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• foretold from the fcriptures, have all come to ⚫ pass, we doubt not but GoD in his time will < accomplish this: and whenever he doth, tho

fuch an acceffion of ftrength be not needed, • it will be fo great a demonstration of the cer<tain relation of the Scripture Prophecies to the • Meffias, as will put to filence all infidelity." Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry's defence of Criftianity.

APPEN

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APPENDIX

то

OBSERVATIONS on the PROPHECIES relating to the Reftoration of the JEWS;

BEING AN

ANSWER

то THE

OBJECTIONS of a late AUTHOR.

WHILST I was writing the preceding ob

fervations, there came to my hands a pamphlet, intituled, The Rife and Fall of the Holy Gity and Temple of Jerufalem, &c. by GREGORY SHARPE, LL.D. in which the restoration of the Jews, which I have here been endeavouring to prove, is abfolutely denied. The character which this learned and ingenious divine very defervedly bears in the literary world, would render me inexcufable, if I was wholly to overlook the objections which he has brought against the opinion I have endeavoured to eftablifh; I fhall therefore, with all due deference to one, whofe learned and excellent defences of Christianity are so justly admired, point out the paffages in the abovemenK

rioned

tioned work, in which I apprehend this learned and ingenious Doctor to have been mistaken; adding, at the fame time, the fcripture grounds and reasons, which oblige me to differ from him!

The first thirty pages of his fecond edition contain nothing that I fhall object to, but, on the contrary, many curious and entertaining obfervations. But p. 33. he expreffes himfelf in the following manner:

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They (the Jews) as a people, together with their city, were deftroyed: they were no more to live in one place; they were to be dif perfed, and fcattered over the face of the whole earth; they were to show themselves a ftanding miracle of God's mercy and judgC ment, to produce and bear witnefs to the ora

cles of God, which they confirm by their own appearance under the circumftances they now ' are, trustees and guardians, as it were, of thofe divine records for the use of Chriftians. What would have ftill preserved and kept them together in one place, the city and the temple, were • taken from them; they have now no home; and yet are as diftinct from all other men, with "whom they live in great numbers over all the earth, as when they inhabited Jerufalem in its ⚫ ancient fplendor. They could have no temple, nor any facrifice, but in Jerufalem, and when • that was deftroyed, they were difperfed. Circumcifion, the mark of the covenant, or token of the promise, could be of no peculiar ufe • when

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when the covenant of promife was fulfilled, and the promifed feed had evidently appeared in the perfon of Jefus. All that was peculiar to the Jews; all that obftructed the general union of mankind under one God and Saviour of us all, the calling of the Gentiles, who by adoption are made heirs of the promise; all that was local and temporary became obfolete, and of no ufe or fignificancy; for by the accomplifhment of the prophecies, and the appearance of the Son of God, all these things were abolished; facrifices had their end; the carnal ordinances, the temple, the Jewish polity, facred and civil, as connected with the city of Jerufalem, all were destroyed in one general ruin, and the diftinction of the tribes is entirely • loft.'

That the Jews were to be difperfed and scat tered over the face of the whole earth, that they now fhew themselves a standing miracle of God's judgment, and will hereafter of his mercy, I allow; and also that they bear witness to the ora eles of God, which they confirm by their own appearance under the circumftances they now are but it does not from hence follow, that they are no more to live in one place; for though what would have still preferved and kept them together, the city and the temple, were taken from them, it cannot from hence be concluded that these shall never be restored to them again. That circumcifion, the mark of the covenant, or token of the promise, could be of no peculiar ufe when

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the promifed feed had appeared, by no means follows; for if we look into the 17th chapter of Genefis, we fhall find the covenant, of which circumcifion was to be a token between GoD and Abraham, was this mentioned in the 8th verfe: And I will give unto thee, and to thy feed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an EVERLASTING poffeffion, and I will be their GOD. Now if Abraham, who, as St. Stephen obferves, Acts vii. 5. had no inheritance in Canaan, no not so much as to fet his foot on, is ftill to have this promife made good to him, and his feed have not yet entered upon the everlasting poffeffion of it here mentioned, it is evident that the token may be yet of peculiar use to them, as it affures them of the certainty of God's fulfilling it to them hereafter. Circumcifion therefore was not a token of the promised feed, or that in Abrakam's feed fhould all the nations of the earth be bleffed; for tho' this had been alfo promised him, yet God makes no mention of it when he repeats to Abraham the contents of the covenant of which circumcifion was to be the token, Gen. xvii. 6, 7, 8. Neither do the rites peculiar to the Jews, feem to me to have any way obftructed the general union of mankind under one GoD and Saviour of us all, or the calling of the Gentiles, they being in fact called while these things fubfifted. All that was local muft indeed cease at the difperfion of the Jews; but that by the accomplishment of the prophecies, and the appearance of the Son of GOD, all these things were

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abolished,

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