SER M. themselves. And to this it is owing that,

XIV.

at the first preaching of the Gospel, most of the Converts that were brought over to it were of this Sort: As might be fhewn from numerous Texts of the Acts, whence we might also observe that the Sermons of the Apostles, there recorded, generally supposed that the Perfons they preached to already knew the true God, and the Promise of a Refurrection and eternal Life to those that worshipped him; and therefore had no more to learn in order to make them Christians, than the Way and Means how to obtain and make fure of these Promises, which the Apostles taught them was to be done through Jefus.

But now notwithstanding these their Difpofitions to Religion in general; notwithstanding their Readiness to believe in God and the World to come; the Jews looked upon them in a great Measure as Heathens ftill: And because they were not circumcised and within the Covenant of the Law, they thought they should have no Manner of Benefit or Advantage from the promised Meffab. The Meffiah they imagined was to come purely for the Sake of their Nation only. All his Bleffings were to be conferred upon

XIV.

upon them; and even the best and most reli-S ER M. gious of other Nations they would only allow the Privilege of being, in a fuperior Way, fubfervient to them.

And fo far indeed they were certainly in the Right, that the Promifes of the Chrift belonged principally to the Jews: He was to come and offer himself to them in the first Place, and was not to be preached or promulged to the Gentiles, till they had re-. fufed him. For this Reason, when the Apostles applied to our Lord in the Behalf of a Canaanitish Woman, and one that was a Greek, he openly profeffes that he was not fent but to the loft Sheep of the House of If rgel, Mat. xv. 24. And therefore when he gave his Apostles their Charge upon his sending them forth to preach the Gospel, he bid them not go into the Way of the Gentiles, nor to enter into any City of the Samaritans; but to go rather to the loft Sheep of the Houfe of Ifrael, Ch. x. 5, 6.

But yet as Chrift forefaw that, according to the Determination of his Father, the Gofpel should, upon the Jews refufing it, be preached to the Gentiles, (not by himself indeed, but by the Apostles after him;) he was therefore willing, in the Course of his

Mi

XIV.

SER M. Miracles, to intimate as much: And that under the Emblem of a Cure performed by Deputation, as we shall fee by and by, upon a Gentile Servant.A Gentile Servant I prefume to call him: For that his Master was a Gentile we have inferred already from the Office he was in; and it may be proved further from the Reflection our Lord makes upon the Strength of his Faith: Verily, I fay unto you, I have not found fo great Faith, no not in Ifrael, Ver. 10. Plainly intimating that he was surprized to find so much Faith in one out of Ifrael. This is further confirmed by the Obfervation he also makes in the two following Verses. I fay unto you, that many shall come from the Eaft and from the Weft, and fhall fit down with Abraham, and Ifaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, Ver. 11. But the Children of the Kingdom fhall be caft out into outer Darkness: There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth, Ver. 12. The Meaning of which Words being plainly, that the Heathens, who should come from the remoteft Parts of the Earth, fhould fhare in the Kingdom, whilft the Jews, who had the Offer made to them in the first Place, fhould for a Time be excluded; this, I fay, being the Meaning of thefe

thefe Words, we cannot poffibly infer lefs SER M. from them, than that the Centurion who

came and applied to Chrift with fo forcible a Faith, was a Heathen Centurion of the Roman Bands, and who might poffibly have applied to him foon after some Slight or Diffidence had been fhewn to him by the Jews The Mafter then being certainly a Heathen, it is more than probable that the Servant was fo too. It is not unlikely that he was one of his Men or Soldiers under him: And they were generally all Romans, and none of them Jews. If the Miracle therefore was defigned for a Mystery (as has already been fuppofed ;) this must intimate that the Bleffings of Chrift were to be exhibited to Gentiles as well as Jews.

And this indeed feems further hinted by the Quality of the Perfon here said to be healed. He was a Servant we find, and not a Son; it was a Centurion's Servant (as another Evangelift expreffes it) who was dear unto him, that was fick and ready to die, Luke vii. 2. Now it is certain that the Gentiles when compared with the Jews as to their Relation to God, were no other than as Servants, while the Jews were as Sons: The Jews are called in this very Paffage the Chil

XIV.

SERM. Children of the Kingdom, whereas the GenXIV. tiles or Heathen World (whilst they continued

in their Heathenish State) were deemed by, the Jews as Servants and Slaves, and are represented even by the Apoftle himself to have been Aliens from the Commonwealth of Ifrael, Strangers from the Covenants, having no Hope of the Promife, and without God in the World, Ephef. ii. 12. Chrift therefore thus miraculously curing a Servant, a Heathen's Servant, and a Servant who was also himself a Heathen, fhewed that the Benefits of his coming into the World were what the remotest Strangers to him, even thofe that were at the greatest Distance from him, fhould one Day fhare in, and be made Partakers of equally with his nearest Relations and Sons.

Nor is the Quality and Religion of the Perfon that was healed more expreffive of the Perfons whom Jefus defigned in Time to fave; than the Disease he laboured under and the Cure that was wrought on him were fignificant of the deplorable State and Condition from which the Gospel of Chrift should retrieve them. For the Servant's Difeafe we are told was the Palfy. So faith the Centurion, Lord, my Servant lieth at home, fick of the Palfy, grievously tormented, and,

as