thing, from the fact, which I have introduced to prove the contrary; viz. that he gathered disciples, and placed himself at the head of them, in distinction from the body of unbelieving Jews. The question is, What were these disciples anterior to their being thus collected? Did they belong to the heathen world? Were they not all native Jews? Were they not of the visible people of God, the Israel whom he loved, and redeemed? Is there not demonstration that some of them at least, and much reason to conclude, that nearly all of them, were subjects of real religion? Was not this the case with John and his disciples? Was it not the case with Joseph, and Mary, and Simeon, and Anna, Zacharias, and Elizabeth? And why should it not be supposed to have been the case with many others? Some we are told believed in Christ, who did not confess him; i. e. did not publicly follow him. Now to what society did these persons belong? Why the evasion is, that they belonged to the nation of the Jews; a nation, in the civil acceptation of that term. But we have proved that Israel was not a nation, in this sense; that it was a religious society, of which Christ was the immediate head. When he came to his own, he did not come to subjects of a civil government; but to those who stood in visible relation to him by the bonds of the Abrahamic covenant. It is true, as Dr. Baldwin says, that a large proportion of the Jews hated Christ, and rejected him; that he did not consult their pleasure, or act in concert with them. What then? Still they were his own, just as hypocrites in the Church are now. "He came unto his own; and his own received him not." They were his subjects; but they proved themselves to be rebellious subjects, just as a multitude of their fathers had been; and were cut off accordingly. If they had not been his, he could not have cut them off. All that the Savior did, therefore, in thus separating the holy from the vile, proves, that a kingdom was not now originally formed. Let my brother, and let the reader remember, that the Messiah was to order, and establish forever, a kingdom, already existing. To

purge, and purify, and exonerate, in this manner, was to order and establish. But to set up an entirely new kingdom, would be quite a different thing. The principle here contended for, as a matter of fact will be much confirmed as we proceed. I will therefore detain the reader no longer in this place.

thing, from the fact, which I have introduced to prove the contrary; viz. that he gathered disciples, and placed himself at the head of them, in distinction from the body of unbelieving Jews. The question is, What were these disciples anterior to their being thus collected? Did they belong to the heathen world? Were they not all native Jews? Were they not of the visible people of God, the Israel whom he loved, and redeemed? Is there not demonstration that some of them at least, and much reason to conclude, that nearly all of them, were subjects of real religion? Was not this the case with John and his disciples? Was it not the case with Joseph, and Mary, and Simeon, and Anna, Zacharias, and Elizabeth? And why should it not be supposed to have been the case with many others? Some we are told believed in Christ, who did not confess him; i. e. did not publicly follow him. Now to what society did these persons belong? Why the evasion is, that they belonged to the nation of the Jews; a nation, in the civil acceptation of that term. But we have proved that Israel was not a nation, in this sense; that it was a religious society, of which Christ was the immediate head. When he came to his own, he did not come to subjects of a civil government; but to those who stood in visible relation to him by the bonds of the Abrahamic covenant. It is true, as Dr. Baldwin says, that a large proportion of the Jews hated Christ, and rejected him; that he did not consult their pleasure, or act in concert with them. What then? Still they were his own, just as hypocrites in the Church are now. "He came unto his own; and his own received him not." They were his subjects; but they proved themselves to be rebellious subjects, just as a multitude of their fathers had been; and were cut off accordingly. If they had not been his, he could not have cut them off. All that the Savior did, therefore, in thus separating the holy from the vile, proves, that a kingdom was not now originally formed. Let my brother, and let the reader remember, that the Messiah was to order, and establish forever, a kingdom, already existing. To

purge, and purify, and exonerate, in this manner, was to order and establish. But to set up an entirely new kingdom, would be quite a different thing. The principle here contended for, as a matter of fact will be much confirmed as we proceed. I will therefore detain the reader no longer in this place.

CHAPTER IX.

Respecting the rejection of the unbelieving part of Israel, and the translation of the Messiah's kingdom into the Gentile world, in which the union of believing Jews and Gentiles, under his immediate reign, is illustrated.

UNDER the ministration of Christ, we have seen a part of the Jewish people, following him as their king, and acknowledged by him as the sheep of his fold. In them we have seen his kingdom perpetuated, ordered, and established. We have seen another part, and this the largest, hardened in impenitence and unbelief, rising up in rebellion against their own Messiah, refusing his claims, and fatally casting him out of the vineyard. We are now to see how these two portions of the Jewish people are disposed of. We will begin with the unbelieving part. Upon them, Christ, during his ministry, fixed uncommon, and as it would seem, with respect to the most of them, unpardonable guilt." If I had not spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." Mat. xxiii. 31. "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers; Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Upon them especially, must have rested the awful denunciations of their lawgiver Moses, Deut. xxviii. 6, and on. "And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought, and to pluck you off from the good land, whither ye go to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unte