the one, he cannot deny that the heretic's reason is competent to pronounce concerning the other; and thus we must proceed from the rejection of Christ's reign upon earth to the rejection of his incarnation, and thence to the rejection of the Old Testament, and rest at last in the mere ideal God of the deist, or the aeon of the early heretics.

That such were the expectations and the faith of the catholic Church in its purest times, I have already intimated in my last lecture. It is past all controversy that the early Christians looked for their consummation of bliss in Christ's kingdom upon earth; and it is equally certain that the first enemies of this doctrine were found amongst the Gnostics, and that its final overthrow was owing to the influence of one who, however admirable for his learning and piety, is not celebrated either for his judgment or his orthodoxy. The Platonizing Christianity of the school of Origen first created a distaste for the doctrines of the Bible and the faith of the early Church. The proud claims of Roman supremacy made their rejection indispensably necessary, and the lingering effects of Popish poison have continued the dominion of the opposite system long beyond the times of the Reformation. But the most judicious divines of our own Church have gradually been led by the study of the prophecies, to return to the faith of primitive antiquity. antiquity. Newton, Lowth, Blayney, Newcome, Horsley, Van Mildert, may be mentioned

I

as holding the principles, or maintaining the views now contended for. And the great author of the Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion, by giving his suffrage in their favour, may convince the most fearful that this answer to Jewish objection is agreeable to sobriety of judgment and to soundness of reason. In that celebrated work he says,—“ As several of these events seem, in some degree expressly, to have verified the prophetic history already, so, likewise, they may be considered further as having a peculiar aspect towards the full completion of it; as affording some presumption that the whole of it shall, one time or other, be fulfilled. Thus, that the Jews have been so wonderfully preserved in their long and wide dispersion, which is, indeed, the direct fulfilling of some prophecies, but is now mentioned only as looking forward to somewhat yet to come: that natural religion came forth from Judea, and spread in the degree it has done over the world, before lost in idolatry; which, together with some other things, have distinguished that very place in like manner as the people of it are distinguished: that this great change of religion over the whole earth was brought about under the profession and acknowledgment that Jesus was the promised Messiah;— things of this kind naturally turn the thoughts of serious men towards the full completion of the prophetic history concerning the final restoration of

that people; concerning the establishment of the everlasting kingdom among them, the kingdom of the Messiah; and the future state of the world under this sacred government."

Thus far, Bishop Butler. In answering the Jew, then, by pointing to the second advent as the season when the promises of glory are to be accomplished, we are making no compromise of Christianity, and starting no novel or unheard-of tenets, but treading in the footsteps of some of the greatest ornaments of our own Church, returning to the doctrine of primitive antiquity, and, above all, following the uniform testimony of the New Testament. We are not devising a new scheme of interpretation to help us out of a difficulty. We advocate a great truth, which, if the voice of controversy were for ever hushed, it would still be our duty to maintain; but which, now, when the ignorance of it endangers the salvation of a great and numerous people, it would be treason against the majesty of heaven to withhold. Study the books of Jewish controversy, from the first age of the Church to the present day; or go and converse with the Jews in every country whither the wrath of an offended God hath scattered them. Inquire into their reasons for rejecting Christianity, and you will find in every age and every clime the same objection, the non-fulfilment of the promises of glory. An answer must, therefore, be had, and what other answer shall we choose

but that which solves the whole difficulty, without having recourse to force or evasion, maintains one consistent principle of interpretation, and has the sanction of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he says'O, fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory.'

LECTURE VI.

ISAIAH XLIV. 26.

That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers.

THE

IE man who can make a direct appeal to the Almighty and draw forth an immediate display of Omnipotence, has an unanswerable argument for the truth of his religion. When the son of Amram divided the Red Sea, his followers believed in the Lord and in Moses his servant. And when Elijah cried to his God and obtained an answer by fire from heaven, the waverers in Israel were convinced, and cried out-The Lord he is the God. The Lord he is the God.' Men feel that such mighty deeds necessarily exceed the mightiest efforts of impostors, and necessarily imply an exertion of divine power. An appeal to God's attribute of foreknowledge is equally conclusive, inasmuch as it is equally the sole prerogative of God. It is just as impossible to counterfeit one attribute as the other. If, therefore, we can adduce a clear exertion of the Divine prescience in proof of our religion, we make as direct an appeal to Deity, and in the coincidence of prophecy and history have an argument for its