faid in the promises of God to Adam and Abraham, and in the prophefies he inspired his prophets to deliver, that it was known in general, that fome great defign of mercy, by fome extraordinary perfon that should be born of a woman, and proceed from Abraham, was in prosecution; tho' they could not particularly say, what this mercy was, or how it would be ac complished thro' this "feed of the woman," and and" of Abraham." The clear and full knowledge of these things was referved to after-times, and has accordingly been revealed in these " laft days. And to us, who are able to view the fcheme of God, as it has been explained by the birth, life, death, refurrection and exaltation of Jefus Chrift, and the settlement of the gospel-kingdom in the world, with its means, motives, and advantages, in order to effect men's falvation, it very evidently appears to be one uniform confiftent defign, begun in the days of Adam, and carried on thro' the times of Abraham, Mofes,and the prophets,till the coming of Jefus Chrift; who, in confequence of his humiliation to death, went up to heaven, and fets there at the right hand of God, cloathed with all power, that he might finish this plan, and finally bring it into effect.

D 2

effect. And it is, with me, one of the strongest evidences of the truth of the gofpel, and the revelation contained in it, that the promise to Abraham, as well as that to Adam, and the other fimilar promifes and predictions, are fo expreffed as that the fcheme of falvation by Jefus Chrift, as unfolded in the new-teftament writings, is very obviously, however fummarily, pointed out in them; infomuch that a fober enquirer can scarce fail of being fatisfied, that one and the fame plan has been in profecution from the beginning; which plan, however dark to former ages, as to it's particulars, is now, in the times of the gofpel, made fufficiently manifeft to all men.

IT is likewife natural to expect, from what has been faid, that great multitudes will be bleffed in Jefus Chrift. For the bleffing thro' him is promised to" all nations and families of the earth. And can it be fuppofed, when the promise is thus gloriously extenfive, as to its object, that a few only will be bleffed in confequence of it?

WHETHER We understand by this

bleffing, gospel means and advantages,

under

under the adminiftration of God's visible kingdom by his Son Jefus Chrift; or the end thefe means are defigned to effect, the bringing men to heavenly happiness; -it will not be confined to a fmall number, but comprehend a vast multitude.

THE gospel has already been preached to, and the kingdom of the Son of God in fact fettled among, a great many nations of the earth; infomuch that if we reckon the individuals that now conftitute thefe collective bodies of men, and have been their constituent parts thro' the feveral fucceffive ages, fince Chrift was made known to them, they will be vastly numerous And the account will still increase, and rise almost beyond imagination, if we carry our thoughts to those numberlefs individuals who may yet be brought into exiftence, and form thefe communities in all future ages.

AND the number of thofe, who have not only had the kingdom of God among them, but formed in them to their being made meet for the heavenly kingdom, and actually admitted into it will be vaftly great likewife. To this purpose " the redeemed to God, by the blood of Christ,

out

out of every kindred, and tongue, and nation, is faid, in the book of the Revelation, to be " ten-thousand times tenthoufand, and thousand of thousands." And the individuals out of" all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who shall finally" stand before the throne, and cry, falvation to our God and to the Lamb," are again represented

*

66

as a

great multitude which no man can number." From which facred declarations we have full warrant to fay, that the bleffed by Chrift, the promised seed of Abraham, confidered as one collective body, made up of all the individuals that will be faved, out of all nations, and in all ages from the days of Adam, will be an inconceivably great multitude! Nor is this any other than the fulfilment of the word, which God fpake of old to his fervant Abraham, when, upon bidding him "look towards heaven, and tell the stars if he were able to number them," he said, "So SHALL THY SEED BE.”

It may pertinently alío be recommended to us, from the preceding discourse, to exert ourselves, in all proper ways, that the barbarous nations, inhabiting thefe American lands, may become partakers

+ Rev. V. 2. * Rev. VII. 4, 10, ‡ Gen. XV. 5.

of

of the falvation by JefusChrift. This falvation is the fubject-matter of my text, the bleffing it promifes; and it is justly applicable to these tribes of men. As they are comprehended in the " all nations", who fhall be "bleffed in the feed of Abraham," they conftitute a part of the OBJECT of this divine engagement, and as truely fo as any other communities of the human race. And, it may be, they were particularly ranked, in the counfels of God, among the nations that should eventually be bleffed thro' the feed here promised; though it was not till afterages that they were bro't into actual existence, We have fuch an obfervable paffage as that in the book of Pfalms, *

Have refpect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." The words may be looked upon as a prophetic prayer, looking forward to the times of Chrift, when the covenant-promife to Abraham fhould be fulfilled: And the argument enforcing the prayer is, that there were places in "the earth covered with darkhefs," whofe inhabitants were, in a fingular fenfe," barbarous and cruel " Perhaps, no places in the earth were ever more dark, and at the fame time more

* Pfalm LXXIV. 20.

given