when he declared, that when Israel's God should come to save him, "the eyes of the blind should be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; that the lame man shonld leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb should sing."* Yet, even in this manner, have we seen Christ occupying the gate of his enemies, and destroying the works of the devil. Yea, without making myself further tedious by particularizing, we know from what Christ declared to the two disciples travelling to Emmaus, that the prophets also foretold his resurrection, whereby he was to possess the gate of another enemy, even death.

4. One more article of the covenant I must draw attention to. How little was it understood previous to the event, that the election from among the Gentiles,-which we now see is being called out, and who are destined to be made partakers with that election or remnant which has been throughout gathering from among Israel,—

I

say, how little was it understood that it was contained in the promise, that in Abraham and his seed should all families or nations of the earth be blessed. Yet Paul in Galatians declares, “That the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."+ * Is. xxxv. 5, 6. + Gal. iii. 8.

and in his Epistle to the Romans he quotes Moses, David, Hosea, and Isaiah, as all testifying, that the Gentiles were to be thus made partakers, and to be accounted for a seed.*

But what have we Gentiles done in return for this mercy? Why we have trampled down and despised Israel after the flesh for so many ages, that we have forgotten our relative positions. We, who occupy but a parenthesis as it were in the covenant, have boasted ourselves as if we were the principal party in it! We, who can enjoy nothing, but as it comes to us through the root and fatness of the Israelitish olive-tree, have gloried as if we bore the root, instead of the root bearing us; and have gone nigh to exclude Israel after the flesh from all further interest in the blessings of their own covenant!

5. I have now, brethren, shown you how God's thoughts have exceeded our thoughts, in regard to certain particulars more or less fulfilled: such of you as are acquainted with the prophets must be aware that equally glorious things are unfolded by them from this covenant, which have not yet come to pass. For instance, Moses assures us, in regard to the future restoration of Israel, "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God

Rom. x.

gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee; and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed." *

An equally remarkable prophecy of Moses is contained in the Book of Leviticus, in which, having spoken of their sufferings in the lands of their enemies, and of their subsequent humiliation, "then (saith the Lord) will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham, will I remember; and I will remember THE LAND."† Ezekiel foretels in regard to the holy remnant who lived during Israel's affliction, and who complained that they were cut off, as regarded their parts or lots in the inheritance, and their hope lost:"Thus saith the Lord; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I THE LORD, have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord."+ Agreeing with the literal meaning of this place is the promise made to Daniel, about this same time, that he personally + Lev. xxvi. 37-42.

* Deut. xxx. 4.

Ezek. xxxvii. 11.

should rest until the end of things foretold to him should arrive; and that then he should stand in his lot at the end of the days.* * And David declared, that he had fainted, unless he had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living;+ which land the Council of Nice expounded of Palestine, renewed or regenerated; even as Ezekiel and Isaiah predicted, that it shall become as Eden, and the garden of the Lord. And further, St. Paul, when before Agrippa, speaking of the resurrection, says, that it was the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which the twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hoped to come;demanding also of Agrippa, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?"§

It is also shown by the prophets, that the whole nation, when restored, shall be sanctified ; Moses declaring, that God should circumcise their heart, and the heart of their seed, to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul;|| and Isaiah, that the people of Zion should then be all righteous.¶ In like manner it is foretold, in reference to possessing the gate of their enemies, and becoming kings of nations, that their children shall be princes in all the earth;

* Dan. xii. 13. + Ps. xxvii. 13. Ezek. xxxvi. 35; Is. li. § Acts xxvi. 6-8. | Deut. xxx. 6. ¶ Isa. lx. 21.

that they shall have dominion over all nations; that the nation and kingdom that will not serve them shall perish; that there shall be no more sorrowing nor sickness, that death shall be altogether swallowed up in victory; and that then the tabernacle of God shall be with them, and he shall dwell with them, they having David their king over them, and the Lord God at their head.*

I now would ask,-Ought not what God hath fulfilled already to be regarded as a most sure token and earnest of the fulfilment of the remainder in his own good time? O, let not the marvellous and extraordinary character of the things predicted, as yet to come to pass, hinder us from receiving them: those already accomplished are equally wonderful; and were that which remains a hundred times more difficult to accomplish, yet nothing is too hard for the Lord. But is there anything more difficult for God to effect in the resurrection of all who have had the faith of Abraham, than in the resurrection of Christ? Is it more incredible that God should renew the earth, than that he should regenerate the human heart? Is it more wonderful, that Israel should be brought

* Ps. xlv. 16. Isa. lx. 12; xxxv. 10. xxv. 7. Hos. xiii. 14. Zech. viii. 3.