and hospitality with their neighbours, many of whom seem to have been eminent for their honesty and integrity, and to have been actuated by the love and fear of God.

In the absence of all contrary evidence, this must be allowed to form no slight testimony in favour of our argument for the salvability of Heathen nations. It cannot be expected, that the Bible should enter into professed or minute declarations respecting those who had not the benefit of the Revelation, and to whom such declarations would be of no advantage; but, if it describes the patriarchs in these early times, as forming marriages and alliances with the neighbouring nations, and as conducting themselves towards all men as their brethren; then, there is no foundation for any harsh decisions concerning the rest of the world. The advantages and privileges enjoyed by Abraham and his family, seem not to have suggested to them any thing unfavourable to others, and these advantages, if our argument be correct, were for the benefit of all, and were ulti

mately designed for the use of all the families of the earth.

The distinction between the promise to Abraham," that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed," and the temporal covenant made with him respecting the land of Canaan, is clearly pointed out by Shuckford, who adduces an apocryphal writer to confirm his opinion :-" With Isaac did He establish likewise (for Abraham, his father's sake) the blessing of all men, and the covenant." Eccles. xliv. 22. vol. ii. p. 214.

PART THE THIRD.

The Jewish Economy.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

We are now arrived at that period of the world, when the promise, which had been originally given to Adam, and which had been subsequently repeated to Noah and Abraham, was henceforth to assume a national and civil form, by being incorporated with the laws and ceremonies of the Jewish people. As in the patriarchal age, the form of the promise assumed that of a domestic blessing conferred on a particular family, so now, when it became national, it was invested with the appearance of a civil and ecclesiastical polity. But the original blessing and promise was still the same amidst all these varieties; and whether primitive, patriarchal, or Jewish, the form of the revelation might vary, yet the substance remained the same. "God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners,

spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath, in these last days, spoken unto us by his Son."

But, however grand and pleasing it is to generalize and to glance" from the beginning to the end," yet, when we confine our attention to a single part, we must be content with that particular evidence which is peculiar to the period. As such, I would now solicit my reader to consider the kind of evidence which may be naturally expected from this portion of the Bible history.

First, then, it must be admitted, that, however universal the blessing and promise might be, abstractedly considered, yet, that when it was made to assume a civil and national form, it would, in a great measure, appear, for the time, to be national and exclusive. If the Jews were selected as the guardians and trustees of the promise, then, it is clear, that, though they were selected for the common benefit of all, yet, that they would appear like a peculiar and privileged people. Many of their rites and ceremonies would be given for the very

purpose of keeping them thus distinct and separate; and, on many occasions, they -would be naturally led to value themselves on those peculiar distinctions by which they were distinguished from the rest of mankind.

But, on the other hand, it must be admitted, that, if the original promise still held good to all, and that if the Jews were nothing more than the channels and instruments for carrying this promise into effect, this object would be kept in view amidst all their national privileges and local advantages.

Keeping these two considerations constantly before us, we shall here find exactly that kind of evidence for our argument which might be expected from the circumstances of a temporary and intermediate national dispensation. To have given a professed and formal recognition of the universality of the covenant as it respected all mankind, would have defeated the very purposes of the Jewish polity; and as such, it cannot be here expected. But, if numerous facts are incidently arising which

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