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IV.

had nothing in it near fo wonderful as SERM the first Plantation of the Chrstian Church by means of the Apostles Preaching. And, as to the Acceffion of Gentile Converts, after the Tabernacle was fet up in Shiloh; it was too fmall and inconfiderable, to give the Religion of the Jews any Title, or Pretenfion to a Divine Original, on that Account.

The narrow Limits of the Jewish Church are thus, under the Emblem of a tranfplated Vine, aptly represented by the Pfalmift. Thou haft brought (fays he) a Vine out of Egypt, Thou haft caft out the Heathen, and planted it; Thou pre paredft Room for it, and didft cause it to take deep Root, and it filled the Land, viz. the Land of Jewry, wherein it was fet. The Hills (i. e. the Hill-Country of Judah, the fartheft Point of Palestine, Southward) were covered with the Shadow of it, and the Boughs thereof were like the Cedars of God, on Mount Lebanon, in the Extremity of its Northern Borders. She fent out her Boughs into the Sea (the Mediterranean Sea, her utVOL. I. most

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$ER M. moft Limit to the Weft,) and her Branches to the River, even as far Eastward, as the Pf. lxxx. River Euphrates. Thus was the Jew8, 9, 10, ish Church, even in its most ample and flourishing Condition, fhut up within the Bounds of Canaan, and the Countries adjacent Whereas that Mustard-Seed, the Kingdom of Chrift, though it were Luke xiii. less than all the Seeds that be in the Mark iv. Earth, yet, when it was fown, it grew 31, 32. up, and became greater than all the Herbs, and shot out great Branches, and the Fowls of the Air lodged in the Branches of it; Men of all Countries, and all Reigions under Heaven flock'd to it for Shade and Shelter,

Indeed, the Mofaic Law was intended for a fingle People only, who were to be shut in, as it were, from the rest of the World, by a Fence of Legal Rites, and Typical Ceremonies; and to be kept by that means feparate and unmix'd, till the great Antitype, the Mef Siah, fhould appear, and break down this Fence, and lay open this Inclosure publishing a Religion, of a more extensive

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Nature and Ufe, which all Mankind SERM. fhould be invited to profefs, and in which all fhould have an equal Interest. To thefe different Ends the Law, and the Gospel, were feverally defign'd; and to thefe, therefore, the Different Circumftances of their Promulgation, and the chief Parts of their Worship, were feverally accommodated. The Law was (as I faid) given in the Defart, to a particular People; the Gospel was publish'd in Jerufalem, before a mixt Multitude of various Nations and Languages. The Miracles, by which the Law was confirm'd, were done before the Jews only, who alone were concern'd in them [for as to thofe, perform'd by Mofes in the fight of Pharaoh, and the Egyptians i were not intended to authorize the Law; which was not as yet given, but only to prove his Divine Miffion for the Temporal Refcue of that People]: Whereas the Gofpel-Miracles were wrought before the Enemies of the Gofpel, in all Countries; because in all Countries the Gospel was to be propagated, believ'd, and

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IV.

SERM. practis'd. The chief Parts of the Jewish Worship (which confifted in Sacrifices) were confin'd to a certain Place, at which all the Males of that Religion were bound, thrice every Year, to appear; and that Religion, therefore, could be intended for fuch only as liv'd at no great Distance from the Jewish Temple: Whereas, when the Ends of the Earth were to be converted to Christ, the Chriftian Sacrifice of Praise and Thankfgiving, and even the great Oblation of the Eucharift, was to be perform'd every where with equal Degrees of Acceptance, according to the Prediction of Malachi, the laft Prophet of the Jewish Difpenfation. For from the rifing of the Sun to the going down of the fame, my Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place Incenfe shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure Offering; for my Name shall be great among the Heathen, faith the Lord of Hofts.

Mal.i.11.

The Jewish, then, and Chriftian Institutions, as they are widely different in many Refpects, fo particularly in

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Luke iv,

This; that the one was, by its original SREM. Frame and Intention, limited as to Place Perfons, and Time: whereas the other was to be diffus'd throughout the World, and to endure together with it, that is, to be, indeed, what we find it not long after its first Erection ftil'd, the Catholick Church. Whereunto, therefore, shall we liken this Kingdom of God, and its marvellous Increase? or with what Compari- 30, fon shall we compare it? There is, indeed, fome faint Resemblance of it in the prodigious Fecundity of Seeds; which, accor dingly, our Saviour makes use of more than once, to illuftrate it: but there is nothing parallel to it in the Hiftory of all the Religions which have sprung up, and obtain❜d amongst Men, from the be ginning of the World to this Day.

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

2dly. It was prefignify'd by Types, and foretold by various Prophecies. And when, therefore, the Event came to pa fs, K 3

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