking out very 33 plainly. The fact is, wc took to interpolating too — disputing about our points, our five points, until wo got to point no point. Was it the gospel of peace that we carried abroad at that time ? No, Sir, hut a sword. Lately, however, in London, we found a new plat- form on which wo can all stand, and have room enough. The resolution speaks of “ effort.^’ And what has any man in this house done yet in this cause ? The work must bo done — and done by human instrumentality. God works no miracles to do what can as well be done mthout them. It raquired a miracle to raise Lazarus, but he came forth “ bound.” Christ did not work anoth- er to “ loose him and the reason was, that the disciples could do that. There is one advantage in being an old man. I have learned sometliing by experience, something by observation. And, among other things, I have learned to have very little regard for what is called pci-sonal property. But tor real estate I have very great regard. There is something solid, substantial, secure, about that. Only let us be sure that it is real estate ; for there is no such thing in this world. “ Lay up your treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through nor steal.” That is the only real estate. When I have thought of making my will, I have found that I was not a bit wiser than Solomon, who could not tell whether the man, to whom he should leave all, would be a wise man or a fool. But I am quite sure of having whatever I have given away for Christ — have it, yes, a himdred fold in the present life, and in the world to come fife everlasting. I think I love my cluldren, but why should I give them every thing, and keep nothing to myself? I have surely a right to some share — and one-third would not be too great a portion. May God impress this truth upon us all, and give us to feel it, and act accordingly. 5 34 CLOSING PART OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. Resultc:. — The Board would have it distinctly understood, that it is not at all tlieir design or their wish to organize separate churches of converted Jews. They do not forgot that “ the middle wall of partition” has been “ broken down ” by him who “ is our peace, and hath made both one.” To rebuild it, or any part of it, is not their object. The single and sold responsibility, with wliich they consid- er themselves charged, is that of preaching “ Christ and him cruci- fied” to Israel. The measure of increase that shall reward their patient and persevering efibrts the leave to His gracious disposal, who alone giveth “ seed to the sovy’er, or bread to the eater.” ^Vnd as to the particular evangelical domination, with which any convert shall connect himself, that is a matter in wliich the Society takes not the slightest interest. We are satisfied, when it is given to us to see “ the lost sheep ” in the hands of the “ Shepherd of Israel.” Besides, it is very obvious, that in the vast majority of cases it must be an utterly impracticable thing, to trace the result of mis- sionary labour among so shifting and misettled a population, as that with which this Society has to deal. Of those, however, who du- ring the past year have been brought mider the influence of our Missionaries, either in the Mission House or in their out-door la- boura, at least six are known who have been received into the com- munion of the Chuixh of Christ. The God of the Covenant re- mains ever faithful, and in our day also has a remnant in Israel. , But another result ecpially interesting, and one full of blessed promise both to Jew and Gentile, is the extensive reawakening of the sympathies of the Church itself towards these long wanderers from the household of faith. Of this most encouraging fact satis- factory evidence is afibrded in the ecclesiastical action, friendly to the Society and its object, that has been adopted during the year by many of the leading religious bodies of our country. CoNCLtJSlON. — We thank God that Zion is thus coming once more into mind, and that God’s servants arc beginning to “ take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust tliercof.” We hail this movement, already pervading Christendom, as the brightest omen that meets the eye in these days of spiritual languor and decay. Surely it betokens the near approach of “ the time — the set time ” — when God himself “ shall arise and have mercy ujion Zion,” and the mountain of the Lord’s house being established in the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills, “ all nations shall flow into it.” 3.3 But we cannot conceal the stren^tli of our conviction, that the Church has hy no means yet attained to any adequate sense of the solemn, ever ir^ent, hut km- neglected « in re-uir.1 to this once mighty ami honored, and irapenshahle race. On the glones of their national history, so tai tramscendin-, in all the elcmenti of an interest at once human and divine, the most illustrious annals of any mere earthly empire, and on die nia -nitude of the '^^ms^esdon becomes yet more emphatic, when it is considered that we shall look in vain for the full aoc^nphshment other great oljects, on ichich the IceaH of Prote^ thr^ ie set, so long as Israel remains an outcast from much has been spoken lately of die desirableness ion, and of harmonious co.operauon among those who are already one in Christ and essentially one in mth and in the hi-h calling. But when is it that the jealoi^iea, and ^visions, ^d ammosities of a distracted and disordered Church shall disappear IVheii sh.all the watchmen lift up the voice ; wuth shaU they sing : for they shall see eye to eye —and, beholdin in every eye the Ught of mutual love and of a common joy, shaU glad- ly forego the ancient inquisition after motes and beams . ^Is it, when all the nations have become monarchies, or ^ when aU the Chi-istians have become Bapnsts . or all Methodists . or all Congregationalists? or all Presbyterians ? or ^ Episcopdi- ans ? Ko — no ; it is “ when the Lord shall bring again Zion, and the gospel herald, no longer turning Zion’s glory into the smoke of mctoption>, shall “ say unto Zlo,., TSy God reignM. into L, mi J together, ye waeU ylocee of .Jemmlem . for the Lord hath comforted his people. He hath redeemed J^usalem. Or, is it sought to arrest the progress of a foul and cruel super- stition, and to burst the spell that binds the nations to Rome. us learn a lesson from the instincts of the sorceress herself--fr^c)m the hatred and suspicious dread, with which she has ever patched and tyrannized over the Jew, and pomt the eyes of men to that ho- ly hill, whence the law went forth in former days — (whether or not it shall yet again go forth, as many students of prophecy believe that it shall) — even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And, finally, would we devise some more efficient methods than have hitherto been pursued, for the discharge of that great com- mission entrusted to us by the Savior of men, now gone up to the right hand of power — the blessed commission of preaching His gos- pel, and making known His saving health to all nations ? Then, if we believe, and probably no one will call the truth of it in question, that the grand final result of all missionary labours and sacrifices, to wit, the subjection of the world to Christ, will not be, cannot pos- sibly be, by any amount of sacrifice and labour whatsoever, eficct- ed, until the veil is rent from Israel’s heart, and it shall turn to the Lord — if we believe, and who will deny, that this conversion of Is- rael to the Lord their God, and David their king, is the foreor- dained and indispensable preliminary to the universal triumph — surely it is time that the churches of Christ should act in this whole matter, as if they did believe these things. Many other considerations might be adverted to ; but Ave forbear. Solemnized by the holy memories of the past, animated l)y the hope of a yet more glorious future, and constrained by the love of Christ, let us rouse ourselves anew to this great Avork of declaring Christ to Israel. Let us unite to vindicate the truth and meekness of the gospel from the prejudices engendered by the blasphemous perver- sions, and Avicked relentless persecutions, of an apostate Church. In the dear and mighty name of the risen One, let us prophecy to the dry bones that they may live ; and over all our service breathe the spirit of Him who wept over J erusalem, and is now “ exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Then shall the voice of the Intercessor within the veil, “ For Zion’s sake Avill I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I Avill not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as bright- ness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that bumeth,” be an- swered by the cry of the Lord’s remembrancers on earth, “ Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion !” V