Now, that the legal institution should expire for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof, and a divine sacrifice be offered up, of infinite value and virtue, to reconcile us to God, and purify the consciences of men, was declared whilst the service of the temple was performed with the greatest pomp. Thus the Messiah spake by the mouth of David : "Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, my heart hast thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required; then said I, Lo I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God." And the same inspired prophet declared, when the Levitical priesthood was in the greatest splendour, that there was another order of the priesthood than that of Aaron, established in a more solemn manner, and of everlasting efficacy: "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” That this prophecy respected the Messiah, even the Pharisees could not deny, for when Jesus Christ asked them whose son Christ was to be? They answered, David's. And demanding again, why David called him Lord, in those words of the Psalmist, "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, till I have made thine enemies thy footstool?" They could answer nothing. Their silence was a clear acknowledgment that the Messiah was the person there intended. The Apostle also, who wrote to the Jews, takes it for granted, by the universal consent of that nation, that that Psalm respected the Messiah, and proves it was accomplished in Jesus Christ. Besides, it was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, that another covenant

should be made, wherein the real benefits of the pardon of sin, and true holiness, that were typified by the legal purifications and observances, should be conferred on God's people: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, different from that made with their fathers when they came out of the land of Egypt, I will put my law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more." In short, there are abundant declarations in the prophets, that the carnal religion of the Jews should expire, and a religion all spirit and life should succeed in its place, and be diffused among all nations. This was to be introduced by the Messiah. Thus Moses foretold, "The Lord thy God shall raise up a prophet from among thy brethren like unto me, him ye shall hear." It was the singular prerogative of Moses above the rest of the prophets, that he was a lawgiver, and mediator of the covenant between God and Israel, and accordingly, the Messiah was to be a lawgiver and mediator of a new covenant. Now if the Mosaic institutions were to remain after his coming, the parallel would not hold between them in those principal respects. Besides, it was prophesied that the Messiah should be a king sitting on the throne of David, and commanding the kings of the earth. By which it is evident that his laws

must be of another nature than those of Moses, that were proper only to the church whilst confined to the Jewish pale, but not for the government of the world. And whereas the Jews object, that some of their rites were ordained to continue for ever; the answer is clear, that was only to distinguish them from some temporary injunctions, that were of force only while they were in the wilderness, or when they were inhabitants of Canaan, but were to be practised in all places, till, by a new signification of the divine will, they were forbidden. And it is ob

servable, that in the Jewish law the term for ever, when applied either to a man's right, or to servitude, imports only a continuance to the jubilee: so that those rituals were to continue in their vigour during that entire period, and to be determined after the coming of the Messiah, the great jubilee of the world. And that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah is most evident, in that his coming was exactly as he was designed, and was to be expected; that he had the power of working miracles to authorise him to change the externals of their worship and service. Briefly, Judaism now is but the carcase of a dead religion, and the obstinate adherers to it, are become so sottishly blind, as to believe the most prodigious fables as divine revela

tious.

Since the coming of Jesus Christ, Mahometanism has overspread a great part of the barbarous world. But this carries in it such apparent and certain marks of falsehood, that it can be no temptation to any person in whom there is but a spark of good sense. Whether we consider,

(1.) The author from whom it was derived: a robber, one drenched in sensuality, and therefore utterly unqualified to be the revealer of the will of the holy God to men.

(2.) The quality of its doctrines; some are ridiculous and extravagant above the vanity of a feverish dream: some are pernicious, flattering both the lower appetites-the concupiscible, by losing its natural restraints from exorbitant fleshly pleasuresthe irascible, by commending the violent oppression of others for the advancement of religion.

(3.) The means by which it had its rise and was propagated: it sprang from imposture; Mahomet erected an oracle in his own fancy, and pretended that the Holy Ghost descended there to give his inspirations. Thus he seduced at first: but having got a strong party, force succeeded deceit. The sword cut its way through many countries. And is it strange that the people so fiercely taught should follow the religion of the cruel conqueror? Thus it was planted, thus it increased, and is still maintained by the same causes.

(4.) The quality of those who received it. They were barbarous nations, and absolutely forbidden to make an inquiry into the matters of religion. And how easy is it to make an impression on the rude lump of the multitude? What wonder is it that pleasant follies should usurp the belief of the ignorant vulgar?

(5.) It promises in the future life a paradise, most unworthy the glorious rewarder, God, and the excellence of man. This is so evident, that Avicen, a Saracen philosopher, and Mahometan in profession,

speaks with abhorrence of those dreggy low delights, and, on the contrary, asserts, that the height of happiness is in the perfections of the soul united to God; and thus virtually condemns their faith, as repugnant to the dictates of clear religion.

CHAPTER II.

The Christian Religion considered.

I WILL now consider the Christian Religion directly in itself. It has this noble prerogative above the rest, that the more one searches into it, the more its

divinity appears. Whereas other religions may please a superficial eye, but cannot endure a serious trial. Some things are to be premised.

1. I shall suppose it as a principle above all doubt, there was such a person as Jesus Christ, who conversed in the world, consigned the Christian doctrine to the apostles, and by them it is conveyed to us in the New Testament. For in asserting it, we have the uniform deposition of all that profess this religion, from its rise till the present age, in all parts of the world. Though of different opinions in other things, yet they agree in this, that Jesus Christ was their founder. Now, who can better know the Author of an institution, ecclesiastical or secular, than those who were admitted into its beginning, and those who have succeeded in that order from age to age, without interruption? Besides, we have the consenting and constant testimony of Jews and Heathens, the