uniting with the band of believing Jews, the Gentiles also forsook the vain, superstitious, and costly oblations by which they had invoked dumb idols, and presented to him, who had redeemed them by the blood of his Son, the offering of "a pure heart," of "a good conscience," and of "faith unfeigned ';" then was fulfilled the prediction, "Incense was offered to God's name, and a peace-offering."

At the present day is this prediction also verified; when, obedient to the pure and spiritual requisitions of the Gospel of the Son of God, all those descendants of the Gentiles on whom this divine light hath shone, and the glory of the Lord arisen, come unto the Father of their spirits deeply impressed with the exalted excellencies of his nature, and worship him with their homage and their praises; and when, forsaking every sinful way, and renewed in the spirit of their minds, they offer to him that oblation without which all external homage is abomination unto him, the offering of themselves to his service in holiness and righteousness of life.

But, my brethren, in the second particular proposed to your consideration in this predictionII. The extension of the Gospel ;

You are warranted to expect a state of things very different from that which now exists. God's

! 1 Tim. i. 5.

name is now unknown to large portions of the human race, who ascribe to the idols of a blinded mind, and a corrupt heart and imagination, the honor which is due only to that sovereign Lord who made the heavens. Among many of the nations, instead of the incense of praise and the pure offering of holy hearts and lives to the one living and true God, manifested in the perfection of his nature and his laws through his Son Jesus Christ, human blood smokes on the altar of some sanguinary Moloch, and rites admitting and requiring the indulgence of sensual and lewd appetite, invoke the favour of some deified monster of impurity and lust. But the reign of darkness and idolatry and sin is to terminate throughout the earth; for "from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, God's name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto his name, and a pure offering."

This prediction of the universal extension of the Gospel, uttered by Malachi, with whom ceased the sublime and comforting strains of prophecy, was only a reiteration of a promise delivered from the beginning. This was the promise which had comforted Adam under the ruins of the fall with the prospect of" the seed of the woman" to bruise the head of the serpent'; which made Abraham rejoice in the prospect of a "seed that should bless all the

Gen. iii. 15.

Gen. xxii. 18.

families of the earth';" which unfolded to Jacob "the gathering of the people" unto "Shiloh "," the divine messenger of God; and which was conveyed in the strains of the numerous prophets, by whom, while God denounced his judgments and deliverances to Israel, he foretold his judgments against the enemies of man's salvation, and the spiritual deliverances of that King of Zion unto whom "the heathen should be given for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession *;" and who should be for "salvation to the ends of the earth"." The calling of the Gentiles into the Christian fold, and the universal extension of the kingdom of the Redeemer, are the truths which the devout Simeon celebrated when he spake the praises of him who was born" the light of the Gentiles," and which an inspired Apostle confirmed when he announced the final restoration of the Jews with the coming in of the "fulness of the Gentiles"."

III. The certainty of this event

Was the last particular noticed in the text. The declaration of the first clause is repeated in the last-" My name shall be great among the heathen;" as if to fix the mind without any doubt on the certainty of the event. And the solemn declaration is added, "saith the Lord of hosts;" a form

"Gen. xlix. 10.

* Psalm ii. S.

y Psalm xcviii. 3.

2 Rom. xi. 25.

of expression denoting still further the unchangeableness of the promise, and pledging for its fulfilment the power of him, "the Lord of hosts," who rules in heaven and on earth, and can therefore make all things work together for the completion of his purposes and counsels.

Thus then, brethren, as certainly as the Lord of Hosts hath spoken, as certainly as he is the Omnipotent Ruler of the universe, shall the event take place, which from the beginning to the end of Scripture inspiration has been predicted, and "the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ."

The period when this event shall take place is hidden in the unsearchable counsels of God.

The

But our first emotion should be gratitude to him, that to us the light of the Christian Zion has come, and on us "the glory of the Lord arisen." blessings which we constantly enjoy, are rarely estimated at their full value. Spiritual light constantly shining around us, we do not consider the magnitude of the will of spiritual darkness. But, my brethren, look at the condition of those who worship for their Gods, the idols which their hands have made, or the meanest and vilest of the works of nature; who render to these idols of a vain imagination, and a blinded and corrupt heart, the homage of impurity and of blood; who, sanctioned

i Rev. xi. 15.

by the character of their imaginary deities, and excited by the orgies and rites of their lewd temples, corrupt and abuse the dictates of nature, wallow in bestial sensuality, and glory in the most sanguinary crimes. Look even at the state of those who, though cherishing the lights of reason and conscience, and the secret monitions of God's Spirit, will not therefore be rejected by the Father of mercies, are yet unable to reach those high degrees of virtue, those full hopes of immortality, and those exalted stations of future glory, which may be attained by those to whom God speaks by his Son Jesus Christ. Contemplate frequently and seriously, the deplorable condition of those unto whom the name of God has not yet been revealed,—and bless and praise his grace and mercy in "calling you out of darkness, into marvellous light," and in "translating you from the kingdom of sin and Satan, into the kingdom of his Son*."

But with the contemplation of your distinguished privileges, constantly bear in mind the greater magnitude of your responsibility. The light of divine truth, has not shone upon you, that you may still walk in the darkness of error and sin. The grace of God hath not been given to you, that you may turn it into lasciviousness. The hope of life and immortality hath not been conferred upon you, that you may still live, as if

* Col. i. 13.