then all Israel should be saved. With these enlargos views upon the subject, you will see how improbable it is, that St. Paul should have predicted the speedy approach of the day of judgment. Most certainly, he, of all the Apostles, was the most unlikely to have entertained such an idea! Yet he is the man, upon whom this imputation has been chiefly fixed! The late Rev. Newcome Cappe has roundly asserted, that St. Paul had no conception even of the existence of the church on earth, after the abolition of the Mosaic Economy, (See his Crit. Req marks, v. 1. p. 187.)

But this is not all-for the Apostle has predicted some other very remarkable events, which were totally incompatible with his belief, that the end of the world would happen in his own time. I will produce you, Sir, a prophecy, says the bishop of Landaff, in his letters to Mr. Gibbon, (p. 58.) which the more closely you press it, the more reason you will have to believe, that the speedy coming of Christ, (i, e. to judge the world) could hever have been predicted by the Apostles. Take it a translated by bishop Newton. But the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall apostatize from the faith, giving heed to erroneous spirits, and doctrines concerning Demons; through the hypocrisy of liars, having their conscience seared with a red hot ironforbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats. Here Here you have an express prophecy-the spirit. hath spoken it-that in the latter times-not immediately

but at some distant period-some should apostatize from the faith-some, who had been christians, should, in

uth, be so no longer-but should give heed to erroneous spirits, and doctrines concerning Demons-press this expression closely, and you may, perhaps, discover in it, the erroneous tenets and the Demon or Saint-worship of the church of Rome-through the hypocrisy of liarsyou recognize, no doubt, the priesthood and the martyrologists having their conscience seared with a red hot iron-callous indeed, must his conscience be, who traffics in indulgences-forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. This language needs no pressing;. it discovers, at once, the unhappy votaries of monastic Life, and the mortal sin of eating flesh on fast days.

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To this may be added, what the same learned prelate has very ju justly observed, that St. Peter speaks of PUTTING OFF HIS TABERNACLE, as the Lord had shewn him, and of his endeavour, that the christians, after his decease, might be able to have these things in remembrance. And, as to St. Paul, upon a partial view of whose writings, thedoctrine of the speedy coming of Christ to judge the world is principally founded, it is manifest, that he was conscious he should not live to see it, notwithstanding the expression

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we who are alive; for he foretels his own death, in express terms. The time of my departure is at hand: and he speaks of his reward, not as immediately to be conferred upon him, but as laid up and reserved for him ill some future day. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. (p. 54 of his letters to Gibbon.)

Equally deserving of your attention is, what another writer has observed upon this subject."Whoever," says Mr.Thomas, in his strictures upon Dr. Edwards's sermons, p. 41. "will be at the pains to examine their own simple history of themselves, will find, that by founding churches on constitutions adapted to endure for ages, and by the judicious appointment of successors, provided for the gradual propagation of a religion, which comprehended very remote ages, they discovered no apprehension of universal judgment to take place, nor any expectation of the last grand catastrophe of expiring nature." So far indeed from St. Paul's expecting the end of the world -in his own time, that he plainly intimated, that it was to endure for ages. God, saith he, hath raised us up together, that, in the ages to come, he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace. Ephes. ch. II. v. 6, 7.

Thus various and accumulated are the evidences drawn from the sacred volume, that the Apostles taught no such doctrine, as has been imputed to them, respecting the speedy dissolution of the world. But what, you will say, signifies all this accumulation of evidence, when it is contradicted by evidence, which is, at least, equally strong, and by the Apostles asserting, in the clearest and most distinct terms, that the coming of the Lord was drawing nigh-that the Lord was at hand-that they saw the day approaching, and that the end of all things was at hand, with other expressions of a similar nature?

If this language of the Apostles, was actually meant by them, to be applied to the final judgment of the world,

and is clearly incapable, as some have supposed, of any other meaning, you will think with me, that there will be an end to the controversy, and that it must be confessed without reserve, that they were either mistaken, or that they were guilty of the most manifest falsehood. In either case you will perceive, that it must necessarily make against the credit of the Apostles, and that Mr. Gibbon was certainly justified in his conclusion, that the records of seventeen centuries have instructed us not to press toe closely the mysterious language of prophecy and revelation, and the adversaries of christianity will, upon every principle of sound reasoning, be entitled to the inference, which they have drawn from it-that it is an Imposture! But, as was said before, in the case of the like charge against the language adopted by our Lord, before a conclusion, so fatal to the interests of christianity, is permitted to be drawn, it ought certainly to be shewn, >vith a strong degree of evidence, that these passages were carly intended by the Apostles, to be applied to the day of judgment, and that they are absolutely incapable, upon the principles of sound criticism and legitimate reasoning, of any other application; otherwise christianity may still be true, and the Apostles be fully vindicated from the charge, which has been laid against them. The question then is, and surely it is a very important one, whether, when the Apostles asserted, that the Lord was at hand, this and other expressions which have been mentioned, may not, with the strictest propriety, be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem, which, it is on all hands allowed, was to happen within a short distance from the time, when the Epistles, in which these expressions occur,

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To ascertain this matter with all the precision, of which the subject appears to be capable, and to give you all the satisfaction, which can reasonably be required, I inust particularly request your attention to the language, I which was in common use in the sacred writings of the Jewish nation, when the near approach of any remarkable temporal calamities was described. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the destruction of Babylon, says, (ch. xiii. 6, 9.)-Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand: it shall come, as a destruction from the Almighty-Behold the day of the Lord cometh, to lay the land desolate. Joel i. 15. Alas for the day-for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty it shall come. Zeph.i. 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand. Ezek. xxx. 2, 3. Son of man prophesy and say-thus saith the Lord God-howl ye-woe worth the day-for the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near-a cloudy dayit shall be the time of the heathen. And most remarkable, to the same purpose, is the expression of the prophet Amos, (ch. v. 18.) inore particularly, when it is compared with our Lord's description of the approach of the destruction of Jerusalem,, in Luke xvii. 22. Woe unte you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you to desire it? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light.

From these examples, you have that sort of evidence, which cannot be mistaken, that, in the description of any remarkable temporal calamities, it was the customary language of prophecy, as it was in fact of genuine piety