generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." 1 Pet.. ii. 9.

4. The prophecies of Scripture clearly show, that the present visible church is the same with the church of Israel.

John the Baptist predicted of him who was to come after him, not that he should destroy, but that he should "thoroughly purge his floor." Matt. iii. 12. Accordingly, the church was purified, but not destroyed, at the introduction of the Christian dispensation.*

Christ predicted that many should “ come from the east, and from the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven," while "the children of the kingdom should be cast out into outer darkness." Matt. viii. 11, 12. What are we to understand here by the phrase, "kingdom of heaven?" Not. the kingdom of glory, surely; for none of the children of that kingdom will ever be cast out. The phrase must denote in this place, as it does in others, the visible church. And the prediction of our Saviour was, that when the Jews were ejected for their unbelief, the Gentiles should come and sit down in the same church "with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

In the parable of the vineyard, Christ also predicted, that the same vineyard or church, in which the Jews had done so wickedly, should be taken from them and given to the Gentiles. "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Matt. xxi. 43.

In proof of the point under consideration, I might ad

* The introduction of the new dispensation is spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrews as "the time of (dowσews) reformation" or emendation. Chap. ix. 10. On the theory here opposed, it must have been to the ancient church a time, not of reformation, but destruction. Reformation nec. essarily implies a continuance of the thing reformed.

duce numerous quotations from the Old Testament. Indeed, all the ancient predictions of the ingathering of the Gentiles, and of the future prosperity and glory of the church, were made, not to a new church to be established under the gospel, but to the Zion of the Old Testament, the church at that time existing in Israel.* "The Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon. thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about and see all they gather themselves together, they come to thee. Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be, enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee; the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all them that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Is. Chap. ix..

There is no resisting the conclusion to be drawn from these and similar passages, many of which might be quoted from the Old Testament, but by supposing that it is the real, and not the visible church, which is here addressed. But how will those who adopt this hypothesis interpret predictions like the following? "The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then thou shalt say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, removing to and fro?" Is. xlix. 20, 21. Will it be pretended that this prediction belongs to the real, as distinct from

* See Appendix, Note C.

the visible church of God? Has the real church ever lost any of her children? Has any true believer ever fallen finally away?—It cannot be denied that this and similar predictions relate to the visible church in Israel, and establish the fact that converted Gentiles under the new dispensation are gathered into the same church.

Not

The

5. The identity of the church under both dispensations is certain from the declarations of Scripture. The Apostle Paul teaches (Rom. xi. 17—24.) that believing Gentiles are graffed into the same olive tree, from which the unbelieving Jews were broken off, and into which the restored Jews shall be graffed again. What are we to understand by this olive tree? Not Christ: for none who are truly interested in him are ever broken off. the real, spiritual church; for the same reason. olive tree plainly represents the visible church, the branches of which are attached to it by a profession of godliness.* From this, the unbelieving Jews were broken off. Into the same, the believing Gentiles are graffed. And into the same, the restored posterity of Abraham will at length be graffed again. Hence, the sameness of the church, ⚫ under both dispensations, is in this Chapter incontestably established.t

* Jeremiah, addressing the church, says, "The Lord called thy name a green olive tree" Chap xi. 16. Of the church in Israel the prophet Hosea says, "His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree." Chap. xiv. 6.

+ "The (agyiεlaios) wild olive," says Professor. Stuart, was often grafted into the fruitful one, when it began to decay, and thus not only brought forth fruit, but caused the decaying olive to revive and flourish. The image which the Apostle here employs is, therefore, a very vivid one. The Gentiles had been grafted in upon the Jewish church, and had caused this decayed tree to revive and flourish. But still the Apostle means to hold in check any exultation of the Gentiles on account of this. He reminds them, that after all they are not the stock, but only grafts; that the root and fatness of the good olive have been transferred to them, only because they have been grafted into it.—All this shows that, in the Apostle's view,

In further proof of this point, I shall adduce but one passage more. The Apostle, addressing his Ephesian brethren, says, "Wherefore remember, that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh...... were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Eph. ii. 11, 12. Does the form of expression here used necessarily imply, that the Ephesian brethren were no longer "without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world?" But it equally implies, that they were no longer "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." It is just as plain from this passage, that these Christians were now members of the commonwealth or church of Israel, as it is that they belonged to Christ, enjoyed the comforts of hope, or loved and served the God of heaven.

6. There is evidence from fact, that the church, under both dispensations, is the same. During Christ's public ministry, his disciples were members of the Jewish Church. They attended the festivals and other instituted services of that church, and "walked in all its commandments and ordinances blameless." After the ascension of Christ, we find them pillars in the Christian church. Had they, in the mean time, been cut off from one church and gathered into another? And if so, when and how was this done? And what record have we, in the New Testament, of any such proceeding ?-In the hour of Christ's death important changes were indeed accomplished. The old dispensation was abolished, the new one ushered in, and the church was purged of its unbelieving members; but the stock of the olive tree, with

there has been, in reality, but one church; the ancient Jewish one being the foundation, the Christian one the superstructure and completion of the building." Comment. on Rom. xi. 17.

its few green branches, remained the same, and into it multitudes were speedily engrafted...

In short, nothing can be more evident, than that the disciples belonged to the same church, on the day of Pentecost and afterwards, to which they belonged on the night when they partook of the Passover-a sacrament of the old dispensation-with their blessed Lord. And from this fact, it follows conclusively, that the church, under both dispensations, has been the same.

SECTION II.

The Covenant of the Visible Church the same under both dispensations.

That the covenant of the visible church has been the same under both dispensations is an incontestable inference from the truth established in the previous section.. The church is constituted by its covenant; and the connexion between church and covenant is of such a nature, that if the one is essentially changed, the other must be; or if one can be shown to remain unchanged, the same must be true respecting the other. But it has been proved that the church continues the same. It may be safely concluded, therefore, that the covenant of the church is essentially the same.

What was the covenant of the church of Israel? Not the Sinatic covenant; for God had promised to be the God of Israel, and when speaking of them, uniformly calls them his people, long previous to the promulgation of the covenant from Sinai.* The covenant of the ancient church was unquestionably the covenant with Abraham. Here, God first promises to be the God of Abraham and his seed. Immediately after the giving of this covenant, God begins to designate the family of Abraham as his * See Exodus iii..6, 7