inculcated in the new as' in the ancient system: and whatever was now revealed to mankind concerning the nature and defigns of the Supreme Being, was fitted to increase their reverence for that mysterious doctrine. The divine authority of Moses and the prophets was admitted, and even established, as the firmest bafis of Christianity. From the beginning of the world, an uninterrupted series of predictions had announced and prepared the long expected coming of the Meffiah, who, in compliance with the gross apprehensions of' the jews, had been more frequently represented under the character of a King and Conqueror, than under that of a Prophet, a Martyr, and the Son of God. By his expiatory sacrifice, the imperfect sacrifices of the temple'were at once consummated and abolished. The ceremonial law, which consisted only of types and figures, was succeeded by a pure and spiritual worship, equally adapted to all climates, as well as to every condition of mankind; and to the initiation of blood, was substituted a more harmless initiation of water. The promise of divine favour, instead of being partially cOnfined to the posterity of Abraham, was uniVersally proposed to the freeman and the slave, to the Greek and to' the barbarian, to the Jew and to the Gentile. Every privilege that could raise the proselyte from earth to Heaven, that could exalt his devotion, secure his happiness, orleven gratify that secret pride, which, under the semblance os devotion, insinuates itself into the human heart,

was

oracles, respected him as a prophetic teacher of virtue and religion; but they obstinater adhered

to the ceremonies of their,ancestors, and were.

and thsse Gentiles, who, with the approbation of their peculiar apostle, had rejected the intolerable weight of Mosaic ceremonies, at length refused to their more scrupulous brethren the same toleration which at first they had humbly solicited for their own practice. The ruin of the temple, of the city, and of the public religion of the Jews, was severely felt by the'Na'zarenes; as in their manners, though not in their saith, they maintained so intimate a connexion with their impious countrymen, whose missortunes were attributed

by the Pagans to the contempt, and more justly

ascribed by the Christians to the wrath, of the Supreme Deity. The Nazarenes retired from the ruins of Jerusalem to the little town of Pella beyond the Jordan, where that ancient church languished above sixty years in solitude and obscurity'g. They still enjoyed the comfort of making frequent and devout visits to the Holy City, and the hope of being one day restored to those seats which both nature and religion taught them to love as well as to revere. But at length, under the reign of Hadrian, the desperate fanaticism of the Jews filled up the measure of their calamities; and the Romans, exasperated by their