that memorable sermon which he delivered at Antioch, in a synagogue of the Jews, a part of which is recorded in Acts xiii. Paul, addressing the Jews, gives them a general sketch of God's dealings with their nation and of his fulfilling his promise in raising up Jesus, of the seed of David; and coming in order to Christ, says, 'Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.' The Gentiles, on this occasion, were struck with conviction in their minds, of the truth of those prophecies which the Jews had so remarkably fulfilled, and desired to hear the word on the next sabbath. The report of Paul's preaching was generally spread through the city, and almost the whole city assembled to hear. At this the envy of the Jews was moved, and they spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and his companion boldly gave up the Jews in open assembly, to the blindness of their eyes and to the hardness of their hearts, and turned to the Gentiles with these words: For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,

I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.' At this the Gentiles believed, and glorified the word of the Lord.

The Gentiles, in this case, have as good a proof of the truth of the prophecies as the nature of the case could admit; and it was sufficient, by the blessing of God, to open their eyes to the light of divine revelation, and to the scheme of salvation by Jesus Christ. The reader will remember that they were first called Christians at Antioch.

How wonderful are the ways of God! He was pleased to hide the things of the gospel from the wise and prudent among his covenant people, that their blindness and hardness of heart might be a means of con verting the Gentiles, as that blindness and hardness of heart was necessary unto the fulfilment of the prophecies.

testament are as re They appear to the

2. The prophecies of the new markable as those of the old. common reason of mankind to wear the appearance of improbability. They speak of a falling away from the true doctrine and worship of Christ, and of the embracing of the doctrines of devils, and the worshipping of a beast. And these things are as plainly pointed out in the new testament as the crucifixion of Christ is in the old. The fulfilment of these new testament prophecies, by professing Christians, is as remarkable, and as convincing of the divinity of these prophecies, as the fulfilment of the Jewish prophecies, by those who professed to understand and believe them, was of their divinity. And it seems to be evident from the Scriptures, that God will make as glorious a use of the apostacy of the Christian church, as he did of the

apostacy of the Jewish church. The apostacy of the Jews was a means of converting the Gentiles, and the apostacy of the Christian church, and their recovery from their apostacy, will completely fulfil all the prophecies of the new testament, so far as is necessary to convince the Jews of the divinity of the new testa

ment.

Thus we see that God communicated mercy to the Gentiles through the blindness and unbelief of the Jews; and also, we have reason to hope that through the fall and recovery of the Christian church, mercy will be communicated to the Jews; so that finally of the twain, our blessed Lord will make one new man in everlasting and eternal peace.

What I have endeavored to suggest to the reader's understanding, in this digression was very clearly labored and shown to the church at Rome by St Paul in his epistle to that church, see chap. xi, 30, 31, 32: 'For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them in all unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.' The same thing is expressed in a number of ways in this chapter. Consistently with the foregoing, I see, to my satisfaction, why the doctrine of future, eternal, unmerciful punishment has been generally credited in the Christian church. The apostacy would not have been complete without it. This doctrine is exactly the reverse of the gospel of salvation; and the character of a devouring beast, is exactly the reverse of the character of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.

I may now proceed further to show that the notion,

that the number, who will finally obtain salvation by Christ, will be few, is directly contrary to the testimony of Scripture. See Isaiah liii, 11: He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.' If the few mentioned in St Matthew be all who finally obtain salvation by Christ, what will become of the many spoken of in Isaiah, who are justified by him who bore their iniquities? See Rev. vii, 9, 10: After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.' If the few mentioned in St Matthew be all who ever obtain salvation by Christ, what will become of the great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and all kindreds,and all people, and all tongues, who are permitted to stand before the throne and before the Lamb, and to be clothed with white robes, and palms, the ensign of victory, in their hands; who cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb?' Should it please my heavenly Father, to grant one so unworthy as myself, the humblest station in that innumerable company, I hope I should not be disposed to envy any situation to which others might aspire.

The language of the above text is perfectly adapted to show, that the promise made to the fathers, will finally be accomplished in its most extensive and glori

ous sense.

Should any suppose that it is inconsistent with truth

to hope for the salvation of any who enter in at the wide gate which leadeth to destruction, let them remember the testimony of the Lord by the prophet Hosea. See chap. xiii, 9: O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.'

PARABLE VII.

• Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.'-Matt. vii, 24.

THE words of Christ, to which he here undoubtedly refers, immediately precede those which I have written, in which he observes, that many might say unto him, Lord, Lord, who should not be admitted into the kingdom of heaven; but they alone should be admitted who did the will of his Father who is in heaven. But just before, he was speaking of the good and bad trees and of their respective fruits, arguing the impossibility of a good tree bringing forth evil fruit, or a corrupt tree bringing forth good fruit; and further he says, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire; the meaning of which I have elsewhere given. But we may here learn, that those who partake of the corrupt tree alone, and are still laboring to establish a righteousness of their own, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, may profess Christianity, and say to Christ, Lord, Lord, &c., but those alone who do the will of the Father, can enter. into the kingdom of heaven: therefore, those who heard the sayings of Christ and did them, were likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock. By