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'% Vi;t:
EIGHT
S E R M O N S
ON THE
PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE
DESTRUCTION of JERUSALEM,
PREACHEP BEFORE THE
UNIVERSITYOF OXFORD
IN THE YEAR 1785.
At the lecture founded by the late
Rev. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A.
CANON OF SALISBURY.
By RALPH CHURTON,. M.A.
FELLOW OF BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE.
OXFORD:
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRES9,
FOR ]^ AND J. FLETCHER; AND B. WHITE AND
SON, LONDON. M DCC LXXX V.

Imprimatur,

JOS. CHAPMAN,
Vice-Can. O x o n,
April 25. 1785.

B22.

TO THE REVEREND

THE HEADS OF COLLEGES,

THE FOLLOWING SERMONS,

PREACHED

BY THEIR APPOINTMENT,

ARE,

WITH MUCH RESPECT

AND GRATITUDE,

INSCRIBED.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.
Introdu(Aory view of the Advent of the
Meffiah, and of the Coming of his Kingdom.
Matt. VI. lo.
Thy kingdom come, — — Pag. i

SERMON II.
On the previous Propagation of the Gofpel.
Matt. XXIV. 14.
'\this gofpel of the kingdom jhall be preached
in all the world, for a witnefs unto all
nations j and then Jhall the end come, 41

ii CONTENTS.
SERMON III.
On the appearance of falfe Chrifls and
falfe Prophets ; with fome remarks on the
evidence of Prophecy and Miracles.
Matt. XXIV. 4, 5.
Take heed that no man deceive you. For many
Jloall come in my name, faying, I am Chriji ;
and Jhall deceive many. 87
SERMON IV.
On the Sigris of wrath, and the Com
mencement of troubles.
Matt. XXIV. 8.
All thefe are the beginning of forrows. 125
SERMON V.
On the providential Deliverance of the
Chriftians.
Luke XXI. 20, 21.
When ye JJoall fee Jerufalem compaffed with
armies, then know that the deflation thereof
is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea
fee to the mountains. — ^53

'CONTENTS. iii
SERMON VI.
On the miferies of the Siege, and the final
Defolation of the City and the Temple.
Luke XIX. 41, 42, 43, 44.
And when he was come near, he beheld the city
and wept over it, faying. If thou hadjl
known, even thou, at leaf in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace I but
now they are hid from thine eyes. For the
days Jhall come upon thee, that thine enemies
jhall caf a trench about thee, and compafs thee
round, and keep thee in on every fde, and
jhall lay thee even with the ground, and thy
children within thee ; and they Jhall not leave
in thee one fone upon another ; becaufe thou
knewef not the time of thy viftation. 183
SERMON VIL
On the future Converfion of the Jews.
I would not, brethren, that ye Jhould be igno
rant of this myftery (lef ye jhould be wife in
your own conceits) that blindnefs in part is
happened to Ifrael, until the fulnefs of the
Gentiles be come in. And fo all Ifrael Jhall
be faved.  2 1 5

iv CONTENTS.

SERMON VIIL
Recapitulation, with reflections and in
ferences.
John XIV. 29,
/ have told you before it come to pafs, that
when it is come to pafs ^ ye might believe. 239

ERRATA.
Page 21. n. 1. 2. for 19. read l8.
24. n. I. I. for ii. r. 11.
32. n. d. r. Matt. xiii. 43. and refer Mark xiv. 25. to
1. .7.
48. tl. 1, 2. for Iv. ;-. Ixv.
yi. \. 1. d. one their.
74. n. L ^.for 15. r. 16.
75. 1, zi.for wole r. whole.
142. 1. 1^. for p. r. q.

ExtraB from the lafl Will and Tejla-
ment of the late Reverend JOHN
BAMPTON, Canon of %2X\^\xxy,
 *' I give and bequeath my Lands
*' and Eflates to the Chancellor, Mafters,
*' and Scholars of the Univeriity of Oxford
** for ever, to have and to hold all and fm-
'< gular the faid Lands or Eftates upon truft,
*' and to the intents and purpofes herein after
*' mentioned ; that is to fay, I will and ap-
*' point, that the Vice -Chancellor of the
*' Univeriity of Oxford for the time being
" fhall take and receive all the rents, ilTues,
*' and profits thereof, and (after all taxes,
** reparations, and necefTary deduftions made)
** that he pay all the remainder to the en-
** dowment of eight Divinity Ledlure Ser-
*• mons, to be eflabliihpd for ever in the faid
*' Univerfity, -and to be performed in the
** manner following :
** I direft and appoint, that, upon the firft
** Tuefday in Eafler Term, a Lefturer be
** yearly chofen by the Heads of Colleges
*• only, and by no others, in the room ad-
** joining to the Prin^ing-Houfe, between " the

« the hours of ten in the morning and two
«' in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity
«« Ledure Sermons, the year following, at
" St. Mary's in Oxford, between the com-
«• mencement of the laft month in Lent
« Term, and the end of the third week in
«* Adt Term.
" Alfo I ditedi and appoint, that the eight
*< Divinity Lefture Sermons fhall be preach-
«* ed upon either of the following fubjeCts
*' — to confirm and eflablifh the Chriflian
** Faith, and to confute all heretics and fchif-
*' matics — upon the divine authority of the
" Holy Scriptures — upon the authority of
" the writings of the primitive Fathers, as
** to the faith and pradice of the primitive
" Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord
" and Saviour Jefus Chrifl — upon the Divi-
" nity of the Holy Ghofl — upon the Articles
*' of the Chriftian Faith, as comprehended
*' in the Apoflles' and Nicene Creeds.
** Alfo I dired:, that thirty copies of the
" eight Divinity Lefture Sermons fhall be
" always printed, within two months after
*• they are preached, and one copy fhall be
*' given to the Chancellor of the Univerfity,
•* and one copy to the Head of every Col-
** lege.

"' lege, and one copy to the Mayor of the
*' City of Oxford, and one copy to be put
*' into the Bodleian Library ; and the ex-
** pence of printing them fhall be paid out
*' of the revenue of the Lands or Eflates
*' given for eflablifhing the Divinity Ledture
*' Sermons ; and the Preacher fhall not be
" paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before
*• they are printed.
" Alfo I diredl and appoint, that no perfon
** fhall be qualified to preach the Divinity
*' Ledlure Sermons, unlefs he hath taken, the
*' Degree of Mafler of Arts at leaft, in one
" of the two Univerfities of Oxford or Cam-
** bridge ; and that the fame perfon fhall
** never preach the Divinity Ledture Sermons
« twice."

SERMON I,

Matt. VL io.
Thy kingdom come.
TH E kingdom of God is an expreffiori
which has different acceptations in
holy fcripture *. It denotes his eternail
and his fpiritual dominion ; that fovereign
power, which the Creator of all things ex-
ercifeth over the works of his hands, and
that flate of grace and falvation, which was
eflablifhed in the world by Jefqs Chrifl. The
former, it is evident, is neither fubjed: to
' iKFiP^aas tu Qin out oiHv i ^xfti, mt fUt i^-i tnetumi, rnn
ei ilg,7« hiftiis^'yict*. ^om'K'ivH (tu yx^ atnttTut—nfrx tn t^i &it'
fjlitv^yas 7^«J9»" ^xriMva at rat WJr** ""- >(9'''« i" ""It oixeiufftus.
Chryfoft. Horn. 39. in i Cor. Tom. III. p. ^o^. 1. 12. ed.
Savil. hirhv—i in Xarti^os fixvit^ax' i (iti Trpoaiaucs x^ *5;bi»
UK i^sm, i Si fiCirie tgs mtitiet, HfX'ti oiTrt tih »ixhcjmscs ^aftteitisra,.
Id. T.v. p. 681. 1.10. A diminution

i ' SERMON 1.
diminution, nor admits of increafe -, it haS
no other bounds but thofe of the univerfe.
The latter, wide as it has fpread itfelf from
a fmall beginning, fomefimes opprefTed, and
fometimes profperous, may flill enlarge its
borders, as God fhall blefs what his right
hand hath planted, and bis providence pre-
ferved, till that come to pafs, which the pro
phets have foretold, till " the earth fhall be
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the
waters cover the fea"."
If this diflindtion be applied to the text,
though it is plain that the kingdom, in the
notion firfl mentioned, as unchangeable and
abfolute, cannot be that which is there in
tended S yet it may juflly be regarded, and
the doxology implies that it ought to be re
garded, as the ground of the petition- Be
caufe God is "King for ever and ever'',"
the fupreme. governor of heaven and earth,
we therefore pray, that he may be acknow-^
ledged as fuch ; that the gofpel of truth may
^ If. xi. 9. Hab. ii; 14.
"= Nam Deus qaando noh regnat 5 in cujus manu cor ora-
niuin regum eft. ¦ Sec quicq'uid nobis optamus, in ilium augu-
ramur, et illi deputamus, quod ab illo expeiSamus,
Tertull, de Orat. c. v.
•I Pf. X. 16.
be

SERMON 1. 3
be publifhed and received throughout the
world, and that thofe who enjoy its facred
light may walk worthy of it, as faithful fub-
jedls and obedient children of an Alaiighty
Lord and heavenly Father, as redeemed from
fin by the precious blood of the Son of God,
Such is, obvioufly, the general import of
this petition. If on the latter part of it any
thing, more is neceffary to be faid, we may
recolledt, how the infpired writers, with, equal
energy and fimplicity, ufe this and fimilar
exprefiions, in fpeaking on fubjedls of the
fublimefl nature. When *' Mofes, the man
of God, bleffed the children of Ifrael before
his death, he faid. The Lord came from Sinai,
and rofe up from Seir unto them j he fhined
forth from mount Paran, and he came with
ten thoufands of his faints^:" in thefe re-
fpedlive places he declared his prefence, and
imparted his bleffings to his chofen peo
ple, tn like manner therefore, by the coming
of the kingdom of God, or of Chrifl, or his
coming in his kingdom, may properly be un-
derflood any extraordinary manifeflation of
his power or glory *^, during the continuance
of his church upon earth, as well as his ap-
" Deut. xxxiii, i, z. '' See Wall on Matt. x. 23.
A 2 pearance

t ' SERMON I.
diminution, nor admits of increafe j it hag
no other bounds but thofe of the univerfe.
The latter, wide as it has fpread itfelf from
a fmall beginning, fomefimes opprefTed, and
fometimes profperous, may flill enlarge its
borders, as God fhall blefs what his right
hand hath planted, and his providence pre-
ferved, till that come to pafs, which the pro
phets have foretold, till " the earth fhall be
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the
waters cover the fea"."
If this diflindlion be applied to the text,
though it is plain that the kingdom, in the
notion firfl mentioned, as unchangeable and
abfolute, cannot be that which is there in
tended''; yet it may juflly be regarded, and
the doxology implies that it ought to be re
garded, as the ground of the petition. Be
caufe God is "King for ever and ever^,"
the fupreme. governor of heaven and earth,
we therefore pray, that he may be acknow
ledged as fuch ; that the gofpel of truth may
•> If. xi. 9. Hab. ii. 14.
"= Nam Deus quando noh regnat I in cujus manu cor om
nium regum eft. Secquicquid nobis optamus, in ilium augu-
ramur, et illi deputamus, quod ab illo expeaamus.
Tertull. de Orat. c. v.
0 Pf. X. 16.
be

SERMON I. 3
be publifhed and received throughout the
world, and that thofe who enjoy i,ts facred
light may walk worthy of it, as faithful fub-
jedls and obedient children of an Ahnighty
Lord and heavenly Father, as redeemed from
fin by the precious blood of the Son of God.
Such is, obvioufly, the general import of
this petition. If on the latter part of it any
thing more is necefTary to be faid, we may
recolledl,how the infpired writers, vvitn equal
energy and fimplicity, ufe this and fimilar
expreffions, in fpeaking on fubjedls of the
fublimefl nature. When " Mofes, the man
of GoD, bleffed the children of Ifrael before
his death, he faid, The Lord came from Sinai,
and rofe up from Seir unto them ; he fliined
forth from mount Paran, and he came with
ten thoufands of his faints*:" in thefe re-
fpedlive places he declared his prefence, and
imparted his bleffings to his chofen peo
ple, fn like manner therefore, by the coming
of the kingdom of God, or of Chrifl:, or his
coming in his kingdom, may' properly be un-
derflood any extraordinary manifeflation of
his power or glory *^, during the continuance
of his church upon earth, as well as his ap-
' Deut. xxxiii, i, z. *' See Wall on Matt. x. 23.
A 2 pearance

4 SERMON I.
pearance to judge the world at the lafl day.
The words of the text at leafl:, if we confider
them as fpoken by our Lord, and defigned by
him for general ufe in all ages, may well be
fpppofed to have this large and comprehenfive
meaning j to have carried in them, at firfl,
a prayer for many events long fince accom-
plifhed J and certainly to have included, in
the intention and foreknowledge of the divine
Author of them, the entire fcheme of his
church, from the time when it was but a
little flock, to that glorious asra, when it fhall
comprehend in its fold all the nations upon
earth, and that day ftill more glorious, when
he fhall come again, with his holy angels, to
beftow on all thofe, who have believed and
obeyed him, a crown of righteoufnefs, that
fadeth not away.
Viewing the words therefore in this ex
tent, let us confider fome of thofe paflfages in
the Gofpels, where the coming of the Son of
man. Or of his kingdom, is mentioned. The
intended courfe of thefe ledlures will perhaps
be a further illuftration of the fubjedlj but
the fcriptures, to which your prefent attention
is requefled, it is the more necefl!ary here to
examine, becaufe fome of them are often ap
plied, whether on good grounds or not we
are

SERMON I. 5
are to inquire, to an event which will be
brought forward, if God fhall enable us, for
future difcuffion.
But before we proceed to contemplate the
appearances of the Meffiah's kingdom, it may
be proper to flate, with as much brevity as
the point will admit, fome few of the pro
phecies refpedling the advent of the Meffiah
himfelf, when he ** vouchfafed to pitch his
tent among men, and dwelt in a tabernacle
of human flefhs."
"The Lord thy God," faith Mofes,
will raife up unto thee a prophet from the
midfl of thee, of thy brethren, like unto
me; unto him ye fhall hearken''." This
prophecy is feveral times in the New Tefla-
ment applied to our Lord ; and it has often
been proved, that it cannot poffibly belong to
any one elfe ; for all the other prophets were
in many refpefts inferior to Mofes, But the
pafTage deferves particular notice from ano
ther circumflance. There are inflances of
kings, both Pagan and Jewifh, who were
named and defcribed, long before their birth,
s Stanhope on i Sund. in Ady.\a>uitufi> » iftn. Joh, i. 14.
' Deut, xviii. 15,
A 3 by

8 SERMON I.
the ancient prophecies, thofe of Daniel in
piarticular, had marked out for the birth of
the Meffiah. But be this as it may, for it is
not to my prefent purpofe to dwell longer
upon the point ; it is clear as the light from
the prophecy of Haggai, that the Meffiah was
to cpme before the deftrudlion of the fecond
temple. ** The glory of. this latter houfe
fhall „ be greater than of the former, , faith
the Lord of hofls : and in this place will
I give peace, faith the Lord of hofls"."
This remarkable prophecy is never alledged
by any of the writers of the New Teflg-
ment '' ; and the reafon feems obvious. While
the temple was flanding, np certain proof
could be drawn from hence, that the Defire
of all nations was really come. But had any
of the infpired penmen lived to behold the
deflrudion of Jerufalem, and addrefTed an
epiflle ^o the miferable remains of their unr
believing brethren ; or had St. John,, for in-
Hance, who did furvive that fatal overthrow,
had occafion to difcourfe with fome one, who
had efcaped the general deyaftation, and flill
° Hag. ii. 9.
f Part of it (v. 6.) is cited Heb. xii. 26. but>vith a diiferent
view, not to fliew the time of the Meffiah's appearance, but
the change of the covenant, which was then to take place.
continue4

SERMON I. 9
continued obflinate in unbelief, he would,
we may prefunie, have particularly infifted
on the pafTage before us.
*' You have'feen the wrath of God poured
out upon your country, while you have
been delivered by the mercy of heaven :
let this awaken you to ferious refledlion.
Your city is laid wafle, and your temple in
aflies. This prophecy therefore, which
the Lord fpake by the mouth of Haggai,
when the temple was in building, muft needs
have been fulfilled : " Yet once, it is a little
while, and I will fhake the heavens and
the earth, and the fea and the dry land :
And I will fhake all nationsi and the Defire
of all nations fhall come, and I will fill
this houfe with glory, faith the Lord of
hofls. — The glory of this latter houfe fhall
be greater, than of the former." In what
refpedl did the fecond temple, the place
whereof now knoweth it no more, ever equal,
much lefs furpafs, the glory of the houfe built
by Solomon; unlefs it was by the appearance
therein of the promifed Meffiah, even this
Jefus, whom we preach unto you, and whofe
glory we beheld, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father''?"
« John i, 14.
Had

20 SERMON L
Had the Jew made anfwer, like fome of
his brethren in later ages, that thefe predic
tions were accomplifhed, in the longer dura
tion of Zerubbabel's temple, in the fplendor
of the walls as rebuilt by Herod, or the mag-
nificehce of the gifts, with which it was
adorned by foreign princes ; the beloved
Apoftle, grieved as he mufl have been with
fuch poor evafions, would yet have expoflu-
lated in the fpirit of meeknefs.
"Can you then fuppofe an holy prophet
to have been folemnly commiffioned, by
the Lord of hofls, to encourage, with fuch
Sender promifes, thofe who wept at the
inferiority of the houfe, which they Were
building .? Could any of thefe honours, if
fuch you efteem them; or could all of them
together, raife the latter temple to an equal
dignity with the former; in comparifon of
which, in the eyes of them who had feen
both, it was as nothing ? If it flood ten
years longer', if it was embelliflied by
Herod, an Idumean king, and enriched with
offerings from heathen nations ; it was pro
faned by Antiochus and Pompey; no fire
' This is the Jews' account. According to Ulher the firll
temple flood 417 years, the fecond 584,
from

SERMON L II
from heaven confumed the facrifices ; the
Urim and Thummim were wanting ; the vi-
fible Majefty of God was not there ; and
the fpirit of prophecy ceafed under it. The
promife relates not to a remote period, but
to a time near at blind ; " it is a little
while," fays the prophet. It does not re
fpedl the materials of the ilrudlure, or the
beauty of its decorations ; but the divine
prefence : " I will fill this houfe with glory ;"
as the glory of the Lord, in the time of
Mofes, filled the tabernacle, and afterwards
the temple eredled by Solomon". But the
latter houfe, before its difTolution, was made
ftill more honourable ; for therein the Re
deemer of Ifrael was manifefjed, even the
Son of God, who was there prefented, and
there taught. Be not therefore faithlefs but
believing *."
We may conclude then, on the authority
of this prophecy, that the Meffiah muft in
fallibly have appeared in the fecond temple j
and confequently that he was no other perfon
than the bleffed Jefus ; who was born, as
Jacob had foretold of Shiloh % before the
' See Exod. xl. 34. i Kings viii, 10. * John xx. 27.
" Gen. xlix. lO. fubverfion

12 SERMON I.
fubverfion of the civil polity of Judah ; of
the family of David, and at the city of Beth
lehem, according to the purport of other pre-
didtions * ; the fon of a pure Virgin, as Ifaiah
had forefhevvn of him '', and as the fame holy
prophet in conformity with the dodlrine of
the royal Pfalmift % had taught he fhould be,
Immanuel, God with us, or in our nature.
To this his divine origin the Father himfelf
gave atteftation at his baptifm by a voice from
heaven : " This is my beloved fon, in whorn
I am well pleafed *." When after this ini
tiation into his office he began publicly to
teach, he dated his gofpel from that point of
time, which the ancient prophecies had fixed
for its commencement ^ the preaching of his
forerunner: "the law and the prophets,"
the former covenant of God with his people,
** were until John: fince that time the king
dom of God," the new difpenfation from
heaven to mankind, " is preached, and every
man prefleth into it '."
Such then was the firft advent of the blef
fed Jefus : agreeable, in every refpedl, to what
* Mic. V. 2. Pf. cxxxii. 6. i Sam. xvii. iz. Gen. xxxv.
1 9. y If. vii. 1 4. 2 Pf. ex. I • ' Matt. iii. 1 7.
>• Comp. Mai. iv. 5, 6. 2, 3. with If. xl. 3.5.
' Lukexvi. 16. comp. Matt. xi. 11, 12. the

SERMON I. 13
the Holy Ghoft had, in old time, declared
concerning the Meffiah's appearance. Let us
now confider fome of thofe events, which are
defcribed by our Lord, in the courfe of his
miniftry, as the coming of his kingdom.
Of thefe the firft which we meet with is
mentioned by St. Matthew, in the following
words : " Verily 1 fay unto you, there be
fome flanding here, which fhall not tafte
of death, till they fee the Son of man coming
in his kingdom *."
In explaining this pafl*age, the beft of our
commentators have not referred it to that
event, to which alone it feems to belong.
When I venture to fay this, let me not be
thought prefumptuous ; for if among the
moderns many are againft me, the ancients
are unanimoufly on my fide. The learned
Origen **, and the venerable Chryfoftom %
and the reft of the fathers ^ apply the paflTage,
' Matt. xvi. 28.
¦' In loc. He confiders this as the literal fenfe, to which he
fubjoins an allegorical interpretation.
" In loc. T. II. p. 357.
^ Hilary, Jerome, Theophylaft, and Euthymius, on St. Mat
thew. St. Auguftin in a difcourfe on the fubjeft, Tom. V.
col. 425. ed. Paris i68g, and alfo on Galat. ii. T. iii. 948.
Ephraim Syrus, >iojsf ni 7^> MtjKjCtjf^wm* t* Sivrnjof. St. Am-
brofe

14 SERMON I.
with one voice, to our Lord's transfiguration i
and to this, I conceive, the context itfelf, in
each of the three Gofpels, where this fpeech
and that event are recorded, naturally leads.
For the evangelifts, without flaying to relate
any one intermediate fadt or difcourfe, pafs
on at once, from thefe. memorable words, to
the tran-sfigu ration ; and the time that inter
vened, from the previous declaration of our
bleffed Saviour, to this appearance of his
glory, is diftindlly marked by all the three ^;
a circumftance to which in no other inftance
have they fo uniformly attended, except in
the tranfadtions of the holy week.
brofe feems to underftand it in this fenfe, but is not very ex
plicit; and Bede gives this and another expofition, leaving it
tb th'e reader to judge for himfelf. To thefe authorities may
be added, among the more eminent commentators abroad,
Chemnitius, Maldonate, Eftius, Epifcopius, L. Brugenfis, Me-
Bochius, Vatablus, &c. The fame fenfe is given by Wall in
loc. and Dr. Jackfon, Vol. I. p. 103. Other Englifh divines
and expOfitors generally underftand the palTage of the deftruc-
tion of Jerufalem.
s Matt. xvii. i. Mar. ix. 2. The connedlion in St. Luke
3X. 28. is ftill more obfervable : EyinTo J"i f^tr* in; Asys; tstss
»«i ift,i^af axra. And by the feeming variation in the number
of the days he has fixed the time with greater precifion, and
fliews us that it was on the eighth day after the preceding
fpeech. 0 |tt£ii yaf j^ auTDn 77(» iiiMpav xuB'' tit i^^ty^xrc, xxxutut
H^y it aviiyxytt, tmit' '0 Si [MixS-sKs;] tws ^imSy rurut fiistti
Chryfoft. in Matt. xvii. I. If

SERMON I. 15
If the deftrudlion of Jerufalem, as many
have imagined, was here intended, and the
words were addrefTed to the apoftles alone ;
furely their Lord would not have included
more than one in a promife, which one only
was to fee accomplifhed *".
If again, with others, you apply the paf-
fage to the eftablifhment of the gofpel, by
the refurredlion and afcenfion of its heavenly
author, and fuppofe the words fpoken to the
whole multitude prefent '; would it have been
intimated, that few only, who heard the pre-
didlion, fhould behold its completion, when
eleven of the apoftles, and probably the far
greater part of the people who ftood there,
faw that wonderful event come to pafs ?
With the overthrow of the Jewifh (late
the phrafeology adopted feems not to: fuit;
for though ".powder," which St.. Mark men
tions'', is undoubtedly applicable to thofe
days of vengeance, other expreffions appear
'' When Mary anointed our bleffed Saviour, we are told
Mark xiv. 4. " there were fome (thss) that had indignation"
at the pious aft; which perhalps is to be underftood of the
traitor alone j but it is by no means credible that fflch laxity
of expreflion would be ufed by the hblyfpeaker in delivering,
or the hiftorian in recording, a folemn Promife.
,'. ^eA'Mark viii. 34. ^ Mark. ix. i. lefs

i6 SERMON L
lefs proper. Where the punifhment of ene
mies is the end in view, it feems not agreeable
to the general turn of fcriptural language on
fuch occafions, to ftyle it, with St. Mark and
St. Luke, " the kingdom of God'," or with
St. Matthew, "the Son of man coming in his
kingdom;" the immediate objedl of that being,
in every inftance, to fave and not to deftroy ".
Even in the defcription of our Lord's final ad
vent, although the kingdom, then to be be-
ftowed on his faithful fervants, is faid to have
been prepared for them from the foundation
of the world ; yet, as one has well remarked,
the everlafting fire, which the fame account af-
fures us the wicked fhall inherit, is not faid
to have been prepared for them, but for the
devil and his angels ".
To the transfiguration then we refer the
paflage. For it is net implied, that of the
perfons prefent many fhould die before the
fulfilling of the promife ; as if it related to
' Lukeix. 27.
" Our Lord fays indeed, Matt. x. 34. " I came not to fend
peace, but a fword." But this exprefles the confequence only,
not the defign, of his coming: " Ita hasc ejus adventu con-
fecutura, tanquam ea de caufa veniffet." Maldonat.
" Vide Matt. xxv. 31, &c. et Chryfoft. in loc. T.II. p. 494.
1. 29, &c.
fome

SERMON I, 17
fome diftant period". The diredl import feems
to be this : " fome of thofe ftanding here
{hall, before their death, be favoured with a
fight of the kingdom of God ; but the refl
Ihall not, in this life, be fpedlators of fuch an
appearance. " Clearer terms were not uffed, nor
the names mentioned of the chofen Three,
who were to be thus honoured, left the others
fliould be moved with envy; and for the fame
veafon probably, they were charged to tell the
vifion to no man, till the Son of man was
° Haec autem Ibcutio wn guftabunt mortem donee 'oideant mihi
videtur proverbialis, et denotare rem certo et proj^imb tem
pore futuram. Lamy in loc. — " That inevitable ftroke, which
Hiay fall any day and which never is far off, fliall not hap.
pen, before, &c." This feems to be confirmed by what w^
read Luke ii. 26. of Simeon ; to whom it was revealed " that
he fliould not fee death, before he had feen the Lord's
Chrlft." Neither the age of this devout perfon nor the time
of this revelation to him is mentioned ; but the whole tenor
of the ftory evidently fuggefts this interpretation : " That old
as he was, and though, in the ordinary courfe of provi
dence, there was but a ftep between him and death ; ftill,
neverthelefs, he fhould liv« to behold the promifed Meffiah."
Had he not already reached, if not paffed, the ufual term of
human life, inftead of " Nunc dimittis," the more natural
wilh would have been, that he m^ight live to be a hearer of
the heavenly difcourfes, and fpeftator of the miracles of the
glorious child, of whofe birth it had pleafed God to forewarn
liim. O mihi tarn longs maneat pars ultima vitse,
Spiritus et quantum fat erit tua dicere fafla.
Virg.
B rifen

i8 SERMON L
rifen from the dead ; when the defcent of thb
Holy Spirit, which was quickly to enfue,
would enlighten their minds, and fubdue
their prejudices.
In the mean time, this promife, gracioufly
fubjoined to the preceding predidlions of ca
lamities and perils, was a fource of confola-
tion, as its acComplifhment evinced, and an
afTurancc that their Lord was able to reward,
as Vvell as to punifh, to thq uttermoft. It
was evidently a difplay both of power and of
glory ¦¦. The great Lawgiver of Ifrael, and
the Reftorer of the law, the man Mofes, with
whom the Lord fpake face to face, and the
prophet Elijah, who was caught up to heaven
in a fiery chariot ; thefe perfonages, whom
the Lord of old fo highly honoured, now
appeared as the fervants of the Son of man,
and talked with him. Of a future ftate God
had never left men without fufficient evi»
dence. The refpedlive tranflations of Enoch
and Elijah were proofs of this, in times when
proof was moft wanted, among the fons of
riot before the flood, and when idolatry pre-
f St. Peter, mentioning this appearance, fpeaks of it as a
ihanifcftation of " power," of " majefty, of " honour," and
of " glory." See 2 Pet. i. 16-18. He feems alfo to allude
to it in his firft Ep. c. v. i. vailed

SERMON

19

vailed moft in Ifrael. But when the Son of
God afTumed our nature, heaven, as it werp,
came down upon mount Tabor, and glorified
humanity was made vifible to eyes of flefh.
In Mofes were reprefented the generations of
the dead, and in Elias, who died not, thofe
who fhall be alive at the laft day. When
Mofes on mount Sinai talked with God, his
countenance was fo bright that the Ifraelites
could not fteadfaftly behold it ^ When St.
Stephen was arraigned before the Sanhedrim,
they " faw his face as it had been the face of
an angel '." If fuch is the efTedl of God's
bleffed countenance, whenever he vouchfafes
a glimpfe of it in this life; what fhall be the
radiance, how ineffable the blifs, when we
fhall behold him face to face, and enjoy him
for evermore ' !
"> 2 Cor. iii. 7. with Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. It is in like man
ner fuppofed by fome, and with great probability, that the
countenance of our Lord ftione, when he defcended from the
mount. See Dr. Townfon on the Gofpels, p. 8. n. * and
Whitby and Doddridge on Mark ix. 15. to whom he refers.
' Afts vi. 15.
' See I Cor. xiii. 12. 2 Cor. iii. 18. In fnpport of the
above interpretation of Matt. xvi. 28. another argument might
have been offered ; which, as it was neceffary not to lengthen
the fermon, I fhall beg leave to ftate here. Our bleffed Sa
viour, on one or other occafion, foretold to his difciples al-
moft all the greater events' of his life and his death. la it
likely then, that the Transfiguration, which whether we con-
B 3 fider

io

SERMON. 1.

Another advent of the Son of man is mefl-
tioned by St. Matthew, previoufly to that
wiiich we have been confidering ; but it re
lates, I apprehend, to a fubfequent period.
When our Lord fent forth the twelve to
preach the kingdom of God, he not only
gave them ample inftrudlions for that purpofe,
but like wife forewarned them of the dangers
that awaited them, on this as well as on fu
ture occafions, in his fervice. For the pre
fent he permitted, or rather enjoined them,
when perfecuted in one city, to flee to ano
ther ; and he was pleafed to add this as a rea
fon : " For verily I fay unto you, ye fhall
fider it limply in itfelf, or as the atteftation of God to his be-
.loved Son, is undoubtedly the moft auguft appearance recorded
bf the miniftry of our Lord-; is it likely, that this manifefla
tion of his glory fhould have been left without its proper pre-
diftion, to happen as if it had been unforefeen ? This, I
imagine, will hardly be fuppofed ; and yet if the transfigura
tion is not alluded to in the paffage before us, I think it is not
at all foretold in the Gofpels. Whether the words were, or,
which is more probable, were not underftood by the apoftles
at the time, is not material j for they did not underftand the
much plainer prophecies of their Lord concerning his death,
but fancied them, as it feems, to have fome figurative ftgnifi-
cation. It was fufHcient therefore if the ptediftion was ex-
preffed in fuch a manner, that either the event itfelf, or the
fubfequent illumination of the Holy Spirit, fhould lead them
io the true intention of the Speaker ; and that, it is hoped,
has been fhewn, with feme probability, to hdve been his then
approaching Transfiguration.
not

SERMON I.

21

not have gone over the cities of Ifrael, till the
Son of main be come'."

It may help us perhaps to afcertain the
true meaning of this pafTage, if we fee, firft
of all, to what it does not belong ; and it
cannot be referred to the deftrudlion of Jeru
falem, Several, irjdeed, of the preceding
verfes have refpedl to events, which happened
fome time after our Lord's afcenfion; when, as
it is there foretold, the apoftles and others were
" brought before governors and kings, — for
a teftimony againft them and the gentiles"."
But the words under confideratio^i will not
admit of fo remote a reference.
The truth is, fome of the admonitions,
contained in this difcourfe of our bleflTed
Lord, appear to have been delivered by him
again, on another occafion. Thefe particu
lars therefore St. Matthew has recorded here^
when firft they fell from the heavenly fpeaker;
but St. Mark has inferted them in a feries of
predidlions, with which, in point of time,
they were more nearly connedted, when they
were repeated in the account of the ap
proaching diflTolution of the Jewift ftate *.
« Matt.x. 23.
¦ Matt. X. 19.
* Compare, in the.original. Matt. x. 17-2?. with Mark xiii.
9. 11-13. The 21ft and zzd verfes of $t. Matthew are, both
B 3 in

22 S. E R M O N L
And it is obfervable that the latter evangelift,
plainly copying from this part of the former
Gofpel, drops it however when he comes to
the twenty third verfe, the pafl!age in queftion;
as if to tell us, that this related not to the fub-
jedl then in hand : and it certainly does not.
For the gofpel was to be preached, before the
temple was deftroyed, not only throughout
all Judea, but among the Gentiles alfo, even
to the uttermoft parts of the then known and
inhabited world ".
Shall we then, with Theophyladl '^ and
others, underftand the text before us to mean
nothing more, than if it had been faid, in
plainer words, " I will come to you ?" This,
it fhould feem, is alfo inadmiffible. As the
apoftles were fent into different diftridls, two
in the words and the order, exaftly the fame with the 12th
and 13th verfes of St. Mark ; and the latter being copied
from the former, that is the reafon why the words rat iBmt
kre not in St. Mark, though St. Matthew has them in the cor-
refponding part of his Gofpel, ?. xxiv. 9. The addition of
the loth verfe in St. Mark (c. xiii.) is a further proof, that
thefe verfes in St. Matthew (c. x. 17-22.) belong to thetime
after our Lord's afcenfion. St. Matthew expreffes the fame
thing, but in different words, xxiv. 14.
y See Matt. xxiv. 14. Mark xiii. 10.
f In loc. S. Chryfoftom, Beza, &c. and

SERMON L 25
and two together % their Lord could not well
go to Them, and they did, in fadl, return to
Him \ Then, had this been his intention,
he would have faid, I conceive, as he elfe-
where does, ** I will fee you again," or " I
will come to you ' ;" and not have ufed a
mode of /peaking, which they would proba
bly mifapply.
The Meffiah, it has been obferved; Was
promifed by the prophets, and expedted by
the Jews, as the 0 tpxaf^ivoe, he that was com
ing, or fhould come ^. On this ground it
was probably, that the Coming. of the Son of
man is fo frequently and emphatically ap
plied, in the New Teftament, to our bleffed
Lord ; and though it fometimes may denote
his bodily prefence % yet not as unaccompanied
» Mark vi. 7. And fo the feventy, Luke x. 1 ;
^ Lukeix. 10. Mark vi. 30. So likewife the feventy, Luke
X. 17. ¦ ' ' ' ¦ ¦
' John xvi. 22. xiv. 18,
* See Kidder on the Meff?»s,- P.J. p. 37. See alfo JJj;.
Bandinel's excellent Sermons, p. 169. . .
* It feems in fuck inftances not to be ufed limply, but to
have fome other words joined with it, as Matt. xi. 19. Luke
,vii. 34. So too with regard to his future appearance to judge
the world, .it was faid by the holy angels to the apoftles,
" This fapie Jefus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
fhall fo come i« like manner as ye f>avt fetif him go into hea-
? 4 , , -VM."

24 SERMON I.
with fome fignal circumftance of dignity or
power; not a private interview between, hirn
and the apoftles. ^
How They, would underftand the words it
feems, not difficult to explain. They believed
their Mafter to be the Redeemer of Ifrael j
and they knew that his kingdom had beea
announced, by the preaching of the Baptift.
But all that had been donei, from his days tq
the prefent time, they confidered, and rightly
confldcred, asj/ntrodudlory to fomething more
illuftrious. What they were inftrudted tp
proclaim, and what their Lord hirnfelf taught,
was ^yiKiv ri (ietriAeta,, the kingdom of heaven
is near, or at hand*^ j a phrafe never ufed when
the, thing fpoken of was adlually prefent.
-.ja:..;|ci;-. . _ ,_.,•......!
The whole fpace of the public miniftry of
our Lord 'was, if I may fo call it, but the
inchoation, or commencement, of hi? king
dom. He had indeed, by the defccn^ of the
Holy Ghoft upon him. at his baptifm, been
anointed king ; but the adyerfary, the prince
of this world, the Saul, as it were, of this
<Kf»." Afls i. if. In other pafiages where toming is men
tioned abfolutely, as i Cor. xv. 23. i Theff. ii. 19. &c. the
word in the original is different.
' See Matt, x, 7. iv. 17. &c.
Son

SERMON I. 25
Son of David, was not yet deftroyed. On
the crofs the great confummation was pro*
nounced } the fhadows of the law were done
away ; death was fubdued, and he that had
the power of death ^. By the refurredlion
the vidtory was made manifeft ; and when he
pfeended into heaVen, he was eni^hroned king
at God's right hand, and gave, at this his
folemn inauguration^, gifts unto men, in the
imiraculous effufion of the Holy Spirit.
To this magnificent train bf events it is
probable our'blcfTed Redeemer alluded, when
he fpoke of the coming of the Son of man,
as about to take place, before the apoftles
fhould have gone over the cities of Ifrael.
And although of thefe things they had then
no conception, for they, with their country*
tncn, expedled a Meffiah invefted with tem*
poral authority and fplendor ; yet being right
in the main, in referring the word« to the
inftating of their Lord in the throne of David,
how that great event was to be brought about,
and what fhould be the nature of his king
dom, were points which were left to be ex
plained, partly by future conference with
s See Heb. ii. 14.
* SeeJHammond's Prafl. Catech. p. 21. their

26 SERMON L
their divine Mafter, partly by the marvelous
works themfelves, but chiefly by the illumi
nation of the Holy Spirit, which was to
guide them into all the truth.
- If to this interpretation it fhould be thought
an objedlion* that the words are not referred
to one fingle appearance ; it may be anfwered,
that the refurredion and afcenfion of our Lord
and the miffion of the Holy Ghoft followed
each other fo foon, and were, in the divine
economy, fo clofely connedled, that they may
properly be regarded, not as feparate inde
pendent fadls, but rather as parts of one and
the fame tranfadlion. Thus it is that the
fcripture feems to fpeak of them ' ; and expo-
fitors accordingly often apply a particular text
to all the three"*. If however any one choofes,
with Grotius, to confine the pafl"age to the laft
of thefe three glorious events, the defcent of
Holy Spirit, before which it is certain the
kingdom of the Meffiah was not fully come ;
' See Eph. i. zo. where the refurreftion and afcenfion of
Chrift are reprefented as one continued operation, if I may fo
fpeak, of divine power. And in the fame'Epiftle, c. iv. 8.
the afcenfion of our Lord and the miffion of the Holy Spirit
are mentioned as of equally clofe conneftion. Compare/John
xiv. 28. xvi. 7.
'^ So Grotius, Beza, &c. on Matt. xvi. 28. that

SERMON I. 27
that will make no material alteration in the
fenfe contended for. Either way the meaning
will be nearly the fame, and to this effedl :
^* In difcharging the duty, upon which I
now fend you, ye will meet with many, who
will not receive the tidings which ye bring,
but will caft you out. When they (hall do
fo, when they perfecute in one city, flee to
another. And feaf not left your enemies
fhould follow you thither, or the men of
that city fhould likewife perfecute you, fo
that places of refuge fhould at laft fail you.
For I tell you of a truth, ye fhall not have
gone through the cities of Ifrael, before the
throne of David ffiall be given unto me, when
ye ffiall be endued with power to encounter
dangers far greater than any of thofe, which
in this your firft miffion ye ffiall experience,'-'

Still there is one text, and that of fome
difficulty, which demands our attention on
the prefent occafion. Our bleffed Saviour, the
night before he fuffered, eating his laft fupper
with the twelve, having delivered to them
the cup, faid unto them, as we read in St.
Matthew, " I will not drink henceforth of'
this fruit of the vine, until that day when I
drink

28 SERMON L
drink it new with you in my Father's king
dom '."
Many have fuppofed that this pafTage re-
prefents to us, in figurative language, the joys
of heaven : but to this, I conceive, there are
weighty objedlions. It is readily granted;
that the happjnefs of another life is, both in
the New and Old Teftament, metaphorically
cxprefTed by eating and drinking ; but if we
do not force the pafTage before us to that
fenfe, I think it is no where faid, in regard
to that ftate, that the Son of God ffiall eat or
drink with Us, or even that we ffiall eat or
driiik with Him ".
In the Apocalypfe mention is made of the
*• marriage fupper of the Lamb °." Our blef^
' Matt. xxvi. zg.
" Dr. Trapp indeed on Matt. xxvi. 29. quotes, as from
Luke xxii. 30. " Ye fliall eat and drink tuith me at my table
in mjr kingdom." But the quotation and the remark upon it
are borrowed,' without exaiiiinatioW, from Whitby ot^ Mark
xiv. 25. There are no fuch wtords as •ynith me in St. Lu^e.
In the Rev. c. iii. 20. we read " If any man hear my voice,
and open the door, 1 will come in to him, and will /up nuith
him, and he With me." But this feems to be rightly ex
plained by the commentators of fpiritual bleffings and com
fort in this life ; the reward of another life is fpoken of in
the following ytrk.
' Rev. xix. 9. fed

SERMON L 2^
fed Saviour, in one of his parables, compated
the kingdom of heaven to a marriage, w|iich
a certain king made for his fon" ; and in the
parable of the ten virgins, the wife, who were
prepared, go in with the bridegrpom to the
marriage* ; but on none of thefe occafions is
it intimated, that the bridegroom fat down
with the guefts. It is faid, in one inftancCj^
that the king came in ; but it was to fee the
guefts, not to feaft with them'. We are
elfewhere told, that many ffiall come from
the eaft and weft, and ffiall fit down as to
meat;, amiiXiS-i^a-t^yTeii, in the kingdom of hea
ven ; but it is not faid, with their Redeemer,
but with his faints, with Abraham, and Ifaac,
and Jacob'. *' If we be dead with Chrift,"
we are aflfared by an apoftle, *• that we ffiall
alfo live with him ';" " if we fuflfer, we fhall
alfo reign with him ' ;" but of Him who
is exalted to the right hand of God, and
crowned with the glory, which he had with
the Father before the world began ", holy
fcripture feems not to authorife a metaphor
borrowed from the neceflary fupplies of our
" Matt. xxii. 2, Sec. ' Ibid. xxv. IQ.
1 Ibid. xxii. ii. ' Ibid. viii. ii.
^ Rom.vi. 8. 2Tim.ii. II. Comp. 2 Cor. iv. lo, ii.
' 2 Tim. ii. 12. Comp. Rom. viii. 17,
" See John xvii. 5.
.lihj "mortal

30 SERMON L
inprtal bodies. Should we not be cautious
then, of explaining in this fenfe the pafTage in
queftion, if it will bear a different meaning?
And why may we not, with authors of the
firft eminence*, underftand it, without a fi-.
gure, of the time between our Lord's refur
redlion and afcenfion ; during which, we
know, to prove beyond difpute the verity of
his body, he condefcended both to eat and to
drink with his difciples '' ?
To this application the words " that day"
can be no juft exception. They fometimes
denote the day of judgement ; but they were
ufed by our Lord, as we learn from St, John%
on the very fame night of which we are treat
ing, three different times, with relation cer
tainly, in every inftance, to fome future por
tion of the natural life of his apoftles; and
once at leaft with a view to the period, to
which we fuppofe him to allude in St. Mat
thew, the days immediately following his
refurredlion. With regard to the term " new," if it is
not eafy to .affign its precife meaning, the
* St. Chryfoftom, Theophyladl, in loc. Lightfoot, Vol. L
P- 5^9- " Aas x. 41..
* See c. xiv. 20. The other places are xvi. 23. 26.
difficulty

SERMON I. 31
difficulty however, which Is neither created
nor augmented by this interpretation, ffiould
not be confidered as a peculiar objedlion. The
primary and literal fenfe, of this as of other
words, often gives place to a fecondary no
tion. It is frequently attributed to fubjedls
or to adlions that in fome one refpedl are nev/
or extraordinary ; to fongs of praife for recent
vidlories, or fpecial bleflings *. The whole
world, which by the tranfgreffion of the firfl
Adam was made fubjedl to vanity, partook in
the deliverance wrought by the fecond ; and
there was, as it were, a new creation. ** Old
things," fays St. Paul, " are paffed away ;
behold all things are become new"*;" and
this renovation he fpeaks of as effedted by
the reconciliation, that is, by the death, of
Jefus Chrift. In this new ftate therefore, in
this ftate of liberty, whatever related to the
kingdom now given to the Son of man, or
to its bleffed and fovereign Lord, might,
agreeably to the fcriptural ufe of the word,
be denominated new. So, at leaft, wine
might be called, if our gracious Redeemer
vouchfafed to partake of it, not now as the
* See Mr. Mede's expofition of Canticum novum, p. 513;
593. See alfo how the word is ufed, Mark xvi. 17. com
pared with Afts ii. 4.
I* 2 Cor. V. 17, 1 8. refreffiment

32 SERMON I.
refreffiment of mortal nature, but for another
and higher purpofe; to ffiew the reality of
his precious body, and the certainty of his
triumph over death and the grave.
Laftly, if the expreffiort, ** The kingdom
of my Father," is not elfewhere ufed, as I
believe it is not* by our bleffed Saviour ; we
cannot, from this circumftance alone, con
clude whether it meant a ftate of grace or of
glory. When celeftial blifs is the fubjedl
fpoken of there are other phrafes : " In my
Fathers houfe are maiiy manfions " :" " Then
ffiall the righteous ffiine forth as the fun in
the kingdom of Their Father ^. St Mark
in the parallel paflTage, inftead of "The king
dom of my Father," has *• The kingdom of
God ;" and, being the later evangelift, he
ffiould be confidered as explaining the didtion
of St. Matthew, efpecially as St. Luke agrees
with him in this inftance : and *• The king
dom of God," as ufed in the Gofpels, what
ever may be its ultimate meaning, generally
has, for its diredl and primary objedl, the
fpiritual kingdom of Chrift upon earth. Now
with this kingdom, with authority to govern
to protedl and to fave his church, our Lord
' John xiv. 2. * Mark xiv. 25. was

SERMON I. 33
was rewarded, upon his refurredlion from the
dead ; according to that his own declaration,
** all power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth '." He was fent from above and ap
peared among men, to preach what is termed
indifferently the kingdom of heaven or of
God ; but of that ftate of his church, which
was to commence vi^hen his perfonal miniftry
ffiould be finiffied, when he ffiould be in the
adlual pofTeffion of the promifed doininion,
he might fpeak, it may feem, with peculiar
fignificance, as of the kingdom of his Father.
TheNCxpofition, which we are endeavouring
to eftabliffi, will receive additional confirma
tion, if it may be allowed that St. Luke,
who is more full in the hiftory of the pafchal
fupper, has recorded the fame fpeech of our
Lord in the following verfes : "With defire
have I defired to eat this pafTover with you
before I fufFer. For I fay unto you, I will
not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. And he. took the
cup and gave thanks, and faid. Take this and
divide it among yourfelves. For I fay unto
you, 1 will not drink of the fruit of the vine,
until the kingdom of God ffiall come ^"
• Matt, xxviii. 1 8.
'' Luke xxii. 15-18. On comparing this part of St. Lulie's
Gofpel with St. Matthew and St. Mark, it feems evident, that
C thefe

3.4

SERMON r.

In the formei- part of this pafTage, where
the paflever is the fubjedl fpoken of, it is evi
dent, that the word ** until" muft he ^taken in
a fenfe not uncommon in holy fcripture, fo
as not to imply, that, after the time men
tioned, the contrary to what is before ex-.
prefTed ffiould happen * ; or in other words,
thefe words were fpoken by our Lord before the inftitution of
the holy Eucharift. St. Matthew and St. Mark are very con-
cife in their account of this interefting evening.; St. Luke is
more full and diflin<ft. Hence the former evangelifts, relating
part of our bleffed Saviour's fpeech, and introducing it after
the facramental cup, do not however conned it with that fa
cred ordinance (Matt. xxvi. 29. Mar. xiv.-25.) but St. Luke,
mentioning particularly, what they only hinted, at, the pafchal
fupper, and inferting the entire fpeech in its proper place,;
gives it its proper connexion : "With defire have I defired,
&c. For I fay unto you, &c. Take this, &c. For I fay unto
you, I will not drink, &c." From thefe laft words it is pro
bable, that our Lord denied himfelf the refreftiment of the
cup, wl^ich he gave to his difciples (fee Townfon on the Gof
pels, p. 231, 23 z.) and' if we are right as to the time of thi*
fpeech, he certainly did not drink of the facramental cup af
terwards. Indeed it feems not fo natural to fuppofe fie did-
himfelf partake of what reprefented his own bleffed- body, and
blood ; and if he did not eat. of the bread, nor drink of the
cup, at the time of inftitution, neither, we may conclude, did
he partake of them after he was rifen from the dead. This
therefore, as far as it goes, is an additional argument in fa
vour of the interpretatioa propofed. That he ate and drank
with the difciples to demonftrate the truth of his refurredlion.
e Origen on Matt. xvi. 28. St. Chryfoft. and Oecumenlus
on I Cor. XV. 25. and the commentators on Matt. i. 25. the

SERMON I. 35
the meaning is, that he would never more eat
of the paflTover. And this is further m.anifeft
from what follows : " until it be fulfiilled in
the kingdom of Go«d j" that is, till the great
Sacrifice, of which the pafchal lamb was a
type, ffiall be offered up on the crofs, when,
the fubftance being come, the ffiadow ffiall
Vaniffi. Afterwards it is obfervable, the phrafe
is varied; for wine was not, among the Jew-
iffi ceremonies, particularly emblematical of
any future tleffing. It is not therefore faid
** I will not drink of the fruit of the vines
until it be fulfilled," but •« until the kingdom
©f God ffiall come*" The former words
pointed to the death of Chrift; in the latter
it was implied, that he ffiould rife again.
*' By my fuffering on the crofs, the pafTover
and the other' rites of the law, their end being
accompliffied, ffiall be fuperfeded and ceafe.
But I will fee you again, and your heart ffiall
rejoice-. To give you fuller affurance of the
truth of my refurredlion, I will eat and drink
with you in my kingdom, which the Father,
after I am rifen, will give unto me."
It is hoped, the interpretations, which have
been offered, of the feveral pafTages above
^ John xvi. 22.
C 2 examined

36 SERMON I.
examined, will be found not unfatisfadlory.
But be this as it may, be the expofitions ever
fo erroneous, the ground, which they are built
upon, is good, the principles fixt and unalte
rable. Certain it is, that the gofpel kingdom
was uffiered in, by the preaching of the Bap
tift; that, though increafing, it was ftill in
a ftate of privacy, not of power, during the
lifetime of its blefl*ed Founder; that, upon
his refurredlion, the authority of a king was
given unto him ; and that, when he afcended,.
in the fight of his difciples, the gates of hea
ven lifted up their heads, the everlafting doors
were opened, and He, the King of glory,
entered in, and fat down on the right hand
of the Majefty on high ; whence he fent
forth, according to his promife, the Holy
Ghoft, the Comforter, to teach his apoftles,
and to enable them to work miracles, in con
firmation of their dodlrine, and to overcome
dangers and death. Thus was the founda
tion laid of that fpiritual dominion, of which
it was faid, that it ffiquld have no end ; and
thefe, no doubt, as its firft outgoings, were
included in that comprehenfive petition, by,
which our Lord, in the beginning of his
miniftry, taught his difciples to pray for the
increafe and profperity of his kingdom. But

SERMON I.

37

But the kingdom is one, under one fupreme
Head, in all ages and countries, however
diftant from the time and place where firft it
began ; and every fignal enlargement of its
borders, whether immediately, by the conver
fion of multitudes, or by confequence, from
the overthrow of enemies, may be confidered
as having been either direcftly intended, or
more remotely implied, in the prayer for this
kingdom's propagation and furtherance. Se
veral events of this fort, befides thofe above
noticed, are foretold in the Gofpels, and other
books of the New Teftament. But none is
more frequently alluded to, none more mi
nutely defcribed, than the deftrudlion of the
city and temple of Jerufalem. The prophe
cies, therefore, refpedting that period, and
other points clofely connedled with it, I ffiall
endeavour, with God's blefling, to ftate and
illuftrate in the enfuing ledlures.
True it is, thefe prophecies, from the days
of their accompliffiment to the prefent time,
have frequently been examined with care,
and enforced with ability. But a fubjedl,
which afl^ords fuch a diredl and convincing
proof of the truth and divinity of our holy
religion, can fcarcely be too often reviewed,
or unfeafonably urged. C 3 Treading

38 SERMON L
Treading In a beaten track, exploring a
region fp often defcribed and fo well known,
it was the preacher's wiffi, that the report^
and obfervations ffipuld, neverthelefs, be his
own. He furveyed therefore, as it were, the
face of the country, he colledled and confi
dered the hiftorical fads, before he inquired,
hpw others had applied them. Hence, if the
account to be offered ffiall in fome points
differ from, and in others agree with, former
writers; as fych diverfity will not proceed
from a fpirit of innovation, fo neither will
the coincidence be the refult of blind defer
ence to refpedlable authority. The teftimony
of convidlion alone can be valuable. The
remark therefore, which ffiall appear juft, will
not be given up, though it may be propofed
with more diffidence, when others have
thought diff*erently ; nor will obfervations
always be retrenched, becaufe they have oc
curred to others before, but rather be urged
with greater boldnefs, as being fupported by
thofe, who have with fkill and attention con
fidered the fubjedl. '

i

' 'Hf«8(S jx (iMTtt oo-Bi; rutirv^^nsv luvnt yttnts iKiita, »x i^;
fiH^f^lAtf ix. rut ijiiri^t, ccXt~a sroAu ihtt TcK^sttmrtuit avrx rtif
(pttAls, tofii^itrls ci^ions-tTifot Ht'tu, cri K^utitti ttff.jpi ruvrtt ifiut
iytff, ixiiiKu m, Xen. de Re Equeft.
In

SERMON I.

39

In condudllng this argument, a point which
has often been proved, and which the Jews
themfelves, with whom at prefent we are
chiefly concerned, do not deny, will be taken
for granted; namely, that the books of the
New Teftament were written at the timfc
generally fuppofed, and by the perfons whofe
names they bear. This being allowed, if
the prophecies contained in them have beeli
pundtually fulfilled, the confequence is unde
niable, That they are of heavenly original. f
It was the obffervation of a young man in
TuJly, with regard to the great qtieftion of
the foul's immortality, that whilft he rfead
the treatife of Plato on the fubjedl, he' was
convinced by his. reafoning ; but when he.
laid do'wfi the book, and revolved the matter
with himfelf, his affent vaniftied*. So nu
merous, it may be prefumed, or fo perplexing
were the difficulties, which the ftate of things
then prefented to his mind, that they effaced
the impreffibnfi made by philofophy.
The cafe, in the prefent inftance, is far
otherwife. Read the arguments of thofe, who
" Tufcul. Qua;ft. L.I. c.xi.
C 4 have

40 SERMON I.
have defended, Chriftianity ; the Hemonftra-
tion is clear, your convidlion full. Step forth
from your clofet, and caft your eyes abroad,
your belief is confirmed. View the works
of creation, they cry out. There is a God;
furvey the nioral world, and the revolutions of
kingdoms, they refound. There is a provi
dence. Look upon the people, that once were
the Lord's ; fee them continue, as it was
foretold of them, though difperfed, yet not
loft, though perfecuted, yet not deftroyed;
what do they but proclaim, by their infidelity
now, as they ffiall one day, we truft, in their
converfion acknowledge, •* Great and marvel
ous are thy works. Lord God Almighty;
juft and true are thy ways, thou King of
faints." Tp Him therefore, to the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghoft, three perfons in one
adorable and undivided Godhead, be afcribed,
by us and by all creatures, " blefling and
honour and glory and power'" now hepcgi-
forth and fpr evermore ! Amen.

I Rpv.

V. 12.

SER.

SERMON IL

Matt. XXIV. 14.
This gofpel of the kingdom jloall be preached in
all the world, for a witnefs unto all nations,
and then jhall the end come.
IT is needlefs to prove, that by the end
here mentioned we are to underftand, not
the final diflblution of the world, but the de
ftrudlion of the temple, and the Jewiffi ftate.
To this, the qtfeltion of the apoftles, in the
beginning of the chapter, relates ; and to this
confefTedly belongs the whole of the con
text before, and feveral verfes after, the
words now read. The parallel pafTage, in St.
Mark, is, ** The gofpel tnaG: frjl be pub-
liffied among all nations*;" where "firft"
p^n allude to nothing, but the fubjedl in
* Mark xiii.io. hand;

42 SERMON, ir.
hand ; and that Is, as here, the overthrow of
the temple.
With regard- to the extent of the propaga
tion of the gofpel, foretold as previous to
this great revolution ; the words, which are
tranflated *? all the worJd," have, like many
others, a latitude of fignification, which may
generally be determined, with a fufficient de
gree of certainty and precifion, from the fcope
of the paflTage where they occur. That they
are not here to be reftrained to Judea, is evi
dent, not only from the text of St. Mark,
juft quoted, but alfo from St. Matthew him
felf. If the gofpel was to be *' preached for
a Witnefs to all nations," it muft furely be
preached Among all natioYrs; for a teftimbny,
which Is unknpwn, can bfe no teftimony.
On the other hand however, it is by no
means neceffary, from the univerfalify of the
terrns, to extend the prophecy to every intii-
yidual, or even every diftridi, of the peopled
earth. It was juftly remarked, by one of the
ancients, in a treatife on the prefent fubjedl,
the caUing of the Gentiles; that expreffions,
fimilar to thofe now before us, are often ufed
in fcripture, when a part of the globe, or a
portion

SERMON IL 43
portion of mankind, is all that :is, intended*.
Accordingly, the text may well be conftrued,
to have for its objedl, what certainly included
the far greater part of the then known world,
the Roman empire*^. And this interpretation
is juftified by St. Luke, in a paffage, of which
the meaning cannot be miftaken. The de
cree of Auguftus, that " All the World
ffiould be taxed ''" or enrolled, muft doubtlefs
have refpedled thofe alone, who were fubjedls
of the empire.
Throughout this empire then, the moft ex-
tenfive, that ever was united, under one headj
from the mouth of the Rhine, to the borders
of Ethiopia ; from the weftern Gades, to the
banks of Euphrates * ; kingdoms, which the
' Vide Auftdr. de Vocat, Omn. Gent, apud S. Anibrof.
Tom. IV. L. I. c. 3.
' Tit ya^ (JwV Vi>i'iai-—itetfahtitp»ra, rm iyif/attitt vtcrm ym «**
&a\«TT>)5 — ax iB^tivjf.KO't-^-cc^^fit n^i rut 5rJiar»» *«' ottnyxxioTX'
rut jt'-^nt rr,s tiKSimiiK, tc Si) xeci xvfitif eti rii OmXfUtnt etirci, ffvn
tfra/Atis Iji^'f'""" IS.vpftli'ti ri xxt Pxra,— a»i', Ui utret nou, Til»
K^ i>iiit jemoiTOS X;^?' ""iW^is, rijt ri iircg uxittMS xai iTSj»KioW«»«
Philo de Leg. ad Caium p. 546. Compare Agrippa's fpeech*
diffuading the Jew$ from war, 6. Jud. L. II. c. xvi. J. ^
p. 1086.
* Luke ii. i. Compare alfo Afts li. 5. with the fubfequent
enumeration of countries, verfe ^9. &c.
« See Tacit. Ann. L.XV. 17. Senec. Nat. Qusft. L.VI;
c. 7.
Roman

44 SERMON IL
Roman fword had been ages In fubduing ; it
was foretold by our Lord, that his gofpel
ffiould be publiffied, during that generation.
And this predidlion, which was delivered by
him, when his death was now at hand, was
committed to writing, foon after his afcen
fion, while the church was yet confined to
the circumcifion ; " to teftify to mankind,"
as an excellent writer obferves, " that the
calling of the Gentiles was not an after
thought of the apoftles themfelves, becaufe
the Jews rejedled th^m, but an original part
of the gofpel econor^y ^"
\
But " all the ways of God are prepared,
and his judgements kre in his foreknow
ledge^." In order therefore that the argu
ment may have its full vveight, it will be
proper to inquire, whether intimations were
not aforetime given by the prophets, that the
Gentiles ffiould one day be admitted, into
covenant with God. Aftoniffiing as the ra
pid propagation of the gofpel is, confidered
merely as an hiftorical event ; yet if it is
found to have taken place, in perfedl confor
mity with the voice of prophecy, in various
^ Dr. Townfon on the Gofpels, p. 127. See alfo St. Chry
foftom, Serm. 2. in Ephcf. T. III. p. 77B.
s Judith ix. 6, ages,

S E R M^O N IL 45
3ges, the proof, thence arifing, of the truth
of Chrlftianity, will, from fuch a view of the
matter, be more complete and convincing. -
Now firft of all, when " by one man fin
entered into the world, and death by fin";"
the Lord, in his goodnefs, was pleafed to pro
vide a remedy adequate to the fatal difeafe.
As this delivery, therefore, was to compre
hend the whole race, and was accordingly
promifed to all mankind, in their common
parents ; fo it might be expedled, that when
the feed of the woman was really come, and
the power of the ferpent cruffied and fubdued,
the vidlory, which was originally foretold to
all, ffiould, now that it was obtained, be
made known unto all men.
St. Paul has remarked, that "the fcrip
ture, forefeeing that God would juftify the
heathen through faith, preached before the
gofpel unto Abraham ^" In the fame man
ner, I conceive, from the declaration of hea
ven to our firft parents, it may be inferred,
that the gofpel, or, in other words, univerfal
redeimption, was taught to them immediately
after the fall.
* Rom. V. 12. ' Gal. iii. 8. But

46 SERMON II.
But leaving confequences, deduced from
the fenfe of holy fcripture, however certain
they may be in themfelves, let us proceed to
exprefs predidlions ; and firft to that, upon
which the apoftle makes the obfervation al
ready quoted, the promife given to the father
of the faithful, that in hifr feed all nations
ffiould be bleffed.
To have a juft idea of the extent and value
of this promif<^, we ffiould refledl, for a mo
ment, on the ftate of mankind, at the time,
when it was made., When the Lord, with
a mighty hand,, led the defendants of this
paitriareh, out of Egypt ;, he often declared,
to the ftiff-necked people, by his fervant
Mofes, that they were not refcued for their
own rlghteoufiiefs, but to fulfil the covenant,
made with their fathers. In like manner,
when God faid unto Abram, that in Him
all families of the earth ffiould be bleffed " ;
this ineftimable privilege (with reverence to
the memory of this highly- honoured friend
of God be It fpoken) was not properly the
reward of the holinefs and piety, great as
they were, of Him, to whom it was granted^:
* Gen. xii. 3. but

SERMON II. 42
|)ut flowed rather from the boundlefs mercy
of heaven.
The knowledge and pradllce of pure reli-
glpn were not yet loft amon,g the children of
men. Melchizedech, prieft of the moft high
God, ftands forth upon record, who re
ceived tithes, even of Abr^hath, and blefled
him ; and, as one of the firft mafters of rea
foning has obferved, " without all contradic
tion, the lefs is bleffed of the better '." Th^
promife therefore, delivered at fuch a time,
a^d under fuch circumftances, cpuld not pof
fibly bei interpreted, by thp holy patriarch,
as an ex^ufive adoption pf the offspring of
his bpdy, when as yet he h^d no fon ; but
m.vfi. havp been regarded. In the fuUeft fenfe
of the words,, as a bene^t,. of which all man
kind fhpul4 partake.
,. *• The gifts and calling pf GiOD," fays the
apfiiftle, "are; without. repentance^;" no hlcCt
^Jig is. promifed, which is. not, in itsi feafon,
puiwflually fulfilled. The covenant therefore,
which: wa& eftabliffiedwlthi Abraham, could
not: be xoadej yoldi by the law, which was
afterwards given, by the hand of Mofes. In
' See Hab. vii. i. 6,7. Gen. xiv. 18-20.
" Rom. xi. 29. fadl

48 SERMON IL
fadl there are many things, in the prophetical
parts of the vvritings of Mofes, agreeing with
and confirming thofe antecedent promifes,
which, as an hiftorian, he has recorded. "-I
will move them to jealoufy," fays he, " with
thofe which are not a people ; I will provoke
them to anger, with a fooliffi nation"." The
jealoufy, here fpoken of, can only be a reli
gious jealoufy ; and thofe, who were not a
people, or not yet a people, muft be aliens
from Ifrael, and confequently Gentiles.
Hitherto the time, for the accompliffiment
of this promife, had not been diftindlly
pointed out ; but as the day approached, the
declarations concerning it became more ex
prefs. In the prophets it is obfervable, that
the coming of the Meffiah, the calling of
the Gentiles, and the rejedlion of the Jews,
are often mentioned together, as events con
nedled one with the other, as well in time as
in other refpedls °. Whatever therefore fixes
the feafon of one, of the firft, for inftance,
upon which fomething was faid in the pre
ceding ledlure, muft likewife, in fome mea-
fure, determine the others. But one or two
paffages, which particularly belong to the
point in hand, may at prefent fuffice.
" Deut. xxxii. 21. Rom. x. 19. ^1 "
* See, as one inftance among many. If. Iv. i, z.
" I will

SERMON IL 49
** I will declare the decree," fays the Pfalm
ift ; "the Lord hath faid unto me^- Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Afk of me, and I ffiall give thee the hea
then, for thine inheritance ; and the utter
moft parts of the earth, for thy poffeffion ^"
It is evident, that the perfon, who is here
addreffed, cannot be David himfelf, fince he
reigned over Judea alone '' ; nor did Jehovah
ever fay, to any man, or to any angel. Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee '.
That thofe words are juftly applied, by St.
Paul, to Chrlft's Refurredlion, has been ffiewn
by others ', and is lefs to our prefent purpofe.
Interpret that part of the 'paffage as you pleafe,
either of the Incarnation of the Son of God,
or of his being begotten again from the dead;
it may well be prefumed, that the acceffion
of the heathen> which is immediately fub
joined, fhould, in point of time, foon after
be given to him.
And this Is confirmed by the prophecy of
Ifaiah : " The Gentiles ffiall come to thy
P Pf ii. 7, 8.
« Vide Tertull. adv. Judseos, c. Xii. et ad f5nem libri.
' See Heb. i. 5. v. 5. Vide et Chryfoft. T.IV. p. 103. 1, z6.
» Afts xiii. 33. See Kidder on the Meffias, P. I. p. 98.
P. II. p. [87.J Lightfoot, Vol. IL p. 1104.
D light.

50 SERMON IL
light, and kings to the brightnefs of thy
rifing '•" Whatever partial completion thefe
words might have, in the vifit of the wife
men to the infant Jefus ; neither the verfe
itfelf, nor the context, will fuffer an appli
cation to fuch an event, for its adequate ac
compliffiment. The whole chapter is em
ployed in defcrlbing the fudden increafe of
the church, by the overflowing abundance of
the forces of the Gentiles, from afar, from
the ifles, and from the fea.
Indeed, the converfion of the heathen af
fords frequent matter of exultation and praife,
to the hallowed lips of the evangelical pro
phet. With this he clofes his book ", and
with this he begins early, in the following
manner : " It ffiall come to pafs, in the lafl
days, that the mountain of the Lord's houfe
ffiall be eftabliffied, in the top of the mount
ains, and ffiall be exalted above the hills;
and all nations ffiall flow unto it. — For out
of Zion ffiall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerufalem \" It is well
' If Ix. 3.
" See Ch. Ixvi. 18,. ig. which are quoted, among many
others on this fubjed, by St. Cyprian adv. Jud. L. I. c. 21.
^ If. ii. 2, 3.
known'.

SERMON II. 51
known, that The laft days, pr The future
'age, is a familiar expreffion, both in the Old
Teftament and among the Jews, to denote
the time of the expedled Meffiah ^. Of Him
therefore the prophet here fpeaks ; and his
law, he informs us, ffiould go forth, not a:s
that given by Mofes did, from mount Sinai,
"but from mount Sion and Jerufalem ^ ; and
confequently before Jerufalem was deftroyed,
and laid level with the ground.
Still however, if the Jews ffiould demand
clearer proof from the prophets, that the
Meffiah ffiould be the founder of a new law,
into which, and not that of Mofes ratified
by him, the nations ffiould be admitted;
fuch proof is at hand. For the Lord did ex-
prefsly fbretel by Jeremiah, that the days
Vv^ere coming, when he would ** make a new
and everlafting covenant with the houfe of
Ifrael, and with the houfe of Judah \"
And that this covenant, though made with
Them, was not to be confined to them, but
y See Kidder on the Meflias, P. III. p. 130. 164. Pocock
on Micah iv. i .
^ Vide St. Auguftin. adv. Judaeos, §. g. Tom. VIII. p. 35.
* Jer. xxxi. 31. xxxii. 40. And fee St. Auguftin. adv.
Jud. §.8.
D 2 imparted

.52 SERMON II.
imparted to others, is manifeft from various
paffages ; but particularly from the words of
the prophet Malachi : " From the rifing of
the fun even unto the going down of the
fame, my name ffiall be great among the
Gentiles, and in every place incenfe ffiall be
offered unto my name, and a pure offering :
for my name ffiall be great among the hea
then, faith the Lor d of hofts **."
The facrifices, appointed by the law of
Mofes, were not to be offered up, within any
of their gates, where the devotion of the
worffiiper might prompt him ; but in that
place alone, which the Lord ffiould choofe,
out of all their tribes, to put his name there*.
This circumftance was even of more ftridl
obligation, than that of time. For thofe,
who were " unclean, by reafon of a dead
body, or were in a journey afar off," and
could not keep the paffover, at the appointed
feafon, were commanded to keep it, on the
*• MaL i. II.
' See Deut. xii. 5-14. Vide Chryfoft. Serm I. adv. Jud.
T. VL p. 315. 1. 32. &c. 380. 1. 28. Tertull. adv. Jud.
c.v, St. Auguftin adv. Jud, §.12,13. Eufeb. Dem. Evang.
L. 1. c. I. Lightfoot on Aft. v. 36. informs us, from the
Jewifli writers, that when one Theudas, a Jew living at Rome,
taught men to eat holy things vAthout, that is, the paffover
at Rome, the wife men threatened him with excommunication. four-

S E R M O N II. 53
fourteenth day of the fecond month *; but no
fuch injundlion, or even permiffion, is any
where mentioned, with regard to the place.
When the Jews were in Babylon, it was
grief perhaps alone, that filenced their harps,
and reftrained them from finging the Lord's
fong, in a ftrange land'. But it appears from
Daniel and other authorities, that they kept
not the paffover ^i and forrow of heart woTjld
not have made them negledl the pofitive ordi
nance of heaven, had its obfervance, under
fuch circumftances, been confiftent with the
precept of its foundation.
If then, according to the predidlion of
Malachi, incenfe ffiould one day be offered
to the Lord, in every place ; certain it is, that
the ftatutes of Mofes were to be previoufly
abrogated, and another law given, not local
and temporary, confined to one temple and
one priefthood, but pure and fpiritual, whereby
the well pleafing facrifice of praife and thankf-
giving might be prefented to the Gop of
Jacob, in every land, and in all ages,
•' Sec Num. ix. 9-11. * See Pf. cxxi^vii.
' See Dan. x. 2-4- whence it appears, as St. Chryfoftom
remarks ( ut fupra, p. 317.} that he fafted at the time of the
.pafchal feaft. See alfo The Song of the three Children, verfe 1 5 .
D 3 Such

54 SERMON II.
Such are the declarations pf ancient prp-
phecy, refpedling this matter ; and if they.
were. In their feafon, exadlly accompliffied,
the religion, thus planted, and thus propa
gated, muft have been the. work and cpunfel-
of God. This therefore let us now proceed
to confider.
It has -been before obferved ^ that the bap
tifm of John, the miniftry pf Chrift, and
the preaching of the apoftles, during their
divine Mafter's refidence on earth, were fo^
many preparatory fteps, towards the gofpel.
.kingdom, rather than its adlual commence
ment, with power. Accordingly, if we Ipok
at the general effedl of the wonderful works,'
andjheavenly difcourfes, pf the blefTed Jefus ;
they ;feem to have roufed and aftoniffied
multitudes . whom .theyv did not fully cpn-
vince. There were many, atpong his hearers,
tp whom .might be applied what w^p^faid pf,
one; they were "not far from thif kingdom,
of God •''," though, as yet, they were not
thoroughly perfuaded, oi; had not courage to
profefs their belief. The hopes of all thefe
were, we may fiippofe, entirely blafted, by
« Serm, I, p. 24. * Mark xii, 34. See John xii. 42.
that

SERMON II.

55

that event, which, ftaggered the apoftks them
felves, the death of their Lord ; and after his
refurredlion, he did not fhew himfelf to all
the'people, but to chofen vvitneffes, who did
eat and drink with him, and were permitted
to handle his body, which had been crucified.
At one interview indeed **he was feen of
aboVe five hundred brethren ' ;" but there is
fome ground for queftioning, whether all
thefe were, even now, fo unprejudiced as to
believe in, or fo bold as to acknowledgci him
whom they beheld. For after our Lord's
afcenfion, when moft of the Jews were " al
ready, it is probable, crime up, to keep the ap
proaching feaft ; the difciples being together,
** the number of the names was" only, a-s
St. Luke informs us, "about an hundred and
twenty''." But grant that this Is a vain furmife, hy
that there were now more than five hundred
followers of Chrift j what are Thefe, if they
arc to bring about the mighty revolution,
foreffiewn by the prophets ; if They are to
combat Jewiffi obftinacy, if They are to
famijfli the gods of the heathen', to make
their temples forfaken, and their rites ab-
' iCor. XV. 6. •= Afts i. 15. ' See Zeph. ii. 11.
D 4 horred ?

56 SERMON IL
horred? But thefe, how many fo ever, or
how powerful fo ever, they may, in fadl,
have been, are not the men, to undertake
this exploit ; they have no fuch commlffion.
Twelve are the number fet apart for the
work ; and if God be with them, then In
deed " a little one ffiall become a thoufand,
and a fmall one a ftrong nation";" if other-
wife, the attempt ffiall furely be fruitlefs.
Let us mark the event therefore, and let it
ipeak for itfelf.
*« When the day of Pentecoft," on which
the law was of old delivered upon mount
Sinai, and which was obferved by the Jews,
in remembrance of that bleffing ; when this
day "was fully come"," and the difciples
*' were with one accord in one place," the
new law, in exadl conformity with the word
cf God, began to be promujged in Jerufa-
1am. " Suddenly," fays the hiftorian, '* there
came a found from heaven," not like a gentle
breeze, or ftill fmall voice, but '* as of a
ruffiing mighty wind;" for the effedls, which
it was to produce, were to be great and afto"
niffiing, '^It filled all the houfe;" ?nd it
"¦ If. Ix. 22.
" Afts ii. I &c. Vide S. Auguftin. gdv. Jud. §. g. Patfick
Sn Exod. xix. i. Mede p. 265. an4 Stanhope on Whitfanday.
was

SERMON IL 57
was ere long to fill the whole earth. A
cloven tongue, like as of fire, fat upon each
of them ; for the word. In their mouth, was
to be ** quick and powerful, and ffiarper than
any two-edged fword "." They were all fil
led with the Holy Ghoft, and began to fpeak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance." By the divifion of language, it pleafed
God once to dlfunlte, and feparate, the fons
of men ; by the marvelous gift, now im
parted, it was his gracious defign, to join, in
one body and ,one holy faith, all nations
under heaven •¦. The multitudes, who were
then, from all quarters, affembled at Jeru
falem to celebrate the feaft, flocked together,
when this was noifed abroad. They were
amazed, when they heard the various and
diffimilar languages of the world, pronounced
by the lips of illiterate Galileans. But Peter
ftood up, and fpake unto them all, with fuch
wifdom, and fuch power, that " the fame
day there were added unto them about three
thoufand fouls."
°Heb. iv. 12.
1" Vide omnino leftn digniffima apud Chryfoft. Serm. II. in
Pentecoften, T. V. p. 612. .L 40. &c.
This

S^ SERMON IL
This wonderful converfion muft, without
doubt, be principally afcribed to the blefffd
influence of that Holy Spirit, who had, in
fuch a glorious, manner, defcended on th?
apoftles. But the fpeech itfelf, uttered at
fuch a time, and with fomuch effedl, being
recorded for the inftrudlion of all ages of
the church, muft defcrve fome attention.
r' ¦'
How then did the apoftle addrefs his bre
thren ? Did he proclaim to them, what they
Would have heard of with raptures, .a tem
poral prince of the houfe of David, who
ffiould fight their battles,- and (deliver them
from the Romans, and make them lords- ©f
the world ? No fuch thing. He reafons
with his hearers, as all who reafon juftly
m-uft do, upon principles, which they them
felves allowed ; afnd from thefe he deduces
truths, which before they did not allow. He
alledges the writings of their own prophets;
who teftified, while; as yet the Spirit was
vo^uchfafed in Jadah, that it ffiould, in the
laft days, be poured out, in greater abun
dance, upon all fleffi. This, fays the apoftle,
is fulfilled upon Us, Afk ye the caufe here
of? liften to my words, "Jefus of Nazar-
reth, a man approved of Gon among you, by

S :E R M O N' IL 59
by miracles and wonderq and figns, which,
God did by him, inthe.midft of you, as,
ye yourfelves alfo know; him, being deli
vered by the determinate cou^fel and fore
knowledge of Gop, ye have taken, and by,
wicked hands haye crucified and flain." But,
David foretold; of the Meffiah, that he ffiould.
ri|e- froiii the grave, and pot fee corruption.
And accordingly "this Jefus hath God raifed,
up, whereof we all are witneffes."
Such is the clear demon ftration pf,the.
apoftle, that Jefus was the Mefliah ; that,.
being man, hje fuffered, and died, and rofe
again from the dead. But did the hplj&
preacher ftop here ? having taught the hu
manity of; this Son of David,^ did he pru
dently avoid dropping the leaft intimation^
before a prejudiced multitude, of a higher
chai^adler, fuftaincdby the fame perfon ; ^nd
referve that and other myfterious points, to
be inftilled by degrees, among the initiated,
in private conference .? Far otherwife. The
very'fame gift, which In the beginning of
his fpeech,, he aifcrlbes unto God, even Je
hovah the true God, for He it is, who utters
the words in Joel ^; this felf fame gift, to-
' See Joel ii. 27. &c. wards

6o SERMON IL
wards the clofe of his addrefs, he attributes
to Chrift : " Therefore," fays he, " being
by the right hand of God exalted, and hav
ing received of the Father the promife of
the Holy Ghoft, he hath ffied forth this,
which ye now fee and hear." Immediately
after this, he quotes from the royal Pfalmift,
a paffage, which is, at once, a proof of our
gracious Redeemer's exaltation, as the Mef
fiah, and of his proper Divinity, as the Son
of God : "The Lord faid unto my Lord, fit
thou on my right hand, until I make thy
foes thy footftobl." And then be draws,
from the whole, this general conclufion :
** Therefore let ali the houfe of Ifrael know
affuredly, that God hath made that fame
Jefus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Chrift."
During the perfonal abode of our bleffed
Saviour with his difciples, they were enjoined
fecrecy, on fome important articles ; but it
Was only, till the Son of man was rifen from
the dead ^ There were likev^Ife many things,
which as yet they could not bear *; but when
the Spirit of truth was come, he was to guide
' Comp, Matt. xvii. 9. Mark. ix. 9. with Matt. xvi. 20,
Mark viii. 30. Lukeix. 21.
' See John xvi. 12,13. .^
them

SERMON II. 6r
them into all the truth ; and then, as their
Lord had exprefsly charged them, they were
to fpeak in the light, what he had told them
in the darknefs of parables, and to preach
upon the houfe-tops, boldly and publicly,
what they had heard in the ear, the inftruc-
tlons Imparted to them in private '. And
they did what they were commanded. In this,
as well as in other inftances. They kept back
from their hearers, as they themfelves, with
confcious Integrity, profeffed, nothing that
was profitable for them ; nor ffiunned to de
clare unto them all the counfel of God".
Points of dodlrine, or of difclpline, which
were of fubordinate moment, might be after
wards taught, and errors might be confuted,
as they ffiould arife ; but articles of effential
confequence engaged their chief attention,
and the firft care of the wife mafter-builders
was, to lay a firm foundation. The great
atonement of the crofs, as we learn from St.
Paul, was a primary dodlrine*; and this was
not taught, perhaps Indeed could not be,
without explaining the dignity of Him who
made it. For a creature, however exalted,
muft owe, to his Creator, all poffible ho-
' See Matt, x. 27. " See Afts xxj 20. 27.
* See I Cor. xv. 3.
mage;

62 S E R M O N II.
mage ; and cannot therefore pay for the tranf-
greffions of Others.
But this momentous ppint was not left to
uncertain inference. As by St. Peter in his
iirft fermoh, fo likewife by the reft, it was
explicitly taught. Belief in God, and belief
in Chrift, were Inculcated by them, with
equal earneftrtefs, and in the very fame form
of words. "Repentance from dead works,"
the eonfeffion and renunciation of fin, led
the way/. This was followed by faith, to
wards Him who had accepted, and towards
Him who had made, through the eternal
Spirit, a full propitiation. To thefe was
iadded " the doftrine of baptifms, and of lay
ing on of hands, and of eternal judgement."
Conformable to what the apoftles taught
was the declaration of faith, made by their
converts, when they were admitted into the
chUrch. For they were required to profefs,
not only that Jefus was the Chrift, but that
he was likewife the Son of GoD''; after
which they were baptized, " in the liame of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghoft \"
y See Heb, vi. i, 2. and comp. ix. 14, Afts XX. 2t.
*.See Afts viii. 37. » Matt, xxviii. 19.
But

SERMON IL ^3
But to return from this digreffion ; if in
deed, on the prefent occafion, it be a digref
fion, to ffiew the order and manner, in which
the gofpel truths were communicated to man
kind. Upon the miraculous acceffion of con
verts, on the day of Penteqoft, a regular
church feems forthwith to have been efta
bliffied. For they, who were baptized, " con
tinued fteadfaftly in the apoftles' dodlrine,
and" in " fellowffiip" one with another ; they
partook of the emblems of Chrift's bleffed
body and blood, and joined together in
prayers ".
As yet no fign, or none that is recorded,
had been wrought by the apoftles,, if we ex
cept that ftupendous one, of fpeaking with
new tongues. But In the third chapter of
the Adls, a miracle is recited, of which no
inftance- is diftindlly related, in any of the
Gofpels, as performed by our Lord"; the
healing of a man, lame from his mother's
*> See Afts ii. 41,42.
"= The man healed at Bethefda, John v. 2. &c. feems not
to have been lame, but afflifted with ibme other bodily infir
mity. Compare the 3d, 5th, and 7th verfe,'). Cyril of Je-
rofaleft), in a fragment on this miracle, calls the man a para
lytic. See p. 3 1 1 . ed. Oxon, 1 703.
womb.

64 SERMON. II.
womb. Many that were lame were doubt
lefs made whole (for fo the evangelifts in ge
neral words teftify'') by Chrift himfelf; but
as this man was laid daily at the gate of the
temple, whither our Lord alfo daily reforted;
he feems, in the divine difpofal of things,
to have been purpofcly referved for this oc
cafion. Nor was this any hardffiip to him who
endured it ; even if we fet afide, for a mo
ment, the general confideration, that the moft
miferable among men fufter lefs than the beft
of men deferve. Two or three years more
of palnlefs Infirmity were not worthy to be
mentioned, when he was to be an inftance,
perhaps the firft inftance, of the wonderful
power given to the apoftles ; and to be re
corded, to all ages, as a glorious inftrument
of the increafe and confirmation of the gofpel.
The ways of providence are oftentimes more
efpecially gracious and merciful, where at
firft they may appear leaft of all to be fo.
" Jefus," faith St. John, " loved Martha,
and her fifter, and Lazarus. " Therefore," it
is added, even for this very reafon, becaufe
** See Matt. xi. 5. with Luke vii. 21,22. See alfo Matt.
xv. 3 1 . xxi. 1 4. in which laft inftance the miracle was wrought
in the temple.
he

SERMON IL 6s
he loved him, he healed not his ficknefs, but
made him an example of a greater miracle,
and. greater blefling, by raifing him from the
dead% This illuftrious miracle, of healing the
lame man in the temple, was, on feveral ac
counts, of important ufe to the faith. In
confequence hereof, and by the bleffing of
God upon the preaching of the apoftles,
*• the number of the men" was now aug
mented to " about five thoufand ^."
It was likewife attended with another cir
cumftance, of fingular advantage to that, and
every fucceeding, age of the church. For
peter and John, who had publicly wrought
this miraculous cure, being thereupon impri-
foned, were brought before the high prieft,
and rulers of the Jews ; that the dodlrine of
Chrift crucified and raifed from the dead
might be fcrutinifed, in its very infancy, by
thofe, who wanted neither means, nor incli
nation, to detedl the forgery, had there been
any in the cafe ; nor zeal, nor power, to
puniffi the contrivers, could they have c6n-
vidled them. They were difmiffed with
threats;, for their enemies, with whom the
John xi. 5, 6. * Aftsiv. 4.
E ffiadow

66 SERMON IL
ffiadow of a proof would have been ample
confirmation, could find nothing againft them.
They recognifed their perfons, and knew they
had been with Jefus ; and the man " above
forty years old, on whom this miracle of
healing was ffiewed," was ftanding by, and
they could not deny It «.
The caufe of truth having, thus at firft,
ftood the teft of a public trial, a fecond in-
veftlgation was, for a while, lefs neceffary.
When therefore the apoftles were, foon after
wards, apprehended, that providence of God,
which doeth nothing in vain, and which. In
the former inftance, had fuffered the truth,
as it were, to defend itfelf; now fent an
holy angel, and opened the prifon doors, and
brought forth the apoftles, to preach early In
the temple, that the work of falvation might
not be impeded". The day, neverthelefs,
did not pafs over them, ere they were again
arraigned before the council. But when they
would have flain them, they were reftrained
from their purpofe, by the advice of Gama
liel ; who juftly argued, that if the work
were of men, it would come to nought;
but if it were of God, it could not be over
thrown.
s Afts iv. 13,14. 21, 22, 16. I' Ibid. iv. 17. &c.
As

SERMON IL by
As we proceed, we perceive another mark
of the increafe of the church, in the ap
pointment of feven deacons, to fuperintend
the bufinefs of relieving the poor ; but with
authority alfo to preach, and to baptize '.
One of this number, St. Stephen, difputing
againft his adverfaries with irrefiftible power,
and having, in the face of the Sanhedrim,
proved, by a plain enumeration of fadls, that
they always oppofed the truth ; and that, as
their fathers flew the prophets, who fore-
ffiewed the coming of the juft One, fo th«y
had now betrayed and murdered him ; for
thefe things, which they could not gainfay,
he was put to death, and had the honour of
being the firfl, who fealed, with his blood,
the teftimony of Jefus ''.
At this time, about the end of the year
thirty three, there was a great perfecution,
againft the church in Jerufalem '; which how
ever, like many fubfequent .perfecutions,
tended eventually, though not in the way
fometimes reprefented, to the furtherance of
the gofpel "". All, except the apoftles, were
' Afts vi. ^ Ibid. vii. ' Ibid, viii, i- &c.
" See Phil. i. 12. Dionyfius, biftiop of Alexandria in the
third century, remarks, in the cafe of his own baniftiment,
E 2 that

68 SERMON IL
fcattered abroad ; and many, by this means,
heard and embraced the word of life, who
would not otherwife, or not fo foon, have
known it. Philip the deacon converted and
baptized many of the Samaritans ; whereupon
the apoftles fent Peter and John, to confer
on them the gift of the Holy Ghoft. Others^
travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and
Antioch ; " and the hand of the Lord was
with them, and a great number believed, and
turned unto the Lord "." On this occafion
too, an Ethiopian eunuch, a man of autho
rity, and a profelyte, as it feems, to the
Jews' religion, being taught the gofpel by
Phihp, carried the glad tidings Into regions
ftill more remote. '
In the perfecution of Stephen, and the
more general one that enfued, Saul had adled
with furious zeal ; but he " obtained mercy,
becaufe he did it ignorantly, in unbelief"."
As he was going towards Damafcus, breathing
threatnings and flaughter, at mid-day He,
that the word was, by this means, planted among fome, who
had not before received it ; and that, as if God had fent him
for this very purpofe, when he had fulfilled this office. He
condufted him back. Vide Euf H. E. L. VII. c. xi. et confer
Chryfoft. in viii. Aft. T. IV, p. 71 3, 1. 35.
° Afts xi. 19-21. ° I Tim. i. 13.
whom

SERMON II. 69
whom he perfecuted, revealed himfelf to him,
arrayed with glory brighter than the fun p.
To the heavenly vifion he was not difobe-
dlent, but was forthwith baptized, and adored
that name,- which before he blafphemed, and
** preached the faith, which once he de
ftroyed \"
Hitherto the church confifted of Jews,
and of Jewiffi profelytes. That the Gentiles
were to be converted to Chrift, the apoftles
well knew ; but the terms of their admiffion
remained a myftery, to be difclofed in due
time; and that time, in God's gracious pro
vidence, was now at hand. The devout Cor
nelius was warned by an angel, to fend for
Peter ^; and Peter was taught, by a vifion
from heaven, henceforth to call no man com
mon or unclean. He repaired, without delay,
to the houfe of the centurion, accompanied
with fix brethren of the circumcifion, to be
witneffes of the whole tranfadlion ; and Cor
nelius had, on his part, " called together his
kinfmen, and near friends." While Peter
was fpeaking, and preaching to them Jefus,
the gift pf the Holy Ghoft was poured out
upon them, as It was on the apoftles and
others, at the beginning ; and this miracu-
P See Aft. ix. ^ Gal. i. 23. ' See Afts x. xi.
E 7 lous

70 SERMON IL
lous effufion, in no wife fuperfeding the ne-
ceffity of baptifm, but authorlfing its ufe,
the apoftle, in confequence, " commanded
them to be baptized, in the name of the
Lord." Having thus viewed the firft planting of
Chrlftianity in the world, and remarked its
growth, till the Gentiles were ingrafted into
the fame ftock, and received life and vigour
from the fame holy root ; we may finiffi what
remains, in more general reflexions.
It Is an early tradition of the church, that
our bleffed Lord, before his afcenfion, com
manded his apoftles to continue in Jerufalem
twelve years '. Whether it were from the
injundlion of their Mafter, or from their
zeal for the falvation of their brethren, or
from the fuggeftion of the Holy Spirit ; the
fadl itfelf, that Jerufalem was, for a confi-
derable time, the place of their refidence, Is
evidently countenanced by the facred hiftory
of their Adls. We find fome of them occa-
fionally fent from hence, to impart fpiritual
gifts to thofe, who had received the word,
by the preaching of fubordinate teachers;
' ApoUonius in Eufebius, H. E. L. V. c. xviii. And fee
Lardner's Suppl. to Credib. ch. vi. and

SERMON IL 71
and when they have fulfilled their their com-
miffion, and confirmed the brethren, they
return to Jerufalem. To the fynod at Jeru
falem was referred the great queftion, re
fpedling circumcifion ' ; and " going to the
apoftles" feems, in one or two paffages, to
be a fynonymous expreffion with " going up
to Jerufalem "."
When at laft they were about to depart
from this city, which had killed the Prince
of life, and ftoned his meffengers, and ftill
was Impenitent ; whether as fome report,
they determined by lot the parts of ti^e
world, into which they ffiould feverally gO/'i
or whether, as others think, the Holy Ghoft,
by imparting a particular language or dialedl,
diredled each to his refpedlive charge''; we
need not Inquire. Whatever might be the
mode of defignation, it was, doubtlefs, not
without the guidance of heaven ; and the
main point, that fuch a partition was really
made, feems to be confirmed by various pafl
fages in the New Teftament. For it is intj-
' Afts XV.
" Compare Afts xv. 33. with verfe 2. of the fame chapter,
aad with Gal. i. 17. Afts xvi. 4.
' Socrat. H. E. L. I. c. xix.
r Chryfoft. Serm, II. in Pentecoft. T. V. p. 61?. 1, 36.
E 4 mated

72 SERM ON IL
mated, that no man interfered with another's
province ; that there was a certain meafure,
or line, marked out, beyond which (for the
bounds were fufficiently ample ! ) they did
not, in the ordinary difcharge of their mi
niftry, ambitioufly ftretch themfelves''. How
ever, as well after, as before this feparation,
they appear, almoft invariably, to have taken
along with them one or more inferior mi-
nifters, to affift them in their labours ". Of
this their Lord himfelf had fet them an ex
ample, in fending them and the feventy, two
and two. To this pradlice therefore they
wifely adhered, not merely with a view to
their own cbmfort, but that, in the mouth
of two or three witneffes, every word might
be eftabliffied.
It has been before remarked, that almoft
from the very firft, the outlines of a regular
church are obfervable. The word of life
was taught by the apoftles, the holy facra-
ments were adminiftered, they prayed with
one accord, and,, as there was occafion, adls
of difcipline were exercifed. Wherefoever
the gofpel was afterwards publiffied, thefe
^ See 2 Cor..x, 13-16. Rom. xv. 20, and Dr, Tottie's fe
cond Charge, p. 349.
_ ^ See Afts viii, 14. xi. 25,26, xii. 25. xiii. 2,43. 46. 50.
xiv. I. 20, XV. 2. 27, 39,40. ,
points

SERMON IL ;^3
points feem, in a particular manner, to have
engaged .the care of the apoftles *¦. Elders
were ordained, in every city ; to whom the
reft of the brethren are enjoined to fubmit;
themfelves '. It is exprefsly faid, " no man
taketh this honour unto himfelf, but he that
is called, of God, as was Aaron'';" and thofe,
whom the apoftles fet over the Lord's flock,
are defcribed as overfeers, made, or appointed,
by the Holy Ghoft '. Some of thefe, we
find, had authority, in the abfence of the
apoftles, to ordain others alfo to the work of
the miniflry ^ The example of the churches
very foon became, and is feveral times urged
as, a forcible argument, for decency, uni
formity, and order ^. And in the beginning
of the third century, Tertullian appeals, in
confutation of the heretics, to the appftoUcal
churches ; in which the fucceffion ofbiffiops,
either from fome of the apoftles themfelves,
or from one of their appointment, had been
uninterrupted ; whereas the heretics could
not thus deduce their origin ''. Prove that
^ Afts xiv, 23. Comp, Philipp. i. i. i Fet. v, 1-5.
¦= Heb. xiii. 17. Comp. i Tim. v. 17.
"" Heb. V. 4. " See Afts xx, 28. ^ See Tit, i. 5.
8 See I Cor, xi. i6. vii. 17. xiv. 33. iv. 17. Compare
2 Cor. viii. 24.
^ De Preefcript, Haret, c. xx, xxi, xxs.iu xxxvi. this

74 SERMON IL
this chain (and it might then eafily have been
proved, had it been true) prove that this
chain had ever been broken, or that thefe
churches had been governed, not by one in
dividual, but by feveral rulers of equal au
thority ; and the whole of his reafoning,
which is fo mafterly on the foot where he
places it, falls at once to the ground '.
From St. Paul's exhortation to Timothy,
to " hold faft the form of found words ^ ;"
and from other Intimations of like nature, it
is highly probable, that as there was from
the firft an appointed miniftry, fo was there
likewife a prefcribed form of worffiip. Many
parts of our liturgy We are able to trace up
to the apoftolic age, yet without difcovering
the particular authors of them'. This is
therefore a prefumption, that they were, as
to fubftance at leaft, in ufe from the be
ginning. Thefe remarks, on the mode, in which
the gofpel was eftabliffied in the world, ap-
' Vide Dodwell, Diflert. I. in Iren, §.xliii,
* See 2 Tim. i, 13,14. Comp, iTim,i 16, vi, 20. Rom.
vi. 17. Aft. iv. 24. xvi. 2;. 1 Cor.xiv. 26. xi. 15. Eph. v.
18 20. Col. iii 16. Rom. XV. 6.
' Vide Smith de Vet. Gr. Ecclef. Hymnis, Cave Hift. Lit.
Vol, II. Diflert. II. p. 40, 42. and the Writers on the Common
Prayer. pear

SERMON IL 75
pear to be well founded ; but as to its exten-
five and fwift propagation, the fadl is indifpu-
table, from the concurring teftimony of in
fpired and uninfplred hiftorians.
Among the hearers of St. Peter, on the
day of Pentecoft, were men from the parts
about Cyrene. The Ethiopian eunuch was
foon afterwards converted ; and St. Mark,
the evangelift, was conftituted the firft biffiop
of Alexandria "". Thefe circumftances, if
there were no other, ffiew, fufficiently for
our purpofe, the publication of the gofpel
among the nations of Africa. Parthians and
Medes were likewife prefent, on the day of
Pentecoft ; and St. Thomas is reported to
have diffeminated the word of life and falva
tion. In more diftant countries of the eaft".
Of the labours and fuccefs of all the apof
tles, what may we, or rather what may we
not. Infer, when St. Paul alone fully preached
the gofpel, almoft throughout the wole Ro
man empire ? from Arabia to Damafcus,
from thence to lUyricum ; In Italy and
Spain " ? Scarcely a city of eminence in Afia
" Cave, Hift, Lit, Vol, L p, 14,
n Vide Euf H. E. L. III. c, i. ej not.
* See Gal, i. 17. Rom.xv. 19, 24,28. o{«« avm texclffH'
xarihxQitt

76 SERMON II.
Minor, in Macedonia, or Greece, that was
not honoured with the prefence, and enlight
ened with the. dodlrine, of this great teacher
of the Gentiles. In- Rome itfelf he bore
witnefs of the truth ; and in the- palace of
the emperor he was not without his con
verts ''.
Whether He, or whether any of the-twelye
apoftles, vifited Britain, cannot perhaps be de
termined, with certainty ; but Claudia, whom
he mentions '', was moft probably born in
this ifland ; and that the gofpel was preached
here in the time of the apoftles, is allowed
on all hands ' ; and in the beginning of the
third century, Tertullian informs us, that
even thofe parts of the ifland, which the Ro
mans had not conquered, were, however, fub
jedl to Chrift'.
Of the number of converts, in the apof
tolic age, it is vain to form an eftimate. But
if, as we know, in a very ffiort time, there
*aTtX«GE», incy,<rtt xai ai'i^iTroi ¦Ktumi n^yumtro, Chryfoft. Hom.
7;. in Matt. T.II, p. 469. 1,32,
r See Phil. i. 13. iv. 22. and Chryfoft. T, IV, p, 867. 1. 39,
' 2 Tim. iv. 21.
.' Vide Uiher Brit. Ecclef. Antiq. c, i. iii. Spelman Concil.
Orbis Britann, p, i , &c,
' Britannorum inaccelTa Romania loca, Chrifto vero fubdita.
Adv. Jud, c, vii.
were

SERMON II. 77
were many thoufands of believing Jews';
we may well fuppofe the whole multitude of
the faithful to have been great indeed, and
without number. The heavenly feed was
fown in a good foil, and it brought forth fruit
an hundred fold. On a lofty mountain, ori
the mountain of the height of Ifrael, was
planted a branch, a tender one; it took root,
and grew up, and was a goodly cedar; and in
the ffiadow of its branches lodged all fowl
of every wing". . From mount Sion iffued
forth an overflowing ftream, arid lo 1 the
ftream became a river, and the river became
a fea"; the waters are the waters of life, and
whofoever drinketh thereof ffiall live''.
Here then we have, upon the records of
hiftory, an undeniable fadl, that the religion
of Jefus Chrift did. In the fpace of forty
years, overfpread the earth, arid In every peo
ple, and nation, get a poffeffion*. It is alfo
true, that this came to pafs, in exadl con
formity with the antecedent declarations of
the Jewiffi fcriptures. Had therefore not one
miracle been wrought in proof of the gofpel,
• Afts xxi. 20. " See Ezek. xvii. 22, 2 3»
* See Eccluf. xxiv. 31.
y See Ezek. xlvii. 9. Rev, xxit. 1,2. 17.
* Ecduf. xxiv. 6. whereas

78 SERMON IL
whereas thoufands were performed ; had no
fpiritual bleffings gone along with the preach
ing of it, whereas they were, in fadl, every
where beftowed ; ftill it is certain, that it
ought to be received, as the work of God,
by all who believe the ancient prophecies. It
is that very difpenfation, that very religion,
which Jehovah, the God of Ifrael, there
foretold, and acknowledged for his own ; that
new law, which he would write in the hearts,
not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles
alfo, who fat in darknefs, and the ffiadow of
death. In faying this, I mean not. In the fmalleft
degree, to difparage the miracles, which were
wrought by our Lord, and his bleffed apoftles.
God forbid ! They were expedient, and even
neceffary, for various reafons ; and for this,
among others, becaufe they were foretold, as
a diftlnguiffiing mark, whereby the Meffiah
ffiould be known.
Nor, again, do I abandon, as untenable,
the fortrefs, which the church has, from the
earlleft age to this day, been In poffeffion of,
built upon the foundation of the miraculous
progrefs of our holy faith. The argument
has never yet been ffiewn to be invalid ; nor, we

SERMON IL 79
we nmy prefume, ever will. If the gofpel
did indeed, without the help of miracles,
without any fupernatural aid from above,
gain fuch footing in the world ; this itfelf
truly was, as St. Chryfoftom has remarked,
the greateft of miracles ".
The very Idea, and defign, of the firfl
preachers of Chrlftianity, can fcarcely be ac
counted for, to the fatisfadlion of an impar
tial judge, on any other fuppofition, but that
the fadls, which they afferted, were true, and
that they were commiffioned from heaven to
teach them ''. Twelve illiterate men, of mean
birth, lately deftitute of courage, undertake,
with a full view of dangers and of death be
fore their eyes, to make all nations believe,
that a perfon, given up, by the Jewifh rulers,
to the power of the Romans, and by them
condemned to an ignominious death, was
rifen from the dead ; that he died, not for his
» Tom. III. p. 272. 1. 143 Serm. V. in i Cor, sr«f h, «
ftn rnfiiiic ivrtmt, iita^ct -, » fUt yug tTroini {itrMsi ya^) Got h/ttc-
fiis It TO ytteji,ittt' a Si ftn iwiixt xoti ix^ttrlst, •Kt'Ku ^cevy,xraTl^
vt -n rv/iSuii, Confer p. 276. 1. 9. et Serm. I. in Aft. Apoft.
T. iv; p, 61 1, 1. 1 1, Kidder on Meflias, P.I. p. 50. At-
terbury. Vol. I, Serm. IV. Grot, de Verit. Rel. Chrift. L. IL
ad fin.
" See Chryfoft. T. IIL p. 272. 1. 42. 285. 1, 38.
own

8o SERMON. IL
own fins, but to make atonement for the fins
of the whole world ; that he was the Son of
God, and ordained to be the judge of all
mankind. There are fome parts of this plan,
in appearance, fo mean, and fome fo tran-
fcendently fublime ; there is fomething, in
th6 whole, fo much out of the road, and be
yond the reach, of human invention, that it
is, in the higheft degree, improbable, it ffiould
have been devifed by men ; as, on the other
hand, it is certainly impoffible, that it could
ever have been impofed upon the world, if
It were not the -contrivance of divine wifdom
fupported by divine power.
What then is the iffue ? They proclaim
the death and refurredlion of Jefus, in a place,
where thoufands could have contradidled
them, had the fadls not been true ; yet thou
fands afe convinced. They go abroad, and
publiffi the dodlrine of the crofs, in the moft
populous and moft learned cities of the world;
in Antioch % in Tarfus**, in Athens, in Co-
^ 'H firiT^nTtiXis irt Tij; Sv^ieii, fiiyt^Hi rt s/Sj^s »(j» t^j XX^tlf
tvScufnaiicU, 'ZSirtt uS/ifira; itti mi ut« 'Pa/^iotg «(KSf*EViis i^Hini
rsTmt. Jofeph. Bell. Jud. L. III. c, ii, §• 4. Confer Strab.
L, XVI. p, 1089, ed. Amftel,
'' ToiTKt/Tii Si To<5 it^aSi [at Tarfus] ect^faTait o-srsJij 5rf«5 7(
tfiM(7o(piai xai Tt)t ei}i>.)it lyKvltXitt eiTramt TtenSitUt yt^tit , air^ vTif

SERMON II. Si
rinth, and in Rome. Unlearned and igno
rant men, the moft tenacious of ancient cuf-
toms, and leaft capable of being taught fub
lime truths % believe in the one true and only
God, and Jefus Chrift whom He had fent.
The profligate forfake vice, and fcorners em
brace wifdom ; nor are there wanting, among
the fons of erudition and the men pf opulence,
thofe who join a perfecuted fedl, at the ma
nifeft hazard of wealth, of fame, and of life.
In the mean time, however, the fpldlers
of Chrift did not, in order to fecure their
conqueft, overturn, or take poffeffion of, all
the ftrong holds of the adverfary, wherever
they came. They eredled their ftandard in
the midft of their enemies ; yet the work,
which they raifed,. in the fight of the foe
and the moment of danger, ftood firm, as the
rock of ages; force could not break down
the impregnable walls, nor cunning under
mine the folid foundation ^ Againft the
^i^Mtrai ngii AS'ijva;, j{gii A7^ii,**SfitKt, )($i; » nix x}l\tt -nirot Svtxm
«»«?, it a ^oKai xcu Siiir^iQat Tut (pi>.c<rt(put ytptxm. Strab.
L.'XIV. p. 991,
• See Chryfoft:. T. m. p. 28?. 1. 17. T.IV, p. 813. 1. 5.
^ Ou y*^ ^^aTCTTiSat iSict a;i;o»; x_XkX xurti; xtifiiy twro ren -mXi-
y.itii, >{g.i isrcf>i auTUt ix^xrut' )(0ii <i ^iozit rois e^S-^ii; x>Xi-ft(l>cftiv<ii
Sia^iS'euttt xvTUt TBf /3a«?«;, i(j<< Tri^iiyitstri) (jjt* uixat. Chryfoft.
Serm. IV, in i Cor. T. III. p. 265. 1, 33, Confer Hom, 33.
in Matt. T, II. p, 229, I. 2, F 'united

§2 SERMON IL
united oppofition of ingenuity and power; of
intereft and prejudice, the faith of Chrift cru
cified grew and prevailed ; and believers were,
every where, added to the Lord. As long,
therefore, as we can argue from effedls to
their caufes, as long as the work ffieweth the
workman, and the heavens and the earth
declare the God that made them ; fo long
may we conclude, from the miraculous man
ner, in which the gofpel was firft planted in
the world, that it was, indeed, the power of
God, and the wifdom of God.
No, but, we are told, men died in its de
fence, and there is a wonderful propenfity in
human nature, which prompts us to efpoufe
the perfecuted party. Of this and other ar
guments, which have been framed to ac
count for the futcefs of Chrlftianity, it may
be obferved, in general, that they by no
tneans come up to the point. Whatever In
fluence they might have, in promoting the
fubfequent propagation of the gofpel ; they
had certainly none at all, in effedling Its firft
eftabliffiment. There were thoufands con
verted, before any were benefited by the libe
rality of the faithful ; or one martyr died, in
fupport of the caufe. But

SERMON IL 83
But why, after all, was martyrdom an ar
gument, in favour of Chrlftianity ? becaufe
it was true ? or becaufe it was falfe ? When
Elijah flew the prophets of Baal, why did
not an hoft fpring up from their affies, to
avenge the infulted honour of the god }
When Jezebel put to death the prophets of
the Lord, why did not the true worffilpers
multiply in Ifrael ? and why was Elijah the
only prophet left ? What tends to the de
ftrudlion of truth, as well as falfehood, can
not, in itfelf, be an argument for either *.
Still we deny not, nay we infift, that the
blood of the martyrs was, as it has emphati*
cally been called, the feed of the church. If
any one. In modern days, fuffers death, rather
than relinquiffi his religious tenets ; this may
evince the fincerity of his belief, but does
not ffiew the truth of What he believes. He
B The infufficiency of the plea of martyrdom, limply con-
fidered, was feen and urged againft the Montanifts, in the fer
cond Century J when, their other arguments being confuted,
they had recourfe to this, as an irrefragable proof of their
impious pretences : T< h if it x^ at laixi jrAnoi ^^on nx
itXtibii. t(sfLi yx^ TUt xS>.at eti^io'tat ritit Tthurm c<riss ^X'^'^' f'^^i'
rufXi' i(gii V wx^ rart SrivH crvyxXTuB^tis-tfti^x, nS', «^lj^»«v 'X^'
tivTist ijnoAeyiKr«f*e». Afterius Urbanus ap, Euf H. E. L. V,
c. xvi. prope finem. F z dies

§4 SERMON ir.
dies profeffing a particular fenfe of the holy
fcriptures ; and it is poffible, that fenfe may
not be the true one. But the primitive mar
tyrs, at 'leaft the earlleft of them, died in
atteftation of public Fadls ; touching which
it was impoffible, that they themfelves ffiould
be deceived, and^ all. the world faw, they
could have no imaginable temptation, to de
ceive others. The martyrdom of fuch men
was, indeed, a ftrong argument, in favpur of
their caufe ; to which their blamelefs lives,
and unexampled fortitude, gave additional
luftre. Cicero has exhibited, with his ufual vi
gour of imagination, and energy of language,
a ftriking pidlure of Roman patience, in on?
who was publicly fcourged, while not a groan
was heard, not a word was uttered, during
his chaftifement, except " Civis Romanus
fum ''." But among the firft Chriftians were
many, of each fex and of every age, who,
under much ffiarper tortures, poffeffed no lefs
courage ; from whofe lips, after praying for
their enemies, not a fyllable could be ex
torted, excepting that name, in .which they
gloried even in death, x^i'TMm «/**'. They
•> " I am a Roman." Vid, Cic, in Verr. L. V. c. Ixii.
" " I am a Chriftian." See an elegant and affefting letter,
in Eufeb. Hift. Eccl. L. V. c. i, giving an account of the
martyrdom

SERMON IL 85
evidently ffiewed, or rather, as it was on the
occafion remarked. He who fuffered In them,
and fupported them, ffiewed, qti fA,v\^iv CpoQipov
OTTH Haroag ayct^Trri^ fjt.i'ioi aXyzivov oTra Xfii'^ii aoPou ''.
Their caufe was the caufe of truth ; and the
malice of the world, the machinations of
infidelity, and the gates of hell, never did,
nor ever ffiall, prevail againft it. It is founded
upon a rock, and that rock is Chrift, " the
fame yefterday, and to day, and for ever '."
martyrdom of fome Chriftians in Gaul. See alfo L. IV. c. xv.
p. 167. and L. VIII. c. iii.
^ "Where the love of the Father reigns, nothing can
create fear ; where Chrift's glory is the objeft, nothing can
give pain." See the letter, as above, p, 202, See likewife
the Epiftle concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp, Ibid«
p. 162. n, 5.
' Heb. xiii, 8.

SER-

SERMON III.

M A T T. XXIV. 4, 5.
Take heed that no man deceive you. For many
fmll come in my name, faying, I am Chriji ;
and jhall deceive many.
WE have confidered one pf the figns,
which our bleffed Saviour gave to
his difciples, whereby it might be known,
that the defolation pf the temple, and the
overthrow pf the Jewifh ftate, were nigh at
hand. The gofpel, it was foretold, ffiould
be preached in all the worlji ; and then the
end ffiould come. However, from this mark
alone, had no others been added, the time of
the approaehiflg vengeance could not have
been difcbvered, with fufficient precifion, to
anfwer all thofe purpofes of mercy, which
the Redeemer of mankind gracioufly in*
tended. F 4 Before

88 SERMON IIL
Before St. Paul had finiffied the courfe of
his miniftry, he himfelf informs us, that the
" found" of the apoftles Was gone forth "into
all the earth, arid their words unto the ends
of the world * ;" that the gofpel was " come,"
or rather was " prefent "," had taken firm
hold, and was bringing forth fruit, in all
the world, having been preached to the whole
creation under heaven '. Here then was the
accompliffiment of our Lord's predidlion.
But although there now were believers In
all lands ; yet inafmuch as there were ftill, and
lorig after this time, many adverfaries, and
hitherto perhaps fome cities, or diftridls,
where the faith had not been taught ; It
might have been doubted, by the Chriftians
in Judea, who were moft nearly concerned
in the prophecies refpedling Jerufalem, whe
ther the gofpel had been preached, in that
fulnefs and extent, with which it was to be
publiffied, before the Jewiffi affairs ffiould
have an end. At leafl thofe among them,
" Rom, X, 1 8,
Col. i, J, 6. T» fvuyyt^iie Tie irx^otrtt as vfixi, iig.^us ng^t
«» TXtri rtt KoiTfia,
' Ibid, i, 23. It is not, as the common tranflation would
lead us to fuppofe, x.^v}i^ttrf>s TtXrt} xrtro, but x«ji»;(;9'E»r«s w
VXTYl Tl) KtlTtt, TJ iiro T0» K^XttV,
who

SERMON III. 89
who had only the Ordinary means of infor
mation, (and no other were granted where
they were not neceffary**) could not foon be
certified of this univerfal promulgation; or
if they were, yet, from the. words of this
prophecy, they were not authorifed to con
clude, that the deftrudlion of the temple
ffiould immediately enfue. A certain event
was declared, before which, the final ex-
cifion, whatever there might be of rumours
abroad, or commotions at home, ffiould not
take place ; but it was not faid, that whdii
one was fulfilled, the other might not ftill,
for a ffiort while, be delayed.
For thefe reafons therefore, our bleffed
Lord, befides the fwift propagation of his
gofpel, was pleafed to forefhew other figns
of the times, peculiarly obfervable to the
inhabitants of Judea, and fome of them
pointing out the critical moment, when flight
would be, the only means of fecurity.
* Ou yx^ i7r< fux^eii to &Hit rtit ixum irviif/,X)^iXt lis Mv ivtm ij
SiSacrit' «Mi' Sip' ii; «t9g»i5r(t))i i)\iriS« (a,-/; jiT^ixoi tt^o? t« x^amt irX'
Ifxmt, Jof. Ant. Jud, L. II. c. XV.' §, 5. Vide et Chryfoft. in
Aft. xvi. 10. T, IV, p, 804. 1.4, et confer p. 812, 1. i. 817.
1. 25. T.V. p. 277. 1,33, et feqq. See alfo an admirable
remark On St, Peter's deliverance from prifon, in Dr, Town^
fon's Difc. on the Gofpels, p. 62. Laftly com'p. 2 Cor. i. 5.
Of

9© SERMON III.
Of thefe local marks one vi^as that, which
is contained in the text : " Take heed that
no man deceive you. For many ffiall come
in my name, faying, 1 am Chrift," or rather,
the Chrift*, " and ffiall deceive many." St.
Luke, In the parallel paffage, adds, " and
the time draweth near : go ye not therefore
after them." And the three evangelifts, after
mentioning another token, that of wars and
tumults, have carefully recorded the caution
to the difciples, not to be terrified ; foraf-
much as thefe things muft, indeed, come to
pafs, but the end fhould not be yet.
" 'O Xjir«, It is fcarcely ever ufed abfolutely in the Gof
pels. The contemptuous fpeech, ir^i:cpiiTivi7ii, X^ii-i, Matt.
xxvi. 68. cannot be thought an exception. In 'Mar. ix. 41.
the other words are fo exprefs, that the article feemed not
neceffary: it ra avtijcxTc fts, on Xjir* srs. In Luke xxiii, 2,
if it is not an epithet of king, it is in appofition with it ; and
the one not admitting the article, the other could not have it.
The only remainipg text, where it ftands alone, is Johnix. 22.
a.nd here poffibly it may have its common, not its appropriate^
fignification ; " if any one Ihould acknowledge him to be
anointed, to have any divine commiffion, though not that of
the Mefliah," This feems to be confirmed by what follows;
for the man was excommunicated for confefiing Jefus to be a
prophet; Cohipare verfe 33, with 17. He afterwards (38)
believed him to be the Son of God. In the Epiftles the
word Xjirot very frequently occurs, without any addition
whatfoever. See Rom. v. 6. 8. vi. 4. 8, 9, viii. g, 10, i Cor,
i. 17, 23. ii. 16. iii. i, ix, 21, xii. 27. i Pet. i. 11. ii. 21,
iii. 16. &c. Aftef

SERMON IIL gi
After this, St. Matthew, at the twenty
third verfe, again takes up the fubjedl of the
falfe chrifts, in the following words, moft
of which are tranfcribed by St. Mark: "Then
if any man ffiall fay unto you, Lo, here is
Chrift, or there ; believe it not. For there
ffiall rife falfe chrifts and falfe prophets, and
ffiall ffiew great figns and wonders, infomuch
that (if it were poffible) they ffiall deceive
the very eledl. Behold, I have told you
before." This paffage is, by fome, applied to a dif
ferent race of impoftors, from thofe, who
are charadlerifed in the beginning of the
chapter ; to the deceivers, who, as they fup
pofe, ffiall precede the fecond coming of our
Lord. It is not neceffary here to enter upon
the great queftion, whether the whole of
this important chapter does, or does not,
relate to the deftrudlion of Jerufalem, and
the concomitant circumftances of that event.
On either fuppofition, I fee no good reafon,
why the paffage before us ffiould not be un
derftood of thofe days.
St. Luke has entirely omitted it ^; which
he would probably not have done, had it been
' He has however, in another place, a paflage altogether
fimilar, which evidently relates to the Jewilh calamities. See
<;. xvii. 23. totally

92 SERMON IIL
totally diflindl from the foregoing predic
tions. His Gofpel being defigned for the
ufe of the Gentiles remote from Judea, he
is lefs minute and circumftantlal, than the
former evangelifts, in defcrlbing thofe figns,
of which few or none of his readers were
likely to be eye- witneffes. But againft, the
lying prophets, if fuch there ffiall be, in the'
lafl days, it was expedient for the whole
church, for the Gentile as well as the Jewiffi
converts, to be forewarned ; and the book
more adapted for general inftrudlion would
probably have contained the more generally
neceffary caution.
Moreover, fome parts of the defcription^
efpecially in St. Matthew, are evidently lo
cal, and feem particularly to point out pre
tenders to the Mefliahffilp ; and whatever
falie teachers may have been in the church,
or ffiall hereafter arife, we can hardly fup
pofe, any of them will be bold enough, to
^ffume a charadler more exalted, than that
of a prophet.
The difcourfes of our Lord, as recorded
by the evangelifts, if they have not a critical
arrangement of parts-, are not however void
of order and method. Being lefs artificial, they

SERMON IIL 93
they have perhaps, for that reafon, more of
dignity and weight ; but there is certainly a
connedlion, which is wife and goodi and
commonly apparent. In the chapter before
us, our bleffed Saviour does not give a diredl
and immediate anfwer to the inquiries of his
apoftles^; which they made, it is probable,
from curiofity and concern for their native
country, but with little apprehenfion of
danger to themfelves. The warning that
was moft requifite is therefore given firft.
They are cautioned, and their converts
through them, not to be led away by im
poftors, who ffiould appear, and, with too
much fuccefs, ftudy to deceive. The be
ginning of forrows, infurredlions and tu
mults, famine and peftilence, are next hieri-
tioned ; and the Chriftians, under their pe>-
culiar afflidlions, which are then foretold,
might derive perhaps fome degree of patient
firmnefs, from the confideration, that they
fufferedi when fufferings were common ; but
they would undoubtedly feel inexpreffible
joy, , in the ; enlivening j-efledllon, that what
they underwent was for the name, and for
.the fake, of Chrift. They ^re likewife afr-
fured, in exprefs words, that whofo endured
f See verfe 4, &c, and S. Chryfoftom on the pJace. to

94 SERMON IIL
to the end ffiould be faved ; and further ftlH,
that, in this very feafon of alarm and danger,
notwithftanding the various perils from with
out, and the coldnefs and apoftacy of many
within, the gofpel ffiould go forth, and pre
vail over the earth.
Thus forewarned, and thus fortified, a
fign is given them, whereupon They, who
had fo long in vain endeavoured to convert
their brethren, ffiould now betake themfelves
to inftant flight ; left they ffiould be con-
fumed in the deftrudlion of the wicked, of
which a moft affedling account is exhibited.
Still, however, the defpriptlon of the fe-
ducers, who, before the war, and during its
continuance, ffiould be the ruin of multi
tudes, was not fo minute and full, as the
holy Jefus, in compaffion to thofe who be
lieved on him, and to thofe who did not,
faw to be expedient. This point therefore
he gracioufly refumes; and, in the verfes
already quoted, and fome which follow, de
lineates the impoftors, with fuch particula
rity, that they, who had read the predidlion,
and It was publiffied early, that all might
read it, muft have been blind not to fee its
accom-

SERMON m. 95
accompliffiment, If it ever was accompliffied,
and mad to be deluded, if they did behold it.
The admonition of Chrift was, " If they
ffiall fay unto you. Behold he is in the de-
fert, go not forth *"." And the hiftorian Jo-
fephus, as if it had been his defign to illuf
trate this paffage, informs us, that falfe pro
phets and impoftors prevailed on multitudes,
to follow them into the defert, promifing to
difplay there prodigies and figns; but that
thofe, who liftened to them, fuftered the jufl:
puniffiment of their folly, and were either
flain, or difperfed, by the Roman governor*.
If they fay, " Behold, he is in the feeret
-chambers, believe it not," was another part
of the warning in the Gofpel. From Jofe-
phus we learn, that In Jerufalem itfelf, and
during the fiege, there were many deceivers,
who lied againft God, and promifed their
^ Matt. xxiv. 26.
* Ant. Jud, L. XX. c.viii. §.6. Soon after our Lord's af-
cenfion, Dofitheus, a Samaritan, endeavoured to perfuade the
Samaritans, that he was the Meffiah of whom Mofes prophe-
lied. See Origen contra Celf. Of Simon Magus, the coun-
tryman and contemporary of Dofitheus, an account may be
feen in the fame author, and in others. It feemed not neicef-
fary to ray defign to mention any impoftors befides thofe who
appeared in thefe days in Judea.
coun-

96 SERMON III.
countrymen peace and fafety. Even at the
laft, when the temple was in flames, multi
tudes of all ages flocked thither from the
city, upon the proclamation of a falfe pro
phet, that God enjoined them to go up to
the temple, where they ffiould receive the
flgns of deliverance ; and of fix thoufand
affembled there, on this occafion, not one
efcaped the fire, or the fword ''.
** I am. Come," faid Chrift to the Jqws,
" in my Father's name, and ye receive me
not ; if another ffiall come In his own name,
him ye will receive'." The true difciples of
our Lord were few, though in one inftance
four, and in another, five, thoufand were
miraculoufly fed by him "*. But a Jew, who
afterwards came from Egypt, with no other
credentials, but felf-confident boafting, led
away to mount Olivet, as Jofephus informs
us, no lefs a number, than thirty thoufand
deluded followers " ; and though, as far as
appears, neither he, nor any of his brethren
in impofture, adlually affumed the title of
" B. J. L. VL c. V, §, 2, 3. • John v. 43.
•" See Matt, xv, 38. xiv. 21.
" Ant. Jud. L. XX. cviii. §.6, B.J. L.II. c.xiii. §.5.
He fays of thefe deceivers juft before (§. 4.) sTfoj^sifuKn 9-8(aer^»
—Sxiitttu,t TO a-AJi&of xtiVil^ot,
Meffiah ;

SERMON IIL (j'j
Meffiah ; yet their general condudl fufficiently
ffiewed, to what their ambitious views af-
pired. They ftyled themfelves prophets, and
profeffed to adl under the immediate influence
of heaven ; and they likewife undertook to
deliver the people ; and this twofold cha
radler, of a vidlorious prince and an infpired
prophet, was what. the Jews, in that age,
univerfally expedled to find in their Mefliah °.
The impoftors therefore, if not in exprefs
words, at leaft by the exploits, which they
engaged to perform, feverally declared, " I
am the Chrift."
This charadler, and thefe promifes, it is
probable, no deceiver ever held forth, till the
true Son of David had converfed among men,
and wrought a deliverance, not from tem
poral, but fpiritual, enemies. Judas of Ga
lilee, mentioned in the Adls ^, who oppofed
the enrollment, afferting, that God was the
only governor and lord, was the founder of a
new fedl among the Jews, but did not chal
lenge, in fupport of his fchemes, the autho
rity of heaven, or the title of a prophet. The
pretenfions alfo of the Theudas, of whom Ga-
° See Grot, on Luke xxiv. 21.
i> V. 37. See A. J, L. XVIII, c, i. §. 6. L. XX. c, iv.
§,2. B.J. L.II. c.viii, §.i. G mallei

98 SERMON in.
mallei there fpeaks, were. It Is likely, of a
fimilar nature. And when our bleffed Sa
viour fays, " All that ever," or rather. All
as many as, " came before me, are thieves
and robbers '' ;" his words feem to point at
the pharifalcal and other avaricious ffiepherds,
who, in thofe days, led aftray, and then plun
dered, the flock ; but did not arrogate to
themfelves the office of Meffiah. The truth
therefore may, in this probably, as in other
inftances, claim the honour of priority to
error and falfehood '.
On this, however, it is not neceffary to
lay much ftrefs : there Is another point, which
requires fome confideration. Among the va
rious falfe prophets, mentioned by Jofephus,
and their various boafts, he has not recorded
the achievement of any one extraordinary feat,
which they promifed. How then, it may
be afked, does this agree with our Lord's
predidlion in the cafe ; they " ffiall ffiew
¦J John X. 8. xxtrts arei Tft S/xS 7i)&»t, xMTtrai Eicri xxt Aiifo^.
Ita autem agebant tunc Judsorum doftores, qui, Chriftum
gregem fibi colligere obfervantes, ipfum praevertebant, ovef-
que ab ipfo ad fe pertrahere conabantur, feque proinde pro
janua ovium in ecclefiam venditabant. Wolf, in loc,
' In omnibus Veritas imaginem antecedit ; poft rem fimili-
tudo fuccedit. Tertull. de Prsefcript. c xxix, great

SERMON IIL 99
great figns and wonders ; infomuch that. If
it were poffible, they ffiall deceive the very
eledl ' ?
This feeming difficulty we might perhaps
remove, by faying. They might poffibly
ftrengthen their illufions, by fome lefs Im-?
portant works; but failing in the effential
point, the decifive proof, as it was to be,
of their miffion, the hiftorian has paffed
over their inferior pradlices of deception, and
related only what was a fufficient confutation
of their haughty claims. But an argument
drawn from the filence of an author, how
ever probable, is always uncertain. Let us
fee therefore whether the words of the pro
phecy itfelf, when attentively viewed, will
not furniffi a better anfwer.
They ffiall ffiew or give figns, ^aa-aa-i c^i^na,
fays the evangelift ; and I believe it will be
found on examination, that the word, which
very frequently occurs in the New Tefta
ment, and not feldom on this very fubjedl, is
never ufed abfolutely, where the performance
of a rbal miracle is intended.
'^Matt, xxiv, 24,
G 2 In

100 SERMON IIL
In the prophecy of Joel, quoted by St.
Peter in his firft fermon, the expreffion is In
deed the fame with that before us, " I will
ffiew wonders in heaven above '." But here,
befides that the paffage, like that in queftion,
is promlffory or predidlive, God is the fpeaker,
and the work is His ; there is no vifible agent,
neither man nor angel, employed to effedl it.
When that is the cafe, or in other words,
when a miracle. In the proper acceptation of
the term, is wrought, the phrafe is different.
" The works," fays our Lord, " which the
Father hath Given me to Finiffi, the fame
works that I do, bear witnefs of me "." In
like manner, we read of Paul and Barnabas,
that they fpake boldly in the Lord, who
" Granted figns and wonders to be Done by
their hands *."
The word therefore, when ufed fimply,
means to give out, to affign, or appoint; but
whether what has thus been promifed is af
terwards accompliffied, this muft be colledled
from other circumftances.
' Afts ii, 19.
" John V. 36. Comp. xvii, 4. Rev. xiii. 5. 14, 15. xvi. 6.
8. See alfo, for the fenfe here given of SiSufii, Deut. xiii. i.
in the Septuagint, and Farmer on Miracles, p. 303. &c.
* Afts xiv. 3.
And

SERMON IIL loi
And left any one ffiould fuppofe, that in
the words of St. Matthew, which are tranf
lated " infomuch that they ffiall deceive," it
was implied, that the fuccefs of thefe Im
poftors ffiould arife from their doing fome
extraordinary works ; St. Mark, in the pa
rallel paffage, feems purpofely to have adopted
a phrafe of more certain and different import.
They ffiall ffiew or give figns, he fays, ^r^o? ro
aTTOTrXavav, in order to feduce, or with a view
to feduce ^. The fame, therefore, is the
meaning of St. Matthew ; and this is per-
fedlly confbnant to the truth of fadls. For
the wretched people, as the hiftorian defcribes
them '''f in the midft of their calamities ea
gerly catching at every ffiadow of hope, and
inattentive to thofe plain figns, which fore-
ffiewed their deftrudlion, were deluded by
the promifes of thefe audacious mifcreants,
till the iffue, but too late, convinced them of
their folly.
When Joffiua was the leader of the armies
of Ifrael, the walls of Jericho fell down be
fore them, and made a way for the ranfomed
to pafs over. But, in the day of Judah's
mifery, the walls of Jerufalem, for the fall
y Mark xiii. 22. ' B, J. L. VI. c. v. 5. 2, 3.
G 3 whereof

102 SERMON IIL
whereof the Egyptian, at the head of thirty
thoufand men, folemnly -pledged himfelf,
ftood unmoved ; a proof to all ages, that
neither the Lord, nor the Lord's anointed,
was to be found in that mighty hoft '. An
immenfe multitude were prevailed on by
Theudas, to follow him to Jordan, for he
faid, that he was a prophet, and that the
ftream, divided by his word, ffiould open an
eafy paffage for their efcape ; but the river
flowed on, regardlefs of His voice, who pof
feffed not the fpirit, nor the mantle, of Elijah.
The haughty pretender was taken and be
headed; and of his followers many were flain,
and the refidue difperfed, or made captives \
We do not mean to fritter away the force
of an objedlion, becaufe, in its more formi
dable ffiape, it may be unanfwerable. The
interpretation, here given of our Lord's pre
didlion, is, I believe, juft and true. But if
the expofition, more generally received, ffiould
be thought to ftand on a better foundation ;
or if any one ffiould doubt, whether the paf
fage does not at leaft Imply the poffibility of
certain works, apparently miraculous, being
» A. J, L, XX, c. vii. §. 6. B, J. L. II. c xiii, §. 4.
'' A. J, L. XX, c, iv. §. I. He was a different perfon from
the Theudas mentioned Afts v. 36. performed

SERMON IIL 103
performed by thofe, who do not derive their
authority from heaven ; it may be proper to
confider this matter a little further ; efpecially
as the difficulty may feem to be increafed by
the words of Mofes : " If there arife among
you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and
giveth thee a fign or a wonder, and the fign
or the wonder cometh to pafs, whereof he
fpake unto thee, faying. Let us go after other
gods (which thou haft not known) and let
us ferve them ; thou ffialt not hearken unto
the words of that prophet, or that dreamer
of dreams ^" If the prophet of idolatry is
fuffered to give a fign, which muft. In this
cafe, have the force of a predidlion ; and if
that fign is accompliffied, which would then
carry with it a miraculous appearance ; it
may be afked. How are miracles, or pro
phecy, a demonftration of the true religion,
when, as it feems, they may be pleaded,
fometimes at leaft, in fupport of the falfe ?
To remove this objedlion, we may firft take
a feparate, though concife, view of the re
fpedlive cafes of prophecy and miracles ; after
which, if fome remarks occur applicable to
both, with them it is propofed to clofe this
difcourfe.
¦= Deut. c, xiii. 1-3.
G 4 « Known

104 SERMON III.
" Known unto God," faid the holy paftor
of the firft Chriftian church, "are all his
works, from the beginning of the world''."
Every deed, every word, and every thought
of his creatures were furveyed by Him, be
fore they were formed. Such excellency of
wifdom we do not prefume to explain or
comprehend ; nor, with the fcanty line of
the human underftanding, attempt to fathom
the depths of Omnifcience. It is enough for
man to know, what the fcriptures manifeftly
teach, that the divine foreknowledge is per-
fedlly confiflent with human freedom.
"Whom he did foreknow," fays the apof
tle, "he alfo did predeftinate'." In the order,
therefore, of thefe unfearchable ways of God,
the decree does not precede, but follow, pref-
cience ^ How then are they forefeen ? In
the abftradl, as men ? or as individuals, dif-
tinguiffied from one another by their refpec-
tlve charadlers ? As individuals, moft affu-
redly, with all their good, and all their bad,
qualities; with every circumftance of their
whole life. Becaufe it is forefeen, therefore,
•• Afts XV, I 8, = Rom. viii. 29.
*¦ Vide Chryfoft. T. V. p. 779. 1. 10, 32. It is not certain
that the oration is S. Chrylbftom's ; but, whoever the author
was, it well deferves an attentive perufal. that

SERMON IIL 105
that they will believe in Chrift, and obey the
gofpel, it is the Father's good pleafure, that
they fhall be made like the Captain of their
falvation, and reign with him in manfions of
blifs and glory. But from this myfterious
fubjedl, on which it is evident, that every
term, which we ufe, muft neceffarily be Ina
dequate and figurative s; let us retire with
reverence, and fet our feet on lefs perilous
ground. Of created beings. If we may judge from
analogy, and the probability of the cafe, the
moft exalted muft ftill be capable of improve
ment in knowledge ; of receiving new Ideas,
or new combinations, as the counfels of pro
vidence are more and more unfolded to their
view, and furniffi freffi matter for celeftial
fongs. This notion, which reafon might
fuggeft, the fcriptures of truth feem to con
firm beyond a doubt. We there read, that
" the angels defire to look into ''" the won
ders of redemption ; and that " now, unto
the principalities and powers in' heavenly
places, is known, by the church, the mani
fold wifdom of God '." If thefe things are
8 Ou yaf (pB-xv^ ir^caxtx^aiveit a Aoyo; iTri rot x-^xvrtt xxi XtX^ti
TTXtrit ©tot, xXt^' VTrctefii xxi vTrs^^ti, xufims o»oft«ini xSutxrm iTti-
C«9-§a xi'''^"i "• '¦• ^' Philo de Leg. ad Caium, p, 546.
¦^ I Pet. i. 12. * Eph.-iii. 10. fo.

io6 SERMON IIL
fo, we may fafely fuppofe, that, fublime as
is their knowledge, complete as is their blifs,
they cannot however anticipate the events of
remote futurity, when the Father of light has
not, in heaven or on earth, exprefsly revealed
them. ''.
It is apparent from hence, that prophecy
muft be a very dangerous fubjedl for impof
ture to meddle with. The profpedl is too
obfcure for the prince of darknefs to defcry ;
the maze Is too intricate for his minifters to
unravel. The rebellious fpirits, cut off, by
their apoftacy, from the living fountain of
beatitude and truth, can know nothing more,
than what their own experience may teach,
or fagacity didlate. The refponfes therefore,
which at times they have given forth, or their
fervants have forged for them, totally uncon-
nedled one with another, have ufually been
ambiguous, often erroneous, and fometimes,
perhaps, true. In this latter cafe, if it was
not merely a lucky chance, the fubjedl has
however either been a tranfadlion carrying on
at the fame time, but in a different place,
which we may readily conceive obvious to
¦^ Vide Chryfoft, in i Cor. ii. 7. T. IIL p, 279. 1, 36, &c.
et in Col, i, 26. T.IV. p. 113, Conf S. Ambrof. de Fide,
L, IV. c, I. and the authpr of 2 Efdras, iv. 52, fpiritual,

SERMON IIL 107
fpiritual, though depraved, intelligences ; or
elfe fome event on the verge of accompliffi
ment. If no inftance occurs, or none that may
be deemed of unqueftionable authority, we
may be allowed to fuppofe one. When Satan
had licence to tempt holy Job, to fpoil him
of his fubftance, and afflidl him in his body ;
had he been fuffered to fpeak, by himfelf or
his agents, he could, it may be imagined,
have told, that thefe difafters ftiould quickly
befall. The reftraint, which controuls the
malignity of his nature, being for a moment
fufpended ; he was not ignorant, what pur
pofes of iniquity, or deeds of mifchief, when
left to himfelf, he would haften to perpetrate.
Setting afide therefore fuch cafes, if fuch
there may poffibly be, in which an event,
not adlually accompliffied, may have been
difclofed, when the wicked one himfelf was
to be the agent, or the proximate caufe,
whatever it might be, had begun to operate;
we may fafely affirm, that no remote and for
tuitous tranfadlion ever was, or ever will be,
foreffiewn by the father of lies, or his fpirit,
which worketh in the children of difobe-
dience. In

io8 SERMON IIL
In fadl, the mode of operation, in thefe
attempts to deceive, when compared with
the manner of the heavenly Spirit, has com
monly afforded no obfcure indication of a
different origin '.
The Holy Spirit of God enlightens, ex
alts, and purifies the faculties ; but does not
deftroy the freedom of adlion. The apoftles
and evangelifts, men of flow apprehenfion,
and of no acquired talents, furpafs in an In
ftant, when infpired from above, the moft
confummate philofophers, in thofe very ex
cellencies, which may feem within the reach
of human ability, improved by inftrudlion,
and corredled by habit ; in the power of rea
foning, in the order, the con'nedlion, and
perfpicuity of their narrative ; in reciting at
large, or framing an abridgement of, their
Lord's difcourfes ; in feledling the main cir
cumftances of a miracle or tranfadlion to be
recorded ; and, with a matchlefs fimplicity,
' This argument is difcufl"ed by S, Chryfoftom, Serm, XXIX.
in I Cor, T, III. p. 429 and by Epiphanius againft the Mon
tanifts, Hsr, XLVIII. c. ii, &c. In the fame controverfy,
Miltiades wrote a treatife vm ns fj,ti Sut wfoip-frtit it ixrxa-u A«-
Mit, Euf, H. E. L,V, c. xvii. fee alfo c. xvi. For the dif
ferent meanings of the word ixracris Philo may be confulted,
Vol.1, p. 508.
which

SERMON IIL 109
which pervades the whole, giving, at the
fame time, a commanding dignity to the
humbleft fubjedl, that paffes through their
hands. What is imparted for man's ufe is
communicated in a vs^ay agreeable to his na
ture, though fuperior to it. " The fpirits
of the prophets are fubjedl to the prophets,"
obedient to their controul, whether to fpeak,
or keep filence ; and when the will of God
is revealed to feveral, at the fame time and
place, they " may all" however " prophecy
one by one." " For God is not the author
ofconfufion, but of peace "'."
Such are the gifts of the Spirit of truth :
what is the ffiape affumed by the enemy ?
Infpiration and madnefs are here, in general,
only different names for one and the fame
thing. The miferable patient, labouring in
vain to throw off the overpowering god, is
compelled to utter words, of which he is not
the author, and knows not the meaning.
Furious as the whirlwind, and black as the
tempeft, is the appearance of Satan ; bright
as the day, and refreffiing as the devs^. Is the
Spirit of Jehovah. If the Lord defcend in
thunder, and mount Sinai tremble ; the If
raelites hear his voice from the midft of the
" I Cor. xiv. 32, 31. 33. fire.

no SERMON IIL
fire, and he talketh with Mofes, as a man
talketh with his friend". If a great and
ilrong wind rendeth the mountains, and
breaketh in pieces the rocks before the Lord;
it is a ftill fmall voice, that vifiteth Elijah °.
On the day of Pentecoft, with a found as of
a ruffiing mighty wind, and with the ap
pearance of fire, the Holy Ghoft came down
from heaven on the apoftles ; and as many as
were bleffed with his divine influence fpake
with wifdom and power, with truth and with
fobernefs ¦".
There are, indeed, inftances, where the
Lord hath, in a different manner, made known
to his fervants what ffiould come to pafs. I
*' faw this great vifion," faid Daniel, " and
there remained no ftrength In me ; for my
comelinefs was turned in me into corrup
tion '." " I knew a man in Chrift," faith
St. Paul, fpeaking of himfelf " (whether in
the body or out of the body I cannot tell ;
God knoweth) fuch an one caught up to the
third heaven'." And when the beloved dif-
ciple, who was wont, in facred familiarity,
to lean on Jefus' bofom ; when He, in the
" See Exod. xix. 1 6. &c. Deut.iv. 1 1, 12. Exod. xxxiii. 11.
" I Kings xix. 11 -13, P Afts ii, ^ Dan. x. 8.
' 2 Cor. xii, 2,3, Revelation,

SERMON IIL III
Revelation, faw the fame Jefus, his coun
tenance ffiining as the fun in his ftrength, he
" fell at his feet as dead'."
But what are we to infer from cafes of
this fort ? that they were illufions, or not
diftinguiffiable from the arts of deceivers ?
God forbid. It is ufually noted, on thefe
occafions, that He, whofe prefence was too
awful for feeble mortality to fuftain, ftrength-
ened, with his right hand, his favoured fer
vant ; and enabled him to fee clearly what it
was his gracious pleafure to difclofe. When
fcenes of future glory" had thus been repre
fented, the holy prophet, in retirement and
at leifure, but his heart ftill burning, and his
imagination glowing with the images pour-
trayed there, under the guidance of the fame
good Spirit, wrote the vifion, and made it
plain for his own generation, or fealed it up
for fucceeding ages.
Thus, then. It appears, that prophecy will,
in every view, and in every part, bear the
ftrldleft examination, and prove Itfelf to be
the gift of God. Though diftindl from the
natural powers pf man, it takes not away
» Rev, i, i6, 17. their

112 SERMON IIL
their exercife, or their ufe ; like the fire in
the buffi, it is a flame which enlightens, with
out confuming. But impofture often over
does her part, by deftroying the reafon, which
ffie pretends to exalt ; and the events foretold
do not obey her vain predidlions.
So it has ever been, and fo it muft be ;
for prefcience is the peculiar prerogative of
Jehovah. The things of God knoweth no
one '; he is God, and there is none like him,
declaring the end from the beginning " ; and
the word which he fendeth by his fervants
the prophets, he himfelf confirmeth in its
feafon, fo that age after age ftrengthens their
teftimony, and bears witnefs to the truth.
Let us now proceed to the cafe of mira
cles ; on which, though lefs connedled with
our general plan, the particular fubjedl of
the prefent ledlure makes a few words ne
ceffary. It cannot be doubted, that He, who cre
ated man, can, in a fupernatural manner,
reveal his will to him ; of which revelation
the perfon thus honoured may be as fully
• I Cor. ii, II. xSus, " If xlvi, 9, 10.
convinced,

SERMON IIL 113
convinced, as he is of his own reafon or ex-
iftence. Confcious, beyond a poffibility of
doubting, that certain ideas are his own ; he
may be equally affured, that certain other
ideas are not his own, but communicated to
him. His private convidlion, however, is
no demonftration to thofe around him ; and
they may reafonably demand, in an affair of
fuch moment, fome other evidence, befides
his own aflertion. Miracles, in fome cafes
perhaps the only proof, are, at all times, a
diredl and cogent proof. The teacher whom
we fee perform the works of God, we rea
dily believe to fpeak His words ; and ac
knowledge the divine wifdom, where we be
hold the divine power.
Nor need we hefitate to give our affent,
becaufe we are not able. In every inftance, to
fix the boundaries of human capacity ; much
lefs to determine the fphere of fpiritual
agency. Some miracles there are, which,
from the things themfelves, and others
which, from the manner and circumftances
of the cafe, we may fafely pronounce to be the
works of Omnipotence. When the maimed
are made whole, and the dead reftored ; or
when the lame and difeafed are healed in a
moment ; we may truly fay, with the Jewiffi
H ruler.

114 SERMON IIL
ruler. No man could do fuch things as thefe,
unlefs God were with him ".
Yet we do not affirm, that every true mi
racle is, according to our way of fpeaking
and of judging, an equal difplay of fuper
natural power. Our bleffed Saviour had ma-
nifefted his glory by many mighty deeds,
when he faid to the Jews, " The Father
loveth the Son, and ffieweth him all things
that himfelf doeth ; and he will ffiew him
Greater works than thefe, that ye may mar
vel''." The difciples, as it is teftified, be
lieved on Jefus, when they had beheld the
beginning of his miracles ^; but their faith
increafed, as they faw thefe wonders daily
repeated. It was confirmed when difeafe for-
fook his prey, and ftill more when death gave
back his prifoners.
This foundation being laid, we may,
without endangering the caufe which we
defend, allow, that fome works, above
the ordinary reach of man, have at times
been performed by thofe who came not with
authority from heaven. But then we may
be affured, both from natural reafon, and

" John iii. 2.

y Ibid. V. 20. comp. i. 51.

* Ibid.ii. II.

from

SERMON IIL 115
from paft experience, that the juft and faith
ful Governor of the world will not fuffer us
to be led by ftrong delufion into dangerous
error, if we do not firft abandon the love of
the truth. For it ffiould not be forgotten,
that thefe lying wonders never were exhi
bited, unlefs when there was a true prophet
prefent to confound the deceivers, or a writ
ten teft to try their pretenfions.
The magicians could fmite, but they could
not heal ; their rods became ferpents, but the
rod of Aaron fwallowed them up. The
plagues were upon Them, as well as the
Egyptians ; they could not ftand before Mofes
and Aaron ; and were enforced to acknow
ledge the finger of God.
In the days of the Meffiah, when the
legion of unclean fpirits, as we read in the
Gofpels ", entered into the herd of fwine,
the effedl which enfued might be confi
dered, perhaps, as bearing fome fimilitude
of a miracle; but it was fuffered to take
place, for far other purpofes, than to coun
tenance iniquity, or to ratify error. By this
» Matt. viii. 28. &c. Mar. v. i. Luke viii. 26.
H 2 fingle

ii6 SERMON IIL
fingle inftance, our bleffed Redeemer was
pleafed to ffiew the reftlefs malevolence, but
limited power, of thofe wicked fpirits ; their
eagernefs to affail the brute creation, when
reftrained from devouring nobler prey; yet
their inability to injure the meaneft of God's
creatures, without the fufferance of Him,
who controuls all moral as well as natural
agents, and upholds all things with his holy
arm. Indeed, it feems not to have been without
the particular providence of God, that the
delufions of evil fpirits, and arts of wicked
men, were, at the beginning of the gofpel,
fuffered to abound. Our Lord himfelf has
informed us, that fome infirmities and dif-
eafes then happened, to this end, that " the
works of God might be made manifeft ''" in
the miraculous cure. We may fuppofe the
fame reafon to hold in the prefent cafe. The
adverfary of mankind had great wrath, be
caufe he knew his time was ffiort. But his
rage tended only to his own deftrudlion ; and
the truth of the gofpel, which prevailed over
all the power of the enemy, became more
confpicuous, than if it had had no dangers
to encounter, nor foes to cope with ; but
^ John ix. 3, comp, xi, 4. had

SERMON III. 117
had every where been received with open
arms, and a credulous faith.
Laftly, however, be It remembered, that
whether oracles are delivered, or wonders
wrought, on whatever ground is challenged
the awful charadler of the meffenger of God ;
the internal evidence muft always fupport ex
ternal demonftration. He, who gave us rea
fon for our guide, condefcends to fpeak to us
as endued with reafon ; darkened, indeed, and
depraved, like our other, faculties, yet ftill
retaining principles, whereby tojudgeof pro-
pofitions that are offered to us, and capable
of diftlnguiffiing truth from falfehood.
An Implicit faith is what religion difdalns :
we are invited, nay commanded, to examine
the credibility of what is propofed to us.
" Why even of yourfelves judge ye not what
is rights?" "Try the fpirits whether they
are of God^" "Prove all things; hold
faft that which is good'."
We know there is a God, and that he is
holy, juft, and true. Whatever therefore
' Luke xii. 57, Comp, Matt. xvi. 3. '' 1 Johniv. i.
« I Their. V. 2 1 .
H 3 cpmes

ii8 SERMON IIL
comes from Him, muft be worthy of him j
not only confiftent in all its parts, but, where
former revelations have been made, agreeing
with them likewife, adopting their ideas,
unfolding their myfteries, carrying on the
fame defign, tending to the fame end, the
glory of God, and the inftrudlion, Improve
ment, and welfare of man.
Here, then, we have a teft, for the con
futation of error, and illuftration of the truth;
a criterion, to which the holy prophets ap
peal with fearlefs integrity, and to which all
thofe, who ufurp the name, muft fubmit
their pretenfions. Does their dodlrine bear
the ftamp and Imprefs of heaven .? Is it pure
and fpiritual, juft and good ? fuitable to the
nature and exigences of man, conformable
to the adorable attributes of God, and agree
ing with antecedent declarations of his will ?
In the paffage before quoted ^ from Mofes,
the Ifraelites were commanded, not to hearken
to that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams,
even though the fign or wonder, given by
him, came to pafs ; if he taught them to go
' See p. 103. after

SERMON III.

119

after other gods, and ferve them. In the
New Teftament, St. Paul fays, " Though
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gofpel unto you, than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be ac-
curfed ^" Thus does holy fcripture forewarn
us on this fubjedl ; and, for our greater fe
curity, fuppofes cafes, which it probably
was forefeen never ffiould happen. It can
not perhaps be ffiewn from the Jewiffi hif
tory, that any teacher of Idolatry ever wrought
among them a real miracle ; but moft cer
tainly, as St. Paul feems to intimate, as foon
might it be proved, that an angel from hea
ven, as that one of the apoftles, preached a
gofpel different from the reft. But granting,
for a moment, that either of thefe cafes had
been realifed in fadl, that a wonder had been
performed by a fervant of Baal, or another
gofpel taught by an apoftle ; flill God is
true, and the author of truth ; the dodlrine
therefore, which oppofes his will already
made known by a well attefted revelation,
or diredlly contradidls thofe principles which
are implanted in man, is indubitably falfe,
and the teacher a liar "*.
? Gal. i. 8,
^ Irenasus adv. Hzeres. L, IV. e. xiv. quotes the following
declaration of Juftin Martyr : aura ra ku^w isS" at iTsaa-B-vt ,
H 4 «»«»

120 SERMON IIL
Before this tribunal, none of the pre
tenders to divine infpiration, that ever fl:ood
up to delude mankind, can maintain their
caufe ; much lefs can thofe, with whom we
now are concerned, the impoftors who ap
peared among the Jews, juft before the final
overthrow of the ftate ; of whofe audacious
claims, befides that the exploits, which they
promifed to exhibit, never were performed,
this alone was a fufficient confutation ; that
their defigns, as Jofephus teftifies, were more
impious, their attempts more pernicious to
the welfare of their country, than the out
rage of thofe, who. In the midft of the city,
and in open day, murdered their brethren;
and profaned the feftivals, and polluted the
temple, with the blood of affaffination'.
That which tended to deftroy peace upon
earth, moft affuredly did not come down
from heaven.
Groundlefs, however, as the pretenfions
of thefe deceivers really were, there Is never
thelefs one reflexion, which their appear-
X».itt ^iet xxrayyiXt^ovri ttX^x nt StifitHfyey, It is alfo preferved
by Eufebius, H. E. L.IV. c. xviii.
' B.J. L. IL c.xiii. §.4. ance.

SERMON IIL 121
ance, together with other the peculiar cir
cumftances of that age, feems to juftify, with
which I ffiall conclude; namely, that with
regard to the evidences of truth, as well as
in other views, God Is no refpedler of per
fons. It is not meant, that the proofs of
revelation are, in every age, altogether the
fame, in kind and degree. This is not ne
ceffary, nor, perhaps, morally poffible. With
different men they will have different weight;
and in proportion as they are viewed by a
mind of larger powers and with greater at
tention, the more complete and fatisfadlory
will be the general convidlion. But, at the
fame time, the force of the proofs them
felves feems to vary lefs than fome have ima
gined. " I blefs myfelf, and am thankful," faid
an excellent, but fometimes fanciful, author
of the laft century, " that I lived not In the
days of miracles;— then had my faith been
thruft upon me ; nor ffiould I enjoy that
greater bleffing, pronounced to all that be
lieve and faw not ''." But he feems not to
have furveyed, with fufficient attention, the
features of thofe times ; or not to have rated,
1= Rel. Medici, §. 9. fo

122 SERMON IIL
fo highly as he ought, the proofs afforded to
later ages.
The faith of a Chriftian, as It Is this day,
fo was it always, a rational affent. At the
outfet of the gofpel, miracles were wrought;
without which, undoubtedly, it never could
have made any progrefs in the world. There
were fuccefsful impoftors, there were deep-
rooted prejudices, and every motive of a
temporal nature, which can influence man,
combined to oppofe it ; and thefe difficulties
could not have been furmounted, but by the
cleareft, moft convincing, and, as it were,
fenfible demonftration.
Such was the cafe of the primitive church,
and the earlieft converts. We, their fuccefs
fors in later generations, are not only freed,
by the bleffing of providence, from the hard-
ffiips and perils, wherewith they were pref-
fed ; but enjoy, moreover, many advantages
to them unknown. The difcourfes which
they heard, and the miracles which they
faw, are recorded for our Inftrudlion, in a
well attefted book ; which, by means of
modern inventions, is acceffible to all ; and
we have alfo the additional and increafing
light of prophecy. It may therefore be re
garded

SERMON IIL 123
garded as a moft certain truth, that in thofe,
who refift fuch accumulated proofs, the evi
dence of no former age would have wrought
convidlion. They would not have been per
fuaded, had they beheld, with their own
eyes, one rife from the dead *.
' See Luke xvi. 31.

S E R.

SERMON IV.

Matt. XXIV- 8.
All theje are the beginning of forrows.

1

¦^ H E Jewiffi polity Is fometimes repre
fented as having been of fuch a pecu
liar nature, fo different, in its form, from
all other governments which the world ever
faw ; that neither maxims of civil prudence,
nor rules of private condudl, applicable to
the members of any other ftate, can be drawn
from the hiftory of this extraordinary peo
ple. Temporal rewards and temporal pu-
nlffiments being the avowed and immediate
fandlions of the law of Mofes ; and the exe
cution of thefe laws being diredled by a con-
ftant and particular prbvidence ; the public
meafures of the nation, and the adlions of
individuals, affumed, it is faid, from the
genius of the conftitutipn, a certain cplour and

126 SERMON IV.
and charadler, of which hiftory affords not a
fimilar inftance, and from which all conclu-
fions, if applied to other men, are fallacious
and vain.
If we allow, as we may, that the Jews of
old were, in many refpedls, fo circumftanced,
as no other nation ever was, or can be ; we
may deny the inference deduced from that
diverfity. It ought, on this occafion, to be
well remembered, that although the people,
colledlively confidered, were profperous and
happy, when they obeyed the Lord, and
oppreffed with calamity, when they rebelled
aigainft him; yet, with regard to individuals,
fuch an exadl difcrimination did by no
means take place. The profperity of the
wicked was a fubjedl, which perplexed more
than one of God's holy prophets'; and it
was obferved by Solomon, that no man knew
" either love or hatred, by all that was be
fore them ^"
Civil focietles, which, as fuch, are crea
tures of this world only, are ever under God's
efpecial providence. The nature of man
likewife is the fame in all ages ; the fame
lufts and paffions, which occafioned wars and
bloodffied in ancient generations, kindle them
* Jer. xii. i. Pf. Ixxiii. i6. •" Ecclef. ix, i.
now;

SERMON IV. J27
now; and that fear of God, which Infpired
love and harmony in the days that are paft,
.will, wherever it is cheriffied, produce the
like fruits.
The events, which befell the Lord's cho
fen people, happened to them for examples ;
and were written for the admonition, not
only of them,- but of the ends of the world '^.
If, in the facred account of thefe great events,
we are led, as it were by the hand of infpira
tion, to the real fource of fuccefs, or of mifery;
and if no fignal bleffing, no heavy calamity,
comes upon Ifrael, which was not fore
ffiewn ^ ; thefe wonderful circumftances can
not, furely, make the hiftory either lefs in
terefting, or lefs inftrudlive. If our faith is
confirmed, while our knowledge is extended,
we ffiall, without doubt, by the bleffing of
heaven, become better men, and better citi
zens. Let us go on, therefore, with the fubjedl,
which we have undertaken : and if that part
of it, with which we now are concerned,
ffiall be little more than an hiftorical detail,
and that too of fadls which are well known ;
it will not however be forgotten, I truft,
' I Cor. X. II.
^ Xlxt, liri xyo&ot strl (pXuMt yttirof Trxf i/ut, t(g.7a TH* fxutut
l^x^ctpfiratj XTToQaitil 9r^6f>jTiiX>. A, J, L, X. c. ii, §• 2. that

128 S E R ,M O N IV.
that they are the judgements of God ; from
a furvey of which in the mirrour of paft
ages, as well as from beholding them abroad
in the earth, we fliall, if we are wife, learn
righteoufnefs '.
The words of the text have a general re
ference to various figns, mentioned in the
foregoing verfes, as fo many preludes to the
approaching diffolution of the Jewiffi eco
nomy. The appearance of falfe prophets,
which was one of thofe figns, we have al
ready confidered. The other particulars claim
our prefent attention ; and it will be moft
convenient, to ftate them in a different' order,
from that which is obferved in the Gofpels.
St. Matthew fays, " There ffiall be fa
mines, and peftilences, and earthquakes in
divers places ^" To this account, which in
St. Mark is nearly the fame, St. Luke adds,
in the parallel paffage, " fearful fights and
great figns ffiall there be from heaven ^"
The three evangelifts agree in placing thefe
figns In the fame part of their narrative, at
the clofe of the events preceding the war ;
the reafon of which arrangement perhaps
might be, that fome of the circumftances,
here foretold, were not to receive their full
' Ifaiah xxvi. 9. *" Matt. xxiv. 7. 8 L, xxi. 11.
accom-

SERMON IV. 129
accompliffiment, till Jerufalem was ffiut up,
and furrounded by the Romans. They were
therefore introduced, where, from their fi-
tuation, they might feem to have refpedl' to
the days of the war, as well as to thofe be
fore It began. In this latter view, as marks
of impending woe, we are now to confider
them ; and fome of them happened feveral
years before the adlual commencement of
troubles. To the completion of part of this predic
tion the Adls of the Apoftles bear witnefs ;
where we read, that the famine, foretold by
Agabus, came to pafs in the days of Clau
dius Cefar *¦. If this famine was not, as
many imagine, confined to Judea, the chief
fcene of the prophecies under confideration ;
there, at leaft, it appears to have been moft
feverely felt : and as we are informed by St.
Paul, that the converts from Gentilifm, in
various countries, fent on this occafion li
beral contributions, for the relief of the
brethren among the Jews ' ; fo we learn from
Jofephus, that an eaftern queen and the
king her fon, profelytes to Judaifm, with
generous alacrity and princely munificence,
' A&. xi, 28. ' Rom, XV. 25. &c.
I laboured

130 SERMON IV.
laboured to allevlatci In the fame time of
heed, the diftrefs of thofe whofe religion
they had lately efpoufed ''. In the fame em
peror's reign there were alfo other famines,
which afflidled Italy' and Greece".
Of peftilence, in thefe times, except at
Rome " and at Ephefus °, I find no diftindl
memorial. It is the ufual attendant of fa
mine ; and might perhaps vifit Jerufalem,
during the famine juft mentioned; when,
*= Izates and Helena. Jof A. J. L. XX. c. ii, §, 6. Their
bones were afterwards depofited in the fepulchral pyramids
which the queen had caufed to be erefted near Jerufalem.
Jof Ibid, c, iii. §.3. p. 286. Paufanias ( L, VIII. c xvi. )
celebrates the tomb of Helena, which he fays remained at Je.
rufalem, though the city was rafed to its foundations by the
Romans. Eufebius (H. E, L. II. c, xii.) informs us that the
pyramids were to be feen in his time.
' In the II. and XI, of Claudius. Ufher ad A, C. 42. He
and others place the famine of Judea in the IV, of Claudius,
A, C, 44.
¦" IX. of Claudius, Eufeb. in Chron.
" Suetonius fays (Nero, c, 39,) 30,000 died of this pefti-
lence in one autumn, Orofius has tranfcribed the paflage,
L, VII. c. vii.
" Philoftrat, in Vit, Apoll. L.IV. c. iv, x. This was pro-
bablyin the reign of Claudius. Tacitus (Ann. L. Xfl. c. 50.)
mentions fomething of this fort as happening, the Xlth year
of the fame emperor, in the army of Vologefes, in confequence
of a fevere winter and karcity of provifions ; and Jofephus
fays, there was a peftilence or mortality (ipS-efa) among the
Jews at Babylon in the dme of Caligula. A.J. L. XVIIL
c. x. §. 8. notwith-

SERMON IV. 131
notwithftanding the charitable donations
from abroad, multitudes periffied for want
of fuftenance. In the fiege at leaft, if not
before, thefe two calamities created fuch dif-
may, and made fuch havoc, that the bare'
recital would appall the heart, that never had
melted at human mifery. But the beginning
of forrows, not the extremity of woe, is the
objedl of our prefent inquiry.
The earthquakes, which are next foretold
by our Lord, happened as they are de
fcribed, " in divers places;" at Miletus and
at Rome'', in Campania' and in Crete", in
Macedonia and Achaia ', at Laodicea' Hie-
P V. of Nero, Eufeb, in Chron. There was alfo an earth
quake at Apamea in the time of Claudius, Tacit. Ann, XII, 58.
1 IX, of Nero, Tacit. Annal, L. XV, c, 22. Seneca (Nat.
Quaeft. L VI. c, i,) places it in the Xth.
¦¦ Philoftrat. in Vit. Apollon. L.IV. c. xxxiv. For that at
Miletus, vide ib, Ep. Apollon. Ixviii, The earthquakes which
' Grotius mentions (and Whitby from him) at Smyrna, Miletus,
Chios, and Samos, on the authority of Philoftratus, if he al
ludes to L. I V. c. vi. where the fame places are mentioned and
in the fame order, either happened according to the note there
(ed. Olearii) in the time of Aurelius, or poffibly in the reign
of Trajan, when Orofius fays (L. VII. cxii.) four cities in
Afia and three in Galatia were overturned.
' Seneca Nat, Queft. L,VI. c. i. the year before that in
Campania. ' Vn. of Nero, Tacit. Annal, L.XIV, cxxvii. Eufebius,
who adds the two other cities (and fo Orofius L, VII. c. vii.)
places it in the Xth of Nero. I 2 rapolis

132 SERMON IV.
rapolis and Coloffe ; in all which places the
calamity might be noted both by Jews and
Chriftians refiding there. In Judea itfelf,
when the war was begun, but before the
city was befieged by Titus, in one fearful
and tempeftuous night, furious winds, im
petuous rain, frequent lightning, and tre^
mendous thunder, confpiring from above
with the dreadful noife of the tottering earth,
prefented, to the Jews- within and the Idu-
means without the walls of Jerufalem, fuch
a fcene. of horror, as was fcarcely ever {een
by guilty mortals ; and though the infatuated
people mifinterpreted this, as they did all
the other figns of wrath, it was evident, fays
Jofephus, that the fyftem of the world was
ffiaken for man's deftrudlion, and that it por
tended no mean event".
Indeed, fo wonderful were the figns and
prodigies, which preceded the capture, that
they are mentioned by Jofephus, when he
propofes, in his exordium, the general fub
jedl of his hiftory * ; and, in the courfe of
his narrative, he affigns an entire chapter to
the enumeration of them''. A ftar like a
fword, he informs us, ftood over the city ;
" B.J. L.IV. civ, §,5,6, »Prooem, §, 11.
y L.Vn. c.xii.ed.Rufin.inHudfon, L, VI, c,v. § 3,&c, and

SERMON IV.

^33

and a comet blazed a whole year. Before the
revolt, when the people were affembled to
celebrate the paffover, fuch a light ffione
round the altar and the temple, that, for the
fpace of half an hour, the night was like
day. At the fame feaft an heifer, when led
to be facrififed, brought forth a lamb ; and
the eaftern gate of the temple, which was of
folid brafs, and was with difficulty ffiut every
evening by twenty men, and fecured with
ftrong bolts, was feen about midnight
opened of its own accord ; of which when
the guards had Informed the captain of the
temple, they were fcarcely, with his affift-
ance, able to ffiut It. Not many days after
this, before the fetting of the fun, chariots
and armed troops were feen in the clouds,
over the whole land, invefting the cities.
At the feaft of Pentecoft, the priefts going
by night, according to cuftom, into the inner
temple to perform their facred offices, per
ceived, at their entrance, a motion and a
noife ; and then heard a voice, as of a mul
titude, faying. Let us depart hence.
Four years before the war, the city enjoying
peace and plenty, a ruffle named Jefus, at the
feaft of tabernacles, on a fudden exclaimed,
I 3 "^

134 SER M' O N IV.
" A voice from the eaft, a voice from the
weft, a voice from the four winds ; a voice
againft Jerufalem and the temple, a voice
againft bridegrooms and brides, a voice againft
all the people." This was his cry, in the
ftreets of the city, by day and by night ;
and when chaftifed for uttering fuch words
of omen, he never once varied the fubjedl of
his lamentations. To thofe who buffeted
him, and to thofe who relieved him, he gave
the fame mournful anfwer. Woe to Jerufa
lem. This was his pradlice, efpecially at the
feafts, unwearied and unintimidated, for feven
years and five months ; when, as he was
going round the walls, with his ufual tone of
Woe to the city, to the people, and the tem
ple, and adding laft of all. Woe to myfelf,
a ftone from an engine ended at one ftroke
his forrows and his life. '
Thefe are the prefages, recorded by Jofe
phus ' ; which I fee no reafon to difbelieve
^ He mentions alfo another prodigy {n^xs. B. J. L.V.
c, ix, §. 4.) that Siloa and the fountains without the city, be-
fore the coming of Titus, failed, fo that water was fold by
meafure ; but that they flowed fo copioufly on the approach
of the enemy, as not only to (etve their army and their cattle,
but likewife to water the gardens. The fame, he fays, hap
pened before the king of Babylon took the city. Dion on
the contrary fays (L.LXVI. e Theodos.) the Romans were
much

SERMON IV. 135
or difpute. Thofe, who are perfuaded of the
infpiration of holy writ, may affent at leaft
to the general account, from our bleffed Sa
viour's predidlion of fearful fights, and great
figns from heaven. If there are any, who
are inclined to give more credit to the witnefs
of men, than to the teftimony of fcripture ;
they may learn, from the completion of what
was foretold, to think with due reverence of
the oracles of truth.
Jofephus informs us, that the people, as if
deftitute both of fight and underftanding, dif-
regarded or mlfconf^rued the warnings of hea
ven ; but that they doubted the fadls, he
gives no intimation. On the contrary, of
the certainty of thefe prodigies, which, he
fays, plainly foreffiewed the future defolation,
he appears to be moft fully fatisfied ; and he
probably related nothing of this kind which
he had not either himfelf beheld, or received
on the authority of eye-witneffes. He ob
ferves alfo, with great truth, that the cala
mities which enfued were worthy of the figns.
much diftrefled for want of water, but that the befieged were
plentifully fupplied by means of fubterraneous canals brought
into the city from a great diftance. Poffibly this might be
fpoken of fome later period of the fiege ; if not, where the
two accounts vary, the teftimony of Jofephus, who was ou
the fpot at the time, fhould doubtlefs be preferred.
I 4 Of

136 SERMON IV.
Of this doubtlefs we may be affured,
that in committing to writing thefe marve
lous appearances, it was as much his defign
to Illuftrate the prophecies of the New Tefta
ment, as it was the intention of Caiaphas to
foretel that Jefus ffiould die for the nation ".
They both were, in this refpedl, involuntary
inftruments in the hands of providence ; and
as the high prieft uttered, but without being
confcious of it, a truth on which depends
the falvation of the world ; fo the hiftorian
recorded the fulfilling of predidlions, which
he was not acquainted with, or did not be
lieve. It may be added, that Tacitus ^ who
never was accufed of being over-credulous in
affairs of this nature, has likewife mentioned
tnoft of the prodigies recited above.
Such then were the previous indications of
vengeance; let us next view, the rife of the
tribulations themfelves.
" Ye ffiall hear," fays our Lord, " of wars
and rumours of wars : fee that ye be not
troubled ; for all thefe things muft come to
pafs, but the end is not yet'."
' John xi. 49. &c. •> Hifti L.V. c. 13.
' Matt, xxiv. 6. If

SERMON IV. 137
If it were neceffary to apply thefe words
to events totally different from thofe alluded
to in the following verfe, we might under
ftand them of wars and commotions in parts
of the empire remote from Judea ; which
' engaged the attention of the Romans, and
were one of the caufes that incited the Jews
to make a revolt ''. But it is better perhaps,
with Grotius, to refer the paffage to the Jew
iffi affairs in various countries at this period.
In the reign of Caligula, the Greeks and
Syrians who inhabited Seleucia, and lived
in perpetual feuds and animofities, confpiring
together for the purpofes of flaughter, killed
of the Jews above fifty thoufand*. About
the fame time they were likewife miferably
haraffed in Egypt ; the Roman governors,
and the emperor himfelf, conniving at, and
even encouraging, every outrage done to this
defplfed and Infulted peopled A pofitive
command was alfo iffued by the emperor, to
eredl his ftatue in the temple at Jerufalem ^ ;
* Vide Prooera. B. J. §. 2.
= A. J, L. XVIII, c, X, §. 9. Other calamities, which
befell them in Babylonia, are related in the fame chapter,
f Ibid, c, ix, §. I. Philo de Leg. ad Caium, Vol.11, p. 562.
&c. ed. Mangey.
E A. J. L. XVIII. c. ix. §. 2. &c.
and

138 SERMON IV.
and though the execution of the order, at
the earneft intreaty of the Jewifh nation, was
for a while delayed, and finally prevented by
the emperor's death; yet the circumftances
of the attempt were fuch as might well
alarm" them. If they did not voluntarily com
ply with the idolatrous injundlion, which it
was their duty to oppofe ; the prefident of
Syria, to whom the bufinefs was entrufted,
was advancing towards Judea, and had reached
the confines, with power fufficient to enforce
obedience : and, in the eye of the Jews, every
thing wore the appearance of immediate war.
I
The Chriftians, In the mean time, while
the heavens grew black, and the tempeft was
coming on, poffeffing in patience their own
fouls, and fervently praying for, and labour
ing to effedl, the converfion of their brethren;
were taught, by that fure word of prophecy
which they faw gradually unfolding, to ex-
pedl other events, before the ftorm burlt,
and poured forth its fury on the devoted land.
They themfelves had had their ffiare, an early
and a large ffiare, in afflidlions and perfecu-
tions ; for fo it was foretold them : " Before
all thefe;" before the troubles, whereof we
have been fpeaking, were to come upon the
Jews, " they ffiall lay their hands on you, and

SERMON IV.

39

and perfecute you, delivering you up to the
fynagogues, and into prifons, being brought
before kings and rulers for my name's fake**."
Accordingly the Jews were not only their
firft, but their moft bitter and implacable
enemies. They fcourged them in their fy
nagogues, and arraigned them in their coun
cils; they imprifoned and ftoned them. Their
malice purfued them even to foreign cities *.
They ftirred up the Gentiles to infult and
oppofe them ; and through Their means it
was chiefly, that they were brought before
governors of provinces, before kings and em
perors. If in exquifitenefs of pain and va
riety of puniffiment, their cruelty did not
equal the barbarity of a Nero ; it was Wider
in its range, and longer in duration.
But, under all this preffure, the hope of
the faithful was firm and fteadfaft ; "for as
the fufferings of Chrift abounded in them, fo
their confolation alfo abounded by Chrift''."
They were fupported and comforted by that
bleffed Spirit, whofe gracious affiftance, pur-
^ Luke xxi, 12.
' Juftin Martyr fays the Jews of Jerufalem fent out men into
all countries calumniating Chrlftianity as an impious herefy :
Myotrig xifiirit x^ior X^i^ixrut TriCpxt^of. ap. Euf H. E. L. IV.
c, xviii. An(i fee Lardner's J. and H. Teft. Vol,!, cii,
'' 2 Cor, i, 5. chafed

14* SERMON IV.
fehafed for us by the Son of God, is ever
proportioned to human exigence. They re
joiced in the teftimony of their own confcl-
ence; which affured them, that they fuf
fered in the caufe of truth, and for the glory
of God. They knew moreover, that a day
of redemption to them was approaching;
but that the calamities of the unbelieving
and unmerciful Jews, though at prefent not
fmall, wer^ ftill to increafe. For our Lord
had added, in defcrlbing their forrows, *• na
tion ffiall rife againft nation, and kingdonl
againft kingdom'."
Thefe words appear to be very juftly ex
plained by the commentators, not of the hof-
tilities of one nation of men againft another,
but of divifions and infurredlions within, the
ftates themfelves ; and thofe ftates fuch as
confifted, entirely or in part, of Jews. In
deed, the phrafe of " rifing againft" feems
more properly to indicate civil commotions,
than a regular war ; and " a houfe againft a
houfe," which occurs in St. Luke"", and is a
mode of fpeech perfedlly fimilar to thofe be
fore us, denotes what Is expreffed. In the
other Gofpels, by The divifion of a houfe
' Matt, xxiv, 7.
•" xi, 17, compared with Mar. iii. 25. Matt. xii. 25.
againft

SERMON IV. 141
againft itfelf. According to this interpreta
tion therefore, thus authorifed, let us obferve
the accompliffiment of our Lord's predidlion.
The Samaritans, the ancient enemies of
the Jews, fell upon the Galileans, as they
were paffing through their country to one of
"the feafts ; and the flaughter of this onfet,
not great in itfelf, brought on worfe havoc
and a train of evils".
At Cefarea there were diffenfions between
the Jews and the Syrians ; which did not to
tally ceafe, till at laft there were flain of the
former more than twenty thoufand in one
day'. In ffiort, (for it were endlefs to recount
all the particulars) fo grievous were the tu
mults, and fo remarkably were the words of
our bleffed Saviour verified, that every city,
throughout all Syria, was divided, Jofephus
fays. Into two armies; in moft places the
Jews combined againft the aliens, but in
fome they affailed their brethren the Jews.
The only fecurity for either party was to be
the aggreffor ; the days were fpent in flaugh-
'• A, J, L, XX, c, V. and B, J, L, II. c. xii. §. 3.
" A. J. L. XX. c. vii. §-7.9. B. J. L. IL c. xviii, §. i.
ter.

142 SERMON IV.
ter, and the nights In fear. The cities were
filled with unburied corpfes of men and of
women, of hoary age and of helplefs infants.
One wretch, of more hardened guilt than
his fellows, murdered his parents, his wife,
and his children ; and then, that his exploit
might be the more confpicuous, ftanding on
their bodies, he plunged the yet reeking
fword in his own bowels p.
Still however Judea, the chief In ini
quity, was the chief alfo in fuffering. Bands
of robbers for more than twenty years- ra
vaged the country, plundering the inhabitants
and burning the towns. Many of the fame
lawlefs tribes, going to the feafts armed with
daggers, ftabbed fome out of hatred and others
for hire, within the walls of the city and
in the temple itfelf, without puniffiment
and without horror ¦¦.
Thofe, In the mean time, who ffiould have
been, promoters of peace, as well as patterns
of holinefs, were the fomenters of difcord.
The high priefts, whofe rapacity and avarice
were not lefs than their other vices, robbed
and oppreffed their inferior brethren, fo that
P B.J. L. IL c. xviii. §, 4,
« A. J. L. XX. c. vii. §.5.10. B. J. L. II. c. xiii. §, 2.
many

SERMON IV. 143
many of them died of abfolute want '. Yet,
with the fame views of plunder, they were
by no means tinanimous among themfelves ;
the difpofal of the high priefthood was made
the occafion of mutiny, and they had other
broils. Indeed, of the corruption of thefe men
we need no greater proof, than what the cafe
of St. Paul affords ; when they authorifed a
defperate band of confpirators to take way
the life of one, againft whom they could not
make good a fingle accufation. But let them
alone, let them fill up their guilt, for their
day is coming ; and he who countenanced
an unjuft confpiracy againft the apoftle, ffiall
himfelf, by the righteous judgement of hea
ven, be flain in a confpiracy raifed by his
own fon '.
' A. J. L, XX. c. vii. §, 8. c. viii. §. 2. 4.
' B. J. L. II. c. xvii. §, 9, Manahem, fon of Judas of
Galilee, was now at the head of this fedition ; but it was
begun (Ibid, §, 2.) by Ananias's fon Eleazar, captain of the
temple, who perfuaded the officiating priefts to receive no
gift or facrifice from a ftranger. And this, Jofephus fays,
was the fource of the war; for they rejefted the emperor's
facrifice for the Romans. Manahem, upon his fuccefs, grow
ing infolent, Eleazar's party, who before were his friends,
rofe upon him in the temple and flew him. As to Ananias,
in the reign of Claudius, before Felix was procurator, he was
fent in chains to Rome, in confequence of a difpute between
the Samaritans and Jews. Through the intereft of Agrippa, who

144

SERMON IV.

By the fame righteous judgement of Him
who makes even the wicked execute his pur
pofes, it feems to have been ordered, that
thofe who were fent In thefe days from
Rome, to prefide in Judea, were more fit to
have been leaders to a herd of banditti, than
civil magiftrates, to adminifter with jufticc
the affairs of a nation.
The orator Tertullus complimented Felix,
as the author of peace ' ; and he did, indeed,
who was then at Rome, the Jews had a fair hearing, and the
emperor gave judgement in their favour (A. J. L. XX. c. v.
§.2,3.) Hereupon we may fuppofe, though Jofephus does'
not particularly mention it, Ananias returned to Jerufalem,
and prefided afterwards at the trial of St. Paul, whether in
the capacity of high prieft or not, it feems not material to de
termine. In thefe days of confufion, when there was a new
high prieft every year or oftener, the title was continued to
thofe who had once held the office, as Ananias certainly had
(A. J. L. XX. c, iv, §, 2,) and perhaps given to fome who
never had that honour, (See A, J. L. XX. c. vii. §. 8. c. viii.
§. 2. 4.) Jofephus fays exprefsly ( Ibid. c. viii. §. 2. ) fpeaking
of a time fubfequent to St, Paul's trial, " The high prieji Ana
nias daily increafed in reputation and honour and the good
will of the citizens ; for he ufed means [and thofe as the fequel
there fliews the moft unjuft and oppreffive] to get money, and
daily conciliated Albinus and the high prieji with gifts;" to
connive, no doubt, at his iniquitous praftices. This note was
the more necefl"ary, becaufe Whitby on Afts xxiii. 3. fpeaks
as if Ananias was depofed and fent bound to Rome after St.
Paul's imprjfonment, whereas it was in faft as ftated above,
feveral years before.
' Afts xxiv. 2.
when

S E R M O N IV. 145
when he came into the province, fupprefs the
robbers, who had for a long time infefted It.
But alas ! what availed this fpecious begin
ning, when foon after, by one complicated
adl of iniquity and Ingratitude, he made affaf-
fins of thofe, who before were but robbers ?
The high prieft then in power, by his intereft
at Rome, had been inftrumental to the ap
pointment of Felix ; and, on ,the merit of
this fervice, he prefumed to recommend to
him an equitable and falutary adminiftration.
But the pride of the Roman could brook no
advice from his benefadlor and friend. He
therefore fuborned certain men among the
robbers to difpatch the obnoxious high prieft;
and this bloody deed being fuffered to go un-
punlffied, the affaffins increafed daily in au
dacity, and in numbers ".
And here, if for a moment we might be
indulged in a digreffion, we might well afk.
What was it that, under fuch a governor,
faved Paul from deftrudlion ? for He likewife
preached to Felix on the fubjedl of juftice,
and on certain other topics by no means
pleafing to a guilty confcience. What then,
it may be afked, protedled the prifoner, when,
« A.J. L. XX. c. vii. §.5. B, J, L.II, c, Jciii. §.2,3.
K in

146 SERMON IV.
in a fimilar cafe, the high prieft perlflied ?
It is true, St. Paul was a Roman ; but this
plea would probably, before fuch a judge",
be little regarded. A fucceffor of Felix chaf
tifed and even crucified men who were not
only Romans, but of equeftrian dignity ''. It
Is not likely therefore, that the governor
would for this reafon have fpared Paul ; efpe
cially as his death would have pleafed the
Jews, whofe good will, when it was for his
intereft, he was folicitous enough to conci
liate. But he was reftrained, in this Inftance,
from gratifying their wiffies, by a higher
caufe, though to him unknown.
When the apoftle was firft imprifoned,
*• the Lord," even Jefus, in whom he be-
* Felix — Judseas impofitus, et cunfta malefafta fibi impune
ratus, tanta potentia fubnixo. Tacit. Ann. L.xii, c, 54, It
is faid (Afts xxii. 29.) that the chief captain was afraid upon
finding that Paul was a Roman ; and fo he had reafon to be;
for He was amenable for his conduft to the governor, who
very poffibly would have punifhed in anoiher the oifence,
which he himfelf would have committed without remorfe.
But the authority of the governor in his province was abfo
lute ; and the death of Paul would not have been, in the eyes
of the Jews, a grievance for which they would have fought
redrefs from the prefident of Syria, whofe ufual refidence was
at Antioch (A.J. L.XVII. c.v, §. 7 ) nor would it have been
added to the charges which were afterwards exhibited againft
Felix at Rome. See A, J. L. XX. c, vii, § 9.
y B. J. L. n. c. xiv. §. 9. lieved,

SERMON IV. 147
lieved, " ftood by him, and faid. Be of good
cheer, Paul ; for as thou haft teftified of me
in Jerufalem, fo muft thou bear witnefs alfo
at Rome'." Shielded by this promife he ef
caped the confpiracy, which the Jews formed
againft him ; and by this was he fafe, when
in the hands of the governor ; and Felix,
though he trembled, durft not fmite.
The fame holy promife was the apoftle'a
protedlion under the fucceffor of Felix ; of
whom indeed, as he lived not long, no me
morable adl of injuftice is recorded, except
his not releafing him whom Felix, with
wanton but Interefted cruelty, left in chains.
Eut if Feftus was remifs in the bufinefs of
depredation, his fucceffor Albinus made am
ple amends. He plundered individuals, and
oppreffed the ftate. Thofe, who were im
prifoned for crimes, he fet free for hire ; and
they alone were confined, who were not able
to bribe. He licenfed for reward the leaders
of fedition ; and omitted, in a word, no
fpecies of fraud *.
Yet even this monfter, if compared with
his fucceffor, would appear, fays the hifto-
'^ Afts xxiii. 1 1 . » B, J, L, IL c. xiv. §. 1 ,
K 2 rian.

148 SERMON IV.
rian, a pattern of virtue ". Diffimulation in
Albinus, in Florus was triumph ; and if the
one robhed families, the other fpoiled cities.
He refembled an executioner armed to Inflidl
puniffiment, rather than a magiftrate fent to
govern. Where he ffiould have bluffied, he
was moft impudent ; and where he ffiould
have had compaffion, he was moft cruel.
Under him therefore the war broke out; and
that with fome circumftances fo remarkable,
that they muft not here be paffed over in
filence. By the law of Mofes., the Jews were coni-
manded to worffiip the Lord, in one place,
at three public feafts ; and as the country
would, at thofe times, be in a defenceleft
ftate, to the precept was added a particular
promife, that no man ffiould defire their land,
when they went up to appear before the
Lord.^ But now they had forfaken the rock
of their falvation, and the things, which
aforetime were their glory and their ftrength,
proved unto them an occafion of falling.
'' B. J, L. II. C. xiv, §. 2. axiSa^it — xyx^arxrn xxra
wyxptfftt," '• Exod. xxxiv. 24, with xxiii, 27, xv,i5,i6. Deut,xi.25.
iand fee Jolh, ii. q. v. i. 2ChrDn, xiv, 14, but particularly
2 Chron. xvii. 10. Comp. alfo Gen. xxxv. 5. Aft- xviii. 10.
From

SERMON IV. 149
From the time of the Maccabees, the ri
gour of the fabbath had been relaxed ; and it
was deemed lawful for them to defend them
felves on that day againft an aggreffor "*. But
the arm of fleffi was a feeble fupport, when
it did not fight under the ffiield of the Al
mighty; and to ffiew more vifibly, that He
had rejedled them, the days confecrated to
his honour and fervice, which of old were
days of peace and of joy, were now marked,
above others, with calamity and woe. The
war itfelf was begun on the fabbath, and in
confequence of an infult offered to their law,
by an opprobrious facrifice at the entrance of
a fynagogue in Cefarea \ On another fab
bath they maffacred In Jerufalem a Rpman
garrifon, that furrendered on terms to them ^i
and while they were imbruing their hands
in the blood of unarmed men, who at
tempted no defence, and ufed no fupplica-
tion, but only called out on their violated
oaths ; the felf fame day, and the very fame
hour, as it were, fays Jofephus, by a parti-
^, cular judgement of providence, more than
twenty thoufand Jews were killed at Cefarea^.

d

iMaccab. ii,4i. A,J,L,XII. c.vi. §,2, L.XIV.c.iv. §, 2.
' B. J. L,II, c, xiv, §, 4,5.'
f B, J. L. II. c.xvii. §. 10. s Ibid, c, xviii. §. i.
K ^ At

150 SERMON IV.
At the feaft of tabernacles, Ceftius marched
with an army againft Jerufalem ; and appear
ing before the city on the fabbath day, the
Jews ruffied out againft him with mad but
unavailing fury ^. Not long before the war,
twenty thoufand Jews periffied at the paffover,
in a tumult in the temple ' : and at the fame
feaft, in a fubfequent year, the city was
finally Invefted by Titus ".
If thefe things are but the beginning of
forrows, O thou afflidled daughter of Zion,
how ffialt thou endure the extremity of pangs,
and the bitternefs of death .? Caft off by thy
God, forfaken by thy friends, thy mighty
men armed againft each other, who ffiall
fupport, or who ffiall comfort thee in the
day of indignation ? In vain wilt thou fpread
forth thine hands to the Lord, in vain wilt
thou offer to him thoufands of rams ; he
hath no delight in thy burnt offerings, his
foul abhorreth thy folemn feafts, in them he
multiplieth afflidlion upon thee.
Jerufalem hath grievoufly finned, ffie hath
finned againft the moft High ; ffie hath flain
•¦ B.J. L.II. cxix. §, i,z.
' A, J. L. xx. c. iv. §.3. B. J. L, IL c, xii, §. i.
k B, J. L.V. c. iii. §. 1. L. VL c. ix. ^. 3. within

SERMON IV. 151
within her walls his fervants the prophets ;
ffie hath ffied the blood of the juft and holy
One. Ifet now, even now, if it be not too
late, turn unto the Lord, and to his Anointed,
*• with all thy heart, and with fafting, and
with weeping, and with mourning '." For
" the lion is come up from his thicket, the
deftroyer of the Gentiles Is on his way ; he
is gone forth from his place to make thy land
defolate, and thy cities ffiall be laid wafte,
without an inhabitant""." For the mouth of
the Lord hath fpoken it.
' Joel ii. 12. " Jer, iv. 7,

K 4 SER-

SERMON

Luke XXL 20, 21.
Whe?i ye jhall fee ferufalem compaffed with
armies, then know that the defolation thereof
is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea
flee to the mountains.
TH E difputes among Chriftians are by
fome writers fet forth as the ground of
an objedlion againft C|iriftianity ; and from
the miftakes or prejudices, the weaknefs or
wickednefs, of particular men, is inferred the
uncertainty of the general fyftem. The argu
ment, if it proved any thing, would prove
a great deal too much. If whatever has been
doubted was in confequence to be thought
doubtful, there is no propofition, however
evident, that muft not be queftioned; no
truth, however certain, that muft not be
abandoned.

154 SERMON V.
abandoned. But It does not follow, becaufe
many are corrupt, that therefore there is no
fuch thing as- virtue upon earth; nor becaufe
various opinions are entertained among men,
even on points of the greateft moment, that
it is therefore impoflible or difficult to difco-
ver the truth, if fearch is made by a teachable
mind, with fervent prayer to the Father of
lights, and with fincere refolution obediently
to follow whatever ffiall appear to be his will.
Inconclufive however as this argument Is,
if we allow its utmoft fcope ; it does not
feem to ftand on fo broad a bafis as fome have
reprefented. A great part, perhaps the greater
part, of that diverfity of opinion which pre
vails in the world, refpedls fuch points as
cannot afford the ffiadow of an objedlion
either againft the truth, or the perfpicuity, of
the gofpel ; fuch as neither tend to corrupt
good manners, nor to overturn the common
faith. There are not, it may be, two indivi
duals, that on any fubjedl think perfedlly
alike. Agreeing in the more Important arti
cles of belief, and in the fenfe of thofe clear
and unequivocal paffages, which eftabliffi
thefe articles; fome neverthelefs will not
deem

SERMON V. 155
deem them deducible from texts wherein
others fee or fancy they fee them. Or if not
in thefe, at leaft in other matters, not imme
diately connedled with faith or with pradlice,
from difference of capacity or of acquired
talents, from habits of reflexion or means of
information, there ever will arife a variety of
fentiments; yet, if other caufes confpire not,
without violating charity, or dividing the
church. This apology will be indulged me, I truft,
in Its fulleft extent. If in the courfe of thefe
ledlures fome points have not been viewed in
that light, in which they before have ap
peared to men of exemplary piety and con
fummate erudition. As it is not my aim to
fay any thing merely becaufe it has been faid
by others ; fo neither is it my wiffi to differ
from them, where I can fatisfy myfelf with
the reafons, which they have advanced. But
if, inveftigating the fubjedl with an earneft
defire of information, and with that portion
of judgement which God has given me; I
have, in one or two inftances, been obliged
to recede from the more ufual interpretation,
and to admit another, of thejuftnefs of which,
though rcludlantly adopted, I have been at
laft fully convinced ; I muft, for I cannot in
the

156 SERMON V-
the prefence of God and- of this audience
diffemble, I muft maintain with firmnefs
what I offer with refpedl.
i To the enfuing difcourfe this introdudlipn
Would perhaps be fuperfluous, were it not
that a very learned and refpedlable author has
lately propofed an application of the texts
now to be confidered, which feems lefs fatis
fadlory than the ufual hypothefis *. But if I
have been pardoned in oppofing fome notioqs
commonly efpoufed, I ffiall be excufed, I
hope, in contending, at prefent, for what the
generality have heretofore received.
"•' The evangelift St. Luke, in many parts of
his Gofpel, but efpecially in that with which
we are more immediately concerned, feems,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, fo to
halve formed his narrative, that it ffiould ferve
as a comment to the other two. With regard
to the text now under notice. It is evident, I
think, as well from the place where it is in
troduced, as from the admonition of flight'
in the latter part of it, that it muft corre-
fpond with the paffages in St. Matthew and
* See Bifliop Newcome's Obfervations on our Lord's Con
duft as a Divine Inftruftor, and on the excellence of his Mo
ral Charafter, p. 219, &c. St.

SERMON V.

^S7

St. Mark, where the fame mode of efcape is
inculcated ; and that confequently the com-
paffingof Jerufalem with armies, in St. Luke,
muft refpedl the fame time, and denote the
fame thing, with the abomination of defola
tion in the two former Gofpels \
Whether the language of St. Luke on this
occafion is his own, giving the fenfe, but not
the exadl words, of our Saviour's predidlion ;
or whether our Lord himfelf might, in this
as in many other inftances, firft exprefs him
felf In the figurative words of St. Matthew
and St. Mark, and then in the clearer terms
of St. Luke ; it would, even if it were pof
fible to determine, be needlefs to inquire.
Either fuppofition equally fuits our prefent
purpofe, if the cafe is as above ftated, and
as it appears to be, that the intention of the
three paffages Is one and the fame.
" The abomination of defolation," in St.
Matthew and St. Mark, is quoted from the
celebrated prophecy of Daniel % which has
often employed the labour and Ingenuity of
learned men. If befides this expreffion, there
is any other part of the paffage in the pro-
1" See Matt, xxiv, 15. 16. Mar. xiii, 14. *= ix. 27.
phet.

158 SERMON V.
phet, with which we are at prefent con
cerned ; it is that which in the common
tranflation is rendered " the overfpreading."'
The word is well known to mean literally
** a wing ;" and, by an eafy metaphor, to be
ufed for the border or extremity of any thing;
and whether we here take it for the wing of
an army, whofe ftandards ffiould carry abo
minable enfigns, and come to make Jerufa
lem defolate ; or whether we underftand it of
the border of the city or temple, fo as to
point out the place, where the hoftile forces
ffiould appear ; either interpretation is fuffi
cient for our purpofe. Should the latter be
preferred, it will be the fame in effedl wiffi
what St. Matthew calls "ftanding in the
holy place," and St. Mark " where it ought
not. But how, it may be afked, does this ap
pear ? We may anfwer, that from the omif-
fion of the article in St. Matthew, and from
St. Mark's variation of the phrafe, it is evi
dent that it ought not to be tranflated " the
holy place," as if it related to the temple ;
but " on a holy place," or " on holy ground;"
where, on account of a degree of fandlity
for fome reafon belonging to it, the abomi
nation of defolation, whatever were meant
by it, ought not to be feen. The

SERMON V.

159

The Jews attributed to different places
different degrees of relative holinefs^. The
feveral cities of Judea were deemed holy ;
for in them were fynagogues, wherein were
depofited copies of the law, which on every
fabbath was read to the people. Jerufalem
poffeffed a higher degree of holinefs ; for
the temple itfelf, where the more folemn
adls of religion were performed, was within
her walls ; and the Lord Jehovah had there
given his bleffings, and manifeftcd his glory. .
An army therefore encompafllng Jerufalem,
which St. Matthew himfelf has not fcrupled
to call " the holy clty%" might, according
to Jewiffi notions, very properly be faid to
fland on holy gound,'or where it ought not.
But what Is the import of thofe other
terms, " the abomination of defolation ?"
Every image of a nian, we are told by good
authority ^ was in the eyes of the Jews an
abomination ; but every idolatrous image
they held in ftill greater deteftation and ab
horrence. When Herod had built a theatre In Jeru
falem, and adorned it with the trophies of
* See Kidder on the Meffias, P. I. p, 115,
« Matt, iv, 5. xxvii. 53. •
* Chryf, Serm. II, adv. Jud, T. VI. p. 333. 1. 19. nations

i6o SERMON V.
nations vanquiffied by the Romans, the Jews
were not a little enraged at his condudl ; be
caufe under the fpoils they fuppofed were
concealed images of men^. When Pilate
was governor he fent by night fome troops
into the city, bearing on their ftandards the
emperor's image ; which was no fooner per
ceived than the Jews in a body repaired to
the governor, far more willing to undergo
death, than to fuffer this public violation of
their laws ">.
An army therefore, carrying thefe offenfive
and Idolatrous enfigns, for we are exprefsly
told that the Romans facrlficed to their
ilandards ', might juftly be ftyled an Abomi
nation ; and for the other part of the de
fcription. That, it is evident, marks the de
fign of thefe hoftile appearances, to lay the
city and the temple defolate.
Frpm what has been faid, we feem fully
authprifed to underftand the predidlion of an
army with enfigns of idolatry or abomina-
K A.J, L,XV. c.viii, §. 2.
J" Ibid. L.xvm, c, iv. §, I.
* They did fo upon taking pofiTefiion of the Jewilh temple.
See B. J. L. VI. c. vi. §. i. Religio tota caftrenfis figna ve-
neratur, figna jurat, figna omnibus diis prajponit. Tertull,
Apol. c, xvi. tion

SERMON V. i6i
tion furrounding Jerufalem ; and fince this
was given as a fignal for the Chriftians to
prepare for flight, it muft doubtlefs relate to
the firft time, when fuch an army ffiould be
feen before the walls, after the prophecy
itfelf was delivered ; for otherwife no reafon
can be affigned, why it ffiould be applied to
the fecond attack, rather than the third; or
to the third, rather than any fubfequent In-
vafion. We have only to inquire therefore
when the city was firft encompaffed by pagan
forces ; and our inquiry needs not be long.
In the year of our Lord fixty fix, the firft
of the war, Ceftius Gallus the prefident of
Syria, with an army of Roman and auxiliary
troops, marched againft Jerufalem, as was
before mentioned'', at the feaft of taberna
cles. Having encamped at Scopus, within
feven furlongs of the city, he waited three
days, in hopes that the Jews, feeing danger
fo near, would propofe terms. None being
offered, on the fourth day he advanced to
the walls ; and the f^ditious in confternation
retired into the inner city and the temple.
Ceftius now mafter of the lower city burnt
fome parts of it, and pitched his camp op-
pofite the royal palace ; and had not fome of
" Serm. IV, p. 150. See B. J. L.IL c. xix.
L the

i62 SERMON V-
the officers, bribed by Florus to protradl the
troubles, diverted him from his purpofe, he
might on that very day, by a vigorous affault,
have taken the city, and put an end to the
war. In the mean time, many of the more ho
nourable and peaceable inhabitants invited
Ceftius to the gates ; which they would have
opened to him as their common benefadlor ;
but the feditious perceived and prevented the
attempt. The Romans therefore affailed the
walls on all fides' for five days. On the
next day Ceftius, with fome chofen men,
attacked the northern part of the temple ;
the tortoife was formed, the wall was un
dermined, and they were ready to fet fire to
the gate of the temple. At this critical mo
ment, when the fadlious were feifed with
difmay, when many privately efcaped from
the city, as if it woiild inftantly be taken,
and when the fmalleft perfeverance would
really have carried It; at this anxious mo-.
ment, the commander on a fudden called off
' ^xtre^tt i?ri}^et^KFi x, r. A. This feems fufficient to juftify
the words of St. Luke in the text-: xvii>.iiiJi,ivm u-rt T^xroTriSat,
When he fpeaks of the final fiege, he ufes the more expreflive
compound; Tri^ixvxfiuatiri a. See Luke xix. 43, his

SERMON V. 163
his men, and moft unexpedledly withdrew
from the city ". ,
The hiftorian, in his refledlions on this
ftrange retreat, attributes It to the anger of
heaven ; which would not fuffer the calami
ties of that race of finners to come to fo
fpeedy a termination. This might be a part,
but It was only a part, of the divine coun
fels refpedling this remarkable event. It was
defigned not merely to ffiew the feverity, but
likewife to manifeft the goodnefs of God.
Our bleffed Saviour had promifed his
faithful followers, that notwithftanding they
ffiould be perfecuted even to death, both by
Jews and Gentiles, at other times ; yet, in
the general defolation of Judea, not a hair
of their head ffiould periffi. Of this holy
band fome perhaps as inhabitants, and others
come up to celebrate the feaft, abode ftill in
Jerufalem ; a bulwark ftronger than the va
lour of her fons, or the pride of her battle
ments wherein ffie confided. Againft thofe,
as againft another Sodom, the deftroying angel
had received commiffion to fmite; but as
yet, peradventure, there remained fifty righ-
¦" TrxfxTiiyarttTX xtto mi TToMai xti^iu%it, are the expreffive
words of Jofephus, L 2 teous

i64 SERMON V.
teous within the city, and he could do no
thing till they were efcaped to their Zoar.
The Roman therefore, having experienced
no lofs, met with no difappolntment, at the
moment when vidlory feemed to beckon him
on, felt a fudden panic he knew not why,
and founded a retreat. That night he lodged
unmolefted in the camp; but in his march
through the cduntry, the following days, the
greater part of his army was cut off by his
purfuers ; that They, by this fuccefs, might
be led on tp their ruin, and that the Chrif
tians might retire with more fecurity.
After this defeat of Ceftius, Jofephus fays,
** many of the noble Jews fwam away from
the city, as from a ffiip that was finking "."
If this defcription does not include the Chrif
tians, moft of whom, it Is probable, were
of the lower ranks in life ; yet at leaft their
retreat, being at a time when many others
fled, would be lefs obfervable, and more fafe.
In the dealings of God with his peculiar
people in various ages there is often a re
markable fimilarity of circumftances. The
day, once made memorable by fome public
bleffing. Is again celebrated with fongs of
" B.J. L.IL c. XX. §. I. joy

SERMON V. 165
joy for a freffi deliverance ; and the day, that
has brought on diftrefs and mifery, increafes
the calamities, and heightens the forrows,
of a fucceeding generation. Jofephus has
obferved, that Jerufalem was taken on the
fame day by Herod and by Pompey"; and
that event, which we now are confidering,
feems to have had its parrallel in a former,
period of the Jewiffi hiftory.
In the ninth year of Zedeklah, the king
of Babylon came up, he and all his hpft,
and pitched againft Jerufalem''. Forts were
built, againft it, and the fiege was made
ftrong ; when tidings were brought, that '
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was advancing with
an army to affift his ally, the king of Judah.
The Chaldeans therefore, with a view to
encounter their enemies feparately, raifed
the fiege, and departed from Jerufalem.
We have here an event with the ufual
concomitants of human operations, probable.
motives and correfpondlng meafures. But
the providence of God by the free and un-
coatrouled adlions of men is wont to execute
his purpofes of wrath and of mercy ; and
' A. J. L. XIV. c. xvi, §. 4.
P See 2 Kings xxv. i . Jer. xxxvii. 5.
L 3 thofe

i66 SERMON V.
thofe purpofes, though commonly unknown
to the immediate inftruments employed to
effedl them, the facred records for the moft
part declare. In the prefent Inftance, the
prophet Jeremiah, who beheld the event,
points out the deliverance, which it was In
tended to accompliffi.
By the exprefs command of Jehovah, be
fore the Chaldeans broke up the fiege, if not
before its commencement, he fet before the
people " the v^ay of life and the way of
death. He that abideth in this city ffiall die
by the fword, and by the famine, and by
the peftilence: but he that goeth out, and
falleth to the Chaldeans that befiege you, he
ffiall live, and his life ffiall be unto him for
a prey ^."
When the enemy was gone, he again ex
horted both the prince and the people not to
be deceived by this temporary refpite'. He
affured them, that the war ffiould foon be
renewed, and the city Inevitably burnt with
fire. To encourage them' by example, as
well as by words, to fave themfelves from
impending deftrudlion, he then " went forth
1 Jer. xxi. 8, 9. ' Ibid, xxxvii. 6. &c. out

SERMON V. 167
out of Jerufalem — to feparate himfelf thence
in the midft of the people."
The prophet indeed, whom the Lord had
made as " an iron pillar and brafen walls %"
to fuftain Immoveably the fierceft ffiock of
perfecution, was on this occafion feifed by
the guard, and detained in the city ; for the
mercy of heaven had other meffages ftill to
deliver by his hands to the ftiff-necked peo
ple. But it is probable, that others, per
fons perhaps of lefs note and eminence, were
permitted to efcape, or might retire unob-
ferved, at this favourable moment ; and were
in the number of thofe, whom Nebuchad
rezzar fuffered to dwell quietly in the land,
or carried away in peace to Babylon '.
Thus in the beginning of the Chaldean
war, as well as the Roman, the fiege of the
city was for a while intermlttecf, in a manner
equally fudden and furprifing. Both events
hardened alike the rebellious and the obfti-
nate ; and both were defigned by a gracious
providence for the prefervatlon of thofe,
whether many or few, that feared God and
obeyed his word.
^ Jer. i. 18. * See Jer. Iii. 15, 16. xxxix. 9, 10.
2 Kings xxv. II, 12.
L 4 But

i68 SERMON V.
But in the retreat of the Chriftians there
are other particulars which demand our at
tention. We are informed by Eufebius", that the
difciples In Jerufalem, in confequence of a
revelation made to the faithful there before
the war, removed to Bella, a city of Perea.
This paffage feems in its obvious fenfe, as
well as from the correfpondlng but more ex
plicit teftimony of Epiphanius *, not to al
lude to the written monitions in the Gofpels,
but to a fubfequent warning from heaven ;
and I fee no ground to queftion the credibi
lity of the fadl, or condemn it as a fuper
fluous expence of miracles.
Our bleffed Saviour prophefied of famines
to happen in that age ; yet, for the benefit
of the church, Agabus was afterwards moved
by the Holy Ghoft to refume the fubjedl,
and foretel a famine which was then nigh at
" H. E. L. HI. c. V. It is not certain whether the words
" before the war" belong to the warning or to the retreat. I
have here given what feemed the more probable meaning of
the paffage ; but below, that I might not interpret what was
doubtful in favour of my hypothefis, I have tiken the other
conftruftion. * De Menfqr. et Ponder, c. xiv. Confer Hser. XXIX. c.vii.
XXX. c. ii.
hand L

SERMON V. 169
hand''. In the cafe before us, it may be
prefumed, that the figns defcribed by our
Lord would mark, by their accompliffiment,
the time of efcape with fufficient exadlnefs.
But when the day approached, it might feem
gppd to providence to point out, what before
was not known, the individual city to which
they ffiould withdraw ; and as It lay on the
other fide of Jordan, and had lately been
plundered by the Jews ^, it was lefs likely to
be again attacked by them, or by the Romans.
If it ffiould be queftioned whether the
date which Eufebius affigns to this event
agrees with the account given above, that
the retreat was not before the commence
ment of the war, but upon the flight of Cef
tius, at the clofe of the firft campaign ; this
at leaft will probably be granted, that it is
lefs inconfiftent with the prefent hypothefisi
than with that which delays the efcape of
the Chriftians near four years longer, till the
final fiege was begun by Titus.
But the truth is, the hiftorian, giving
here a fummary view of the principal tranf-
adlions refpedling the church, from our
y Afts xi. 28. » B, J, L, IL c, xviii. §• i .
Lord's

I70 SERMON V.
Lord's afcenfion to the utter extermination
of the unbelieving JeWs ; is anxious rather
to record fadls, than to determine dates. It
is evident, moreover, that the admonitions
in the Gofpels belong to a time pofterior to
the firft beginning of troubles. For the be
lievers in Chrift are forewarned to flee, not
when deftrudlion hovered round the coaft,
but when danger had reached the walls of
Jerufalem. But let us leave the hiftorian, and return
to the written word of God. The difciples
were commanded by their bleffed Mafter to
pray that their flight might not be in the
winter, nor on the fabbath*. Both petitions
were, no doubt, preferred by the faithful ;
and both, we might prefume, were gracioufly
heard. But let us not conjedlure, if we can
prove. With refpedl to the time of the retreat,
whether it was at the beginning of the fiege
by Titus, or when Ceftius retired from the
walls, the inclemency of winter would not,
in either cafe, preclude their efcape, or retard
their fpeed. This however may be obferved,
that if the feafon alluded to was the fpring,
' Matt. xxiv. 20, Mar. xiii. i8. the

SERMON V. 171
the ufual time when kings go out to battle,
there may feem to have been lefs neceffity of
commanding them to pray that their flight
might not be at a period fo unlikely in itfelf
and fo far off. But if, on the other hand, the
ftandard of abomination was to be eredled in
autumn, there was reafon to implore heaven,
that it might not continue till winter came
on; and the fudden departure of Ceftius in
November, when the feafon was yet mild and
favourable for travelling, will appear, in this
view, peculiarly ftriking.
Of the other petition the ground Is lefs
certain. The reafon of it Is by fome deduced
from the unbelieving Jews ; but by others,
and with greater probability, from the Chrif
tians themfelves.
Whether the ceremonial law was totally
and immediately fuperfeded by the death of
Chrift, or whether its obligation continued
while the temple ftood, it may not here be
neceffary to inquire. It were fufficient per
haps for our prefent purpofe, if the Mofaic
inftitutions were ftill confidered as binding
the confcience, from that principle to which
the firft Chriftian converts, with fo much
honour to themfplves and advantage to the
church.

172 SERMON V.
church, invariably adhered ; to do nothing
whereby unbelievers might be hardened, or
weak brethren mifled. But there feem to be,
in this inftance, plain intimations of a higher
obligation. " I teftify," fays St. Paul, " to every man
that is circumcifed, that he is a debtor to do
the whole law ''." If this were the cafe with
thofe who ffiould afterwards receive circum
cifion, furely it held equally with refpedl to
fuch as had already received it. Hence, no
doubt, fprung that earneft defire which we
fee in this apoftle, to celebrate, when the In-
difpenfable duty of diffeminating the gofpel
in diftant parts would allow him to celebrate,
the Jewiffi feftivals at Jerufalem. Hence too
his zeal, in conjundlion with the apoftles
there, to ffiew that the reports, fpread abroad
concerning him, were not true; but that he
walked orderly, and kept the law ".
The believing Jews were not perhaps bound
to circumcife their children, after the new
law had been authoritatively promulged on
the day of Pentecoft ; but certainly not after
the deftrudlion of the temple. The church
of the circumcifion therefore would gradually
•> Gal, v. 3. <: See Afts xX. 16. xxi. 24.
ceafe.

SERMON V. 173
ceafe. But fo long as there were converts
from Judaifm, and fuch there were later than
the Jewiffi war, fo long and upon them the
law of Mofes feems to have been in force ;
and confequently, as a part of it, the precept
which forbade them to travel beyond a limited
and ffiort journey on the fabbath.
If befides this, their feparating themfelves
and retiring in a body or in numbers, on the
day when others were at reft, would be more
obfervable ; and might Induce their enemies
to follow after and fall upon them in their
march, when the fabbath was ended ; thefe
were additional and powerful motives to them
to offer up the petition, which the Lord had
taught them, with frequency and fervor.
The fuccefs pf it let us now obferve.
The unexpedled retreat of Ceftius above
mentioned was on tuefday evening the fourth
of November. But the efcape of the Chrif
tians,' if It were now poffible, which may
reafonably be queftioned, was however an en-
terprlfe which prudence would not diredl
them to attempt. The enemy were ftill
within fight of the walls; and what route
they would purfue, if It was their intention
totally to abandon the place, was as yet un
certain.

174 SERMON V.
certain. They might make for Perea, the
neareft country that was friendly to the Ro
mans ; towards which the Chriftians, when
the way ffiould be opened for them, were to
ffiape their courfe. But while there were
two contending armies near, and each hoftile
to them, it was not fafe to move, and perhaps
fcarcely poffible.
During the affaUlt upon the city, the peo
ple were not fuffered to approach the gates or
afcend the walls, the cuftody of which was
in the hands of the predominant fadlion''.
And when the fiege was broken up, and free
egrefs given to their own armed multitude ;
it is probable they let none go forth of the
oppofite party, who, by informing the Roman
commander of the general difpofition of ffie
people for peace, might encourage him to
return and renew the attack.
The Chriftians therefore, reftrained by
force or guided by prudence^ remained ftill
in Jerufalem ; holding themfelves however
in readinefs to depart, whenever the favour-
•• Thofe who fled (hiSiSfxaxit) when they thought the city
would be taken, were of this party, as appears from what
follows : rat Si SrifMv o-miQcutit itti mmi; ^x^^ut, xai 1(3,^0 wwga-
xn^it it TTovri^iii, ¦jTfucrviim.t auimrus T[v>^»i Xii>i%Xtrli' B, J. L.II.
c. xix. §. 6. able

SERMON V. 175
able moment ffiould offer, which every thing
now led them to expedl, and which accord
ingly foon arrived.
The Jews, having flain of the enemy
above five thoufand, returned to Jerufalem
with fongs of triumph towards the end of
the following fabbath. The circumftance of
the day, it Is not unlikely, increafed their
joy, and was blindly regarded as a fure prog-
noftic of future fuccefs. The apprehenfion
of danger being now removed, the gates, it
may be fuppofed, would be thrown open,
and a free paffage afforded to all ; and If the
words of our Lord, where he fpeaks of the
efcaoe of the Chriftians by night % are to be
underftood literally, this may well feem to
be the very night ; when the feditious, in
toxicated with joy, were congratulating one
another upon the vidlory which they had
gained, and ceafed to moleft the quiet inha
bitants. Of this we may be certain, that as the
fignal had been given, and the way was now
clear, they would lofe no time to confult for
their fafety; and that good providence, which,
as we have already fhewn, ordered that their
« See Luke xvii, 34; flight

176 SERMON V.
flight ffiould not be in winter, granted like-
wife, as we here fee, that it ffiould not be on
the fabbath ; but that they ffiould have an
entire week before them to complete their
journey. At the fame time and perhaps together
with the Chriftians who fled from Jerufa
lem, thofe who were in the country likewife
efcaped ^ ; and none of them returned, when
they had once quitted the place, either to
take any thing thence, or to celebrate there
fucceeding feftivals. Some probably were
varioufly difperfed in the neighbouring pro
vinces ; but Bella, as we have before ob
ferved, was their chief rendezvous.
This city, which was diftant from Jeru
falem about an hundred miles, was under the
jurifdidlion of king Agrippa^; who was not
only an ally of the Romans, but was alfo,
as has been remarked on the occafion, " pro
videntially difpofed to countenance the Chrif-
' " Let them which are in the midft of it [JerufalemJ de
part out ; and let not them that are in the countries enter
thereinto," Luke xxi. 21. See alfo xvii. 31. Matt. xxiv.
17, 18, Mar, xiii. 15, 16.
8 All Perea was given him by Caligula. A, J. L. XVIIL
C. viii. §, 2. p. 820. 1. 19. with J. i. tians'."

SERMON V. 17^
tians \" Here therefore they enjoyed an un~
difturbed and peaceful habitation ', while Ju
dea was a theatre of flaughter and confufion,
and the metropolis itfelf, torn by inteftine
difcord and tumults, before the Romans fi
nally befieged it, exhibited the fcene of a
ruining city ^.
Such then was the deliverance vouchfafed
from heaven to the faithful in Judea, and to
the church of Jerufalem, the mother of the
univerfal Chriftian world. Let us paufe for
a moment to refledl on the bluffing.
* Dr. Townfon on the Gofp, p, 124,
* The province of Perea was not totally exempt from the
horrors of war; but it is probable that the city of Pella was.
Jofephus having mentioned the reduftion of Gadara the me
tropolis, and one or two other places, fays. Thus all Perea
either voluntarily fubmitted or was taken by force. B.J.
L.IV. c. vii. §, 5. As he does not mention Pella on this oc
cafion, though it was one of the chief cities (B. J, L,III.
c, iii, §, 5.) it is highly probable that it was in the number of
thofe which making no refiftance experienced i)o hoftilities.
Perhaps the inhabitants were few of them Jews. See A.J.
L. XIII. c. XV. §. 4.
^ To i(ji7KS">lf«a rtii TToMas ir^it inX^eit Va/jjixiii; m lict XTc}ilsfiilt>i(.
B, J. L.II, c, xxii, §, I. Jofephus alfo fays, fpeaking of an
early ftage of the war, that when the city was haraffed at once
by war, by tyranny, and fedition, the firft of thefe feemed
the leaft evil of the three j and he addsi, that [even then]
there was no part of Judea, which did not participate the
ruin {rutttVttXiiVTo) of the principal city. B. J, L. IV. c. vii.
§. 1,2.
M In

178 SERMON V.
In all the feverer judgements of God uptin
the fons of men, it has been his gracious
.pleafure to give intimations beforehand of
the impending ftroke, that the righteous
might be faved, and the wicked might re
pent. When the flood was to be brought
upon the world of the ungodly, the longfuf-
fering of God waited an hundred and twenty
years ; and Noah, in the mean time, was
ftirred up to be a preacher of righteoufnefs,
as well as commanded to build an ark for the
prefervatlon of himfelf and his family '.
To Ninlveh, though in a remote and pagan
¦land, the prophet Jonah was fent to warn
the inhabitants that at the end of forty days
the city ffiould be deftroyed. But the Nini-
vites repented, and the doom was reverfed.
Before every captivity, every chaftifement,
that befell the chofen but rebellious hpufes
of Ifrael and of Judah, the moft preffing calls
to repentance, the moft tremendous denun
ciations of wrath, were held forth by thofe
holy and undaunted men, whom the Lord
raifed up and fent among them; and when
' See I Pet. iii. 20. 2 Pet. ii, 5. Gen. vi. 3.
Judah

SERMON v. 179
Judah for her fins was finally to be cut off
from being a nation, forewarnings of venge
ance were given without ceafing, by the Son
of God himfelf and his apoftles ana fervants^
for the fpace of forty years. They wfere ex
horted, were intreated with tears of love, to
flee for protedlion to God their Redeemer.
. By day and by night. In the temple and
the fynagogues and froni houfe to houfe, the
prophecies which demonftrated Jefus to be
the Meffiah were expounded to them; mira
cles were publicly wrought in his name; their
fin in crucifying him was brought home to
their confciences ; for which, and for their
other iniquities, the extreme and inevitable
ruin, which ffiould come upon that very age
of unbelievers, was foreffiewn and defcribed.
Thefe predidtions, moreover, were com
mitted to writing, that they might be weighed
and confidered in the calmnefs of retirement,
by thofe who were afraid or affiamed of lif-
tening to the public difcourfes of the leaders
of a hated and perfecuted fedl. Anci laftly
while the total overthrow of the ftate, toge
ther with the defolation of the city and tem
ple, was foretold and lamented, the faithful
were comforted with a promife of deliverance
M 2 frorpi

i8o SERMON V.
from the midft of thefe troubles, and the
manner of their efcape was minutely pre
fcribed and earneftly recommended.
In thefe extraordinary interpofitlons of hea
ven, as well as In the more ufual courfe of
providence. He who made man and knoweth
what is in him, dealeth with him as a frail,
yet ftill as a rational and free creature. He
fetteth before him life and death ; but as he
doth not willingly inflidl the one, fo neither
doth he forcibly obtrude the other.
When the Lord deftroyed Sodom and Go
morrah with fire, he had mercy upon Lot;
and the angels, while he lingered, laid hold
upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife,
and upon the hand of his two daughters.
They brought them forth without the city,
and put fafety' In their power ; and faid to
him, " Efcape for thy life, look not behind
thee." Yet one of the party, fmall as it was,
became a monument of difobedience to all
future generations'".
In the fiege of the Chaldeans, and in the
war of the Romans, deliverance was pro
mifed to thofe that were obedient ; but no
"*" See Gen. xix. 15. &c. refcue

SERMON V. i8i
refcue was miraculoufly effedled for thofe who
did not believe the declarations of heaven,
or did not feife the opportunity of efcape
which providence afforded.
When Paul was imprifoned, the Lord faid
unto him, " Be of good cheer ; for as thou
haft teftified of me in Jerufalem, fo muft thou
bear witnefs alfo at Rome"." When after
wards in the voyage they were toffed with a
tempeft many days, and all hope of fafety
was gone ; he was again certified by an aiigel
of God, that neither himfelf, nor any pne
of thofe with him in the ffiip, ffiould periffi".
Yet even this repeated affurance of heaven
was not defigned to fet afide the ufe of ordi..
nary means and human prudence : " As the
ffilpmen were about to flee out of the ffiip,"
leaving none on board who could navigate the
veffel, " Paul faid to the centifrlon and the
foldiers. Except thefe abide in the ffiip, Ye
cannot be faved ''."
Thou ffialt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Thou ffialt not throw thyfelf headlong upon
danger, when he hath not promifed to keep
thee from falling. Thou ffialt not tarry in
••• Afts xxiii. 1 J. ° See Ibid, xxvii, 22.
f Ibid, 30,31.
M 3 the

i82 S E R M O N V.
the tents of the ungodly, when he hath com
manded thee to flee away, left the earth open
her mouth and fwallow thee up. Such cala
mities as it feemeth good to the juft and mer
ciful Difpofer of all things to bring upon the
world, he will; if we truft in him, diredl us
to efcape, or enable us to bear. " In famine
he ffiall redeem thee from death ; and in war
from the power of the fword''." Under his
wings thou ffialt fear no evil, his faithfulnefs
and truth ffiall be thy ffiield and buckler.
" For who is God, fave the Lord .? and
who is a rock, fave our God ? The Lord
liveth, and bleffed be our rock ; and exalted
be the God of the rock of our falvation '."
' Job v, 20. ' 2 Sam. xxii. 32, 47,

SER-

SERMON VL

Luke XIX. 41, 42, 43, 44.
And when he was come near, he beheld the
city, and wept over it, faying. If thou hadfi
known, even thou, at leafl in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace ! but
now they are hid from thine eyes. ^ For the
days fliall come upon thee, that thine enemies
jhall cafl a trench about thee, and compafi
thee round, and keep thee in on every flde,
and jhall lay thee even with the ground, an4
i thy children within thee ; and they floall not
league in thee one flone upon another ; becaufe
thou knewefl n'ot the time of thy viftation*
IT has often been obferved, by thofe who
have viewed with attention the affairs of
the world, and the various revolutions in civil
M 4 life.

i84 S E R M O N VL
life, that when providence is pleafed to hu
miliate or deftroy a kingdom or people har
dened in fin, a, certain blindnefs or fatality
feems to attend them in all that they do;
which hinders them from feeing their true
intereft, and the means by which it may be
fecured. To thofe who look on from a dif
tance, and to fome few perhaps in the de
voted ftate, the approach of danger and the
way of efcape may be clearly difcernible ;
but the great body of the nation, and thofe
to whofe care its welfare is entrufted, perceive
not their fituation, till retreat is impoffible
and ruin inevitable ; or elfe by the very mea
fures adopted to avoid it, do but ruffi more
precipitately into the jaws of death and the
pit of deftrudlion.
If this obfervation is well founded, and
the page of hiftory in various age^ ffiews its
truth ; never, without doubt, fince kingdoms
have fubfifted on the face of the earth, was
it more deplorably and ftrikingly verified,
than in the final fubverfion of the Jewiffi
polity civil and religious. In the wonderful
account, which the hiftorian has faithfully
and feelingly recorded, as, pn the one hand,
ypu difcover at every ftep and turn, tbat the
wrath of heaven is upon this people ; fo, on
the

SERMON VL 185
the other, you behold, with filent aftoniffi-
ment, the almoft incredible infatuation which
has feifed upon all ranks, the ruler and the
judge, the prudent and the ancient, the man
of war and the honourable cpunfellpr ; hpw
infejifible they are of their alarming fituation,
when all nature feems to be armed againfi
them, and confplres with the enemy to in
volve their country in one common over
throw and general devaftation.
But amazing and unparalleled as the cafe
really is, it could not be otherwife ; for pro
phecy had foretpld that fo it ffiould be. He
who gave them laws and founded their ftate,
fet before them at once the bleffings which
they ffiould reap, while they diligently walked
in the commandments of their God ; and
the curfes which ffiould follow them, when
they did not hearken to him, nor obey his
voice. " The Lord," fays he, "ffiall fmite thee
with madnefs, and blindnefs, and aftonifti-
ment of heart '." And what Mofes thus pre-
didled, the Son of God confirmed ; and at
his laft and folemn approach to Jerufalem,
teftified publicly with tears of compaffion,
that the things of her peace were now hidden
from her eyes.
* Deut. xxviii. 28.
As

i86 SERMON VL
As a nation, their blindnefs was already
begun, when they rejedled the meffage of
peace and falvation, which the Beloved of the
Father brought down from heaven, and im
plored them to accept ; and thofe who caft
away from them the word of life and terms
of reconciliation, which ftill by his mef
fengers for almoft forty years he held out
unto them, no balm of Gilead, no difclpline
or remedy beneath the fun, could heal of
their blindnefs. Experience and difappolnt
ment, which teach others wifdom, ferved
only to heighten their pride, and augment
their mifery ; and where one calamity ended,
another began ¦.
Their Meffiah and King they nailed to the
crofs, left the Romans ffiould take away their
place and nation " : Flis death was the caufe
of their complicated fufferings and final de
ftrudlion ''. The wonderful works, which
the Son of God daily perfornied in their
fight, they would not believe : by thofe who
did no miracles, nor made good one of their
" B. J. L. Ill, c, viii, §; 6. = John xi. 48.
' ¦' Thus the prophecy was fulfilled : " I alfo will choofe
their delufions, and will bring their fears upon them." If,
Ixvi, 4. boaftful

S, ,E R M .0 N . VL 187
boaftful promifes, they were repeatedly and
fatally deluded.
If the found of war was heard in their
gates, and their enemies, in all lands, feemed
refolved to extirpate the very name of Jews ;
ftill they flattered themfelves with the bright-
eft expedlatlons ; ftill they trufted, a king
ffiould rife among them, under whofe vidlo
rious banner they ffiould trample on the necks
of all that hated them, and obtain a klngdon*
of boundlefs extent, and perpetual fplendor.
When the folid earth and the troubled fky
gave figns of woe ; thefe portended confufion
to their foes, and to themfelves deliverance.
When their feftivals were marked with ag
gravated diftrefs, as well as aggravated guilt ;
when the fword of the affaffin murdered his
brother, and the houfe of God was the fcene
pf flaughter; they neverthelefs were a holy
people, the favourites of heaven, and the God
of Ifrael would make bare his arm in their
caufe. When the enemy, inftead of feifing the
vidlory which was within his grafp, on- a
fudden broke up from before; their city, that
the Lord's prifoners might come forth in
fafety, and the wicked even yet might have
* fpace

i88 SERMON VL
fpace to repent; this was the interpofition of
providence in their favour, a certain prelude
to future fuccefs, and they who had once
fled, ffiould for ever flee before them.
Thus did they grope, and thus did they
ftumble, when the light, ffione around them,
in the morning of their calamities, which we
have already furveyed; nor did they roufe
from their flumber, nor once lift up their
eyes to the hand that fmote them, till the
day declined, and their fun fet upon them in
the darknefs and horror which we now are
to contemplate, when we ffiall have confi
dered one circumftance, that requires our
previous attention.
It was foretold that the vengeance, great
in the extreme, fliould be fwift in execution.
*' Except thofe days fliould be ffiortened,"
faid our Lord, " there ffiould no fleffi be
faved ; but for the eledt's fake thofe days
ffiall be ffiortened '."
That hy the Eledl here we are to under
ftand the Chriftians, there can be no doubt ;
and as the word is not limited, in itfelf or
« Mate, xxiv, 22. the

SERMON ^VL 189
the context, it Is not perhaps neceffary to
confine It to the believers refiding in one land.
The whole body of the faithful, In this as in
other inftances, after the bleffed example of
their Lord, prayed for their enemies ; that
if it were the gracious will of heaven, the
judgements inflidled upon thofe who had
killed the Prince of life, and were the moft
adllve and fanguinary among the perfecutors
of his church, might not however cut off
the entire houfe of Ifrael ; but that a rem
nant might furvive the general overthrow;
fome of whom, taught by what they. had
beheld, and what they had fuffered, might
repent of their fins, and be converted and
faved. At the fame time neverthelefs we may rea
fonably fuppofe, that thofe who were them
felves of the ftock of Ifrael, would, above
others, be frequent and fervent in fupplica-
tlons to heaven for their unbelieving kindred.
And if the comfort and fafety, and perhaps
even the lives, of fome of thofe Chriftians
who had lately fled from Judea, but ftill were
on the borders, depended, under providence,
on the fpeedy termination of the Jewiffi trou
bles ; thefe confideratlons of perfonal fecurity
•rnight allowably blend themfelves with thofe
which

jQo SERMON VL
which concern for their brethren fuggefted;
might inflame the heart, and prompt the lips,
which would not otherwife have been unin-'
terefted or filent.
To return to Jerufalem, and fettle there,
cpuld be no, objedl of defire, even to thofe
who were natives of the place. To have
gone thither, where not a tree, not a vef-
tige of beauty, for twelve miles in circuit,
was now to be feen ; the city itfelf fo to
tally demoliffied, that a late inhabitant could
fcarcely have known the place where it ftood,
faVe perhaps from the fight of three folitary
towers, the filent monuments of former mag
nificence ; to have vifited the feat of their
fathers' fepulchres, thus fpoiled of its ho-
4iours and laid level with the ground, could
only have excited fevere regret, and unavail
ing forrow '.
Befides we are informed, in regard to
fadl, that half a century afterwards, before
the city was rebuilt by Adrian,, and received
a new name from him, there were only a
few houfes, and one fmall church, on the
fpot which was once the glory of Ifrael, and
the praife of the earth ^.
f B. J. L.VL c, i. §, I. c. ii. §. 7. L. VIL c. i. 5, i.
S Epiphan, de Ponder, et Menfur, c. xiv. But

SERMON VL 191
But if the Chriftian exiles did not go back,
at leaft not in numbers, to Jerufalem itfelf,
unlefs it were to view and weep over the
ruins ; they might however, when the war
was ended, return and dwell in other parts of
Judea, which had fuffered lefs than the re
bellious city. During their retirement like-
wife, though they were exempt from the
horrors of war, their fituation probably was
fuch as, on many accounts, rendered the re-
ftoration of peace greatly defirable.
When Judea was the theatre of contending
armies, provifions may be prefumed to have
been fcanty on the confines ''. The ground
muft have been cultivated in fear ; and the
conveyance of fupplies from a diftance, at
all times inconvenient, muft then have been
extremely infecure and hazardous ; efpecially
to thofe, who, as Jews, were obnoxious to
the Romans, and, as Chriftians, were ftill
more abhorred by the Jews.
.Moreover had the Romans, by a prolon-
.gation of the war, been further exafperated,
¦^ The Roman army was fupplied with neceffaries from
Syria and the adjacent provinces. B, J. L.V. c. xii, §. 4.
they

192 SERMON VL
they might, in conclufion, have carried their
vidlorious arms to exterminate thofe, whom,
at Pella and elfewhere, they before had fuf
fered to dwell In quiet. For though at pre
fent they appeared to be friends to the Ro
mans, and ftudious of peace, this condudl
might be attributed to the impulfe of fear,
rather than to principles of duty ; and as
their language, and habit, and exterior man
ners, marked them for Jews, fufpicions might
arife, that they would be prone to rebel, when
no longer intimidated by fuperior force.
For thefe or for other reafons, which, if
lefs obvious now, were apparent at the time;
it might concern the welfare of the Chriftians
themfelves, that the flames, which defolated
the country from which they had fled, but
ftill were in fight of, ffiould not be -fufiered
to rage there long ; left they fliould extend to
the mountains, and burn up their Zoar.
But to us at this day perhaps the reafons
of the cafe are not fuch interefting objedls of
inquiry, as the fadl itfelf. Was that, which
was foretold, literally verified ? It was in
deed ; and the circumftances are not a little
remarkable.
The

SERMON VL

^93

The country of Judea, mountainous and
rocky, though not large in extent, did not
promife, even to the moft experienced com
mander, an eafy vidlory, or fpeedy triumph.
Not long before the Roman war, a public
robber, protedled doubtlefs by the ftrength
of his holds as well as the defperate valour
of his affociates, committed depredations
with uncontrouled fuccefs for twenty years ;
and was taken at length only by ftratagem '.
But though nature had done much, ffie had
not done all. The affiftance therefore of art
was called in, to complete what was imper-
fedl, or corredl what was wrong. In the
reign of Claudius, Agrippa had projedled, in
defence of Jerufalem, walls of fuch ftrength
and fuch altitude as might bid defiance to hu
man force " ; and though he was not fuffered
to finiffi his defigns, no means or opportunity
was afterwaWs negledled, to put both the
metropolis and the other cities in a pofture
to make a vigorous refiftance.
Upon the defeat of Ceftius, when the war
was inevitable, the engines and weapons
' A, J. L. XX. c, vii. §. 5. comp, B.J. L.I. c. xvi. §.4.
And fee Judges vi. 2. i Sam. xiii. 6.
'^ A. J. L. XIX. c. vii. §. 2. Tacit, Hift. L. V. c. i z.
N taken

194 SERMON VL
taken from him were carefully preferved ' ;
and others were provided. Commanders were
appointed, and their refpedlive departments
allotted them ". In Jerufalem the fage Ana-
nus, though a friend to peace, prepared every
article neceffary or ufeful for carrying on war
or fuftaining a fiege. And the prudent Jofe
phus, who commanded in Galilee, not only
fortified the towns and advantageous pofts,
but likewife raifed an army of fixty thoufand
men, whom he laboured with indefatigable
induftry and fkill to inure to military difci-
.pline and the ufe of arms.
Thefe circumftances feemed to prognof-
ticate an arduous enterprife, worthy of the
fame and fortune of Vefpafian, aided by the
adllve and intrepid bravery of his fon. Nor
indeed wa« the fuccefs, though the exertions
were great and the troops powerful, fuch at
firft as might be called rapid. Two cam
paigns were employed in reducing the re
moter parts of the province ; and hoftilities
in the eaft were during the third year fuf
pended by commotions at Rome. To gain
vidlories abroad, there was fmall incite-

>B.J. L.IL c.XIX. §.9.
" Ibid, c.xx. 5.. 2. &c. et c. xxii.

ment,

SERMON VL 195
ment, when it was uncertain, whether the
empire itfelf might not, in the mean time,
be loft at home °.
But when Vefpafian was invefted with the
iniperial purple, and Rome folicited the re
turn of Titus to fliare his honours ; the war
was carried to the walls of Jerufalem, and
pufhed with a vigour that is almoft in
credible. The effedls of famine, though fure, feemed
tedious ; and the fplendor of a conqueft, pur-
chafed at the expence of a long blockade,
would be much diminlffied °. Modes of af
fault therefore, which might give them im-
inedlate poffeffion of their wiffies, were forth
with planned and refolutely profecuted. Thefe
however were rendered abortive, as well by
the ftrength of the place itfelf, as the fero
cious courage of thofe who defended it p.
But the fpirit of Titus was not to be daunted.
Holding a council of war, he recommended
a v^ork, the magnitude of which might ex
cite our wonder, were not the difpatch, with
which it was executed, far more aftoniffiing.
A wall in circumference almoft five miles,
» B.J. L.IV. c.ix, §.2. Tacit. Hift, L.V. c. 10.
" B.J. L.V. cxii. §. I. Tacit, ut fupra, c.xi. . •
P B, J. L, V, c.vi. §.2, &c.
N 2 entirely

196 SERMON VL
entirely furrounding the city, and fortified
with thirteen fpacious garrifons, was begun
and completed in three days ^.
Such were the operations on the part of
the Romans to accelerate the capture. But
the befieged themfelves contributed much
more effedtually than the enemy without to
haften their deftrudlion.
The patriotic Ananus would either by his
vigilance have protradled the fiege, or by his
moderation and authority have made terms
with the Romans : he therefore was flain '.
The city, though crouded with inhabitants,
was ftored with corn and other provifions,
which would have fufficed feveral years :
thefe therefore were burnt by the feditious %
When other parts of the city were reduced,
there ftill remained towers of impregnable
ftrength : thefe therefore the tyrants aban
doned '.
By thefe means the city, which in the
time of Zedeklah had endured a clofe fiege
of more than twelve months, was taken by
the Romans in lefs than five. Titus himfelf,
« B. J. L, V. c. xii. §, 2. ' B. J, L, IV, c. V. §. 2.
• Ibid. L.V. c.i. §. 4. « Ibid. L. VI. c. viii. J. 4.
on

SERMON VL 197
on furveying the fcene of his paft labours and
future renown, acknowledged it was God
who had delivered into his hands places in
vincible by human power or mans device °.
He affumed therefore no name from the
country which he had vanquiffied ; and
though, in conjundlion with his father, he
accepted a triumph, he profeffed himfelf not
worthy of the crown of vidlory which was
offered him"; declaring, That he had only
been the inftrument of divine vengeance.
Thus then did God, in confirmation of
the promife made by his beloved Son, evi
dently ffiorten thefe days of wrath, that peace
might revifit the habitation of his chofen,
and that even that rebellious and ftubborn
generation might not be totally cut off from
the earth, by mutual flaughter, by the ex
tremity of famine, or the fword of the Ro
mans. But In order to Illuftrate other parts of the
prophecy, it is neceffary, for a moment, to
caft our eyes back on the days of the fiege ;
and though the fpedlacle there exhibited may
» B.J. L.VL c, ix. §. I.
* Philoftrat. Vit. Apoll. L.VL c. xxix. He probably did
not entirely rejeft the honour. See B. J. L, VII. c. v. §, 2.
N 3 be

198 SERMON VL
be painful to behold. It will not however be
unprofitable, if from contemplating what the
Jews fuffered, we are careful to avoid the re-
moteft refemblance of what they did.
Of all the calamities which the Almighty,
in his righteous judgement, fuffers to fallen
human fociety, perhaps the moft grievous is
divifion and difcord. Here therefore the for
rows of Judah, which were to exceed all
other forrows, firft began ; and this was alfo
the lateft caufe of mourning.
In Itfelf Indeed the evil was not peculiar.
The daughters of Jerufalem were not the firft,
neither have they been the laft, who have
had occafion to bewail the dire effedls of civil
diffenfion. In one refpedl however the cafe Is
perhaps without a parallel. In thefe days
alone was the difeafe fo malignant, that it
could not be healed by a foreign fword and
common danger. Had they all been peace
able, they all had been happy ; had they been
unanimous in revolt, they might have with-
ftood their enemies. But their mutual ani-
mpfities and unconquerable hatred doubled
their plagues, and haftened their ruin.
When the Romans, by regular and fuc
cefsful war, were breaking down their fenced cities.

SERMON VL 199
cities, and laying wafte their land ; the zea
lots and feditious plundered and flaughtered
the aged and moderate, their deareft friends
as well as feeret foes, with fuch mercilefs
fury, that to be captured by the enemy feemed
to the fufferers the more defirajale alternative''-
Sated at length with ravaging the coun
try, they fought in the capital a nobler prey.
Jerufalem, accuftomed of old, when at unity
within herfelf, to receive into her bofom all
her fons, to celebrate her feafts and partake
her joy, ftill admitted every Jew without ex
amination : for ffie hoped they came to re
lieve her diftrefs, and to give no lefs than to
receive protedlon. But inftead of admini^-
ilering help or comfort, they reforted to her
only to embitter her pangs, and infult her in
death. They ftyled themfelves Zealots, as if they
were adluated by a regard for religion ; but
they defplfed its fandlions, and trampled on
its ordinances ==. They boafted that they were
the benefadlors and deliverers of their coun
try " ; though they flew without remorfe the
noble and the brave, who In vain exhibited
y B, J, L, IV. c. iii, §. 2, 3. "^ Ibid- 5.6-9, cvi, §. 3.
» Ibid, c, iii. §. j,
N 4 the

200 SERMON VL
the honourable fears received from the Ro
mans, and fupplicated in vain for the rites of
burial '.
As a protedlor againft thefe monfters, Si
mon was in an evil hour admitted into the
city; notwithftanding he had, in his march
through the country, fpread defolation where-
ever he came. His entrance, Inftead of pro
ducing peace, caufed more general havoc and
carnage '.
When Titus was abfent, the favourable
moment for fomenting difcord was eagerly
feifed; and the city now faw within her walls
three feparate and powerful fadlions, ranged
under their proper leaders, contending daily
with obftinate courage and mutual hatred,
and unanimous only in deftroying thofe who
beft deferved to live ''.
On the approach of the Romans, the fedi
tious for a while were awed Into harmony;
and ruffied out, with refiftlefs fury, on the
common £oe'. But the ftruggles within were
foon renewed with unabated ardour; and
fire was employed to make room for the
* B.J. L.IV, c.vi, §. I.
' Ibid. c. ix. §. 7, 8. 10. &c.
' Ibid. L. V. c. i. §, 1.5, e Jbid. c. ii. §. 4, 5.
fword '.

SERMON VL 201
fword ^ Captivity was a bleffing devoutly to
be wiffied for, if compared even with their
prefent fufferings ; but their cup of forrow
was net yet full, nor was fedition the fole in
gredient. The Roman commander, with a generous
clemency, that infeparable attendant on true
heroifm, laboured inccffantly and to the
very laft moment to preferve the place.
With this view, he again and again in-
treated the tyrants to furrender and fave their
lives. With the fame view alfo, after car
rying the fecond wall, the fiege was inter
mitted four days ^. To roufe their fears, as
well as intereft their hopes, prifoners to the
number of five hundred or more were cru
cified daily before tl^e walls ; till fpace, Jo
fephus fays, was wanting for the croffes, and
croffes for the captives ''.
But neither terror could alarm, nor pity
foften, the heart of the tyrants harder than
adamant. Terms of mercy were rejedled
with difdain, and threats of vengeance treated
with contempt : "God was with them, and
He would preferve the habitation of his
^ B, J, L.V. cvi. §.1. s Ibid. c.ix. §. i.
^ Ibid, c xi, §. I. glory '."

202 SERMON VL
glory'." Defertlon to the Romans was
guarded againft with a more watchful eye,
than the admiffion of the enemy ; and even
the ffiadow of a fufpicion was a fufficient rea
fon for inftant death''. If any eluded the vigi
lance of their keepers, and fled to the Ro
mans ; the defedlion, when difcovered, was
cruelly revenged on their helplefs relations
who remained behind'.
Many however, under all thefe difad van
tages, effedled their efcape; and being treated
by Titus with the kindeft humanity, and
fuffered to enjoy their religion and liberty,
the numbers increafed"". But no means of
fafety was to be a bleffing to this devoted
people. Many who had fled, impelled by
hunger, found in fatldty a more fpeedy dif
folution ; and it being at laft difcovered, that
they had fwallowed their money, the day
difclofed to the enraged Titus two thou
fand fugitives fipt up by his army in one
night ".
Such was the fcene before Jerufalem. But
the profpedl is pleafing, if compared with the
' B. J. L.V. cxi. §. 2. "= Ibid, c X, §, I.
' Ibid, c. xi, ^, I , "¦ Ibid. §, 2. L. VI. c ii. §. 2, 3.
" Ibid, L,V, c.xiii, §, 4, 5. view

SERMON VL 203
view within the walls. Violence and ftrlfe
there went about ; deceit and guile did not
depart thence. There the peftilence walked
in darknefs, and there the famine deftroyed
at noon day.
At the feaft of the paffover, the fame
whereat lately they had crucified the Lord of
glory, the Roman army came up againft the
city ; and an innumerable multitude of Jews,
from all quarters of the earth, were in con
fequence ffiut up, as within a prifon ". Firft
therefore the ftraltnefs of room proved pefti-
lential; and the ftores being in great part
confumed by fire, the effedls of hunger foon
were apparent ^ There were many who
parted with their whole fubftance for a fingle
buffiel of wheat, or of barley ; and what was
thus obtained was eaten in feeret, and often
unprepared. To the power of famine all
the paffions yielded, but ffiame was totally
extinguiffied by it. "Women forced food
from their huffiands, children from their fa
thers, and even mothers from their infants :
they fnatched it out of their very mouths :
° B. J. L. VI, c.ix. §. 3, 4. Sopunftually was our Lord's
prediftion fulfilled : " As a fnare ftjall it come on all them
that dwell on the face of the whole earth." Luke xxi. 35.
J" E. J. L. V. c. X. §. 2-4. and

204 SERMON VL
and while the fucking children were wafting
away in their arms, they fcrupled not to take
from them the drops which fupported their
lives \"
As the famine Increafed, the audacity of
the feditious, though they themfelves were
not in want, increafed likewife. They burft
into houfes in fearch of provifions ; and
where any thing was found, the family were
beaten, as if they had denied it ; if nothing
was difcovered, they were handled more
cruelly for the fuppofed concealment. The
moft -horrid and atrocious tortures were In
flidled, to extort the eonfeffion of one loaf
of bread, or a handful of meal. They nei
ther fpared fex, nor reverenced age, nor com-
miferated childhood ; but daffied the infants
againft the flones. Under cover of the night
fome of the befieged ventured over the walls,
towards the Roman camp, to gather wild
herbs; and on their return, when they
thought they had efcaped the hands of the
enemy, they were met by the feditious, and
robbed of all their miferable booty. In vain
did they intreat, even by the awful name of
1 Bp. Newcome on our Lord's Conduft, &c. p. 223, Of
this Writer's elegant tranflation of the palfages which he quotes
from Jofephus I have in fome other inftances on revifmg the
leftures availed myfelf. For the feleftion and arrangement of
particulars I am anfwerable, Jehovah,

SERMON VL 205
Jehovah, that they might be permitted to
have part of what they had brought at the
hazard of their life. It was a favour, if
thofe who Jiad plundered, did not murder
them. To thefe proceedings the tyrants gave
fandlion by their own example; and while
their men fpoiled the lower ranks, they
themfelves oppreffed the rich and the noble.
Thofe ftript by Simon were fent to John ;
and thofe whom John had fleeced, Simon
received. Thus they drank, as it were, to
each other the blood of the people ; and con
tending for fuperlority, were confederate in
crimes. When by the building of the wall before/
mentioned all egrefs was cut off, the famine
gathered ftrength, and devoured whole fami
lies '. The houfes were filled with corpfes
of women and children ; and the men of
gray hairs lay in the ftreets. The young
men, like fpedlres', wandered about in the
public places, and fell where death overtook
' B.J, L.V. cxii, §,3,4.
' as-TTi^ etSaXx, Eufebius has the fame allulion in defcrlbing
the !?ffefts of a fevere famine and peftilence in the time of
the emperor Maximin : ao'n-i^ eiSuTiX nx^x aSt Kofxncn ¦^'v^fig^x-
yntn;. H.E, L.IX, c.viii. them.

2o6 SERMON VI.
them. The fick were unable to bury their
friends, and the healthy were deterred by the
number of the dead, and fear for themfelves.
Many expired upon thofe whom they were
interring ; and many went voluntarily to die
in the tomb.
In thefe calamities there was neither
complaint nor lamentation heard ; but the
living beheld, with tearlefs eyes and a ghaftly
fmile, thofe who found refuge in death be
fore them. Silence reigned in the city by
day, and death and terror alarmed the night.
The robbers however were the heavleft
plague. They rifled the dead with unfeeling
laughter ; and in horrid fport tried the edge
of their weapons both upon the deceafed
and thofe who were yet alive. But thofe
who prayed to receive at their hands the fatal
ftroke, they fcornfully left to pine away with
hunger. In their laft moments, feeing the
feditious ftill in health, they fixed their eyes
on the temple and expired.
At firft, to remove the intolerable ftench,
the dead were interred at the public expence.
When this could no longer be done, an eafier
mode of getting rid of them was devifed ;
and

SERMON VI. 207
and In lefs than three months from the be
ginning of the fiege, above a hundred thou
fand were thrown over the walls '. The
compaffionate Roman fighed at the fpedlacle,
and with uplifted hands called God to wit
nefs, that the deed was none of his.
Unutterable fufferings ftill enfued ". The
befieged were compelled to eat their belts,
their ffioes, and the fkins of their ffiields.
Withered grafs was even fold ; and things
which before offended the fight, were now
carefully fought for, and greedily devoured*.
Nay, fays the hiftorian, I muft record a
fadl, fuch as Greeks or barbarians never
heard of. There was a woman, named Mary,
of honourable birth, whom the robbers had
daily plundered and haraffed ; but would
neither in refentment of her provocations,
nor compaffion for her fufferings, when they
deprived her of fubfiftcnce, deprive her of
life. Hunger at laft piercing her bones, in
rage and defpair ffie feifed her fon, an infant
' B. J. L.V. c xiii. §. 7. From the 14th of April to
the ift of July. There were caft out in the whole fix hun
dred thoufand.
" Ibid. L. VL c, iii, 5. 3-5. " Ibid. L. V. c xiii. 5.7.

at

2oS SERMON VI.
at the breaft, and " For what," ffie cried,
*' in the midft of war, and famine, and fedi
tion, ffiould I preferve thee, my unhappy
babe ? With the Romans If there be fafety,
there is alfo fervitude. This fervitude the
famine anticipates, and the feditious are fiercer
than either. Come then, be thou food to me,
a Fury to the feditious, and a tale in life,
what alone is wanting to complete the fum
of Jewiffi calamities."
With thefe words, ffie flew her fon, and
having prepared him for food, ffie devoured
half, and carefully laid up the remainder.
The horrid repaft was fcarcely ended, when
the vultures of fedition, lured by the fmell,
came and threatened death, if ffie concealed
what ffie had provided. But of menaces
there was no need; ffie, produced what was
left, boafting ffie had referved it as an ho
nourable portion for Them. The feditious,
till now unacquainted with horror, were here
alone feifed with trembling and aftoniffiment.
But the mother exclaimed, " The child is
my own, and the deed is mine. Eat, for I
have eaten. Be not Ye more tender than a
woman, more compaffionate than a mother.
But if ye rejedl the vidlim, I who have eaten
half, will eat the remainder." This

SERMON VL

209

This atrocious adl ^ was foon divulged in
the Roman camp ; and in fome excited pity,
but in more abhorrence ; and now at laft the
commander, though ftill folicitous to fave
the temple, refolved however not to leave
the city, wherein fuch things were perpe
trated, in the fight of the fun.
To enumerate all the diftrefles, or all the
crimes, of the Jews in this age, were both
an Impoffible and fuperfluous tafk. We may
conclude the matter with the teftimony of
Jofephus, " That no city ever fuffered fuch
things, nor did there ever exift, fince the
world began, a generation of men more
fruitful in wickednefs ^. So that, continues
he, had the Romans delayed to chaftife the
finners, I think the earth would have fwal
lowed them up, the city would have been
fwept away by another flood, or elfe con
fumed, like a fecond Sodom, by fire from
heaven *."
y For the prediftions refpefting it. See Deut. xxviii. 53.
Lev. xxvi. 29, Jer, xix. 7-9. Lam. ii, 20. iv. 10. A fimilar
inftance is recorded in the account of the fiege of Samaria,
2 Kings' vi. 28, 29, and perhaps the fame happened alfo in the
former fiege of Jerufalem. Compare Ez. v. 10. with Baruch
ii. 3. ^ '1
^ B, J. L.V, c. X. §, 5, Conf. Prooem. §, 4.
3 Ibid. c. xiii. §• 6.
O But

2IO S E^ R M O N VL
But it pleafed God to employ, in this cafe,
human agents, and not the elements, as the
immediate inftruments of his juft vengeance;
and the dcftined period was now at hand.
On the tenth of Auguft ^ the fame day that
the former temple was burnt by the Chal
deans, the temple was fet on fire, without
the knowledge of Titus, and againft his will ;
and his utmoft efforts to extlnguiffithe flames
were of no avail. The enthufiaftic rage of
the foldiers, though at other times they were
checked in a moment, could not now be
controuled by words or figns. The pre
vailing flames feemed as If they would con-
fume not only the temple, but the very
foundations of the mount whereon it ftood*;
and the ffiouts of vidlory and wailings of for
row, echoed back from the diftant moun
tains, increafed 'the horror and confufion of
the fcene ¦*.
The upper city ftill remained ; but It did
not long furvive the temple. On the fab-
" B. J. L, VL civ, §. 5.&C.
' The words are remarkable ; rot ftit yi ns iifn ^«po» ex {/^ai
XI ri( iSc^e ^pxm&of, ¦prxtrt^tt rg jrvpts xXTxyiftttTX. Gpmpars
Deut, xxxii. 22, Lam. iv. 11.
*B.}. L.VL cv, S.I. bath

SERMON VL 211
bath day, the eighth pf September, it was
defolated in its turn with fire and fword'.
Of the almpft infinite multitude of Jews npt
one In ten efcaped deftrudlipn. The number
pf captives during the war was ninety feven
thoufand; but there periffied in the fieg?
alone eleven hundred thoufand ' !
Who then art thou, among the kingdoms
of the earth, that putteft thy confidence in
the multitude of an hoft, in the ftrength of
thy fortreffes, or the abundance pf thy trea-
fures ? Caft thine eyes upon the defolation
of Judah, and learn humility and the fear
of God. Where is now the vine of the
Lord's planting, the branch which he made
fb ftrong for himfelf? It is burnt with fire,
the hedge is broken down, the vineyard laid
wafte ^.
The hill of Sion was a fair place, the joy
of the whole earth **. Jerufalem was great
among the nations, and princefs among the
provinces * ; ffie was a crown of g|Lory in the
« B.J. L.VL c. viii. §. 5, Dion Caffius fay^, Jerufalem
was taken three times on the fabbath, by Potiipey,. by Sofius,
and by Titus. Vide L. XXXVL p. 37. XilX. p. 405^
LXVI. p. 748. ed, Leunclav.
f B. J. L. VL c ix. §.3. ' Pf. Lkxx.
'' Pf. xlviii. 2. ' Lam. i, I.
O 2 h»nd

212 SERMON VL
hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in
the hand of her God ". But when ffie ex
alted herfelf, ffie fell; ffie fell, and there
was none to help her. For ffie faid, " I
dwell on high, my habitation is among the
rocks ' ; who fliall bring me down, or make
me afraid ? The God of Ifrael is my ftrength
and my fafeguard j^ he will give me a king,
who ffiall fubdue thy foes, and eftabliffi my
walls in peace. My right hand ffiall wield
a glorious fceptre, my dominion ffiall be
wide as the earth, and its duration as the
days of heaven."
This was her folly, and ffie periffied ; for
ffie was blind in the day of her vifitation.
She knew not the Prince of peace; the Mef
fenger of the, covenant ffie flew, and would
not receive his ambaffadors. Therefore there
was no falvation ; among all her fons, none
could deliver her. Her men of war are
faint, her virgins cry out for food ; for the
corn and the wine is confumed ; the famine
devourethfthe widow and the prphan, the
young and the old together. The heathen
poffefs her ftrong holds, they enter into her
iandtuary ; her children are led captive into
all lands, and ffie is overwhelmed with bitter
nefs and. mourning.
" If. Ixii, 3. 1 Obad. 3.
Yet

SERMON VL 213
Yet rejoice not, O Rome, at the ruin of
Jerufalem, nor infult her in her fall ; left
trouble ffiould come upon thee alfo, and thou
grieve for thine oVvn defolation. If thy fins
do not equal the fins of Judah, thy punifli-
ment, though lefs than her's, may be greater
than thou canff bear. If the Lord fpared
not his own people, take heed left he alfo
fpare not thee"".
For who art thou, that thou ffiouldft be
delivered ? Doft thou Inherit a better king
dom ? or doft thou poffefs a ftronger border" .?
Let not the pride of thy heart deceive thee.
Though thou exalt thyfelf as the eagle, and
though thou fet thy neft among the ftars,
there is One that even thence can bring thee
down". Think of Him, and be at peace,
left a nation come againft thee from far, a
great and a mighty nation; left the north
fend forth her fons, who ffiall deluge thy
plains with blood ; who ffiall overthrow thy
walls, and demoliffi thy palaces, thy magni
ficent temples and triumphal arches, and
make immortal Rome a name in the earth.
Happy are the people, that fear the Lord;
yea bleffed are the people, who have the
Lord for their God ¦¦ 1
•" Rom. xi, 21. " Am. vi, 2. ° Obad. 4.
P Pf. cxliv. 15. _
O 2 SER-

SERMON VIL

Rom. XL 25, 26.
I would not, brethren, that ye jhould be igno
rant of this myflery flefl ye Jljould be wife
in your own conceits) that blindnefs in part
is happened to Ifrael, until the fulnefs of the
Gentiles be come in. And fo all Ifrael Jhall
be javed.
TH E hiftory of the Jews is, in every
part, fingular and aftoniffiing. From
their firft defignation as a peculiar people to
the prefent hour they ftand forth a confpi
cuous proof of God's fpecial providence and
conftant diredlion of the affairs of men ; a
glorious example of the bleffed fruits of faith
and obedience to the will of Heaven, and a
ftupendous inftance of the dreadful confe-
O 4 quences.

2i6 SERMON VIL
quences, even in this life, of ftubbornnefs
and fin.
Their unparalleled fufferings in one age we
have furveyed at large. We have feen their
calamities commencing at the time and In the
manner which our bleffed Lord had foretold,
and daily multiplying, till the fword of the
Romans finiffied what their own diffenfions
began, and their heinous offences merited ;
till their land was laid wafte, their beauty
confumed, and the city of their folemnitles
burnt to the ground.
But although the exadl completion of our
Lord's predidlion, in all the particulars of
this amazing feries of events, is abundantly
fufficient to demonftrate the infpiration of
thofe holy Gofpels which contain this im
portant prophecy, and to eftabliffi, in confe
quence, the truth of that religion which is
therein taught ; yet we cannot here conclude
our meditations. Beholding, amidft the re
volutions of empire and viciffitudes of for
tune, this extraordinary people ftill fubfifting,
at the diftance of more than feventeen cen
turies from the final defolation of their coun
try, we cannot look upon them with Indif
ference. Spread as it were on the furface of
the ocean, but not blended with its waves,
fcattered

SERMON VIL 217
fcattered through the mafs of mankind, but
ftill preferved diftindl, like the bodies which
in the heart of the earth remain as tokens of
an univerfal deluge, they ffiew that they once
belonged to one common ftate; they ffiew
that thofe fcriptures muft be divine, which
foretel their difperfion and prefervatlon; event's
that none but the Allwife could forefee, and
none but the Almighty could bring to pafs.
We cannot therefore but inquire, whether
thofe fame fcriptures, to the truth of which
they are living though involuntary vouchers,
have declared the future will of Heaven con
cerning them ; what calamities are yet be
hind, or what bleffings ftill in ftore for them.
To this Interefting inquiry, that fame pro
phecy of our Lord, which has been the fub
jedl of our late meditations, diredls our pre
fent thoughts ; when it informs us, that
" Jerufalem ffiall be trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled \" Had the Jews, in any age fince
Jerufalem was deftroyed by the Romans, been
fuffered to rebuild their city and temple, and
to fettle there ; or were the Gentiles univer
fally converted to Chrlftianity, the Jews ftill
continuing in unbelief; on either fuppofition,
* Luke xxi. 24. this

4

2i8 SERMON VII.
this prophecy would appear to be defeated,
and confequently would merit no ferious at
tention. But neither of thefe events has yet
taken place.
In the time of Adrian, when the Jews
were gaining ftrength, and under the aufpices
of a pretended Mefliah were feating them
felves in Judea, many thoufands of them
were flain ; and they were exprefsly forbidden
by an imperial edidt to fet their feet on the
land of their forefathers'". In, the next^cen-
tury, when an apoftate emperor attempted to
perform for them what they were unable
themfelves to accompliffi, to rebuild their
temple and reftofe their worffiip ; the im
pious undertaking, zealoufly as it was profe
cuted, was foon interrupted and finally de
feated by fire burfting forth from the bowels
of the earth ^ " The children of Ifrael"
therefore " abide," as it was predidled of
them, " many days without a king, and
" Eufeb. H,E, L IV, cvi,
' This attempt of Julian was A, C. 363. and is recorded
by Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary pagan hiftorian,
L. XXIII, c, i. It is mentioned alfo by feveral Chriftian wri
ters of the fame century. See Chryfoft, Hom, 4. in Matt,
T. II. p. 20. 1. 16. Hom. 41. in Aft. T.^ IV. p. 389. 1. 7.
Orat. 2. in Babyl. T.V. p, 470. 1, 19. Greg, Naz. Orat, 2.
contr. Julian, Ambrof. Epift. xvii. But for a full proof and
vindication of the miracle by which the attempt was defeated,
See Bp, Warburton's Julian. without

SERMON VIL 219
without a prince, and without a facrifice^,"
fifted and difperfed among all nations °.
On the other hand, though the gofpel was,
at its firft outgoing from Sion, rapidly fpread
throughout the world, and believers in ail
lands were added to the Lord ; we do not
find that, either in thewfirft or any fucceeding
age, the fulnefs of the Gentile forces has
come in, and fougnt under the banner of the
crofs. The ftate ofthe world therefore is
not fuch as to preclude the accompliffinient
of the foregoing prophecy in either of its
parts ; if that which feems the moft obvious,
ffiall, from other more explicit paffages of
fcripture, appear to be its genuine and true
interpretation. In fearch of thefe paffages it is lefs necef
fary to recur to the books of the Old Tefta.
ment, becaufe if we grant for a moment,
what may perhaps hereafter be proved, that
the Jews ffiall one day be converted to the
faith of Chrift ; between us and them, on the
prefent queftion, there is no difpute. The
great controverfy is concerning the perfon and
charadler of the Meffiah; who he Is and
when to appear, whether he has already been
¦* Hof. iii, 4. * Am. ix, 9. in

220 SERMON VII.
in the world, or whether his coming is ftill
to be expedled. Here the veil is unremoved;
this is now, as it was of old, the ftone of
ftumbling. But that the Meffiah's kingdom
ffiall comprehend the houfe of Ifrael, the
fons of Ifrael do not queftion ; all who be
lieve revelation believe it. This ray, this
fingle ray, cheers their hearts and guides their
fteps in their prefent ftate of wandering and
wretchednefs. But though this article is embraced by the
Jews as a certain truth, it is not univerfally
received among Chriftians. As long, it is ar
gued, as the church can raife up faithful fer
vants to God, fo long it ffiall be permitted
to continue. But the beft and pureft difpen
fation of heaven lofes its effedl upon the ftub
born and ungrateful heart of man. The king
dom of grace declines more and more, and
the empire of Satan is eredled on its ruins ;
and when the Son of man ffiall be revealed in
fire to judge the world, as when he fent a >
flood of waters to deftroy it, he ffiall fcarcely
find faith on earth.
Such is the gloomy pidlure held up to our
view ; but poffffily the fimilitude is not exadl,-
Sinful as the world may be at prefent, and as
we

SERMON VIL 221
we muft with ftiame and trembling confefs it
to be ; it does not follow, that it ffiall always
be fo. Small and defplfed as may be the
temple of the Lord, it does not follow that
her walls ffiall never be built with larger ex
tent and brighter fplendor. The holy moun
tain, may ftill be eftablifhed in the top of the
mountains and exalted above the hills, and
all nations, in the fulleft fenfe, may flow
unto it and worffiip God. Laftly if this glo
rious fcene ffiall hereafter be realifed, it does
not follow that it ffiall remain for ever.
While men are fallible, that is, while they
are men, they muft be liable to fpiritual as
well as bodily infirmities ; they may apofla-
tife from faith and virtue, and infidelity and
vice may once more overfpread the earth.
Admit the truth, whatever it ffiall appear
to be, neither difmayed by the prefent ftate
of things on the one hand, nor fearful of re
moter confequences on the other. What it
is not unworthy of God's mercy to reveal,
nor of his goodnefs to beftow, his wifdom
can contrive, and his power can execute. If
when we look around, affairs in our fight
feem not propitious; if the earth is obfcured
with clouds of ignorance or mifts of error;
He " who commanded the light to ffiine out of

222 SERMON VIL
of darknefs ^" can difpel the gloom of the
moral world ; can bid the glorious fun of the
gofpel cheer and invigorate thofe regions of
forrow, where a glimpfe of his beams Is now
fcarcely feen ; can make every^ future age, as
he has made every paft, confirm the teftimony
of his fervants the prophets, and difplay his
majefty, benignity, and truth. There Is per
haps a day coming (and oh ! that it may be
nigh at hand) when together with our faith
and love, our knowledge alfo ffiall be en
larged, and our views extended ; when we
ffiall fee order and Confiftency fpring out of
apparent irregularity ; when the light, which
has hitherto lightened the Gentiles, fliall
likewife be the glory of the people of Ifrael ^;
when the will of God ffiall be done on earth
as it is in heaven, zealoufly and faithfully by
all men, as it is univerfally and inceffantly by
all holy angels.
But let not our hopeg;o beyond our faith,
nor our faith beyond the written word of
God. Let us fee whether from the infallible
oracles of truth, thefe events, which are fo
ffupendous and fo defirable, may with confi-
.deace be expedted.
' Cor, iv. 6. s Luke ii. 32.
Now

SERMON VIL 223
Now although, as we faid before, it Is not
neceffary to quote for this purpofe particular
paffages from the prophets; yet thus much
may be obferved of them in general ; that
they fpeak of the church of God, which in
the latter age ffiould be eftabliffied upon
earth, in fuch terms as no event, which the
world has yet beheld, either equals or jufti-
fies. They extol not merely the inherent ex
cellence, but wide extent, of the heavenly
kingdom. Whenever the profpedl rifes be
fore them, and it was often prefented to their
view, their heart glows with inftant rapture
at the fplendid fcene ; the powers of language
are exhaufted to convey their lofty concep
tions of thofe days of gladnefs, when all
nations whom the Lord hath made ffiall turn
unto him, and walk in the light of his holy
word. We do not affert, that in order to
warrant the expreffions ufed on this occafion,
it is neceffary that every individual of the
human fpecies ffiould ferve God with a pure
heart and faith unfeigned ; but If the whole
race ffiall not hereafter be, what they have
not yet been, vifible members of the church
of Chrift, language is ufelefs, and words
have no meaning. With

224 S E R 'M O N VIL
With the Jewiffi fcriptures the writings of
the New Teftament, on this as on other
points, perfedlly harmonife. When St. John
wr6te the Revelation, which Jefus Chrift by
an holy angel gave unto him, Chrlftianity
had obtained, in extent of dominion, if not
in the number of converts, an amplitude
which to this day perhaps it has never ex
ceeded,. In this book, after a feries of other
predidlions literally expreffed or ffiadowed by
vifion, we read, that " there were great
voices in heaven, faying. The kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord and of his Chrift, and he ffiall
reign for ever and ever*"." This rejoicing,
which, at fuch a time and under fuch a ftate
of the church, was feen afar off by the be
loved difciple, is unqueftionably the rejoicing
of the heavenly hoft for an event ftill future;
for that univerfal Converfion, which the pro
phets of old had foreffiewn. Now if all the
kingdoms of the world ffiall hereafter believe
in Chrift, furely the Jews, as included in
thofe kingdoms, though not a part of them,
muft be comprehended in the general blefling.
But let us attend to the reafoning of St.
Paul in that part of his Epiftle to the Ro-
* Rev. xi. i^.
mans

SERMON VIL 225
mans whence the text Is taken; and if we
will fuffer his words to bear their genuine
and obvious fenfe, the dodlrine of the future
converfion of the Jews, however Improbable
to human forefight, cannot be more clearly
taught. The apoftle difcourfes to the faints
at Rome, converts from heathenlfm, of their
calling and eledlion into the gofpel, and pf
the rejedlion of the Jews. The Gentiles
were called by the free and unmerited grace
of God ; the Jews, as the fcriptures had
foretold, were caft oft' by his juft feverity
upon their unbelief. There was therefore no
ground for boafting, but reafon to tremble
before that God, who was not only plen
teous in goodnefs, but at the fame time fear
ful in judgement.
In all this argument what is the import of
the word *' Ifrael," which often occurs ? It
fometimes confeffedly means the unbelieving
Jews ; and unlefs they are the fole objedl, or
at leaft included as a part, whenever Ifrael is
oppofed, as it frequently is, to the Gentiles,
it will not be eafy to make the holy apoftle
reafon, as he does on all other occafions, with
confiftency and pertinence.
It cannot mean believers in Chrift, whe
ther Jews or Gentiles ; for he fpeaks of the
P BHndnefs

226 SERMON VIL
Blindnefs of Ifrael. Befides, in this view,
between Jew and Gentile there was no dif-
tindlion ; the names were loft in that more
honourable and endearing appellation of
Chriftian. The middle wall of partition was
broken down, and they were all one in Chrift
Jefus '.
Neither, again, can it mean the uncon
verted Gentiles ; for they are never fo deno
minated, and they are alfo included in the
fulnefs of the Gentiles, which, it is here
faid, was to come in.
It remains therefore, that it muft either,
in a large fenfe, denote the whole race of
Jews, thofe who had and thofe who had not
embraced the gofpel; or elfe, exclufively,
the family of unbelievers ; and both inter
pretations, as to our prefent purpofe, amount
to the fame. For they whofe converfion the
apoftle in the text defcribes as future, were
doubtlefs at that time not converted : " and
fo all Ifrael," even the pofterlty of thofe who
then were difobedient, " ffiall be faved."
No, it is faid, the term has here another
acceptation; and does not exprefs the har-
' Eph. ii. 14. dened

SERMON VIL 227
dened Jews, but " the true Ifrael of God."
That an idea fo widely different from the for
mer ffiould fo foon be fubftituted for it, is
not very probable ; but admit for a moment,
that, unlikely as it may feem, it is neverthe
lefs true : how then ftands the argument ?
" The univerfal multitude of the faithful
ffiall be faved by the partial but perpetual
blindnefs of the Jews," Is this the reafoning
of the apoftle of the Gentiles? or if it be
not, and it furely is not, what other fenfe
ffiall we put upon his words ?
Shall \ve fuppofe him to declare, for it has
been fuppofed, that " though the Jews in
their colledlive and national capacity were re
jedled in confequence of their unbelief, and
though that unbelief and that rejedlion ffiould
continue to the end ; yet the true feed of
Abraham, the chofen of God, whatever their
number, whatever their birth, whether Jews
or Gentiles, ffiould not periffi, but ffiould
come in and be faved ?" Was it then a myf
tery to the faints at Rome, that all who be
lieved in Chrift ffiould be faved by Chrift ?
And if the Gentile converts were likely to
give way to overweening conceits, when they
confidered, that they were admitted to the
gofpel bleffings, in preference to the heirs of
P 2 God's

228 SERMON VIL
God's former covenant; wpuld they abafe
themfelves upon being told, that this pre
ference ffiould endure for ever ,? Thefe things
cannot be. But if all God's ways were equal,
and he was no refpedler of perfons ; if thofe
now reprobated for their incurable obftinacy,
'ffiould hereafter repent, and be received into
favour; this was a proper confideration to
remove the fuggeftions of pride; a myftery
worthy of Heaven to reveal, and of the apoftle
to communicate to the church.
In confirmation of this important truth,
he quotes, from the Old Teftament, a pro
phecy wherein It was promifed, that the fu
ture Deliverer ffiould " turn away ungodli-
nefs" — it Is not faid from Efau or the Gen
tiles, though that was in part the purpofe of
his miffion, but — " from Jacob'';" that is,
from his defcendants the Ifraelites. Accord
ingly he reprefents them as enemies indeed at
prefent, yet ftill, as touching the eledlion, be
loved for the fathers' fakes : and laftly he
affures us, that as the Gentiles, in times paft,
did not believe God, but had now obtained
mercy ; even fo the Jews, though now un
believers, ffiould hereafter obtain mercy '.
'^ Rom. xi. 26.
' Ibid. 30,31. Perhaps the latter verfe is miftranflated.
The words " through your mercy" appear to belong to the
firft,

SERMON VIL 229
If, defirous to eftablifh this point, we have
beftowed upon it more words than the clear
language of St. Paul feemed to require ; It is
hoped the Importance of the fubjedl, and
the doubts of fome learned men refpedling
it, will be a fufficient apology.
It being therefore evident, that, when St.
Paul wrote, a general converfion of the Jews
was, at fome future period, to take place ;
and it being certain from hiftory, that, be
tween his days and the prefent, no event of
this nature has ever happened ; it remains,
that we look for it, with full affurance of
hope, in the generations to come.
firft, not to the fecond claufe. The apoftle reprefents the re
turn of the houfe of Judah, which fliould one day be brought
to pafs, and the converfion of the Gentiles, which was already
begun, as proceeding both of them from the free grace of
God in Chrift. But the gofpel, as to the order of preaching,
was firft to be tendered to the Jews ; and when they were fuf
ficiently inftrufted, or when, as it more frequently happened,
they obftinately caft from them the word of life, it was lo be
offered to the heathen. See Afts xiii. 46. In a certain fenfe
too the belief of the Gentiles was the occafion of the Jews'
unbelief; for they were offended becaufe the apoftles went to
men uncircumcifed, and the multitude of Gentile converts
inftead of kindling their emulation or foftening their hatred,
inflamed their rancour and increafed their ftubbornnefs.
P 2 But

230 SERMON VII.
But here, certified of the fadl and anxious
for its accompliffiment, curiofity perhaps will
afk, When fhall it be .'' and how ffiall it be
brought about .? Of the minute circum
ftances of future events, the exiftence of
which may from the word of prophecy be
paft a doubt, it becomes us to fpeak with
cautious diffidence. Led on by the hand of
the Almighty, they may advance upon our
wondering fight, as in the ancient ages they
often have, in fuch order and fo attended, as
from the intimations beforehand was by no
means expedled ; yet conformably in every
point to thofe intimations, when the fadls
themfelves cleared up what before was dubi
ous, and reconciled what had feemed incon
fiftent. In the prefent cafe, though It were fuffi
cient to fay, that He who revealed the gra
cious defign, will haften it in his own ap
pointed time; yet there are, in the predic
tions concerning it, fome circumftances which
admit a probable and fafe interpretation, if
we confider them as only probable, and re
gard for certain, what alone is certain, the
event itfelf.
In the firft place then, fince the return of
the Jews and the coming in of the Gentiles are

SERMON VIL 231
are mentioned together by St. Paul, as they
had been before, though lefs explicitly, by
our bleffed Lord"; we may hence infer, that
thefe two mighty revolutions ffiall happen in
one and the fame age. When many of the
Jews, the natural branches, were broken off
from the holy olive, the Gentiles were graffed
in ; and they ffiall never more, we humbly
truft, be diffevered from the living root, but
receive perpetual vigour from it. The church
that nurtured with fondeft care her firft born
fon, but caft him out for his wayward ftub
bornnefs, ffiall embrace with a mother's
love the returning penitent, without ejedling
the younger brother. The dew of heaven,
which has hitherto been on the fleece alone,
on the little flock of Ifrael and of Chrift,
ffiall refreffi hereafter all the earth, and there
ffiall be one fold under one ffiepherd.
If we examine further the connedlion of
thefe two events, and inquire which, if ei
ther, ffiall pave the way for the other ; per
haps it may appear, that the Jews ffiall be
the means of bringing in the refidue of the
Gentiles, rather than that the univerfal belief
of the Gentiles ffiall precede and fet forward
"¦ Luke xxi. 24.
P 4 the

232 SERMON VIL
the converfion of the Jews. The words of
the text will. In the original, eafily admit
this fenfe °; and another paffage in the fame
chapter feems to require It : " If the fall of
them," fays the apoftle, " be the riches of
the world, and the diminiffiing of them the
riches of the Gentiles ; how much more their
fulnefs " .''" This queftion, which is equiva
lent to a diredl affertion and the meaning of
which the former words fuggeft, evidently
implies, that the fulnefs of the Jews, their
general obedience to the gofpel, ffiall, in a
degree far above their fall and diminution, be
the enriching of the world and the Gentiles^:
" If when the colledlive body was caft off,
the few, comparatively, who believed, were
the means of converting fo many thoufand
Gentiles ; how many more ffiall the univerfal
hoft of the difperfion, who perhaps for this
very reafon among others are by a gracious
providence fcattered abroad; how many more
ffiall they, when their fins are forgiven and
" ^Zf'^ * ^* 3-?iaj»ji<« rxt i^tut ciTtX^vi. See how this word
or other words in the fame or correfpondlng tenfes are ufed in
the following paffages : Matt. x. 1 1. with Mar. vi. lo. Matt.
xxiv. 34,35. with Mar. xiii. 31. and Luke xxi. 33. Matt.
xxvi. 41. Luke ix. 4, with x, 5. 8. John v. 15. vii. 27. with
31. and viii. 14. Afts iii. 19. And fee Mr. Mede, p. 483.
596. 760. on Rev, xi. 7,
° Rom xi, 12. their

SERMON VIL 233
their backfliding healed, gather together to
Him who has had mercy on them, even Jefus
Chrift?" Be it fo, that thefe things are marvelous
in our eyes, and that we difcover no traces of
their approach. Is any thing too hard for
God ? or ffiall aught appear marvelous in
His fight I Shall not his counfel ftand ? and
ffiall he not perform his good pleafure ? What
if their Iniquity ffiall be removed In a day^?
and a nation born at once ^ .'' What if the
Holy Spirit ffiall breathe upon the flain, and
they ffiall live ; and each ffiall ftand up in his
place, a great and innumerable army ' ?
When the Son of God, in the days of his
fleffi, came unto his own, his own received
him not ' ; and their obdurate heart ages of
fuffering have not mollified. He will there
fore forgive them and love them freely ; and,
at this fecond time, he will make himfelf
known to his brethren '. Then peradventure
ffiall be accompliffied what cannot without
violence be underftood either of the deftruc-
tion of Jerufalem, or of the day of univerfal
judgement ; then ffiall they look on him
P Zech, iii, 9. fl If Ixvi. 8, ' Ez, xxxvii, 9, 10.
» John i. II. 'Afts vii, 13. » John xix, 37.
with Zech. xii. 10.
whom

234 SERMON VIL
whom they pierced ", and fay, " Bleffed is
He that cometh In the name of the Lord *.
Bleffed is He who hath been gracious unto
us, who hath put away our iniquity, and re
membered our fins and offences no more.
This Is He whom our fathers knew not,
whom while on earth they nailed to the
crofs ; but he hath revealed himfelf to us
from heaven. We will rejoice in thy name,
we will walk In thy truth, and thou, O Son
of David, ftialt be our King for ever."
In that day the envy of Ephraim ^ and of
Judah ffiall ceafe, and they ffiall love thofe
whom before they abhorred. The Chriftian
of the Gentiles ffiall be dearjer than life to
them ; and thofe who believe not they ffiall
labour to convince. They ffiall proclaim the
honour of the Lord, and ffiew forth the
mercy, which they themfelves have expe
rienced. The people of the Gentiles ffiall
willingly offer themfelves ; they " ffiall take
hold of the fkirt of him that is a Jew, fay
ing. We will go with you ; for we have heard
that God is with you "." " They ffiall afk
the way to Zion with their faces thither
ward "." Jerufalem ffiall no longer be trod-
* Matt, xxiii. 39. r If. xi. 13. * Zech. viii.-23.
" Jer. 1. 5.
den

SERMON VIL 235
den under foot, but in righteoufnefs ffiall ffie
be eftabhffied. She ffiall call her walls Sal
vation and her gates Praife *". In every land
ffiall be a temple to the Lord, and all fleffi
ffiall behold his glory. Peace ffiall be ex
tended to them like a river % forrow and
mourning ffiall flee away**; they ffiall ferve
the Lord with fongs of joy, and in unity and
love together.
Here then a fcene is difclofed, to which,
amidft the anxious cares, the ftorms and tem-
pefts of life, we may look forward with
fteadfaft faith, and devoutly pray for its ap
proach. Next, furely, to the glory of God,
and the eternal inheritance of his heavenly
kingdom, there is no objedl more worthy of
perpetual meditation, none that we ffiould
more ardently long for, none that we may
with greater confidence expedl, than the uni
verfal kingdom of the Meffiah in this world.
Our ideas of this bleffed ftate may at prefent
be inadequate; the city of our God may be
more glorious than the fublimeft imagina
tion, aided by the lofty reprefentations of
fcripture, is able to conceive ; but her beauty
ffiall one day be vifible, her walls ffiall af
furedly be raifed.
* Jf. Ix. 18. with xxvi. i; ' Ibid. Ixvi. 12.
< Ibid. li. II.
What

236 SERMON VIL
What though fedition and tumults, fight
ings and war have not ceafed } though the
religion of harmony and love has been con
verted into an engine of mifchief, and caufed
not peace but diviiion ? Has the truth of
God therefore failed ? or ffiall he not confirm
his promifes ? The kingdom is one in all
ages ; and the bleffings not yet beftowed ffiall
without doubt be given hereafter. For her
king is exalted in heaven, and thence will he
fubdue his enemies. " Truth ffiall" yet
" fpring out of the earth, and righteoufnefs
ffiall look down from heaven*." "Nation
ffiall not lift up fword againft nation, neither
ffiall they learn war any more '." " The
wolf ffiall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard ffiall lie down with the kid ; — they
ffiall not hiirt nor deftroy in all God's holy
mountain ; for the earth ffiall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover
the fea ^."
Philofophy hath tried her fkill, and her
fons have combined together. They have
boafted they would extirpate the name of
Chrift, and deftroy the horn of his kingdom.

« Pf Ixxxv. 10. ' If ii. 4. Mic iv. 3.
s If xi. 6. 9.

But

SERMON VIL 237
But their rage Is as vain as it is impious.
Sooner might they arreft the earth in her
courfe, or extinguiffi the lamp of day, than
withftand the arm of the Almighty, or dif-
appoint the leaft of his promifes. The ways
of Zion mourn ; her cities are burnt with fire,
and her mountains are a barren wafte. Her
fig tree is hewn down, and the withered
branches are caft out in all lands ; but the
ftock is ftill in the ground, and fhall again
fpring forth and flouriffi. For the Lord ffiall
water it from above, and pour down his fpirit
upon it. He ffiall deal gracioufly with his
fervants, he ffiall put away their iniquities,
and manifeft his glory to them.
Even fo. Lord Jefus, come quickly. Come
to thy once chofen people, and remember
thy holy covenant ; the oath which thou
fwareft to their fathers, and the teftament
fealed with thy blood. By thy death thou
haft atoned for their fins ; let thy powerful
interceffion prevail for them. Forgive them,
righteous Father, for they know not what
they do. Take away their ftony heart, and
give them an heart of fleffi ^ that they may
be thy people, and Thou mayeft be their
i" Ez, xi. 19,
God;

235 SERMON VIL
God ; that the remnant of Ifrael and the
refidue of the Gentiles may believe in Thee,
and glorify thy name, through Jefus Chrift
our Lord, who liveth and relgneth with
Thee and the Holy Ghoft, one God bleffed
foi evermore. Amen.

SER-

SERMON VIIL

John XIV. 29.
I have told you before it come to pafs, that
when it is come to pafs, ye might believe.
IT was obferved by Ariftotle, and thejuft
nefs of the remark and reputation of the
author have often recommended the obfer
vation to others, that different fubjedls admit
of different forts and degrees of proof*. The
mathematician demonftrates the truth of his
propofitions ^ the orator endeavours by pro
bable arguments to perfuade his hearers ; and
the moralift, who is converfant with the va
riable adlions of human life, deduces fuch
conclufions as are generally true, and gives
fuch diredlions as will feldom fail.
» Eth, L. Ii c.iii. vii.
Had

240 SERMON VIIL
Had this fupreme mafter of philofophy
and of criticifm appeared in a later age, or
in a different country, he would perhaps
have given a name to a fpecies of evidence,
with which, at the time and place where he
lived, he was not acquainted ; the evidence,
I mean, of divine revelation. By whatever
term we may denominate this evidence ;
whether, from its own intrlnfic excellence
or from the objedl which it refpedls, we
choofe to ftyle it Divine ; or whether the
proofs of what God has been pleafed to teach
us, but not in fyftematic order and method,
ffiall pafs, as hitherto, without a peculiar
and appropriate appellation ; whatever we
may determine as to thefe matters, certain it
is, that the proofs are infallible, our belief
of them fuch as cannot poffibly be erroneous.
If there is a God, a Being of infinite wifdom
and goodnefs, the religion which avows Him
for Its author, and which under that avowal
He has in all ages fupported, fometimes by
making bare his holy arm to enforce it, and
at all times by accompliffiing its predidlions
and its promifes ; the religion, thus acknow
ledged and confirmed by God, muft be, what
it claims to be, the revelation of his will ;
or elfe we muft believe, what it is equally abfurd

SERMON VIIL 24t
abfurd and impious to imagine. That the juft
and holy Governor of the world has impofed
upon the underftanding of his rational crea
tures a fyftem of delufion, carrying along
with it fuch marks of authenticity, as com-r
pel the affent of the candid inquirer; fuch
criterions of truth, as the pertinacious fceptic
or determined infidel can never ffiew to be
doubtful, much lefs to be falfe.
To make good thefe affertions we need
not have recourfe to multiplicity of argu
ments, from the figns and wonders openly
wrought by Chrift and his apoftles, from the
feries of prophecies ftretching through all
ages, or from other confideratlons tending to
eftabliffi the fame conclufion. It will be
fufficient to review thofe prophecies, neither
few in number nor of fmall concernment,
the particulars of which with their corre
fpondlng completions we have confidered at
large ; earneftly befeeching the God and Fa
ther of all to blefs to His glory, and to our
benefit, the teftimony which he has been
pleafed to give to the everlafting gofpel of
his beloved Son.
We have feen then, firft of all, that the
various declarations and apparently incon-
Q^ fiftenS

242 SERMON VIIL
fiftent charadlers, which were at fundry times
-delivered to the fathers, refpedling the pro
mifed Redeemer of mankind, met and con
centred in Jefus Chrift. He was the pro
phet and lawgiver foretold by Mofes; the
offspring of David, and at the fame time his
Lord. He was the fon of a pure virgin,
compaffed with a body of mortal fleffi ; and
yet he was Immanuel, Jehovah God of hofts.
He came to his own at the very time when
firft they began to expedl the Meffiah ; and
foon after his appearance, the fceptre, which
former calamities had not broken, departed
from Judah, and their civil and religious
polity was deftroyed.
The predidlions uttered by this divine
perfon, whether they had reference to things
near at hand, or whether they refpedled un
born ages ; whether they regarded the ordi
nary occurrences of life, or whether they
concerned events the moft fplendid that the
world ever faw ; clearly ffiewed, that he was
privy to the movements of univerfal nature ;
that the voluntary adlions of men, and the
myfterious counfels of God, were naked and
open in his fight.
Did he intimate to his difciples, that fome
of them ffiould, even in this life, behold a
fpecimen

SERMON VIII. 243
fpecimen of his future glory ? Six days af
terwards his words were verified, when he
was transfigured in the prefence of three of
his apoftles. Did he foretel his death, and
defcribe the manner of it ; and promife his
difciples to return unto them, and comfort
their hearts .? The wonderful prophecy. In
all its parts, in the proofs of power as well
as inftances of patience, was pundlually ac
compliffied. Did he, upon his refurreaion,
affure thofe whom he condefcended to call
his brethren, that all power was now given
unto him in heaven and in earth ? and did
he, in confequence, promife, that not many
days after his departure from earth to hea
ven, his miffion ffiould be authenticated and
his kingdom eftabliffied, not by human
ftrength, or temporal fplendor, but by the
defcent of the holy Comforter ? The day
of Pentecoft beheld the miracle, when the
celeftial vifitant, with the found of a mighty
wind and the fimlHtude of fire, came down
bn the apoftles ; and forthwith the lips of
Galilean fiffiermen fpake the multiform lan
guages of the peopled earth ; the kingdom
of Chrift was eredled in the hearts of men,
and the bodies of the faithful were made
living temples of the Holy Ghoft.
0^2 Of

244 SERMON VIIL
Of thefe glorious appearances, at the out
fet of the gofpel, we are certified by thofe
who beft could inform us, by the friends and
followers of our bleffed Lord ; who beheld
what they related, and rifked their lives In
fupport of their teftimony. But to other
events, of fubfequent occurrence, which yet
never could have happened, had not thefe
earlier fadls been true, the whole world Is
witnefs ; the moft bigoted oppofers, and the
moft zealous advocates, of the Chriftian
caufe ; thofe who drew the fword to cut off
from the earth the odious fedl, and thofe
who dreaded neither danger nor death, if
they might confirm the brethren, or gain
freffi converts.
It was foretold by the prophets who lived
in the times of the Mofaic difpenfation, that
the days were coming, when a new law
ffiould go forth from mount Sion ; and the
Gentiles, in all lands, ffiould be admitted
into covenant with the God of Jacob. Thefe
prophecies, our Lord intimated, on various
occafions during his miniftry, belonged to
the dodlrine which he taught; and at the
moment, when, of all others, any fuch re
volution was moft unlikely ttf happen, when
he was about to be forfaken and to fuffer an
igno-

SERMON VIII.

845

ignominious death ; at this Inaufplcious fea
fon, he declared In exprefs words, that his
gofpel ffiould be preached, in that very gene
ration, and by the very perfons whom he
then addreffed, throughout the world We
have feen the event, the greateft bleiT.ng that
wretched finners ever experienced, correfpond
with the predidllo^i. At Jerufalem the new
law was publicly promulged, and thoufands
voluntarily gave themfelves to it ; yet more,
and more powerful thoufands oppofed it,
blafpheming its author, and perfecuting his
followers. But Heaven, that infpired, mi
raculoufly delivered them ; and the work of
their God profpered In their hands. Having
taught the word in Judea, they went forth
among the Gentiles ; and met, as with fimi
lar danger, fo with fimilar fuccefs. Ignorance
which philofophy never could fubdue, and
vice which laws never could reftrain, va-
niffied at the fight of heaven-born wifdom ;
the banner of the crofs was eredled on the
ruins of idolatry, and the fimplicity of the
gofpel triumphed over the pride of affluence
and the pomp of power.
Thus was fulfilled one of the figns of the
approaching diffolution of the Jewiffi eco
nomy : the kingdom of God was taken from
the Jews, and given to a nation bringing

24d SERMON VIIL
forth the fruits thereof". The time there
fore was at hand, when they ffiould ceafe to
have a name among the kingdoms of the
earth. But of this fatal day other marks
were foreffiewn, fome to adminifter comfort
and inftrudlion to the faithful, and fome to
be a warning to the rebellious and obftinate,
and all of them, in their accompliffiment,
confpiring to prove the heavenly miffion and
almighty power of the holy Speaker.
Before the calamities, and even In the
midft of them, impoftors ffiould appear in
the feeret chambers and in the lonely defert,
claiming immediate intercourfe with heaven,
and pretending feverally to be the expedled
Redeemer. At the time appointed, and with
the charadler defcribed, the falfe prophets
came ; and the wildernefs and the city,
which were the fcenes of their folly, faw
likewife the confufion of them and their ad
herents. Signs from above and wonders below,
concuffions of the earth and roarings of the
fea% peftilentlal air and barren feafons,
•' Matt, xxi, 43.
¦= Luke xxi. 25. This, as Bp. Newcome has obferved (on
our Lord's Conduft, &c, p. 209.) was literally verified, when
the inhabitant* of Joppa, to avoid the Roman army, betook
themfelves

SERMON VIII. 247
ffiould prognofticate the approach of fpme
great alteratipn. The ftars in their courfes
fought againft Ifrael ; the wind and the ftorm
fulfilled the word of the Son of man, and,
when he called them, faid. Here we are.
Rumours of wars, infurredlions and tu
mults, ffiould precede the commencement of
heavier troubles. The cities of the eaft were
filled with fedition ; the Jews combined
againft the aliens, and the aliens united
againft the Jews ; Jews alfo divided againft
Jews, brother againft brother, the father
againft the fon, and the fon againft the fa
ther. The eagle from afar fcented the bat
tle, and flew to devour; but he hovered in
mid air, before he ftooped to the prey and
bathed his talons in blood. The chofen of
the Lord, the faithful few who obeyed his
vpice, had npt yet made good their retreat ;
for the fignal to withdraw had npt been
given. The ftandard pf abomlnatlpn was to
be reared on holy ground ; and then they
were to depart from Jerufalem and from
Judea. The Roman commander therefore
marched with an army to the walls of Jeru-
themfelves to their ftiips; and a violent ftorm arifing daflied
the veffels againft each other and againft the rocks, and the
coaft was ftrewed with four thoufand two hundred dead bodies.
See B.J. L. IIL c.viii. §.2,3.
0^4 falem j

248 SERMON VIIL
falem ; the Jews fled before him, he affailed
the inner city and undermined the temple,
and then abandoned the enterprife and ab
ruptly decamped; for he had finiffied, though
he knew it not, the work which he was fent
'to perform. He had fet up, on the fkirts
of the fandluary, within the precindls of the
holy city, the abominable enfigns of pagan
idolatry, and founded the alarm of approach
ing defolation in the ears of the fons of Sion.
Now therefore the Chriftians, poffeffing their
fouls in patience to the end, were in readi
nefs to depart, when the moment ffiould ar
rive ; and He, who had taught them to pray
that their flight might not be In the winter,
nor on the fabbath, fo ordered the event,
that the gates were thrown open and a way
prepared for them, when the mildnefs of
autumn favoured their efcape, and fix fuc-
ceffive days, without a fabbath intervening,
gave fpace for their journey and for choofing
their abode.
Thus the houfe of the unbelievers was
left unto them defolate, their obftinacy was
grown to the height, the meafure of their
iniquities was full, and vengeance, when It
came, would find not one faithful remaining
in the land % none but veffels fitted for de-
ilrudlion. * See Luke xviii. 8. That

SERMON VIII.

249

That the defolation might be more ge
neral, and that their fufferings might begin
where the caufe of them fubfifted, among
themfelves, the fuccefs of the enemy for a
while was not rapid ; nor was the war puffied
to the heart of the kingdom. But the day
of flaughter was at laft to come as a fnare
on the vidlims of wrath ; and when they
were affembled at Jerufalem, from all quar
ters of the globe, to celebrate the paffover,
on a fudden the gallant Titus appeared be
fore the walls, and ffiut them up as in a
prifon. The days were to be ffiortened for the
eledl's fake ; and the two contending parties
laboured without ceafing, one by confum
mate fkill and fortitude, the other by their
madnefs in cutting the nerves of their own
ftrength, to fulfil the prophecy, of which
both were ignorant.
A trench was to be thrown up, encircling
the city, and keeping in the befieged on
every fide. The extent and nature of the
.ground, which was uneven and rocky, might
feem to forbid fuch an attempt, or prevent
its execution ; but the work was completed
in three days. A woe

?5o SERMON VIIL
A woe was denounced upon thofe that
were with child and gave fuck in thofe days.
More alive to pain and lefs able to bear it,
they endured more; they faw their children
expire before their eyes, and were even com
pelled. In the extremity of hunger, to eat
the fruit of their own body.
The tribulation was to be fuch as had not
been from the beginning of the world, nor
ever ffiould be. The blended horrors of war
and fedition, of famine and peftilence, were
grievous and aftoniffiing, beyond example
and beyond conception ; and if we except
the days when the deluge overwhelmed a
whole world of finners, never did there periffi
fo many of the human race In fo ffiort a time.
The city, it was foretold, ffiould be laid
even with the ground. Her palaces were
overthrown, her bulwarks demoliffied, and
the feat of her glory could fcarcely be known.
Of the houfe of the Lord, ample as were
her courts and ftrong as was her border, not
a ftone was to be left, that was not thrown
down. The conflagration, which was kin
dled contrary to the will of Titus and in
creafed

SERMON VIIL 251
creafed in diredl oppofition to his command,
raged with fuch fury, as if it would confume
not only the temple Itfelf to its loweft bafe,
but the very foundations ofthe mount whereon
it ftood ; and the place received afterwards
the cuftomary marks of hoftile fubjedlion,
and " Zion," according to the predidlion of
the prophet % " was ploughed as a field'

f "

Such, In brief, are the prophecies which
we have contemplated; and fuch, fo exadl
and circumftantlal, was their wonderful com
pletion. In this great variety of particulars,
the illuftration of fome few points may per
haps be doubtful, or the application wrong.
But the general outline is clearly marked; and
the fimilitude is, in many the minuteft fea
tures, ftriking and unqueftionable.
Befides the paffages which have been
brought forward and examined in the courfe
of thefe ledlures, many others occur in holy
fcripture relating to the fame days of bitter-
* Mfc. iii. 12.
' By Terentius Rufus, See the authorities in Whitby, &c.
!r!f S' i fiiyxM itoXn — li rorisrois fUt i^vfttti t«;^»» 3-sj<?6X««, —
j»oA<$ Si ^ufUcra rug flf rtt wo^e(AO|r TrXfXtrxiuxs, — 3-» yiyttit n/^it n
Tot ©e«» ixM tixiTit STEWif 8a(*e»)) ; v^ef^i^oi t« ^a^^ut atti^uFXi.
Eleazarus ap. Jof. B.J, L. VII. c.viii. §,7. p. 1322. nefs

252 SERMON VIIL
nefs and forrow. On thefe, which It feemed
neither neceffary to adduce, nor poffible within
our limits properly to difcufs, we may remark
in general. That they confirm the authenti
city of this clafs of prophecies. Take away
from each of the three Gofpels our bleffed
Saviour's difcourfe refpedling thefe events, the
fubftance neverthelefs will ftill remain. It is
couched in metaphors, and taught in parable's;
it is conveyed in the bold and animated ftrains
of oriental poetry, and delivered in clear and
exprefs predidtions. That which forms fo
confiderable a part of the facred volume,
which is the fubjedl of its prophecies and
ground of Its hymns, which is inferted in its
hiftories and introduced among precepts and
moral inftrudlions, never could be forged by
friends or by enemies.
If In the difcourfe of our Lord, to which
our meditations have chiefly been confined,
there are one or two paffages, where the in
tention of the holy Speaker may be doubtful;
if it does not appear whether he had in view
times that are paft or days ftill to come, or
whether he adapted his language to both ;
this circumftence by no means Invalidates the
argument drawn from thofe other paffages,
far more numerous, of which the meaning Is
clear

SERMON VIIL 253
clear and the objedl certain. The perfedlions
of the Almighty pafs man's underftanding.
He covers round about, with the majefty of
darknefs, the bright and unapproachable ef
fulgence of his throne. His will he hath
revealed to us in the holy fcriptures ; and
they fpeak, in general, a language that is
equally plain and divine. The parts now
obfcure may minifter more abundant comfort
and inftrudlion to future generations ; nor
will they, at prefent, be altogether unpro
fitable, if where they ffiew us to be ignorant,
they teach us to be humble, and filently to
adore, in the word of God as well as in his
works, the wifdom which we cannot fully
comprehend. With regard to the events, by which thefe
prophecies have been fulfilled, the founda
tions of the earth have been moved to pro
duce them, and the creatures have been wea
pons in the hands of providence. The un
ruly elements and the tribes of men have con-
fpired together, and performed the commands
of the Lord of all things ; nor have the blef
fed inhabitants of the world of fpirits been
unconcerned fpedlators, but fuftained part in
the wondrous drama, and ffiewn themfelves
the ready minifters of heaven. When

254 SERMON VIIL
When the apoftles were preaching the
dodlrine of the crofs among various nations,
they knew that, in fo doing, they were obey
ing the injundtions and fulfilling the predic
tions of Him who fent them ; but no poffible
objedlion can hence be raifed againft the pro
phecies on that Important article. Had they
not been affured of the truth of thofe fadls,
which they every where with fo much bold
nefs afferted ; and had they not been infpired
with courage, as well as commiffioned from
above to teach them ; they never would have
embarked in the perilous enterprife ; nor when
they had undertaken it, could they ever have
fucceeded without the fpecial aid and in
fluence of Heaven. Thofe that planted there
fore, and thofe that watered, were nothing
in this refpedl, but God that gave the In
creafe ^. He who vouchfafed to impart the
prophecy, in his own good time and by his
own mighty power wrought its completion.
In moft other inftances, perhaps in every
one where human ability might feem com
petent to produce the effeft, the immediate
agents, tptally Ignorant or totally regardlefs of
the voice of prophecy, were influenced by far
8 I Cor. iii. 7. Other

SERMON VIIL 255
other motives, than thofe of evincing Its au
thority by fulfilling its declarations. The
defolation of Judah was neither in whole nor
in part occafioned by Chriftians, The Jews
themfelves brought on their calamities ; the
Romans were the inftruments of vengeance ;
and both, as well as Chriftians, have recorded
the final iffue of the war ; which was fuch
as no human fagacity could forefee, no con-
jundlure of affairs, no traits of charadler in
either party, could lead to conjedlure. Though
the Jews were afraid, or to ferve a purpofe
pretended to be afraid, left the Romans ffiould
take away their place and nation ¦" ; yet after
the time when they expreffed thefe fears as
well as before, they experienced, at the hands
of their generous lords, particular immuni
ties and dlftinguiffied favours, both in Judea
and in other countries '.
To extirpate a people, or demoliffi a city,
was contrary to the pradlice and lenity of the
Romans In war. Their whole hiftory affords
but one or two inftances of exceptions in the;
cafe. The comphment of the poet, " par-
cere fubjedlis," was the more valuable, be
caufe it was juft : nor had their former hu-
^ John xi. 48. - See A. J, L. XIX, c. v.
nianity

256 SERMON VIIL
manity In this age forfaken them. During
the fiege of Jerufalem , the compaffionate
Titus was fcarcely more folicitous to fubdue
the rebels, than to refcoe the fufferers and
fave the city. The temple to the laft he was
refolved to preferve. But in oppofition to
heaven the endeavours of mortals are ineffec
tual, and their wiffies vain. The city and
the temple were burnt with fire, and rafed
to their foundations ; and thofe who furvived
the calamities of their country were fcattered
and difperfed over the face of the earth ; and
by a fubfequent decjree, while every other
land faw their obftinacy and obferved their
afflidlion. In Judea alone they were not per
mitted to fet their feet. The blood of the
holy One, according to the dread imprecation
of their fathers'', purfues to this day the
wretched pofterlty. Their blindnefs is ftill
unremoved, their heart is ftill obdurate; there
fore they are wanderers and vagabonds in the
earth, living monuments of the juft but tre
mendous wrath of heaven, and involuntary
witneffes to the truth of the fcriptures and
fcripture prophecies.
Had thefe prophecies been forged, had
they been produced yefterday and accommo-
^ Matt, xxvii. 25. dated

SERMON VIIL 257
dated to the circumftances of all paft ages;
the face of things to day might bely the pre
didlions and expofe the impoftor. Let this
fingular people be no longer different from
other people ; let them adopt the religions
and become members of the ftates of the
various countries, whether Chriftian, Maho
metan, orpagan, wherein they refide ; melt
them down in the mafs of mankind, and let
them not be diftinguiffiable from other men;
or, if you choofe, feparate them from the
midft of other nations, tranfplant them into
fome unoccupied region, colonife with them
fpme uninhabited ifland, and let them there
obferve their religion and their laws. On
either fuppofition (and either is poffible, if
the hply fcriptures are not true) you demon
ftrate thofe predidlions to be forgeries, which
declare that their infidelity and difperfion
ffiall be of equal duration ; that they ffiall
continue diftindl, not till they fwerve to ido
latry, or fink into Mahometifm, but till they
look upon Him whom they pierced. Days
and years roll on, and fweep away in their
cburfe the operations of men and the dreams
of error ; but truth is a pillar of adamant,
immoveable as the poles of heaven. Seven
teen centuries have paffed over the fons of
difperfion, and feen them the objedls of con-
R ftaat

258 SERMON VIIL
ftant wretchednefs ; nor would feventeen thou
fand fee them extindl or their fituation altered,
ffiould they not in the mean time embrace
the gofpel.
The truth then of the fcriptures of the
New Teftament, the prophecies whereof have
been fulfilled and are daily fulfilling, being
as certain as that God is true ; there are two
inferences from the whole of the argument,
which claim our attention.
The firft Is, That it Is the duty of every
one, who fincerely believes the gofpel, to ex
tend its influence and power in the world ;
and, as God ffiall enable him, to fet forward
the falvation of all men. The heavenly trea-
fure was committed to our truft, not that we
ffiould bury it in the earth, or lay it up in a
napkin, but that we ffiould employ it to the
glory of God and the good of our brethren.
There is, we truft, a day approaching, when
" all the ends of the world ffiall remember
and turn unto the Lord ; and all the kin
dreds of the nations ffiall worffiip before
him'." This bleffed sera we ffiould not only
pray for, but endeavour to haften, by fup-
porting the weak, confirming the wavering,
' Pf, xxii. 27.
and

SERMON VIII.

259

and convincing thofe who at prefent oppofe
themfelves "".
From the general body of the once fa
voured people the veil, which has fo long
excluded the truth, is not taken away ; but
from individuals, in this as In former ages,
it may, through God's mercy, be removed.
Convince them that by the law, wherein they
truft, they cannot be faved. Shew them that
in its beft ftate it never by Its own excellence
juftified any who came to it, but only through
faith in the facrifice of Chrift. Remind them
that the law Itfelf, which promifes no aid to
human infirmity, exprefsly pronounces every
one curfed who continueth not in all things
there written to do them ". Teach them
thefe plain and falutary truths, it may be
they will ceafe to look for falvation where it
never could be found, and will begin to in
quire from what other fource they may ob
tain it.
Expound to them then other parts of fcrip
ture ; ffiew them that the prophecies refpedl
ing the Meffiah were all of them fulfilled
in the life and death, the refurredlion and
afcenfion, of the bleffed Jefus. Inftrudl them
¦" 2 Tim. ii, 25, " Deut, xxvii, 26. Gal, iii, 10.
R 2 that

£65 SERMON VIIL
that God was in Him reconciling the world
to himfelf; of which he gave proofs the
fame in kind but fuperior in degree to thofe
which confirmed the miffion of Mofes. Signs
and wonders and mighty deeds were wrought
by both ; and both delivered prophecies,
which every fucceeding age has verified.
In this manner and by arguments of this
fort, not by fuppreffing any part of the truth,
nor by giving it up to preconceived notions,
thoufands of Jews were in the beginning
converted to the faith of Chrift. The fame
mode of reafoning has proved fuccefsful in
every other inftance where fuccefs has been
gained ; and by the fame, if wifely and fea-
fonably urged, we may ftill, under the good
influence of the Spirit of grace, hope to fave
fome. But, fecondly. If we wiffi to perfuade
others to good eftedl, we ourfelves ffiould
above all things be diligent, not only to fearch
for and examine the truth, but likewife,
when we have found, confcientioufly to prac-
tife It.
The proofs of that pure religion, which we
profefs, are not lefs certain than the cleareft
demonftration ; but demonftration itfelf is of
no

SERMON VIIL 261
no avail if It be not attended to ; nor can
moral evidence, however cogent, produce its
effedl, if we do not give it an impartial hear
ing. We are not eafily convinced of what
we are not willing to learn. If airy phan
toms are purfued till we fancy them folid
fubftance, if the grounds of our faith are
feldom viewed or flightly regarded, if every
imaginary or even real difficulty is made to
overbalance pofitive proof, our doubts arife
from fome other defedl than want of evidence.
To exemplify in our life the fuperior ex
cellency of the gofpel precepts is the beft re
commendation of our caufe to others, and
the fureft means of drawing down the blef
fing of God upon us and our endeavours.
He is wont of his gracious and unmerited
goodnefs to beftow upon the world his
choiceft favours for the fake of his faints and
faithful fervants. " Fear not, Paul" faid the
holy angel; "thou muft be brought before
Cefar, and Lo ! God hath given thee all
them that fail with thee°." If by the hatred,
emulation, and ftrlfe, if by the carnal lufts
and appetites, if by the coldnefs and indif
ference, if by any other fin, of thofe who
° Adls xxvii. 24.
name

262 SERMON VIIL
name the name of Chrift, the progrefs of his
kingdom is obftrudted, and the converfion of
unbelievers hindered, we have reafon to trem
ble before the Lord, and ffiould endeavour to
avert his righteous vengeance.
The ftudy of our holy religion Is the no-
bleft exercife of our rational faculties ; the
pradlice of it is the brighteft ornament of our
moral capacities. The bleffing promifed from
the fall, what patriarchs and kings have hoped
for, what prophets and apoftles have taught,
what angels have miniftered unto, and the
Son of God died to obtain, muft deferve
the attention of man, ffiould infpire his heart
with gladnefs, and fill his lips with praife.
The prefent works of providence confirm
our belief of the paft, and eftabliffi our hopes
of the future. He who " holdeth our foul
in life, and fuffereth not our feet to be
moved''," could animate the breathlefs clay,
and can raife our body from the duft. He
who guideth the fun in his courfe, and
teacheth the moon her way, could ftop the
one in the midft of heaven, and the other in
the chambers of the eaft. He who fcattered,
f Pf. Ixvi. 9. and

SERMON VIIL 263
and yet hath preferved, the fons of Judah,
the flock of flaughter, can reaffemble, convert,
and fave them ; can "fay to the north. Give
up, and to the fouth. Keep not back ; bring
my fons from far, and my daughters from
the ends of the earth ''." He who from the
foundation of the world hath confirmed his
holy covenant and magnified his loving kind-
nefs, can fulfil the words which he hath
fpoken, and impart his appointed favours.
At the right hand of God in heaven Chrift
Jefus our Redeemer is enthroned : thence
doth he protedl his church, and there he in-
tercedeth for us. He prepareth manfions of
blifs, which he promifed to them that love
him. His truth can never fail; he will come
to his chofen fervants, and where He is they
ffiall be alfo, and reign with him in glory for
evermore. Amen.
9 If xliii. 6,

BAMPTON LECTURERS.
1780. James Bandinel, D. D. of Jefus
College, and Public Orator of Ihe
Univerfity.
178 1. Timothy Neve, D. D. Chaplain of
Merton College.
1782. Robert Holmes, M. A. Fellow of
New- College.
1783. John Cobb, D. D. Fellow of St.
John's College.
1784. Joseph White, B. D. Fellow of
Wadham College, and Laudian
Profeffpr of Arabic.

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