May it be granted, in addition to the many mercies with which we have been crowned, and the pre-eminent glory that has been spread around our highly favored nation, (upheld by a peculiar Providence "in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall,”*) to be chosen as the happy instruments of forwarding the purpose of the Most High, and assisting the triumphant Exodus of his elect, the REMNANT of his people;† that we may so wisely "discern the signs of the times," that we may "see-when the ensign is lifted up upon the mountains, and when the great trumpet is blown, we may hear," Isaiah xxx. 25. + Isaiah xlix. 21, 22, 23, SECTION VII. The Jews, though broken off through unbelief, are still witnesses for God,-to the new World now, as formerly to the old.-Difficulties in the prophecy of the witnesses, not well accounted for ;-a solution proposed. They must be distinct from each other,and numerically Two.-Must be perpetually in existence, and in their prophetic function for 1260 years. In disgrace and persecution, be killed,-continue in a singular state of death three years and a half, -be raised to life in the sight, and against the power of their enemies. How exactly the situation of the jews, since the time of our Saviour, has corresponded with the varied description of it which their own prophets have given, I have pointed out in the preceding sections. The only and infinitely wise God chose them before all the people upon earth, to be a special and holy people,* a people formed for himself,† not for their good qualities, but for his own unmerited love and mercy, and the oath he had sworn to their more faithful and righteous ancestors. And he produces them, and sets them forth before the eyes of the admiring world, as his witnesses to all ages; a standing and indefectible miracle, a luminous evidence of the truth of divine revelation to us, in these last days, notwithstanding the dark side of that universal enlightener has been still turned towards themselves. Exceedingly pitiable has their condition been, if we take into consideration their original and pre-eminent title to the promises, as the children of the kingdom; and their wonderful attachment and fidelity to the God of their fathers, according to the ideas they erroneously conceive of his unchangeable truth. *Deut. vii. 6. Isa. xliii. 10, Isa. xliii. 21. Deut. ix. 6, Neither the confiscation of their effects, nor the personal dangers they have been exposed to upon account of their religion, nor the scoffs and contemptuous treatment which their singularities and superstitions have drawn upon them, have made any great impression to seduce them to dissemble their religion, or swerve from the customs of Moses. They still submit, for conscience sake, to the disgusting practice of circumcision; and support with a patience worthy of a better cause, the increased load of their burdensome, and often uncommanded ritual; which even in the days of Christ was so heavy a yoke, that "neither they nor their fathers were able to bear it." Their own prophets have declared, and our Lord has confirmed the assertion, that for the bardness of their hearts many things were in-. dulged to them, that God intended, in a time of greater perfection of religion, to put upon a better footing.* And that for their proneness to idolatry, and stiff-necked disposition, Matthew xix, 8 à religion was modelled on purpose for their untractable spirits, which might best correct and subdue their ill humours, and counter-act their tendency to perverse imitation. It necessarily consisted much of outward ordinances, but such as had a spiritual meaning, and were well capable of elevating the pious and believing hearts by faith to the expected Messias, which they always typically, and sometimes sacramentally represented. Yet upon the gross and carnal imaginations of this wayward people they appear to have had little effect in general, further than as they seemed to depend much upon a temporary reward of an outward, and consequently imperfect obedience.* "Therefore I gave them also statutes which were not good, says God by the prophet, and judgments whereby they should not live." * Our Saviour's exposition of the Decalogue (Mat. v. 20, &c.) shews us at once the spirituality and goodness of the lace given to the jews, for the times in which it was in force; and the gross perversion of it which constituted the sanctity of their highest professors. There is a comparative goodness in the law, which certainly appears to disadvantage in opposition to the clearer |