"I will declare the decree," fays the Pfalmift; "the LORD hath faid unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I fhall give thee the heathen, for thine inheritance; and the uttermoft parts of the earth, for thy poffeffion "." It is evident, that the person, who is here addreffed, cannot be David himfelf, fince he reigned over Judea alone; nor did Jehovah ever say, to any man, or to any angel, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee'. That those words are juftly applied, by St. Paul, to Chrift's Resurrection, has been shewn by others, and is lefs to our prefent purpose. Interpret that part of the paffage as you please, either of the incarnation of the Son of GOD, or of his being begotten again from the dead; it may well be prefumed, that the acceffion of the heathen, which is immediately fubjoined, fhould, in point of time, foon after be given to him.

And this is confirmed by the prophecy of Ifaiah: "The Gentiles fhall come to thy

P Pf. ii. 7, 8.

4 Vide Tertull. adv. Judæos, c. xii. et ad finem libri. * See Heb. i. 5. v. 5. Vide et Chryfoft. T.IV. p. 103. 1. 26. Acts xiii. 33. See Kidder on the Meffias, P. I. P. II. p.[87] Lightfoot, Vol. II. p. 1104. D

p. 98.

light,

light, and kings to the brightness of thy rifing." Whatever partial completion these words might have, in the vifit of the wife men to the infant Jefus; neither the verse itself, nor the context, will fuffer an application to fuch an event, for its adequate accomplishment. The whole chapter is employed in describing the fudden increase of the church, by the overflowing abundance of the forces of the Gentiles, from afar, from the ifles, and from the sea.

Indeed, the converfion of the heathen affords frequent matter of exultation and praise, to the hallowed lips of the evangelical prophet. With this he clofes his book", and with this he begins early, in the following manner: "It fhall come to pafs, in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house fhall be established, in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations fhall flow unto it. For out of Zion fhall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerufalem *." It is well

t If. lx. 3.

"See Ch. lxvi. 18, 19. which are quoted, among many others on this fubject, by St. Cyprian adv. Jud. L. I. c. 21.

* If. ii. 2, 3.

known,

known, that The laft days, or The future age, is a familiar expreffion, both in the Old Teftament and among the Jews, to denote the time of the expected Meffiah". Of Him therefore the prophet here fpeaks; and his law, he informs us, fhould go forth, not as that given by Mofes did, from mount Sinai, but from mount Sion and Jerufalem; and confequently before Jerufalem was deftroyed, and laid level with the ground.

Still however, if the Jews fhould demand clearer proof from the prophets, that the Meffiah fhould be the founder of a new law, into which, and not that of Mofes ratified by him, the nations should be admitted; fuch proof is at hand. For the LORD did exprefsly foretel by Jeremiah, that the days were coming, when he would "make a new and everlasting covenant with the house of Ifrael, and with the houfe of Judah."

And that this covenant, though made with Them, was not to be confined to them, but

y See Kidder on the Meffias, P. III. p. 130. 164. Pocock on Micah iv. 1.

z Vide St. Auguftin. adv. Judæos, §. 9. Tom. VIII. p. 35. And fee St. Auguftin. adv.

Jer. xxxi. 31. xxxii. 40.

Jud. §. 8.

D 2

imparted

imparted to others, is manifeft from various passages; but particularly from the words of the prophet Malachi: "From the rifing of the fun even unto the going down of the fame, my name fhall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, faith the LORD of hosts "."

The facrifices, appointed by the law of Mofes, were not to be offered up, within any of their gates, where the devotion of the worshiper might prompt him; but in that place alone, which the LORD fhould choose, out of all their tribes, to put his name there. This circumftance was even of more strict obligation, than that of time. For thofe, who were "unclean, by reafon of a dead body, or were in a journey afar off," and could not keep the paffover, at the appointed season, were commanded to keep it, on the

Mal. i. 11.

Serm. I. adv. Jud. Tertull. adv. Jud. Eufeb. Dem. Evang. informs us, from the

See Deut. xii. 5-14. Vide Chryfoft. T. VI. p. 315. 1. 32. &c. 380. 1. 28. c. v. St. Auguftin. adv. Jud. §. 12, 13. L. I. c. I. Lightfoot on A&t. v. 36. Jewish writers, that when one Theudas, a Jew living at Rome, taught men to eat holy things without, that is, the paffover at Rome, the wife men threatened him with excommunication.

four

fourteenth day of the second month"; but no fuch injunction, or even permiffion, any where mentioned, with regard to the place.

When the Jews were in Babylon, it was grief perhaps alone, that filenced their harps, and restrained them from finging the LORD'S fong, in a strange land. But it appears from Daniel and other authorities, that they kept not the paffover; and forrow of heart would not have made them neglect the pofitive ordinance of heaven, had its observance, under fuch circumftances, been confiftent with the precept of its foundation.

If then, according to the prediction of Malachi, incense should one day be offered to the LORD, in every place; certain it is, that the ftatutes of Mofes were to be previously abrogated, and another law given, not local and temporary, confined to one temple and one priesthood, but pure and spiritual, whereby the well pleasing sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving might be prefented to the GoD of Jacob, in every land, and in all ages.

See Num. ix. 9-11.

• See Pf. cxxxvii,

f See Dan. x. 2.4. whence it appears, as St. Chryfoftom remarks (ut fupra, p. 317.) that he fafted at the time of the pafchal feaft. See alfo The Song of the three Children, verse 15.