wrought a great number of marvellous acts; and there remain, even to this day, a sect of people who bear the name of Christians, who acknowledge this Christ for their head." This honourable testimony is from an enemy-a Jew, whose writings were held in high estimation by his nation. Christ " came unto his own nation, but they received him not." No evidence, however bright or clear, was sufficient to convince men so blinded by prejudice. Warned, invited, and threatened, still they persisted in rejecting the Messiah, because he did not assume the warrior's sword, or mount the throne of Judah. Should we not feel more disposed to pity and reclaim, than insult and oppress, this deluded people? Have they no claim to our gratitude? To "them were committed the Oracles of God," which we now enjoy. The prophets and apostles were all Jews; and from them, "according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for evermore." It is recorded, by ecclesiastical writers, that several of Christ's own disciples and apostles-Simon Peter, Simon Zelotes, James the son of Zebedee, Joseph of Arimathea, Aristobulus, and St. Paul himself, preached the gospel to this nation. If this, indeed, be correct, their nation has peculiar claims to our regard, for the ser

vices of their ancestors. Certainly, the Romans were instructed in Christianity by Paul and other Jews; and, in the first century, the Roman legions, and the standard of the gospel of Christ, were planted on Albion's coast.

The Jews, though scattered and persecuted, are not destroyed; they are preserved monuments of the divine veracity. O, may we take warning from their awful fate! "Because of unbelief they were broken off, and we stand by faith." "Let us not be highminded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he spare not us. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God; on them which fell, severity; but, towards us, goodness, if we continue in his goodness: otherwise, we also shall be cut off." It will avail us little to confess Jesus as the Messiah, if we are unconcerned to know and practise the doctrines he has taught. But may we

serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him," for his word is fate; immutability seals, and eternity executes, whatever he decrees.

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CHAPTER LXX.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.-Isaiah xlix. 6.

THE descendants of Abraham, the friend of God, were treated as the Lord's peculiar people; singled out from other nations as the favourites of heaven, the Lord was their lawgiver and king. No other nation had God "so nigh unto them in all things that they called upon him for," as the people of Israel, To benefit them, the laws of nature were reversed, and nations destroyed. They were employed by Jehovah to punish the idolatrous people for their crimes.* They were selected to maintain the knowledge and worship of the true God,† and to convey his pure and holy law to remote generations. Thus favoured and blessed, the Jews were accustomed contemptuously to regard all other nations, as common and unclean; they could not endure to have one stone thrown down of the partition wall, which had so long separated them from the Gentiles. They proudly

* Deuteronomy xviii. 2, 12. ‡ John iv. 9.

+ Isaiah xliii. 20, 21.

enough appropriated to themselves all the blessings connected with the appearance of the Messiah. But it would be a light thing that Christ should become Jehovah's servant, endure pain and scorn, merely to "raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel;" that nation which he knew would so long despise and reject him. But Messiah was given for "a light to the Gentiles," and Jehovah's "salvation unto the ends of the earth." He has asked, and received "the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." "Yea, all nations shall be blessed in him;" for the root of Jesse shall stand for "an ensign of the people, and to him shall the Gentiles seek:" to his glorious rest shall all nations flow. He shall have "dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of

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the earth." They that dwell in the wilderness, shall bow before him; and his enemies lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba, shall offer gifts: yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from violence and precious shall their blood be in his

sight. He shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Seba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. His name shall endure for ever, his name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things." Yes, Christ is Jehovah's servant, in whom his soul delights; he has "put his spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles;"" he has given him for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." Numerous are the prophecies which refer to the call of the heathen world, and Jesus who declares himself the Messiah, is described in the New Testament as 66 a light to lighten the Gentiles," as well as "the glory of his people Israel." He preached himself in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim,* and Samaria: the parting command he gave his disciples was, that they should" go forth into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." He endowed them with the gift of tongues, to enable them to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. And they went forth and preached every where, "the Lord working with them, and confirming *Matthew iv. 12, 13, 15, 16. † John iv, 4.