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this shall be done, and that these bodies which are "sown in corruption," shall be "raised in glory" at the great day of the Lord.

Let all strive to stand approved in the sight of their Judge, when he cometh to count up his jewels. Amen.

SERMON XXVII.

CAUSES OF THE REJECTION

OF

CHRIST BY THE JEW S.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. JOHN i. 11.

As these words point directly to our Lord's visit to the Jews, and their rejection of him, they form, I think, a very appropriate motto for our present meditation. I shall not make any introductory remarks, but enter immediately upon the subject, after mentioning the meaning which has been annexed by critics to these words; "He came unto his own;" this expression in the original is in the neuter gender; "his own received him not," is in the masculine. Grotius, and most

other commentators have thus explained the meaning of this difference; he came unto his home, his country, and his territory; but his own people received him not. This idea plainly intimates, that Judea was under the jurisdiction and authority of Christ, long before his incarnation.

I. I shall, in the first place, state the objection to Christianity, arising from the rejection of Christ by the Jews.

II. Endeavour to lessen the objection.

III. To remove it entirely.

IV. To prove, that, far from weakening, it increases the evidence in favour of Christianity.

I. I shall state the objection to Christianity, arising from the rejection of Christ by the Jews.

That the Jews should reject their promised and long-expected Messiah, appeared so extraordinary, as to have afforded a specious pretext to the infidel for declaring his pretensions to be false. It has been produced as an argument against the truth of Christianity, by many of the advocates of infidelity,

particularly by Woolston, in his fifth discourse. (By the way, let not this writer ever be confounded with Wollaston, who wrote "The Religion of Nature delineated;" a book which is one of the greatest ornaments of the English language.)

The whole Jewish nation were actually, at this period, waiting for the appearance of the Messiah; they had full opportunity of examining his pretensions, and weighing his claims; they beheld the miracles he performed, and were eye witnesses of every action of his life; and if, after all these opportunities of judging, they rejected his title as false, and treated him as an impostor, surely their decision must be right. Thus will the Deist argue, and certainly the objection, in its present state, assumes a very formidable appearance. After placing it in the fullest point of view, I proceed,

II. To endeavour to lessen the difficulty.

When a motion is proposed in the House of Legislature, and lost, if lost with a very considerable minority, it is still respectable in the eye of the world. Though many of the Jews rejected Christ, let us not be led away with the idea, that none of their nation be

.

lieved in him: doubtless many received him in their hearts, who feared openly to avow their regard to him; they dreaded the displeasure of the Scribes and Pharisees, and the Elders of the Synagogue: these were times of great persecution; this severe edict was published, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Christ, shall be put out of the synagogue;" but notwithstanding this fear of public authority, many did profess their attachment to his cause. Who was Nicodemus? Who was Nathaniel? Who was Joseph of Arimathea? Who were the twelve Apostles? Who were the women who attended our Saviour during his ministry? Who were the five hundred brethren to whom he appeared previous to his ascension? Who were the hundred and twenty four persons who assembled in an upper chamber, of whom we read in the first chapter of the Acts? Who were the three thousand who were converted to Christianity by the first sermon of St. Peter? Were not all these Jews? And rulers, priests, and elders, are to be found among the number.

Were we to read the Epistles with attention, especially those of St. Paul, we should discover, that many of those to whom he wrote, had quitted the religion of Moses for that of Christ; the former part of most of the Epistles contains his instructions to those

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