that the one was, by its original Frame SER M. and Intention, limited as to Place, Per- IV. sons, and Time: Whereas the other was to be diffused throughout the World, and to endure together with it; that is, to be, indeed, what we find it not long after its first Erection ftyled, the Catholic Church. Whereunto, therefore, fhall we liken Luke iv. this Kingdom of God, and its marvellous 30. Increase? or with what Comparison fhall we compare it? There is, indeed, fome faint Refemblance of it in the prodigious Fecundity of Seeds; which, accordingly, our Saviour makes use of more than once, to illuftrate it: but there is nothing parallel to it in the History of all the Religions which have sprung up and obtained among Men, from the Beginning of the World to this Day.

And this peculiar Advantage of Christianity is fo much the more remarkable, because,

2dly, It was prefignifyed by Types, and foretold by various Prophecies. And when, therefore, the Event came to pass, it did, as it were, point out its Author,

IV.

SER M. and declare itself to fpring from Him, who alone knoweth and ordereth the Times and the Seafons, and calleth the Things that are not, as if they were.

7.

Of Types, the moft illuftrious, and moft worthy of our prefent Confideration, is That, which relates to the wonderful Increase of the Ifraelites in Egypt, concerning which the Sacred Story speaks in very expreffive and emphatical LanExod. i. guage: They were fruitful (fays Mofes) and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the Land was filled with them; and this (it feems) notwithstanding the Arts that were used to leffen their Numbers, notwithstanding the great Hardships and Severities that were laid upon them: For again it is faid, Ib. 12. The more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. A livelier Image than which there cannot be of the thriving Eftate of the Chriftian Church, under all the Cunning and Malice of its Heathen Perfecutors. Were the Seed of Abraham few, when they first came to fojourn in Egypt? no more than Seventy

pro

IV.

feventy Souls? The Number of the first SER M. Difciples of Christ, on the Day of Pentecoft, when his Gospel began to be pagated, was not much greater. Did the feveral Kings of Egypt keep a jealous Eye over the Children of Ifrael, and take all manner of unjust and cruel Methods to prevent their Increase? Juft fo fared it with the earliest Profeffors of the Gospel; the Rulers of the World harraffed and oppreffed them, and did what they could to crush Christianity, in its firft Seeds, by fevere Edicts and Penalties, and fubtle Contrivances. Did the Ifraelites thrive nevertheless, and multiply exceedingly; fo as, in the Space of four Hundred and thirty Years, from the Time of the Covenant made with Abraham, to come out of Egypt above fix hundred thoufand strong, that were Men from twenty Years old and upwards, befides Women and Children, and a mixed Multitude, not ranked into diftinct Tribes and Families, that were without Number? The Increase of Chriftian Converts was yet more wonderful; and attended with this

remark

SER M. remarkable Circumftance of RefemIV. blance, that it came to its utmost Pitch, near the fame Period of Time, to wit, about four hundred and thirty Years after our Saviour had begun to preach and to say, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Such Such a ftrict ftrict Correspondence there was between thefe Events, that we may justly reckon the one of them as defigned to prefigure and typify the other. Efpecially, fince the Promise made to Abraham, about the Fertility of his Defcendants, was fo worded by God, as at once to include the Increase of his Natural and Spiritual Seed, and plainly to point out that Access of Converts from all Nations to the Church which should happen in the Days of the Meffiab. In bleffing I will bless thee, faid God, and in multiplying I will multiply thy Seed, as the Stars of the Heaven, and as the Sand which is upon the SeaShore. And in thy Seed (i. e. in Chrift, the promised Seed) fhall all the Nations of the Earth be bleffed. God begins, we fee, with the Affurance of a Temporal Bleff

IV.

ing, a numerous Off-fpring, according SER M. to the Flesh, and ends with the future. Enlargement of the Spiritual Kingdom of Chrift; the former of these being indeed a Figure only, or mystical Emblem, of the latter, to which this Divine Promise chiefly referred, and in which it was finally and fully accomplished. For the Scripture, fore- Gal. iii. 8. Seeing that God would justify the Heathen through Faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, faying, In Thee fhall all Nations be blessed. The same Promise was afterwards expreffly renewed to Ifaac, and Jacob, but to none other of the fucceeding Patriarchs: Gen.xxvi. And from these alone, therefore, God 4 took his Title, and vouchfafed to be xxviii, 18. called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; because to thefe alone he had made the Promife of that Seed, in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be bleffed, by being ingrafted into his Church, and becoming the Subjects of his Spiritual Kingdom.

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