the capital of the Assyrian empire, is an event which deserves a place in our considerations on the subject before us.

When the Babylonian power was at its height under Nebuchadnezzar, the people of God, for their transgressions, were carried into captivity by him. Reflect upon the very remarkable incidents to which that captivity gave birth; the interpretation of the monarch's dreams; the accomplishment of one of them, by his degradation and subsequent restoration; the preservation of the three children in the furnace, and of Daniel in the den of lions; with the decrees in favour of true religion, promulgated through the whole extent of that enormous empire, to which most of the kingdoms of the known world were at that time subject.

Upon the ruins of the Babylonian empire arose that of the Medes and Persians; the celebrated founder of which began his reign with the publication of a decree, for the return of God's chosen people to their own land, with leave to rebuild their city and temple.

The prosperity and felicity of Israel after their return from Babylon; the interview between the high priest and Alexander, when upon his march to the conquest of Persia, as it stands recorded by Josephus; the well known exploits of the Maccabees against Antiochus; the connexion formed, about that period, between the Jews and the Romans; the translation of the Scriptures into Greek, and the universal expectation produced thereby among the nations, of a ruler that should come out of Judea—

all these considerations, though perhaps they are suffered, in the course of our reading, to glide by us unobserved, as they occur separately and unconnected with each other, yet when they are thrown together, and duly weighed, may serve greatly to assist us in forming our judgement concerning the state of the Gentiles, and the testimony from time to time borne to the true religion, by the then church of God, in the Heathen world. Notwithstanding the light Heaven has been pleased to manifest, whether in former or in latter times, many, both individuals and nations, have still continued to sit in darkness and the shadow of death. fate of such is not our business to determine. thing we know, and more we cannot, more we need not know; that in the last great day, when that point and all others shall be finally settled,

them, who, before men and angels,

"fied in his saying, and clear when

The One

He is to settle "will be justi

he is judged."

What mercy can do, mercy will do. All iniquity shall then stop her mouth, and no person that shall be condemned will have power or reason to complain. To the curiosity, which, negligent of its own interest in Christ, is ever anxiously inquiring into the future destination of those who never heard of him, the pro

The reader will find many curious and valuable observations upon this important and interesting subject, in the Bishop of CARLISLE'S Theory of Religion, Part II; as also, in a Dissertation of Dr. WATERLAND, subjoined to Scripture Vindicated. See also LELAND's Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, Part I, ch. xxix.

per answer, surely is-"What is that to thee? "Follow thou me."

That the Jew, with the Scriptures in his hands, should be blind to the counsels of God respecting the Gentiles and their return to the church, is indeed truly marvellous. It was foretold that the posterity of Japheth should one day " dwell in the tents of "Shem;" that in the promised seed of Abraham "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed ";" that to Shiloh should "the gathering of the nations be1. Isaiah is very express, and saith, "There shall be a "root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of "the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest "shall be glorious."—" It is a light thing that thou "shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of

f "

Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I "will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that "thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the "earth"."" Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and "the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For be"hold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross "darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon "thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And "the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to "the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes "round about, and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come “from afar, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together,

d Gen. ix. 27. g Isa. xi. 10.

e Gen. xii. 3.

h Isa. xlix. 6.

f Gen. xlix. 10.

"and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; be

cause the abundance of the sea shall be converted 66 unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come "unto thee." No less clear are several passages in the Psalms, which never failed to make a part of the synagogue service. "All the ends of the world "shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all "the kindreds of the nations shall worship before "him."-"The princes of the nations shall be joined "to the people of the God of Abraham'."-" Praise "the Lord all ye Heathen, praise him all ye nations; "for his merciful kindness is ever more and more "towards us, and the truth of the Lord endureth " for ever"."

The event which bore so capital a share in the gracious designs of the Almighty, which was thus predicted, and celebrated beforehand, by patriarchs and prophets, began, as at this season, to take place, by the coming of the Eastern sages to Bethlehem, in the name of us all, as representatives of the Heathen world. They were the first-fruits of that glorious harvest, afterwards reaped and gathered by the apostles and their successors; they were the standard-bearers of that noble army which, from the four quarters of the globe, hath since marched into the church, through the gates mercifully thrown open to admit them. From the consideration of the persons mentioned in the text, we proceed, therefore to consider,

i Isa. lx. 1, &c.

1 Psal. xlvii. 9.

* Psal. xxii. 27. m Psal. cxvii.

Secondly, their journey; the occasion, and the end of it: "They came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is "he that is born King of the Jews? For we have "" seen his star in the east, and are come to worship "him."

The birth of Christ was first revealed to the shepherds, who were Jews. For that For that purpose the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; a proper intimation of his appearance, at the brightness of whose rising on the intellectual world, darkness was to vanish, and the shadows fly away. A sign of the same import was vouchsafed to the Gentiles, as their conductor to the new-born Redeemer of mankind. "A star, which they saw in the east, went before "them, till it came, and stood over where the young "child was."

I shall not take up your time in proposing conjectures on the nature and form of this star: It was undoubtedly such as might best answer the end in view; and probably far exceeded the other stars, to appearance, in magnitude and brightness; as it notified the birth of one, who was fairer than the children of men, on whom rested the spirit of glory.

1.

grace and evely How just and how beautiful an emblem was such a' star of the blessed Person to whom it pointed! Celestial in its original; framed of the purest materials; admitting no dross and baseness into its composition; without spot, or the shadow of a cloud; shedding a lustre incapable of being sullied by the objects on which it fell, and passing through all things unde