light on you, nor any heat; but the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed you, and shall lead you to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes!" PSALM CXLV. 10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy Saints shall bless thee. GREAT God! how wonderful art Thou To Thee should all thy creatures bow, Bright seraphs that surround thy throne In mystic harmony above, The planets roll along, And teach the universe thy love, In never-ceasing song! The winds that sweep along the sky, And clouds and vapours float on high, Or drop in show'rs beneath. From darkest shades thy lightning breaks; And darts thy glory near: Thy voice in awful thunder speaks, And fills the wretch with fear. Compar'd with thine immensity, 'Tis peopled, ebbs, and flows by thee, The summer's heat, the winter's cold, As each their various scenes unfold,- In flow'rs, and fruits, and trees, and herbs, And men and reptiles, beasts and birds, Thy mighty hands, thy watchful care, And Nature's countless forms declare Yet in thy law alone, we view But in Messiah's work divine His doctrines teach, his deeds explain, PART III. ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. INTRODUCTION. : IT is highly probable, that one particularly pleasing part of the employment of the Church of the Firstborn in glory, will be to take a retrospect of the con duct of an infallible Providence toward them, while resident in this world and it is surely not only the duty, but the interest, of those, who expect in due time to form a part of that glorious association, to exercise themselves in the same manner, even before they gain the height of glory. 2. It was enjoined upon the Israelites, to remember all the way in which the Lord their God had brought them in the wilderness. Inattention to the Divine conduct is criminal; and accusations are brought against those who regard not the works of the Lord, nor consider the operations of his hands. 3. How frequently, how ardently, ought they, for whose sake the world exists, to advert to what God has wrought on their account! Since time began, through every succeeding period, through all the revolutions of empires, and in all the important transactions of the universe, the glorious Governor of the world has uniformly had one end in view the establishment of a dominion which shall endure throughout all ages. 4. And, in order to preserve the remembrance of his wonderful works, he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generations to come should know them, even the children which should be born. 5. What an advantage must it be, and how eminently pleasing, to those who knew his name, to be assisted in this necessary, this delightful work, by having an exhibition how God, at sundry times, and in divers manners, accomplished his own wise and great designs! 6. The ecclesiastical history of the Christian Church takes in a period of near two thousand years: a period in which empires have been destroyed, and their memorial has perished for ever; but in which the Stone cut out of the mountain without hands, is itself become a mountain, and hastening to fill the whole earth. It gives us a compendious view of all the leading facts relative to the Church of God, from the day when Messiah was cut off, down to the present time. 7. Here the impregnability of the city of our God is evinced, by its existence and prosperity, even when the kings of the earth, and the rulers thereof, have taken counsel together for its destruction, and exercised their malice in various and cruel forms of persecution. Here those great characters, whose preaching has been rendered instrumental in enlightening and saving a benighted world, and in putting to silence every tongue that rose up in judgment against the truth (whether Apologists, Fathers, Confessors, or Martyrs, men who will be acknowledged amidst the eclat of elect angels and men, before an assembled world) are held up as patterns for our imitation. 8. The different internal dissentions with which, at several times, the Christian Church has been agitated; the nature and rise of the principal errors introduced by its real enemies, or mistaken friends; and the various forms of government which it has assumed, are exhibited to public view. 9. Such a history, impartially drawn, appears calculated to raise in the mind of men, especially redeemed men, a spirit of admiration at the love, merey, and condescension of a gracious JEHOVAH, in employing his wisdom, goodness, and power, yea, in engaging his whole attributes, to complete his own eternal design of glorifying himself, in the salvation of rebellious man. 10. If the writer of this paper can render himself serviceable to his fellow-creatures, by communicating a knowledge of some of those events which are intimately connected with the interest of the Lord Jesus, he will feel himself thankful. He will rejoice in this end, because he believes it is capable, through a Divine blessing, of animating the timid, eonfirming the wavering, and kindling in the human mind, those sacred passions which may be rendered subservient to the advancement of such devotion as God will approve. THE STATE OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS UNTIL THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL. THE prophet Daniel, speaking as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, predicted the destruction of the four great monarchies, the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, and the establishment of a kingdom which should be set up by the God of heaven, more glorious in its nature than in the former. 2. So very accurate was his account that it detailed all the principal concomitant circumstances, and even the very time when it should take place. It foretold, that, at the expiration of seventy weeks, this important event should commence. Accordingly, about the twentyseventh year of the reign of Augustus Cesar, that wonderful person, the Son of God, took upon him our nature, and appeared in our world, under the sublime characters of an infallible Teacher, all-sufficient Mediator, and a spiritual and immortal King. 3. It is unnecessary to enter here into the particular detail of his life and actions, with which all Christians must be perfectly acquainted. They must know that, during the space of three years, and amidst the deepest trials of affliction and distress, he instructed the Jewish nation in the will and counsels of the Most High, and omitted nothing in the course of his ministry, that could contribute either to gain the multitude, or to charm the wise. 4. But every thing appeared inimical to the progress of the mighty work which he came to accomplish. Greece and Rome, which had successively carried their arms and customs into distant nations, and had attained the highest degree of science, afforded an awful eviTheir dence, that the world by wisdom knew not God. religion was composed of the most abominable superstition and idolatry; and their practice was such as puts humanity to the blush. 5. The inhabitants of Judea, where stood the palace of the great King, a people favoured for above two thousand years with a revelation from heaven, and on whose behalf the most high God had given so many signal displays of his mercies and love, even this people had so miserably revolted from their allegiance to their great Lawgiver, that when he came to his own, his own receiv Dan ix. 24. By seventy weeks, we are to understand seventy weeks of years, which make the number four hundred and ninety. These were to commence at the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem, &c. which was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, when Ezra received a commission from him for that purpose. This was in the 4256th year of the Julian period, to which, if 490 be added, the amount will be 4746, the very year in ich our Saviour was crucified. |