plish that work for it, seems evident from what has already been said, (1.) This is the work which Christ commanded his Church to undertake. (2.) He furnished it with all the means neces- sary for its accomplishment; He revealed the truth which is the power of God unto salvation ; He instituted the ministry to be perpetuated to the end of the world, and promised to endow men from age to age with the gifts and graces necessary for the discharge of its duties, and to grant them his constant presence and assistance. (3.) The Apostles and the Church of that age so understood the work assigned and addressed themselves to it with a devotion and a success, which, had they been continued, the work, "humanly speaking, had long since been accomplished. (4.) There is no intimation in the New Testament that the work of converting the world is to be effected by any other means than those now in use. (5.) It is to dishonour the Gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit, to suppose that they are inadequate to the accomplishment of this work. (6.) The wonderful suc- cess of the work of missions in our day goes to prove the fact contended for. Barriers deemed insurmountable have been re- moved ; facilities of access and intercourse have been increased a hundred fold ; hundreds of missionary stations have been estab- lished in every part of the world; many thousands of converts have been gathered into churches and hundreds of thousands of children are under Christian instruction ; the foundations of an- cient systems of idolatry have been undermined ; nations lately heathen have become Christian, and are taking part in sending the Gospel to those still sitting in darkness ; and nothing seems wanting to secure the gathering in of the Gentiles, but a revival of the missionary spirit of the apostolic age in the churches of the nineteenth century.
§ 5. Conversion of the Jews.
The second great event, which, according to the common faith of the Church, is to precede the second advent of Christ, is the national conversion of the Jews.
First, that there is to be such a national conversion may be argued, —
1. From the original call and destination of that people. God called Abraham and promised that through him, and in his seed, all the nations of the earth should be blessed. He en- tered into a solemn covenant with him engaging to be his God and the God of his posterity to the latest generations ; and that they
806 PART IV. Ch. in. -the second advent.
should be his people. These promises have been hitherto ful- filled ; God preserved the Hebrews, although comparatively few in numbers amid hostile nations, from destruction or dispersion until the promised seed of Abraham appeared and accomplished his redeeming work. This is an assurance that the other prom- ises relating to this people shall be fully accomplished.
2. The second argument is from the general drift of the Old Testament concerning the chosen people. Those prophecies run through a regular cycle often repeated in different forms. The people are rebuked for their sins and threatened with severe pun- ishment ; when that punishment has been inflicted, and the na- tion brought to repentance, there uniformly follow promises of restoration and favour. Isaiah predicted that for their idolatry the people should be carried into captivity, but that a remnant should be restored to their own land, and their privileges secured to them again. Joel and Zechariah predicted that for their rejection of the Messiah, they should be scattered to the ends of the earth, but that God would bring them back, and that his favour should not be finally withdrawn from them. Thus it is with all the prophets. As these general predictions are familiar to all the readers of the Bible, they need not be specified.
3. There are in the Old Testament express predictions of their national conversion to faith in Him whom they had rejected and crucified. Thus in Zechariah xii. it is said ; " I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications ; and they shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." This is to be a national conversion, for it is said " the land shall mourn " every family apart.
4. The most decisive passage, however, bearing on this subject, and one which may be taken " instar omnium," is the eleventh chap- ter of the Epistle to the Romans. Paul had taught, (1.) That God had cast off the Jews as a nation because they as a nation, represented by the Sanhedrim, the High Priest, the scribes and the Pharisees, by their rulers of every class, and by the popular voice, had rejected Christ. " He came unto his own, and his own re- ceived him not." Therefore, as a nation, God rejected them. (2.) This rejection, however, he here teaches, was not entire. There was " a remnant according to the election of grace " who be- lieved in Christ and were received into his kingdom. (3.) This