Such was Solomon, who breathed divine wisdom, and poured forth the knowledge of God "From lips wet with Castalian dews." And Isaiah who "sung beside Siloa's brook," the glory of Messiah; and most of the noble army of whom our Saviour bears testimony, establishing the fulfilment of this prediction, in the memorable declaration "The law and the prophets continued until John" the Baptist, the commencement of whose administration introduced the Gospel of Christ. If we adopt as correct, the expositions now submitted, and apply them, we shall find that the true reading of the the text is as follows: "From Judah his distinction as a tribe shall not depart, nor a Teacher from his offspring, until Messiah come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Such are some of the testimonies that establish, incidentally, the Messiahship and divine mission of Jesus, and demonstrate the claims of his religion to the faith and obedience of his people. Let us now refer, for a moment, to the glorious events which will characterize the spread of the Gospel, the conversion of the nations, and the universal dominion of Christ, predicted in our passage as the result of the coming of Shiloh. It These results are expressed in the text in brief, but emphatic language. "Unto him shall the gathering of the people be." is in another place predicted of him that "He shall gather together in one all things in Christ; both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even'in him, in whom we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of sins." This whole world shall be subdued unto him, and "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Does his successive journeys run." Reference is had, in the form of the language in the passage, to the military gathering of a tribe to the standard of their leader. The ensign of Judah was a Lion, which marched in the van of their victorious armies. On this account Christ is sometimes called "The Lion of the tribe of Judah." In every movement which characterized the deadly conflict upon the field of battle, the eye of the soldier was fixed upon the advancing standard, around which gathered, for the honor of their country, the noble, the generous, and the brave. Such a centre of attraction, amidst the conflicts and strifes of this world, is Jesus Christ; not to Judah and the Hebrew tribes alone, but to all the kingdoms, and nations, and people, of the earth; not to contend for the honor, and power, and wealth of this world, which will so soon fade away and perish, but for enduring honors, and glory and immortality-eternal life. God is no respecter of persons. Consequently in Shiloh, the Messiah, the middle wall of partition between the Jews and Gentiles is broken down. In him there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free; but all are one in Christ. He is the supreme ruler, and all of every nation, are invited to him, and those who come and are renewed by his Spirit, are entitled to all the advantages and blessings which belong to citizens of his spiritual kingdom. As the centre of so great and glorious a union, Jesus Christ is all that is required. He is our prophet, our priest, and our king; to foretell, and consequently to prepare us for every event; to offer for us acceptable sacrifice, and to direct and lead us in every action. To gather to him all nations, languages and people, of our round earth, various and efficient instrumentalities are to be employed, the principal of which is the preaching of the gospel. "Go ye" said the ascending Shiloh to his ministry-" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." And for your encouragement, remember that "all power in heaven and on earth is committed unto me." You are my servants, sent to do my work, and you shall be successful. To guide in the accomplishment of this great achievement, he has given his revelation; the Holy Ghost has been sent forth to make effectual his written and preached word; and he has constituted the Church his representative on earth to facilitate the merciful designs of his infinite grace, and to fill the earth with his glory. Through these means shall all the people be gathered unto him. When we look abroad upon the nations, we cannot but perceive that much of this work yet remains to be accomplished. Eighteen hundred years have passed since the Gospel Kingdom was visibly established. During the primitive ages of the Church, when to profess the religion of Christ was to forfeit honor, wealth and life, religion, in both its doctrines and its practices, remained comparatively pure. No man entered, except in rare instances, the sacred ranks in whose heart the love of the world was a predominant principle. Under these circumstances, notwithstanding the barriers by which it was opposed, the zeal of the Christians by the blessing of God, pushed the conquests of the cross into most of the nations then known to history. Falsely imagining that the victory was now almost gained, religion, hitherto simple and unassuming, began to feel the spirit of ambition, and panting for earthly distinction and honors, she clothed herself in purple, and ascended the throne of the Cæsars. From that hour the receding darkness began to steal back upon the world, and the minds of men to grow more and more shadowy and dark. The Church of God returned into obscurity: the wicked world assumed her name and station; the ministers of iniquity reveled in her forsaken sanctuaries; the Bible was suppressed to give place to the Missal; and Popery, gaining unresisted rule, locked in the chains of ignorance, the nations of the world. The true Church of Christ, branded with the odious name of heresy, was hunted, persecuted, and destroyed, for a thousand years, but "the gates of hell" did not prevail against her. The mercy of God was not destined to sleep forever. The sun of what has usually been called the reformation, but which was, indeed, not a reformation of the Church, because Popery had no claims to be considered a Church; but of a revival, or resuscitation, of religion, at last arose. One after another the manacles of superstition have been broken. The Bible has been restored to its place in the sanctuary, and at the domestic altar; the truth has again found admittance to the hearts of men; sacred learning is attracting interest; his holy word is rapidly going forth in all the languages spoken by the human race; and the Church has once more emerged to view, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners." Missionaries are penetrating all lands. Still, of the nine hundred millions of inhabitants that at present people our earth, but a small part recognize, even nominally, our heavenly Shiloh. We cannot, however, be deceived as to the fact that the full period of the gathering together to Christ is not distant. The Church, like a mighty army, is deliberately forming herself into battle array. Already at some points, the conflict is raging. The war shout swells from the valleys, and echoes among the hills. A part of Europe has long since submitted, and all her teeming nations shall soon throw aside her rosary and her images, and be gathered to Christ. Luxurious Asia, forgetting, on the one hand her Koran, and on the other her idols, and sable Africa, abandoning her fitishes, shall come. Boodh, and Confucius, and Juggernaut, shall cease to reign, and the millions of China, shall be gathered; and Hindostan, and Siam, and Burmah, shall bow themselves; and the war-whoop of the American savage shall be strangely transformed into songs of praises. The heathen will have been given to Christ for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. His Kingdom shall fill the universe, and he shall reign forever and ever. For unto him shall be the gathering of the people. How full of delight will be that glorious period! The earth shall again bloom in the purity and freshness of Paradise! "One song shall employ all nations, and all cry Shout to each other, and mountain tops We have now examined the most important terms in this pas sage, and by a comparison of their import with the events of sacred history, have seen the testimony they give to establish the Messiahship of Jesus Christ, and we have referred briefly to the conversion of the nations, and the universal dominion of Christ predicted as the results of his coming. Did time permit, I would close this discourse by an attempt to make an APPLICATION of this subject. Degraded, fallen, ruined, our sinful world had no claims to the divine mercy. Our ingratitude was loathsome to him, and our transgressions had placed our recovery beyond the reach of our own power. The compassion of our Heavenly Father was not however exhausted; He pitied our miseries and sent his Son, who, by the sacrifice of himself upon the cross, redeemed from eternal death all those who come to God by him. The distinction of his people is holiness, which is at the same time, the source of happiness in this life, and the condition of eternal glory with him in the world to come. Where then, permit me to ask, is the heart so wedded to misery and death, as to be unwilling, joyfully, as the only return which it is in our power to make for grace so boundless, to offer soul and body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. Do you draw back from a service so reasonable? God forbid. May the declaration of all hearts in this assembly now be, "Here Lord I give myself away, 'Tis all that I can do." Who of this assembly, conscious of your sinfulness, and of the necessity of religion to save you, have come to Christ? Permit me once more, affectionately to remind you that out of Christ, who can be approached only by repentance and faith, there is no salvation. Eternal death is inevitable. Suffer me to beseech you then, that you delay no longer your submission to your only Redeemer, whose favor is life and whose loving kindness is better than life. In the conquest of the world to the dominion of Messiah, I remark finally, our Heavenly Father has been pleased to honor his people as the great instrumentality. We recognize in this arrangement, the same exhibition of grace by which the whole Gospel dispensation is distinguished. Our aid is not essential to him. The slightest exertion of his omnipotence would renew in a moment the face of the earth. But our participation in the conquest at once stimulates us to duty, heightens our joys, and constitutes us partakers of his glory. Who is there among us who does not burn to enter the work. Let the world, my brethren, around you in every part, feel your power. Be workers together with God. The event shall elevate your thrones, and add brilliancy to your crowns, in the world of immortality. PRACTICAL RELIGION. I. Once bring the matter to this point, that the profession you make may be the effect of your solemn deliberate, choice. There is too much reason to recommend this rule to the generality of Christians, amongst whom, it is very apparent, there are too many, whose profession is rather the effect of chance, or fate; or any thing they are thrown into by the concurrence of some external circumstances in their condition; than of a serious deliberate choice. How many are there who profess themselves Christians, as we observed before, merely because it is the religion of their country, or was that of their ancestors! or is established by the laws under which they live! So that it would be very inconvenient, for them, too hazardous it may be, or at least scandalous, to make a contrary profession. Now it highly concerns us once to come to this, that the religion we are of be what we have chosen, and that we profess it upon mature deliberation. We are nothing in religion till we come to this. 2. Endeavor to know God in good earnest. Know him in deed and then you are in no danger of the charge, which the apostle brought against false professors. You have been formerly told, that this phrase of professing to know God, is not to be restrained and limited unto the bare speculative knowledge of him abstractly considered. But though it is not to be thus limited, yet it must include this as the leading, initial thing to all the rest. It is an expression for religion in general, and is sometimes put for the whole of it; and therefore it cannot be supposed to leave out that, which is the leading principle of all, from whence the denomination is taken, and put upon the whole. 3. Ponder well on the dignity and sacredness of this profession. Oh what a mighty thing is this! that whereas the world has been lost in the ignorance of God, through many successive ages, we should take upon us to profess to know him. It is too big a word for the mouth of a profane and irreligious world. That description of Balaam which he gives of himself, is grand and very solemn "The man whose eyes are opened, that heard the word of God, that knew the knowledge of the Most High, and saw the vision of the Almighty."-Numb. xxiv: 3, 4, 15, 16. And yet the knowledge he alludes to, and which this prophet seems to glory in, was only such as he derived from the spirit of prophecy, and not the spirit of saving holy illumination. However, it was a great thing to come out of such a profane mouth as that of Balaam, when he came to curse the armies of Israel 4. Look upon your profession as an obligation upon you, to a correspondent practice. Every profession is so understood among men; and what an ignominy were it for a man, to wear the name, when there were none of the things to which the name corresponds |