Parthians; and they were continually embroiled in wars with the surrounding nations. And, finally, we must again remind the reader, that on the destruction of their kingdom by the Romans, they fled in terror and dismay into every country of the world. Will infidelity assert, that pride, or some notion of the antiquity of their race, and of the greatness of their origin, occasioned this; that it was such ideas as these, which produced this enduring perseverance, in spite of all opposition.

How is it, I ask, that pride has never before or since, effected any thing of the kind among other nations? How is it, that the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, have abandoned their pride? If we examine profane and sacred history carefully and candidly, we shall be compelled to acknowledge, that we must look for this mighty difference only in their religion; in the superiority which the worship of Jehovah, the power of His protection, and the knowledge of His promises gave the Jews over all other nations. And we must still further seek in this religion, the explanation of the reason for this wonderful separation, as well as preservation. The Prophets will tell us, if we do so, that it is, that the Lord may make His promise manifest to the world that all flesh may know that in mercy He still remembers His once favoured people; for Isaiah says, "Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no

H

man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations *."

Now, if the religion of the Jews had not had truth for its foundation, why should it have lasted so many ages; why should it, as well as the Jewish people themselves, have been preserved from the ravages of time? What should have occasioned its escape from the confusion and oblivion, to which all religions of human invention have fallen a prey? Where are the idols of the Philistines? Where is the religion of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes, or the Persians? Where are the deities of Greece and of Rome? How is it, that of all these, only a few fables remain to us of the gods of the two latter, together with here and there some ruins of the superb temples and edifices, which they erected in honour of their deities; while the knowledge of the former has almost entirely perished with the nations who worshipped them. The religion of the Jews we have proved to be more ancient than all these. God having entered into his covenant with Abraham nearly two thousand years before the coming of that Messiah, by whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed, still this religion subsists to the Christian, as the foundation of that Gospel, by which he hopes to be eternally saved. To the Jew, who rejects that

* Isai. lx. 15.

Gospel, it remains the same code of unalterable laws, and innumerable ceremonies, as when it was given by Moses, nearly fifteen hundred years before the Gentile world were called to share in that liberty which Christ has offered equally to all. That liberty, which not only consists in a release from the observance of ceremonies, and the distinctions of meats, but which presents to the believer a glorious freedom from the bondage of his natural corruptions, and complete triumph over the powers of sin and Satan, through Him, who in rending asunder the chains of death, and bursting open the portals of the grave," hath brought life and immortality to light *."

But let us take this argument up in another shape. In the Jewish people one beholds a republic, which has produced a complete history of its rise and formation into a kingdom, its religion, its laws, a catalogue of its kings, a list of its HighPriests, beginning with Aaron. How is it then, that we find no history of this kind left by the Assyrians or Babylonians? How is it, that the Medes and Persians have only given us a few imperfect fragments respecting their laws? Shall we answer, that they all had these accounts, that they kept every remarkable memorial, but their histories ARE LOST? I ask, why was not the his

* 2 Tim. i, 10.

tory of the Jews, which was more ancient by far, lost also?

If the unbeliever asks for a proof of the wonderful, the all-guiding Providence of God, I know of no circumstance, which will more clearly display it to him than the preservation of that Bible, which was given to the Jews so many ages ago, and which, to the Christian, still continues to be the word of truth; the revealed will of God to man; the unalterable and indestructible work of the Divine Spirit. The protection of the Jews has been one great mean, which it has pleased Eternal Wisdom to use in the preservation of the sacred volume. In their distinction as a nation, in their separation as a scattered people, we find the most demonstrative proofs of its authenticity: in their successes, as well as when in desolation and sorrow, they invariably have turned to that Book as the Law of God. They have listened to its pages, as to the voice of Jehovah, when in bitterness of spirit they have mourned the consequence of their disobedience to its commands; and they have sought in its prophecies for comfort, to lighten their chains when they have been in bondage.

But to return to our immediate subject-We find in the xxviiith, xxixth, and xxxth chapters of Deuteronomy such full and clear predictions of what is to happen to the Jews in future ages, such

promises of blessings, when they should fear God, and faithfully observe his covenant; such threatenings of extreme misery and direful misfortune, when they should be disobedient. That after having read this part of holy writ, if we make ourselves ever so slightly acquainted with the leading circumstances of the subsequent history of the Jews, we cannot but acknowledge, that Moses was a Prophet as well as a Lawgiver. In the xxviiith chapter it is particularly threatened, that they shall endure a hard captivity, together with their king. "The Lord shall bring thee and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone *."

Now, this prophecy is peculiarly remarkable, and worthy of the deepest attention, since that part of their history which was written by the Prophet Samuel informs us, that the Jews did not ask a king till above three hundred years after the death of Moses. Will the infidel say, that these were general predictions, and consequently that Moses hazarded nothing in making them; that so many vague and undetermined expressions about much good and evil, the revolutions of many ages would necessarily confirm, by the events and

* Deut. xxviii. 36.