"the

as infallible as his predictions: to witness" within us, and to an acquaintance with the interior excellence of the gospel, let us labour to add a more perfect knowledge of the historical and moral evidence which defends it; that thus we may be better qualified to convince gainsayers. More particularly, let us attend to that "sure word of prophecy, whereunto we shall do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark placet."

If we are christians in name only, let us receive a salutary admonition from that exemplary vengeance which was inflicted by the Almighty upon the whole Jewish nation; who, while "they professed that they knew God, in works denied him ;" and while they boasted that they were his peculiar people, remained "strangers to the covenant of promise." Let us also seriously reflect, that, as then he was not a Jew who was only one "outwardly," "in the letter" merely, and whose praise was of †2 Peter i. 19.

* 1 John v. 10.

men-so now, in like manner, he only is a christian who is one "inwardly," whose religion is seated in the heart; "in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God."

Let the unbeliever, for whose benefit, chiefly, the preceding pages were written, seriously ponder their contents. Should the evidence which they contain in favour of christianity fail to convince him of its divine origin, it may be important for him to ask himself the following questions: "Can I reasonably require, for that purpose, stronger moral evidence than this? Can I conceive it possible that stronger evidence of this kind should be afforded? Am I capable of forming a scheme, of historical and moral proof, which shall not be liable to greater and more numerous objections? If I imagine myself equal to a task, at once so comprehensive and profound, have I also the resolution to enter upon it, to publish the scheme,

*Romans ii. 28, 29.

which I shall construct, for the decision of the world, and to stake the credit of my infidelity upon it?"

But it may be proper to inform the de-. ist, that the faith which we wish him to possess is not merely an admission upon evidence, that " all scripture is given by inspiration of God" (which, standing alone, has no higher moral value than the faith of education which he ridicules), but a vital, active principle, a faith that will "purify his heart;" that "works by love;" that will enable him to "fight the good fight," "to overcome the world," and to obtain "a crown of life," and "an incorruptible inheritance" in heaven*. It may be proper also to remind the unbeliever,

that the evidence which has been adduced constitutes one only of those numerous bulwarks, more impregnable than the towers of Jerusalem, which encompass defend christianity. But if this be the fact

and

* Acts xv. 9; Gal. v. 6; 2 Tim. iv. 7; 1 John v. 4, 5; James i. 3, 12; 1 Peter i. 4, 5.

་

-and is it not? how great must be his temerity! how hopeless his warfare! how certain his defeat!

To the Jew we would say-Suspend, if it be practicable, the prejudices which you inherit from your forefathers, whilst you ponder, for one hour, the important and interesting subject of these pages-to you peculiarly interesting and important. Is it possible that you can attentively reflect upon the destruction of "the beloved city," the dispersion of your nation into all countries-the terrible calamities which have every where pursued them, for nearly 1800 years, even unto this day-and not trace therein the condign and predicted punishment of their original rejection, and continued contempt of that very Messiah whose character your own scriptures so faithfully pourtray*, and whose advent, precisely at the time of his actual appearance, they as clearly foretold+? But your ancestors did not only reject, † Dan. ix. 26, 27.

* Isaiah iii. 53.

"His

they also slew their Saviour. blood," said they, when calling upon Pilate to crucify him, "his blood be on us and upon our children." "A most fatal imprecation, and most dreadfully fulfilled upon them at the siege of Jerusalem, when the vengeance of heaven overtook them with a fury unexampled in the history of the world; when they were exposed at once to the horrors of famine, of sedition, of assassination, and the sword of the Romans*." Observe, too, the striking correspondence which marked their crimes in their punishment: "They put Jesus to death when the nation was assembled to celebrate the passover; and when the nation was assembled for the same purpose, Titus shut them up with. in the walls of Jerusalem †.

The re

jection of the Messiah was their crime, and the following of false Messiahs to their destruction was their punishment +.

*See the Bishop of London's Lectures, vol. ii. page 284; and Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, Diss. 21. † Page 63 of this Treatise. Ibid. 22.