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any other fins or vices, may be faid to be only speculative believers, for their faith reaches the head, but not the heart: they are only nominal Chriftians; but far from being the difciples indeed of the bleffed Jefus, and will

receive their portion with unbelievers," Luke xii. 46. Therefore my principal defign, by the grace of God, is to propofe and point out fuch methods, whereby you may become proper objects to receive evangelical faith.

The first virtue I would recommend to you is humility, a humble apprehenfion of the weakness and infufficiency of your own understandings, to comprehend those things which do not fall under our fenfes ; to be of a felf-diffident difpofition, your minds always. flexible, open to conviction, always willing and ready to receive and embrace the truth in the love of it. I would also heartily and fincerely recommend the neceffary duty of felf-examination; not in a flight, curfory manner, but with the greatest deliberation and impar tiality, as an affair of the utmost importance. It being of the greatest confequence, whether you have or have not acted agreeably to the laws of natural religion; whether

you do conftantly live in the true fear and reverence of the Lord of heaven and earth. Whether you do govern your corrupt, unruly, headstrong paffions by your reafon, which almighty God has invested you with for that excellent purpose: whether in every refpect you do to others, as you would have others do to you: whether you are of a compaffionate, fympathifing, tenderhearted difpofition: whether you do not do any injury to your fellow-creatures: but, on the contrary, do you

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do them all the good your circumftances and fituation of life will admit of?

Thefe, you must acknowledge, are the duties of natural religion.

Examine yourselves, whether you have given that due attention, that juft regard, to the external evidences to the truth of divine revelation, as the import ance of it demands. Have you thoroughly weighed the authenticity of the writings of Mofes and the prophets? with what exceeding great care they were preserved from one generation to another; and how the Jews had in their cuftody copies of all the laws, in fo exact a manner, as not to fuffer a fingle point either to be added to them, or taken from them, on any confideration whatsoever.

Have you confidered, that these writings contain not only their laws, or their inftitutional rites and ceremonies, and their religious obfervances from time to time, and how they kept the paffover as a memorial of the death of the first-born in Egypt; and that the same day, all the first-born of Ifrael, both man and beast, were by a perpetual law dedicated to God, and the Levites taken for all the first-born of the children of Ifrael, Numb. viii. 17, 18? that Aaron's rod which budded, was preserved in the ark, in memory of the rebellion, and wonderful destruction of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and for a confirmation of the priesthood to the family of Aaron? also the pot of manna, in memory of the children of Ifrael's being fupported by manna from heaven, in a very miraculous manner, forty years toge

ther,

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ther, while they were in the wilderness? that the brazen ferpent was also preserved, in memory of thofe admirable cures it performed on all those who were bit by the fiery ferpent, whenever they looked on it, Numb. xxi. which ferpent remained to the days of Hezekiah, their good young king, who destroyed it, because they idolized, and burnt incenfe to it? 2 Kings xviii. 4. They kept the feafts of the Paffover, of Pentecoft, and the feaft of Tabernacles.

The Paffover was celebrated in memory of that wonderful and grand deliverance out of Egypt, Deut. v. 1§. Their number was no lefs than fix hundred thousand "and three thousand and five hundred and fifty" fouls, Numb. i. 46. Their daily facrifices, and yearly expiations, their new moons, and feveral feafts and fasts, were repeated remembrances of these remarkable events, Have you confidered that the children of Ifrael, with the ark of the Lord, paffed over the river Jordan on dry land, to the number of forty thousand; on which Joshua caused twelve ftones to be erected at Gilgal, in memory of fo wonderful a providence? and that, when their children in future ages fhould ask the meaning of it, it fhould be told them, that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord: "when it paffed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off, and "these stones fhall be a memorial unto the children "of Ifrael for ever". Jofhua iv. 7.

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The book of the law was not only a history of real matters of facts, of what things were done from time

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to time, but it contained fixed municipal laws and fta tutes of the nation of the Jews, which were equally obligatory both on king and people.

That they had all been circumcifed, and conftantly circumcised their children, in obedience to the commands in the law of Mofes; that they had never eaten any fwine's flesh, or other meats prohibited in the law; that they had a magnificent tabernacle; that a particular tribe (of Levi) was appointed and confecrated by God, as his priests; by whofe hands, and none other, the facrifices of the people were to be offered, and thofe fo lemn inftitutions to be celebrated; that it was death for any other to approach the altar; that their high priest wore a glorious mitre, and magnificent robes of God's ordaining, with the miraculous Urim and Thummim in his breaft-plate, whence the divine refponfes were given; that at his word the king and all the peo ple were to go out and come in, Numb. xxvii. 21. These priests were their ordinary judges, even in civil { matters, therefore it was not poffible to have perfuaded a whole nation, that they had known and practifed all thefe ordinances, if they had not; or either to have received and acknowledged the books of Mofes for truth, which declared they had practifed them, appealing to that practice, if it was not fact, which is abfurd to. fuppofe, and which every rational mind will acknowledge.

The few scattered, difperfed Jews now remaining in the world, who recognize many of the customs and ceremonies of their forefathers, are living teftimonies of Judaism,

Judaifm, as the facred established laws under the old difpenfation, and their facred records, do teftify the truth of the new difpenfation, under the glorious gofpel of the Meffiah, which is foretold and prophefied of in the Old Teftament in many places,

Therefore you will do yourselves justice, if you will be very careful to examine and compare the prophe fies that are there of the Meffiah, with the fulfilment of them, as recorded by the four poor honest disinterested evangelists, relating to time, place, and all other circumftances in the perfon, birth, life, death, resurrection and afcenfion of the blessed Jefus, as recorded in the New Teftament, in which there is no poffibility of deceit or imposture. Old prophefies, recorded for two thoufand years, (and all fo agreeing) could not have been contrived to countenance a falfity; therefore nothing could be a falfity that could fo compleatly fulfil all those things relating to the Meffiah, the Son of the living God, Jefus of Nazareth, in the days of king Herod.

That there were fuch perfons in his reign as John, whose firname was Baptift, and one whom they called Jefus, is manifeft and evident from Flavius Jofephus, a faithful Jewish hiftorian, who recorded, "That it was "the opinion of numbers of the Jews, that Herod's "army was overthrown by the just vengeance of God, "who punished him most deservedly, by reason of the "execution he caufed to be done on John, firnamed

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Baptift, by putting him to death: a man who was

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