Jews were to look in their Messiah. There is nothing so great as to bear about in one's self, and to discover to men the whole truth, which nourishes them, directs them, and purifies their eyes, so as to render them capable of seeing God.

When the truth was to be shewn to men with that fulness, it was also appointed to be proclaimed throughout the whole earth, and to the end of time. God gave Moses only one people, and one determinate time; all ages, and all the nations of the world are given to JESUS CHRIST: he has his elect among all, and his church, extended as the universe, shall never cease to bring them forth. Go ye therefore, saith he, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world*.

VII. The Descent of the Holy Ghost; the Establishment of the Church: the Judgments of God upon the Jews and Gentiles,

IN order to propagate in all places, and in all ages, such exalted truths, and to enforce, in the midst of corruption, a practice so refined, there required a more than human power. For which reason JESUS CHRIST promises to send the Holy Spirit to

Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.

strengthen his apostles, and eternally to animate the body of the church.

That power of the Holy Spirit, to declare itself the more evidently, was to appear in weakness. And behold, I send, saith JESUS CHRIST to his apostles, the promise of my Father, that is, the Holy Ghost, upon you: in the mean time tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem; undertake nothing, until ye be endued with power from on high*.

In conformity to this order they continue shut up forty days; the Holy Ghost descends at the time appointed; fiery tongues lighting upon CHRIST's disciples speak the efficacy of their word; preaching begins; the apostles bear witness to JESUS CHRIST; they are ready to suffer every thing for their testimony that they have seen him risen again, Miracles attend their words; at two sermons of St. Peter eight thousand Jews are converted, and bewailing their error, are washed in the blood they had shed.

Thus the church is founded in Jerusalem, and among the Jews, notwithstanding the incredulity of the bulk of the nation. The disciples of JESUS CHRIST exhibit to the world a charity, a power, and a meekness, which no society ever before possessed persecution arises; faith increases; the children of God learn more and more to desire nothing but heayen; the Jews, by their obstinate wickedness, draw down the vengeance of God, and

* Luke xxiv. 49.

hasten the dreadful calamities, with which they were threatened: their state and affairs decline. While God continues to set apart a great number of them, whom he ranks among his elect, St. Peter is sent to baptize Cornelius the Roman centurion. He learns first by a heavenly vision, and afterward by experience, that the Gentiles are called to the knowledge of God. JESUS CHRIST, who resolved their conversion, speaks from on high to St. Paul, who was to be their teacher; and, by a miracle till then unheard of, from a persecutor he makes him not only a defender, but a zealous preacher of the faith: he discovers to him the profound secret of the calling of the Gentiles through the reprobation of the ungrateful Jews, who render themselves more and more unworthy of the Gospel. St. Paul stretches forth his hands to the Gentiles he treats with a wonderful power these important points: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first thut should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles*: he proves this from Moses, and the prophets, and calls idolaters to the knowledge of God, in the name of JESUS CHRIST risen from the dead. They are converted in multitudes. St. Paul shews that their call is an effect of grace, which no longer makes a distinction between Jew and Gentile: fury and jealousy transport the Jews; they form terrible combinations against St. Paul,

* Acts xxvi. 23.

enraged chiefly at his preaching to the Gentiles, and bringing them to the true God: they deliver him up at last to the Romans, as they had done JESUS CHRIST. The whole empire was moved against the infant church; and Nero, the persecutor of all mankind, was the first persecutor of the faithful. That tyrant causes St. Peter and St. Paul to be put to death. Rome is consecrated by their blood; and the martyrdom of St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, establishes in the capital of the empire, the principal seat of religion. Meanwhile the time approached, when the divine vengeance was to break forth upon the impenitent Jews: disorder takes place among them; a false zeal blinds them, and renders them odious to all men; their false prophets bewitch them with promises of an imaginary kingdom: seduced by these impostures, they can no longer bear any lawful empire, and set no bounds to their audacious attempts. God gives them up to a reprobate mind. They revolt against the Romans, and are overthrown by them; Titus himself, who destroys them, is sensible that he does but lend his hand to God, provoked against them.' Adrian completes their extirpation. They perish with all the marks of divine vengeance; driven out of their land, and slaves all over the world; they have no longer either temple, altar, sacrifice, or country*; nor is

*Philost. Vit. Apol. Tyan. lib. vi. Joseph. de Bell. Jud. lib. vii, 16.

there any form of a people to be seen in Judea.

God however had taken care to provide for the eternity of his worship: the Gentiles open their eyes, and are united in spirit to the converted Jews. They enter by this means into the stock of Abraham, and having become his children by faith, they inherit the promises that had been made to him. A new people is formed, and the new sacrifices so much celebrated by the prophets, begin to be offered over the whole earth.

Thus was punctually fulfilled the ancient oracle of Jacob: Judah is multiplied from the beginning more than all his brethren; and, having ever preserved a certain preeminence, receives at last the kingdom as hereditary. In process of time, the people of God is reduced to his single family, and being confined to his tribe, takes his name. In Judah is continued that great nation promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; in him are perpetuated the other promises, the worship of God, the temple, the sacrifices, the possession of the promised land, which is no longer called by any other name than Judea. Notwithstanding their different states, the Jews remain still a regular body of people, and ä kingdom, subject to their own laws. We see still raised up among them, either kings, or magistrates and judges, until the Messiah comes: He comes, and the kingdom of Judah by degrees falls into ruin. It is utterly destroyed, and the Jewish people