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Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to mulply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' See also the confirmation of this promise to Jacob: Chap. xxviii. 13, 14. 'And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'

Having these promises thus before us, it may be of service to notice several particulars in their character. 1st. As to the blessing or blessings which they promise to all the nations and to all the families of the earth, there appears an entire impartiality. 2d. Whatever blessing or blessings were intended by these promises, there is not the least intimation that they were promised on any conditionality. That the fulfilment of them depended entirely on the will and power of God is seen by the passage before quoted from Acts xiii. 32, 33. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again.' It seems, according to this very plain testimony, that the resurrection of Jesus was the fulfilment of the promise to bless all the nations and all the families of the earth in the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which seed is Christ. Now that there may be no mistake or doubt as to what the blessing is which was promised to all the nations and to all the families of the earth in Christ, we invite the reader's attention to the following scriptures: Gal.

iii. 8. And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blest.' By this passage we learn that the blessing promised was justification through faith. Compare Rom. iv. 25. 'Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.' See more corresponding passages: Col. i. 20. And, (having made peace by the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.' That the things to be reconciled were man may be seen next by the next verse; 'And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.' The way in which Christ effected this reconciliation is expressed in the next verse; 'In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblameable, and unprovable in his sight.' Eph. i. 9, 10. 'Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath prepared in himself: that, in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.' What a glorious foundation for hope is here. How blessed was Abraham when he rejoiced in the day of Jesus. How blessed were the prophets of the Lord who saw these things, though afar off; the sight weaned their affections from all earthly things; they sought a city which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. When Jacob blessed his sons, he spake of the coming of Shiloh, unto whom, saith he, shall the gathering of the people be; see Genesis xlix. 10. How exactly does this testimony of the patriarch agree

with that of the apostle's; "Unto him shall the gatherings of the people be." "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ." We will hear what the prophet David, says, concerning the kingdom of Christ, Psalms lxxii. 11. "Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him." Verse 14. "He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence." Verse 17. "And men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed." If any wish to argue, that David meant no other than Solomon, by the King's son, let them take notice of the 7th and 8th verses. "In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." The moon yet endures, but the reign of Solomon does not. The kingdom spoken of, in the text, was to be universal; but Solomon's was not. Let us take particular notice of the 11th verse. "Yea all kings shall fall down before him."

Shall all the cruel tyrants of the earth bow down to him who was born in a stable? Shall all the haughty kings of the proud and wealthy nations, bow down to him whose chosen companions when on earth were poor fishermen? Will you, our opponent, say, this is a pleasing doctrine to the car nal mind? Herod, who caused the massacre in Bethlehem, in order to murder Christ in infancy, could hardly be persuaded that it was agreeable to his carnal mind to bow before Jesus, at the head of this little band of martyrs. No, carnal mind must be crucified before all this can be done.

Would it please the present kings of Europe, to tell them, to beat their swords into ploughshares, and their

spears into pruning nooks, and to learn war no more! Would it be agreeable to their carnal, proud and haughty minds, to submit to the religion of the Saviour? Which of them would, in order to gratify carnal mindedness, abandon all his equipage, his horses and chariots of state, mount a forlorn ass, ride into an enemy's land, preach peace and salvation to his inveterate foes, die by cruel hands, and pray for his murderers in death? And can you believe that all the kings of the earth can bow down before the Saviour, with any more gratification to carnal mindedness, than they could imitate him, in his life and death? "All nations shall serve him." If all nations serve Christ, will they not all be blessed in him, according to the promise? We do not argue that any will be blessed in Christ, who do not serve him; but the text says, all nations shall serve him. Psalm xxxvii. 10. "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Verse 36. "Yet he passed away, and he was not, yea I sought him, but he could not be found." If the wicked continue in sin as long as God exists, it appears to us to be improper to say, yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. And if God have prepared a place of endless torments for the wicked, and that in sight of the righteous in heaven, it is hardly proper to say, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. And if the wicked are to be tormented forever, in sight of the righteous, why is it said, "I sought him but he could not be found?" Psalm xxii. 27. "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." Who will doubt the salvation of those who turn unto

the Lord and worship before him? See Psalm ii. 7, 8. "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Compare this beautiful passage with one like it in Col. i. 19. "For it pleased the Father,

that in him should all fulness dwell." In what a capacious Saviour did David believe! Should a preacher, at the present day, recite the words which we have just quoted, he would immediately be accused of hold ing the heretical doctrine of universal salvation, as his hearers might be pleased to call it; or, should he communicate the doctrine half as clearly as it is communicated in those quotations, that part of his audience who were warmly opposed to the doctrine would grow uneasy, while those who favored the doctrine, would be satisfied their speaker did so likewise. Some method must be used to explain those scriptures differently from what they say, or the doctrine for which we contend is fairly proved by them.

Let us pass to the prophceies of Isaiah; see Chap. xxv. 6, 7, 8. "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth for the Lord hath spoken it." No one will doubt, that the provisions here spoken of are those which are provided in the gospel of salvation.

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