novel ? No : it is that which is sanctioned by your own prophets, supported by our Apostles, and con- firmed by actual experience.
Look at the prophets : do they not declare the call of the Gentiles into the Church, saying, " In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensign of the people ; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious0." The Prophet Hosea's language, though primarily applicable to the ten tribes, is certainly to be understood in reference to the Gentiles also : " I will have mercy upon her that hath not obtained mercy ; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people: and they shall say, Thou art my Godp." And again, " It shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living Godq." But the Prophet Isaiah points directly to the Gentiles, when he says, " I am sought of them that asked not for me, I am found of them that sought me not : I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name:" I say he points to the Gentiles there ; for he immediately contrasts with them the state of his own people, saying, " I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts1." If you turn to the New Testament, you will find there the very words of our text quoted, not merely to prove that the Gentiles were to be brought into the Church of God, but that Israel teas apprised of God's intentions, and that, however averse they were to that measure, they could not but know that Moses himself had taught them to expect it: I say, Did not Israel know ? says the Apostle : — did they not know that " there was to be no difference between the Jew and the Greek; and that the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon him ?" Yes ; for Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no peojile, and by a foolish nation I xvill anger
0 Isai. xi. 10. p Hos. ii. 23. i Hos. i. 10. with Rom. ix. 24 — 26. r Isai. lxv. 1, 2. with Rom. x. 20, 21.