i Isai. i. 9. Matt. xxiv. 22. r Isai. xlvi. 13.
s Rev. hi. 4, 5.
christians' advantages above heathens.
Rom. iii. 1, 2. What advantage then hath the Jew ? or what profit is there of circumcision ? Much every way.
IT is not easy to form a just estimate of the privi- leges attached to the profession of Christianity : we are ready either, on the one hand, to rate them too high, or, on the other, to undervalue and despise them. The Jews laid so great a stress on their rela- tion to Abraham, that they could scarcely conceive it possible for them to perish : they concluded, that be- cause they bore in their flesh the external seal of God's covenant, they must of necessity be partakers of its spiritual blessings : and when St. Paul shewed them their error, they indignantly replied, " What advantage then hath the Jew ? or what profit is there of circumcision ?" Thus many amongst ourselves are apt to imagine, that their having been admitted by
e 2
baptism into the Christian covenant will secure them an admission into heaven : and, when they are warned against this sad delusion, they are ready to say, that the heathen are in a happier state than they. Tn opposition to this, we propose to shew,
I. What advantages we, as Christians, have above the heathen —
The Apostle intimates, that the Jews, merely as Jews, possessed "every way much" advantage above the heathen: but, instead of descending to particulars, he contents himself with specifying one, which, as it was the greatest, so in fact it included all the rest, namely, that " to them were committed the Oracles of God." What he has stated thus comprehensively, we shall enter into more minutely.
We say then, that as Christians, we have many things to which the heathen are utter stangers : we have,
1 . A guide for our faith —
[The oracles which the heathen consulted, were altogether unworthy of credit. Their answers were purposely given with such ambiguity, that they might appear to correspond with the event, whatever the event might bea. But our oracles have no such subterfuges : nor can we possibly err in giving to them the most implicit confidence. They declare to us the nature and perfections of God — the way which he has appointed for our reconciliation with him — the eternal state of those who shall embrace his proffered mercy, and of those who shall reject it. Of these things the heathen were wholly ignorant ;
a A famous instance of this is mentioned by Herodotus, B. i. — Cyropsedia, B. vii. Croesus, king of Lydia, inquired of his gods, Whether he should make war against Cyrus ? The Oracles answered, That he was then only to think himself in danger, when a mule should reign over the Medes ; and that, on his passing over the river Halys, he should destroy a powerful kingdom. Relying on these answers as predicting success, he commenced the war, which speedily termi- nated in the ruin of himself and his whole kingdom : and when he complained that he had been deceived by the Oracles, he was told, That Cyrus was that mule (being a Persian by his father's side, and a Mede by his mother's) ; and that the kingdom which he was to de- stroy, was his own. See the account given in Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Testament History.
1828.] christians' advantages above heathens. 53
nor could their oracles afford them any instruction on which they could rely.
What an amazing advantage then has the meanest Christian above the greatest of the heathen philosophers ! The little volume which he has in his hand, sets before him innumerable truths, which reason never could explore ; it reveals them to him so plainly, that he who runs may read and understand them : and, instead of deceiving him to his ruin, it will " make him wise unto everlasting salvation."]