That the Jews,' says the bishop of Worcester,' should continue for so many ages under such treatment,' as 'they have experienced; every where and always spurned, reviled, oppressed; yet neither worn out by this usage; nor induced by it to renounce their offensive profession, and take refuge in the mass of people among whom they live; that neither time, nor custom, nor suffering, should get the better of their bigotry or patience; but that they should still subsist, a numerous, a distinct, a wretched people, as they do to this day; all this hath something prodigious in it, which the common principles of human nature will not easily explain.They thrive under their oppressions, and seem to multiply amidst their distresses; as if the order of things were reversed in regard to them, and the same causes operated to the conservation of this people, which tend so naturally to the waste and destruction of every other. That small colonies of men, transported into strange and populous nations, should preserve distinct existence, and not insensibly moulder away and mix themselves with their numerous native masters; this, I think, is without example in the history of mankind. If the Jews might be expected to abound any where, it should methinks be in Judea; where the sight of the Holy Land, and the memory of their past fortunes, might invigorate their prejudices, and perpetuate their attachment to the Jewish name and worship. But it so happens, that the number of Jews in that country hath now for many ages been inconsiderable, while they swarm in every other2'

The drops of rain which fall, nay the great rivers which flow into the ocean, are soon mingled and lost in that immense body of waters: and the same in all human probability would have been the fate of the Jews, they would have been mingled and lost in the common mass of mankind; but on the contrary they flow into all parts of the, world, mix with all nations, and yet keep separate from all. They still live as a distinct people, and yet they no

21 Hurd, vol. I. p. 177, 182, 183.

where live according to their own laws, no where elect their own magistrates, no where enjoy the full exercise of their religion.

'Religions,' says Basnage, triumph under the protection of a conqueror; they languish and sink with sinking monarchies. Paganism, which once overspread the face of the earth, is extinct. The Christian church, glorious in 'its martyrs, yet was considerably diminished by the persecutions to which it was exposed; and the breaches, made in it by those acts of violence, it was not easy to repair. Here, however, we behold a church hated and persecuted for seventeen centuries; but nevertheless sustaining itself and widely extended. Often have kings employed the severity of edicts and the hand of executioners to ruin it. Seditious multitudes, by means of massacres, have committed outrages against it still more tragical. Princes and People, Pagans, Mahometans, and Christians, at variance in so many things, have coalesced in the design of exterminating it, and have been unable to succeed. The Bush of Moses, surrounded with flames, perpetually burns, and is never consumed. At different periods, the Jews have been expelled from all parts of the world; which hath only served to spread them in all regions. From age to age they have been exposed to persecutions and misery23. Yet still they subsist, in spite of the ignominy and the hatred which hath pursued them in all places; whilst the greatest monarchies are fallen, and nothing remains of them besides the name24,"

In addition to those important facts, the length and the severity of their sufferings, there are some other circumstances, not perhaps entirely unworthy of being noted, which serve

22 Bp. Newton, vol. I. p. 216.

23 The account of the Jews who have been plundered, sent naked into banishment, starved, tortured, left to perish in prisons, hanged, and burnt by Christians, would fill many volumes. Jortin's Rem. on Eccl Hist. vol. II. p. 420.

24 Hist. des Juifs, VI. i.

6

to augment our wonder at the Jews still remaining uninter'mingled with the natives, and with the sects of the various climes which they inhabit. They profess a religion founded on temporal promises only; and how miserably these have failed them, the experience of many ages hath now shewn.' They are shut out from the only country in the world, where the several rites and ordinances of their religion can be regularly and lawfully observed.' They 'have besides, the sensible mortification of knowing, that all their brethren of the dispersion are every where in equal distress with themselves; and that there is not one Jewish state or sovereignty subsisting on the face of the whole earth'.'

From considering the present extraordinary situation of the Jews, and the prophecies that foretell their dispersion, I shall pass on to some of those, which assert their future restoration.

About the time of the fall of the Othman empire and of the Christian Antichrist, the Jews,' says bp. Newton, 'shall turn to the Lord, and be restored to their own land. Innumerable are the passages concerning the conversion and restoration of this people. This, observes Mr. Lowth, is plainly foretold by MOST of the prophets of the Old Testament"," That the Jews,' says Dr. Priestley, 'shall return to their own country, about the time of the commencement of the millennium; that they shall possess it many years in peace, and be a very flourishing nation, seem to be most distinctly foretold in many prophecies of the Old Testament28.

From those words of Christ, that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, says Wolzogenius, it clearly appears, that to the oppression of the Jewish nation by the Gentiles a certain termination and limit is placed; so that it is unquestionable, that they will not remain for ever in that state of servitude,

25 Hurd, vol. I. p. 180.

27 On Isa. XI. ii.

26 Vol III. p. 389.

28 Institutes of Nat. and Rev. Rel. vol. II. p. 420.

but at some period will be emancipated from this yoke.' To the same purpose speaks bp. Newton. When the Times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, then the expression implies that the Jews shall be restored: and for what reason, can we believe, that though they are dispersed among all nations, yet they are kept distinct from all, but for the farther manifestation of God's purposes towards them?" Jerusalem, says bp. Hurd, was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the Times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled31. Nor say, that this last prophecy is indefinite, for the Times of the Gentiles is a period well known in the prophetic writings; a period of long duration indeed, as the event hath shewn; yet a period, marked out by other prophecies (which may come, in turn, to be considered in this Lecture) no less distinctly than their other captivities had been3.' As the learned prelate has not thought proper to treat farther on the subject, I shall, with respect to it, quote from the Discourse of Mr. Mede, on the Apostacy of the Latter Times, which the bishop entitles exquisite and unanswerable.' 'Until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled: that is (as was said before) until THE MONARCHIES OF the GenTILES should be finished. For the Times of the Gentiles

29 Vol. II. 314.

30 Since the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and during a course of above 1700 years, it has accordingly never once been in possession of the Jews, unless indeed it be fact (and this is a matter disputed), that in their rebellion against Hadrian, a small number of them occupied it for a few months or for about the period of a year. It has successively been under the dominion of the Romans, Saracens, Franks, Mamalukes, and Turks. And there is not the least apparent probability,' says Mr. Evanson, 'that its condition will be altered, till the world shall see that Grand Revolution in human affairs take place, at the period denominated in all the Christian scriptures the coming of Jesus Christ, and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth.' On the Dissonance of the Evangelists, p. 101.

31 As Christ denominates the period in which we now live, the Times of the Gentiles, it is plain, that those principles of practice, and those systems of religion, which at present have the ascendant, are regarded, in the eye of prophecy, as unworthy of the name of Christian, and as in fact being gentile or heathen.

32 Vol. I. p. 174.

are that last period of the Roman kingdom prophecied of, a Time, Times, and half a Time33. Now these, Mede else. where observes, are equivalent to three prophetic years and a half, or 1260 ordinary years. But, as there is reason to believe, that the conclusion of the 1260 years is the period, when the monarchies of the Gentiles will be materially enfeebled and endangered, and not that when they will be universally overthrown and destroyed, the times of the Gentiles mentioned by Christ do, perhaps, not merely contain the 1260 years, during which antichristianism and tyranny were triumphantly to prevail, but likewise that shorter and subsequent period, during which antichristian oppression is to maintain a partial ascendency, and which is immediately to precede the downfal of the corrupt systems of power established in Europe.

Whilst the memorable declaration of Jesus, that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, is in the xxist ch. of Luke and the 24th verse, he says in the 22d verse, of the same chapter, these be the days of vengeance, that all things. which are written may be fulfilled. Now where were these things written,' asks bp. Chandler34, but in Daniel, whom Christ cites by name in the beginning of this discourse35 ?? And our Lord, as the learned prelate has observed, refers in particular to the two last verses of the ixth chapter of Daniel, where speaking of Jerusalem and the coming of the Romans to besiege it, he says, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctu

'

33 P. 873. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, ì. e.' says Mr. Whiston, till the times allotted by the divine providence, for the dominion of the four Gentile and idolatrous monarchies, be fulfilled.' p. 70. In like manner Brenius declares, that these times will be fulfilled, when the destruction of the monarchies, predicted by Daniel, shall have taken place. See the same observed by Dr. Wells, by bp. Newton (vol. II. p. 314), and by Mr. Lowth on Dan. ix. 27.

34 Def. of Christianity, p. 359.

25 When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, &c. Mat. xxiv. 15.