II.

That this may be the Cafe, the Good and s ERM. Merciful God grant, through the Great Steward and Difpenfer of his Mercies, Christ the Righteous! To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be afcribed, as is most due, all Honour, Adoration, and Praife, Now, and Ever! Amen!

ISAIAH lx. 22.

A Little one fhall become a Thousand, and a Small one a strong Nation: I, the Lord, will haften it, in His Time.

TH

HE Evangelic Prophet is very par- SER M. ticular, throughout this Chapter, III. in defcribing the fudden and mighty Increafe of Christianity, its triumphant Pro

grefs

SER M. grefs through all Nations, and its Prevalence

III.

I:

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over all the other Religions of the World. And this wondrous Enlargement of it he takes occafion (at the Clofe of the Chapter) to reprefent as fo much the more Admirable, on the account of that Small Appearance it fhould make at first, those Slender and Unpromifing Beginnings, with which it fhould fet out. A little one, fays he, in the Words I have read to you, shall become a Thoufand; and a Small one a firong Nation: 1, the Lord, will haften it, in His (i. e. in the Mesfiah's) time. From which Words, therefore, I fhall, without farther Preface, take occafion to raise these several Heads of Discourse.

First, I fhall briefly represent to You the Matter of Fact itself, to which this Prophecy refers, how fwift and ftrange a Progress the Gospel made at, and after, its first fetting out from Jerufalem.

Secondly, I fhall prove to you, that this Success of it must have been Miraculous,

and

and owing chiefly to the mighty Operations and effectual Affiftances of the Holy Spirit of God. After establishing which great Truth upon firm and proper Arguments, I fhall, in the

Third place, fairly lay together what III. can be offered to evade the Force of them; and give the several Objections their Anfwers.

Fourthly, I fhall confider, How Great IV. and how distinguishing an Advantage this was to the Chriftian Inftitution, and to what Useful Ends and Purposes the Confideration of it may be applied.

Fifthly, and Laftly, I fhall enquire in- V. to the Time when, and the Manner bow, this Miracle ceafed; and make some suitable Reflexions upon it, with regard, both to Those who lived Then, when this Stop was put to the Gospel, and to Us, who live Now, in the latter Ages of the World.