of mankind shall be " one fold under one Shepherd." What a stupendous mystery is this ! Well might St. Paul, in the contemplation of it, exclaim, " O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and know- ledge of God ! How unsearchable are his judg- ments, and his ways past finding out ! " Truly, this mystery is by no means sufficiently considered amongst us ; though it is so great, that not even the Apostles themselves, for six years after the day of Pentecost, could see into it ; and even then it was only by a miraculous interference that God prevailed upon them to receive it : it was by repeated visions to Peter and Cornelius, that he induced Peter to preach the Gospel to Cornelius ; and it was by the effusion of the Holy Ghost on Cornelius and his fa- mily, that he induced the other Apostles to acquiesce in what Peter had done : and, even to the last, it was with reluctance they confessed, " Then hath God to the Gentiles also granted repentance unto life x." Let me recommend you then, my Brethren, to turn your attention to this mystery more than you have ever yet done ; and never imagine that you have attained just views of it, till you are transported with wonder at the wisdom displayed in ity, and filled with gratitude for the mercies it conveys.
A second improvement we should make of this subject is, to be afraid of provoking God to jealousy against zis also. We have seen that it was the idolatry of the Jews that chiefly provoked God to jealousy against them. But is there not a spiritual idolatry, as well as that which consisted in the wor- ship of graven images ? and is it not equally offensive to a jealous God ? When his people of old placed idols in their secret chambers, his chief complaint was, that " they set them up in their hearts7-. And has he not told us, that " covetousness is idolatry ;" and that we may "make a god of our belly ?" What then is this but to say, that ' the loving and serving the creature more than the Creator,' whatever that creature be, is idolatry ? We know full well, that
* Acts x. andxi. 1, 18. y Ephes. iii. 6, 9, 10. z Ezek. xiv. 3, 4, 7.