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quish his prejudices in favor of the exclusive privileges of his nation, and confessed that the declared will of God, alone, had conquered his reluctance! What was I, that I should withstand God? And his hearers drew this conclusion from his representation of the matter-Then hath God granted to THE GENTILES repentance unto life. In the xivth chapter,' it is related that Paul and Barnabas rehearsed all that God had done, and how he had, by their means, opened the door of faith to the Gentiles; and, in the following chapter, the conversion of the Gentiles, is said to have caused great joy to all the Brethren.

With these facts in view; it was extremely natural for such a man, as St. Paul, to have furnished himself with every degree of information which antient prophecy might afford him, upon the subject of the call of the Gentiles, and particularly, as he was, by way of eminence, the Apostle of the Gentiles. And this is not a mere conjecture; for many passages might be adduced, which fully evince, how much he actually did turn his attention to this subject; from which the following is selected as a remarkable example, wherein he quotes a prophecy from Hosea concerning the divine designs towards the Gentiles. I will call them my people which were not my people, and her beloved which was not beloved. And in the same Epistle he dwells largely upon the conversion of the Gentiles, blending with it, the rejection of the Jews; which, as a Jew, he very naturally terms a mystery, which he seems scarcely to be able to comprehend or how to fathom the reasons of the divine conduct towards them, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God-how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! But though he appears to have been so deeply affected at the thought of the rejection of the Jews; yet it is remarkable, that he looks forward and comforts himself with the animating expectation that though blindness in part had happened unto Israel; yet that it would continue ONLY until the fulness of the Gentiles, and that then all Israel should be saved. With these enlarged views upon the subject-how improbable was it that St. Paul should predict 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,

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But this is not all; for the Apostle Paul has predicted some other very striking 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, "which "the more closely you press it, the more reason you will "have to believe, that the speedy coming of Christ" (to judge the world)" could never have been predicted by the "Apostles. Take it as translated by Bp. Newton. "Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the latter times, some shall "apostatize from the faith, giving heed to erroneous spirits.

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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 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 truth, "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 liars:-you recognize, "no doubt, the priesthood and the martyrologists ;-having their conscience seared with a red-hot iron :-Callous, indeed, "must his conscience be, who trafficks in indulgences :-for

bidding 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." *

To this may be added, what the same learned Prelate has very 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, the doctrine

of the speedy coming of Christ to judge the world is prin"cipally founded; it is manifest that he was conscious he "should not live to see it, notwithstanding the expression"IVe which are alive; for he foretels his own death in express

* See Bishop Watson's Apology, pages 58, 59, 60.

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terms. The time of my departure is at hand; and he "speaks of his reward, not as immediately to be conferred 66 upon him-but as laid up and reserved for him till 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 66 give me at that day. * ·

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Nor must, what another writer has excellently well observed upon this subject, be omitted. "Whoever," says Mr. Thomas," 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 compre"hended 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, ii. 6, 7. See Mr. Thomas's Strictures on Dr. Edwards's Sermon, pages 41, 42.

Thus various and accumulated are the evidences drawn from the sacred books, that the Apostles taught no such doctrine, as has been imputed to them, respecting the speedy dissolution of the world. But what, it may be said, 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, and that they even saw the day approaching, with other expressions of the like 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 of any other application-there will be an end of the controversy, and it must then be confessed, without reserve, that they either were mistaken—or that they were guilty of the most manifest contradiction. In either case, it will necessarily make against the credit of the Apostles-but, in the former-the historian of the Decline and fall of the

See Bishop Watson's Apology, pages 54, 55.

Roman

Roman Empire was certainly justified in his assertion that "the records of seventeen centuries, have instructed, us not "to press too closely the mysterious language of prophecy " and revelation ;" and the adversaries of Christianity, upon every principle of sound reasoning, will be entitled to the inference which, it seems, they would wish to draw from it, viz. that it is an Imposture. But, as was said before, in the case of the like charge against our Lord, before a conclusion, so fatal to the interests of Christianity, is permitted to be drawn ; it ought to be shewn, with an evidence, which is irresistible, that these passages must necessarily be applied to the day of Judgment, and that they are absolutely incapable, upon the principles of sound reasoning, of any other sense; otherwise Christianity may still be true, and the Apostles be fully vindicated from the charge, as well as from the inconsistency, which in that case, would attach to them. The question then is, whether, when the Apostles asserted that the Lord was at hand, with other similar expressions, they may not, with the strictest propriety, be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem; which it is allowed, on all hands, was to happen within a short distance from the time when the Epistles, in which these expressions occur, were written.

To ascertain this matter, with all the precision of which the subject is capable, and to give the judicious and impartial Reader, all the satifaction which can reasonably be required; it will be requisite, particularly, to attend to the language 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, when speaking of the destruction of Babylon, says, Chap. 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 GodFOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND-for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice-he hath bid his guests. Ezek. xxx. 2, 3. Son of Man prophecy 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 day—it shall be the time of the heathen. And, most remarkable, is

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the expression of the Prophet Amos, Chap. v. 18. partienlarly when it is compared with our Lord's description of the approach of the destruction of Jerusalem, in Luke xvii. 22. Woe unto you that desire THE DAY OF THE LORD to what end is it for you? THE DAY OF THE LORD is darkness and not light.

From these examples, it is abundantly evident, that in the description of any remarkable temporal calamities; it was the customary language of prophecy, as it was, in fact, the language of genuine piety, to represent that, as the Lord's doing which was effected by human agency, and to point out their near approach, by the phrases-the coming of the Lord-the day of the Lord being at hand, and by other expressions of a similar nature.

When it is considered that the destruction of Jerusalem, was an event which our Lord had predicted, with a particular degree of pecision, and that he had connected its accomplishment, with the full manifestation of the true nature of his character, as THE MESSIAH, in opposition to the general opinion, which had been entertained concerning it; it will not be surprising that the Apostles should have alluded to the near approach of that event, in their epistolary correspondence with their Christian brethren. Indeed, if they had not, their epistles would have wanted one material evidence of their genuine authenticity; for, when they had occasion to speak of this event; it should seem that nothing could have been more natural for them, both as Jews, and as pious and good men, to adopt the language of the Prophets, and it is worthy of observation, that it was a language which they must have found, particularly, convenient to them, as it was, too general, to be laid hold of, by their adversaries, to their detriment. And this alone, in times like those in which they lived, was a matter of no trifling consequence! If, therefore, no other evidence, to justify the language which the Apostles have adopted, could have been adduced-this alone, instead of being objectionable, would have been, a strong

* It might be observed here, that the destruction of Jerusalem was the last and crowning evidence to the whole world, how much they had mistaken the nature of the Messiah's character. "Christ," says Dr. Jortin, "had foretold it so expressly that if he had failed, his Religion could not "have supported itself." See Jortin's Remarks, Vol. I. page 20.

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