longer exhibit the ancient and necessary seals of its authority. It is not only deprived of its essentials, an altar and a sacrifice, but what is of more importance than even these, it is no longer entitled to the influences from above which it formerly enjoyed while it was still looking forward to Christ yet to come; and it has no more the power of yielding comfort and the necessary sustenance to the soul. What Christ had threatened in vain, he now in dreadful reality fulfilled. "The kingdom of heaven," said he, "shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,” and “ many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkThere shall be weeping and gnashing -A repentance like that of the

ness.

of teeth."*.

damned, shut up unto endless despair. For this passage, although applied by our Lord to the temporal judgment coming upon the

* Matt, xxi. 43.—viii, 11.

H

jews, no doubt alludes equally, and with greater weight, (in as much as eternal punishment is more to be dreaded than temporal,) to the infallible exclusion of wicked christians from the presence of the Lord, at the judgment of the great day.

In the sixty fifth chapter of Isaiah there is a very striking description of the melancholy condition of Israel in their state of rejection; a prey to the devouring sword without, and to spiritual famine within." Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I (your Messias) called, ye did not answer, when I spake ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did chuse that wherein I delighted not,”—(the righteousness by the law, and not of faith.)—" Therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, my servants" (the converted jews) shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed; behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sor

row of heart, and shall bowl for vexation spirit. And ye shall leave your name" (jews)

for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord shall slay thee, and call his servants by ANOTHER NAME,”—(Christians).

Their great prophet Moses, in that wonderful prophecy contained in the twenty eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, had forewarned them of these disastrous times in very similar terms. (v. 28.) "The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart, and thou shalt grope at noon day, as the blind gropeth in darkness.” (v. 37.) "And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a bye word;* among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee."

*The inspired author of Psalm viii. 6. and Psalm xliv. from verse 9, to 15, touches this mournful subject in the moșt beautiful strains. There are instances upon record of the Blind fanaticism and cruelties of the jews, which almost exceed belief, and shew their extreme hatred of the christian name. They suffered many times, both in England and other coun. tries for the charge of crucifying children, in contempt of Christ; which, if true, is a deplorable proof of the shocking depravity

(v. 46.) " And these curses shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.". The sign and wonder should be perpetual, even after the curse should have been removed. The jews have ever been, and ever will be considered as a wonderful people. Their prosperity while they were obedient, was very wonderful, and their state of abandonment and rejection is yet more so, if we contemplate it in all its circumstances; but the circumstances of their happy restoration in the last days, will exceed

curse.

both of heart and understanding induced upon them by the The hatred they were held in every where, even to a proverb, makes such an accusation doubtful. Shakespear's character of Shylock is conformable to this vulgar prejudice against them. To call a man jew, was to stigmatize him in a manner as provoking as possible. It was a proverb as notorious as that of the romans, "ingratum si dixeris, omnia dixeris,?? Of their diabolical attempt to poison all the waters in France, by which many persons died, there is no doubt. See Gifford's History of France, v. i. p. 572. Hume's History of England. The history of all countries is full of the massacres, confiscations and banishments they were exposed to, in the dark ages, from the universal abhorrence in which they were held, for the grand crime against the christian name, and their depravity and cruelties on many occasions, but too well authenticated.

all former wonders, by which that ancient and holy people have been held up as witnesses for God and the truth of revelation, to all ages of the world.

In the forty ninth verse of the same chapter, Moses points out the romans as the instrument of their punishment, by the cagle, which was their standard, and by their fierceness, cruelty, and great strength, the constant characteristic marks of the romans, whenever "The they are mentioned in the prophecies. Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth; as swift as the eagle flieth. A nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand, a nation of fierce countenance,” (or as it is in the margin) "strong of face," of a strong impenetrable front. Another characteristic of the romans, who likewise in regard to their remote situation from Judea, might be described (in the stile of prophecy) as coming "from far, from the end of the carth.". "They shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favor to the young." (v. 63.) "And