their natural liberty, and become subject to the dominion of one people. None but a Jew can see the happiness of such a state; the nations of the earth, if left to their choice, would all refuse this great blessing." This promise, therefore, by the very terms of its announcement, denoted a mysterious fulfilment: and so, accordingly, it was fulfilled in the posterity of Isaac, by the advent of the Messiah; and by the universal diffusion, through Christianity, of His spiritual dominion.

But the former promise, "I will make of thee a great nation," was palpably a temporal one; and a state of temporal prosperity for his descendants forming unquestionably one part of the covenant with Isaac, it will be right to inquire, how far this prophetic character, of " a great nation," is applicable to the Jews.

Now, prior to the erection of their kingly government, the Israelites had no settled state or character, as a nation. Nor, under the monarchy, did they attain to the enjoyment, for any long time together, of such a condition of established power and prosperity, as seems essential to the idea of "a great nation." the earlier and favoured reigns of David and Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was, indeed,

* Bishop Sherlock, p. 115.

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both prosperous and powerful to an eminent degree. But its ascendency among the nations of Asia passed rapidly away, before the distractions of a divided monarchy, and the encroachments of the neighbouring and colossal empires of Assyria and Babylon. From this period, the national resources were expended in a long and exhausting struggle, not for empire, but for existence. The effort proved, at length, unavailing, and the national independence was lost. The Jewish monarchy, then, may with propriety be described as a powerful state; but it cannot be justly characterised as "a great nation." The unity, the durability, and the relative ascendency, which in strictness belong to the prophetic definition, are all wanting. In the posterity of Isaac, therefore, this part of Abraham's covenant seems never to have been realized; and we remark, accordingly, that it is not specifically applied to them in Scripture, since it does not recur in any one of the separate promises in behalf of Isaac.

Let us try the application of it in the case of Ishmael. Here we find the specific promise, "I will make of thee a great nation," appropriated

"The posterity of Ishmael was established in power much sooner, and were as great and successful for many ages as the Jews, and much larger empires have sprung from them."- Bishop Sherlock on Prophecy, p. 124.

formally and solemnly to Ishmael and his descendants, on two several occasions; first granted in his favour to Abraham*, and then renewed, on his behalf, to Hagar. †

But how stands that sure test of prophecy, the historical fulfilment? The twelve tribes of Ishmael in their primitive state, as described by Moses, formed in Arabia not one great, but as many insulated and independent nations. In process of time, as appears both from sacred and profane history, several of these tribes rose to a considerable rank as states; and attained a relative ascendency over the mixed hordes which peopled the Arabian peninsula. But, at no period in their contemporary annals, will the temporal power and prosperity of the Ishmaelitish Arabs bear comparison, for a moment, with the concentrated and consolidated strength of the Jewish monarchy, in its better days and fortunes. So far as we can now glean from history, the rival nations would seem to have gone pretty much together into decline; at least, Arabia makes no distinguished figure beyond its own frontier, in the records of the Greek and Roman empires; and from the coming of our Lord to the age of Mahomet irclusive, the subdivided, though still unsubdued

*Gen. xvii. 20.

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+ Gen. xxi. 18.

peninsula, appears to have been the prey of paltry disputes between its contending tribes and factions.

With the appearance of Mahomet, Arabia suddenly assumed, for the first time in the annals of the world, the attitude of empire. Ishmael now, at length, went forth conquering and to conquer, to the utmost boundaries of the earth. The imperial successors of Mahomet extended, and established in permanent prosperity, the formidable dominion, of which he had laid the foundation. And the promise to Ishmael, that God would make of him "A GREAT NATION," came to be realized, in point of fact, in the empire of the Saracens * ; - an empire, in power, prosperity, and permanency, superior to most, and second to one only, among the mighty empires, which, since the first rise of civil polity, have given laws to mankind.

From the period of the rise of Mahomet, the prophetic analogy between the two covenants becomes manifestly more perfect. Down to this date, the traces of a designed spi

* "They might indeed be emphatically styled a great nation, when the Saracens made those rapid and extensive conquests, and erected one of the largest empires that ever were in the world." Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, Dissertation II. This is one of the only two instances which the author has met with, of any former writer so much as adverting to the connection between Ishmael and the Saracens, as providential, or indeed in any way.

ritual connection especially, are faint and few. But the creed of Mahomet, being professedly an advance and improvement on the Law and Gospel, and, in fact, a spurious copy of those divine originals, runs necessarily parallel throughout, with both systems. The empire of the Saracens, also, being at once a temporal and a spiritual domination, forms, in this its mixed mode of government, the no less striking counterpart of Judaism, and of established Christianity. Through Christianity and Mahometanism, in virtue of their spiritual character, the proselytized nations became adopted into the families of Isaac and Ishmael; the covenant of the former was thus legitimately transmitted from his literal offspring, the Jews, to his spiritual posterity, the Christian world; and that of the latter, from his literal offspring, the Arabs, to his spiritual descendants, the Turks and Persians.

From this general outline of the providential analogy, I would now draw the attention of the indulgent reader to some few particulars of its detail.

We begin with the coincidence of character between Mahometanism and Judaism, which, for our immediate purpose, it will suffice to illustrate from some of the earliest circumstances in the history of the respective systems. For