Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

THE

PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION,

SERMO N.

HEB. ii. 8.

BUT NOW WE SEE NOT YET ALL THINGS PUT UNDER

HIM.

THE idea of an Universal Religion is libe

ral and great. It was not found among the polished nations of antiquity; it was not even a topic of fpeculation in the philofophic schools: It was preserved, however, where leaft of all it might have been expected, in the treasures of the fanctuary, among a people who inhabited the mountains of Paleftine. That people were distinguished by the pride of exclufive privilege, A

rather

rather than by any tendency to liberality of fentiment; and their laws, government, and worship, were vifibly calculated to prevent all religious communion with other nations. The defcendants of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, imagined that the divine favour, like the covenant of peculiarity, did not extend beyond the line in which the blood of the patriarchs flowed; yet they held in their hands the oracles repeated from heaven to each of these men, that in their feed fhould all the families of the earth be blessed.

The prophets, who in fucceffion foretold the advent of the Meffiah, exhibited him as the head of an univerfal religion. In the prophetic page, he is introduced laying his claim to this character, as affigned to him by the will of God: I will declare the decree, The Lord hath faid unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Afk of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermoft parts of the earth for thy poffeffion. The very title of the Son, in various inftances in holy writ, implies the extent of the grant, as comprehending the whole human race, according to the plenitude of power, in contradiftinction

to

to the powers both of the angels and of the prophets, who were as fervants under limited. commiffions, poffeffing authority over a part only of the household. For unto which of the angels faid he at any time, thou art my son ; this day have I begotten thee? Are they not all miniftring fpirits fent forth to minifter for them who fhall be heirs of falvation? God spake to the fathers by the prophets, but to us he has fpoken by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things.

The unbounded fuccefs of the Meffiah is expreffed in fuch terms as these. Liften, O ifles, unto me, and hearken ye people from far. Though Ifrael be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God Shall be my strength.-And he faid unto me it is a light thing that thou shouldeft be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preferved of Ifrael: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayeft be my falvation unto the ends of the earth.-Behold my fervant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my foul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him, and he fball bring forth judgement to the Gentiles.-He fhall not fail nor be difcouraged till he have fet judgement in the earth, and the ifles fhall wait

for

for his law. For from the rifing of the fun even unto the going down of the fame, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incenfe fhall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name fhall be great among the Heathen faith the Lord of Hofts

The prophets, whom God infpired to foretel the universal religion, gave those confiftent affurances on this great fubject which were fuitable to the wisdom of the ways of Providence ; for they fhewed that the new covenant fhould be diftinguished from the old in its fubftance, as well as in its extent; that the law of God fhould be written in the heart, and the fceptre of his kingdom a fceptre of righteousness. The inftitutions of the Mofaic law were abfolutely incapable of an universal establishment. Sacrifices limited to a fingle temple; the fanctity of places; a burdenfome ritual; a facerdotal tribe; an high priest on earth; thefe, and many other arrangements in that provifional fyftem, were not only incompatible with general religious union, but, as Paul reasoned irrefiftibly, in proof of their neceffary abolition under an uni

If. xlix. 5. 6. xlii. 1. 4. Mal. i, 11.

verfal

verfal religion, the peculiarities of the Mofaic oeconomy were actually framed and intended to exclude the Gentiles while that fyltem fhould ftand. This law of commandments contained in ordinances, was a handwriting against them, an edict of feparation limiting the Covenant to a few, which was refcinded and nailed to the crofs, when the Meffiah was cut off, and confirmed the covenant with many.

The religion of nature was the first univerfal difpenfation; fimple in its characters; holy in its laws, and accommodated to every fituation of man upon the earth. It had been gradually corrupted by various fuperftitions, and its state had become hopeless; for the fuperftitions had been confirmed and entailed by power and craft in every age. The complaint of nature went up in memorial before God; and Christianity, the fecond univerfal difpenfation, was introduced in the fullness of time. The gospel interpreted the handwriting on the heart, reftored the original record in its beauty, and added new illuftrations of the grace of God and of the duty of man; while it poffeffed every requifite for obtaining that reception among the nations which the oracles of God had foretold.

The

« ZurückWeiter »