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idolatries. But then the reprobation had regard to nothing but the errors and the horrid vices of idolatry; consequently it was always true that, whoever among the nations, afar off or near, would renounce his delusions, and "cleave unto the God of Israel," was welcomed to the bosom of the state. Thus the light of genuine religion was diffused, as much as conserved, by the Mosaic institutions; and explicit provision was made for the unlimited extension of the benefits they conferred.

During the purer age of the Israelitish state it is manifest that the propagation of true religion was an object of the fond desires and prayers of the pious.-The people was instructed to connect their own prosperity with the welfare of the world. Yes-little as we may perhaps have heeded the fact, it is certain that expressions of the most expansive philanthropy echoed in the anthems of the Jewish temple worship! The passages challenge attention.-" God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.Let the people (the nations) praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let THE NATIONS BE GLAD AND SING FOR JOY; for thou shalt judge (preside over) the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase, and

God, EVEN OUR OWN GOD, shall bless us :-God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." 37 Noble utterance this, of piety and universal good-will! and how utterly unlike to that grudging temper which had taken firm hold of the Jewish mind in the time of its reprobation.

While fixing the eye upon the heights of the southern Syria in the age of Titus, who must not be amazed at the singular spectacle of a petty tribe, having its face sternly set against all nations, so as justly to be styled-" haters of mankind." And yet-marvellous are the revolutions of national character, this same region, and its sacred capital, a few centuries before, was the only spot on all the globe (as far as history informs us) where public worship ennobled itself by the language of universal good-will to man!

Never is it found that fanaticism indulges bright and unrestricted hopes in favour of the bulk of mankind.-Certainly it is not fanaticism that says " All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name."38 It is not fanaticism that, in the moment of national exultation, challenges all men to partake with itself its choicest honours. Yet such was actually the style of the songs that resounded, sabbath after sabbath, from the consecrated palaces of Zion. "O sing

37 Psalm lxvii.

38 Psalm lxxxvi. 9.

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unto the Lord a new song;-sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.-Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering and COME INTO HIS Courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness (Jerusalem) fear before him all the earth." 39 We ask now, Is it fair to say that the pristine religion of the Jews was dark, churlish, or misanthropic ? 0 praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise him, all ye people." "10 Such was that Judaism (as God made it) of which the Gospel gave only a new interpretation! But the degraded Jew of the era of the Gospel had so perverted the faith of his ancestors, that when Christianity came in at length to give effect to the devout desires of the ancient church, he gnawed his tongue in very spite. Let us then attribute the later bad spirit strictly to the men in whom it is found; and do justice, as well to the primitive doctrine of this extraordinary people, as to the brighter system which sprung out of it.

Not only did several explicit enactments secure permission to aliens to take their part in the sacred Mosaic rites-even the most peculiar of them, but innumerable passages of the Pentateuch and of the prophets, assert, very solemnly,

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the rights of the stranger, and protect his welfare, along always with the widow and the fatherless." The STRANGER, the widow, and the fatherless," were to be cared for and cherished, as an indispensable condition of the Divine favour to the nation. "Take heed that you oppress not the stranger, for thou wast a stranger in the land of Egypt." The Mosaic law, if actually seclusive, and if in one sense stern, was benign also, as well as just. In truth the Israelitish Law stands absolutely alone among the various documents of antiquity, as an efficient Protector of the feeble and destitute, against the strong-of the poor against the rich. Nothing, in the eye of this law, made men abominable but vice :-it authenticated no sanctity apart from the practice of justice and mercy. What more can we wish for or think of in a code that professes to come from Heaven?

The prophets as they rose, vigorously maintained the Mosaic provisions in favour of the alien. For example-" Let not the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak saying-The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people. The sons of the stranger (i. e. all men without distinction, not of the Abrahamic race) that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold

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of my covenant;-even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer FOR ALL PEOPLE."41 The conversion of the Gentiles to the true religion is, as every reader of the Bible knows, a very frequent theme with the prophets; and when combined, as we find it, with pungent upbraidings of the chosen race, on account of their inveterate obduracy, must be held to constitute the strongest counteractive influence that can be imagined against spurious and repulsive national prejudices in matters of religion.

To what extent, during the lapse of many centuries, the Jewish institutions and Sacred Books actually diffused the blessings of true religion among the surrounding nations is a point not now to be ascertained. Yet evidence is not wanting in support of the supposition that the influence of the Hebrew polity and literature spread, in some directions, very far, so that the splendour of Truth which fell in a full beam upon Zion, did in fact radiate on all sides, and was, "as a light to lighten the Gentiles," even to the ends of the earth. Without assuming to know more than history enables us to speak of, we may safely conjecture that the successive

Isai. lvi. 3, 6, 7.

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