be oppressed and peeled; and, those who are acquainted with their history know that this prediction also, has been most remarkably fulfilled.. It was predicted that, they should dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations; and are they not at this very day, although scattered over the face of the whole earth, yet really a distinct people, isolated and alone? "The children of Israel," says the prophet Hosea, "shall abide many days without a king; and without a prince; and without a sacrifice; and without an image; and without an ephod; and without teraphim." Hos. iii. 4. And is not this their precise condition at the present moment? And have they not already contiued thus to abide, lo! these many days? By estimation there are, at this time, about eight millions of Jews upon the earth; a sufficient number to form a powerful empire, or more glorious republic; and yet they have no king, no prince, no polity, no-government of their own, and this has been the case for eighteen hundred years! How astonishing are these prophecies, and how exact their fulfilment! and how certainly true are the words of the apostle Peter: "Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Of Ishmael it was predicted, that he should become a great nation; that he should be a wild man, and that his hand should be against every

ter;

man, and every man's hand against him; and that he should dwell in the presence of all his brethren; Gen. xvi. 12; that is, should never be subdued, or brought into subjection. Those acquainted with the Arabs, know that these predictions have been fulfilled to the very letand with regard to the independence which they should ever maintain, it is remarkable, that, although special efforts have been made by powerful monarchs, in various ages, to put them down, these efforts have all, ultimately, proved unsuccessful! Sesostris, Cyrus, Pompey, Trajan, and many other great conquerors, aimed at subjugating them, but never succeeded! At the present day, the Arabs, although wandering and predatory, are still an independent people; like the wild ass, whose home is the wilderness; whose pasture is the mountains; and who searcheth after every green thing. The prophecies in relation to Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, and Egypt, have also received their most exact accomplishmenttheir present condition, according to the statements of modern travellers, being precisely what was predicted so many thousand years ago With regard to Egypt, I will mention a fact which may have escaped the notice of some: Egypt, says the prophet Ezekiel, (xxix. 15,) shall never exalt itself any more over the nations. This was a bold prophecy when we consider when it was uttered; but the subse

quent history of Egypt has been in exact accordance with the prediction. But the particular point to which I refer is this: Some three or four years since, Mehemet Ali, the Pacha of Egypt, was upon the very point of subverting the Turkish empire; and would have done it, had not the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain interposed: And this they did, mark! not to accomplish the prophecy, but to preserve the balance of power. The prophecies which relate to the Messiah are about two hundred in number, which have in every particular been exactly fulfilled, in our blessed Redeemer. Let me mention only a very few. It was predicted of him that he should be despised and rejected by his own. people, the Jews; that he should lift up a standard to the Gentiles; to him should the gathering of the Gentiles be; and in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now this is prophecy. What is history? In exact accordance with the prophecy. Was Christ to be despised and rejected by his own people, the Jews? He came unto his own, says John, and his own received him not. And they; that is, the Jews, says Luke, were instant with loud voices in the temple, requiring that he might be crucified. Was Christ to lift up a standard to the Gentiles? and was not Saul of Tarsus con

* Isaiah liii. 3. xlix. 22. Gen. xlix. 10. xi. 10. Mat. xii. 21.

verted, and made the great apostle of the Gentiles? Moreover, to him was the gathering of the Gentiles to be. And who are they now, who profess the Christian faith? Are they not Gentiles? Few Jews, but many Gentiles! On the morning of the Christian Sabbath, the doors of ten thousand sanctuaries are thrown open, and see the multitudes who gather around the standard of the cross! Are they Jews? are they not Gentiles? But it is added: In him shall the Gentiles trust. We are all Gentiles, I suppose, who are here to-day; and now tell me, my brother, my sister-O ye precious sons and daughters of Zion! tell me, in whom do you trust for salvation? Is it not in the crucified Nazarene? And in whom did that dear mother of yours trust in a dying hour, when she so sweetly smiled, and said to you, "Meet me in heaven”—in whom did she trust? Was it not in Him who by the Jews was despised and rejected? I too am a Gentile, and I am not ashamed to say, that this same blessed Saviour is my only hope. Give me Christ or else I die! This day, then, have we evidence before our own eyes, and in our own hearts, that the prophecies are true, and the Bible is true. Yet the infidel rejects the sacred volume! And why? O because he is a reasonable man, and he cannot without a prostration of every thing like reason, embrace a system so preposterous and absurd! Ah! if I mistake not,

when afflictions shall make him more sober, and the near prospect of death shall make him more thoughtful, he will then see the evidence of the truth of the Bible more clearly than he does now! Like Ethan Allen, who, being asked by a dying daughter whether she should believe what her pious mother had taught her, or he? replied with tears, "My daughter, you had better believe what your mother has taught you." O how plain it is, and how appropriate is our text: "Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies. themselves being judges."

II. The supreme excellence or decided superiority of the. Christian religion, appears also in reference to its moral influence. And here, if I mistake not, we have public sentiment fully on our side: let a thorough-going infidel be truly converted, and become a real Christian; will not all persons expect to see an improvement in his moral character? but, on the other hand, let a real Christian (if it were possible) become a thorough-going infidel, and is there a man upon the face of the earth who anticipates an improvement in his moral character? Would there not rather be a suspicion waked up in the bosoms of all that that man has become loose in his morals, and, therefore, has become loose in his sentiments? Even the infidel himself is frequently constrained to pay homage to the Christian system, in relation to its moral influence. For example-here is an infidel about to