with, any reasonable Propofal of a Way to free them from the Doubts and Fears that attend them; and dispose them to embrace fuch Evidence as fhall be brought to prove the Truth and the Bleffing of Christianity.

Indeed the CONVERSION OF THE HEATHENS may appear, at firft Sight, a very difcouraging Undertaking, confidering the many Difficulties fuch a Work is like to meet with.-But God, whofe Kingdon ruleth over all, having given his Son the Heathen for his Inheritance, and the utmost Parts of the Earth for his Poffeffion-and having allured us, that all the Ends of the Earth fhall remember themfelves, and turn unto the Lord; as he is able, fo He will moft certainly perfect this in his own good Time, and by fuch Inftruments as fhall be most proper for accomplishing this great Event.

But whether the Churches of the Gentiles, which at prefent are fo far departed, not only from the Zeal and Practice, but many of them from the Truths of primitive Chriftianity, fo that even themselves want to be converted ;-Whether these hall be made the Inftruments of fo glorious a Work; is much to be doubted.

Or whether, when the Times of the Gentiles fhall be fulfilled, Luke xxi. 24.—that is, as the learned Grotius understands the Prophecy, when God's Patience and Long-fuffering with the Churches of the Gentiles, whom, when he rejected the Jews, he made his peculiar People, shall be at an End, and they fhall have filled up the Measure of their Sing; Whether God will not then look upon his everlafting Covenant with Abraham and his Seed, Gen. xvii. 7-and caufe the Jews to be converted, and make THEM the Inftruments of publishing the Gospel to all the Nations of the World, amongst

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whom his Providence hath already scatter'd them; is a Matter worthy of Confideration, and feem'd to the very learned Mr. Jofeph Mede no improbable Suppofitionego kon

20 He fuppofeth St. Paul's Converfion to be a TYPE of the Calling of the Jews, when their Tribulation and long Difperfion fhall be ended; and that the fame Almighty Power and Grace, which converted him, and from a moft bitter Enemy and Perfecutor of Jefus Chrift, and his Church, made him an Apostle and Preacher of the Gospel to the then Gentile World,that the fame Almighty Power and Grace can, and it is probable may, after the like manner, make the Jews, tho' never fo great Enemies to Chrift at prefent, Preachers of the Gofpel to the yet unconverted Nations; and endow them, as he did St. Paul, with fufficient Powers, to convince and convert all such as are diffofed for eternal Life.

But this must be as it fhall pleafe God.In the mean time, whoever among Chriftians fears God, and loves the Lord Jefus Christ in Sincerity, cannot but defire and endeavour, that all Nations may come Ito the Knowlege of their Maker and Redeemer, and cadbre and glorify them.

This is indeed, what every Chriftian prays for, when he fays, Thy Kingdom come; but to how Whittle Purpose, if he does not, by fome Acts of his town, and as far as God hath put it into his Power, -endeavour to gather and increase the Number of Chrift's Subjects, and inlarge his Kingdom, by the Conversion of the yet unbelieving Nations ?

odwWe know it will be natural for People to afk, What can be done by moft Men, more than to pray,That fuch as fit in Darknefs, and in the 25* {Mri Mede's Works, fol. Beok v, cb. 2! See there bis Reasons at large.

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Shadow of Death, may be delivered, by what Ways God fhall think fit? More, much more, most certainly, may be done, by almost all good Chriftians, towards the Promoting of fo glorious a Work,

were they only to remove the Stumbling-blocks which lie in the Way of the Heathens, and hinder · their Conversion.

For Inftance ;-It cannot but be acknowledged with Shame and Sorrow, that the little Progress which the Gospel hath made among the INDIANS and NEGROES in the Western Parts of the World, hath in a great measure been owing to the bad Lives of many of thofe Chriftians with whom they have fo long converfed :-For let the Miffionaries, or any other good Man, fay never fo many true and ' affecting things of the Excellency of Christianity, and the Bleffings attending it; thofe People will always judge of the Religion fo zealously recommended to them, by the Lives of the Generality of thofe who profefs it; which, if wicked, give fuch ja Wound to Christianity, as all the Arguments to srecommend it cannot heal.

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If these poor People, instead of seeing the good Fruits of the holy Faith and Religion propofed to them, fhall fee little or nothing but a general Cor ruption of Manners, fuch as Intemperance, Injustice, Covetoufness, Oppression, a Love of Pleasures and all warldly Delights, a Want of Compaffion for their Fellow-creatures,Hatred, Malive, and Revenge, it will be almoft impoffible to reconcile them to a Religion, which hath no better Effects upon its Profeffors; or to make thein fear a God who fuffers his Worshippers to do fuch things, and break with Impunity thofe Laws, which they fay he hath given them for the Conduct of their Lives.

Heathens can reafon as well as Chriftians, in Matters of fo natural a Confequence; and will make this plain Conclufion ;-That if fuch Chriftians as they converse with, do really hope, as they pretend, to be happy when they die, no Perfons need be much concerned how they live here, or fear being miferable hereafter.

Such Men as thefe would do well to confider the fad Doom pronounced by the Son of God against those who give this Offence, and hereby occafion the Lofs of fo many Souls.

All Chriftians, who live in the Neighbourhood of the Heathens, ought to conclude, that they are placed there by a special Providence, which doth nothing by chance, or in vain, to give thofe People an Opportunity of coming to the Knowlege of the true and only God; and, by their inftructive Converfation, and good Lives, to difpofe them to receive the Gospel, that they may be faved,that God may be glorified, and his Kingdom inlarged, and his Name become excellent in all the Earth.

Then indeed thofe Heathens will have Reason to fay, what Mofes fuppofed the Nations would fay of the Ifraelites,-Surely thofe are a wife and an understanding People, who have the Lord so nigh unto them, in all they call upon him for ;-and what Nation is there fo great, that hath Statutes and Judgments fo righteous?

It was certainly for fuch great Ends as thefe, that Jofeph firft, and afterwards Jacob, and his whole Family, were brought into Egypt, by unforeseen Providences, that the Egyptian Nation, which was given altogether to Idolatry, might have a favourable Opportunity of coming to the Knowlege of the true and only God.

For this Reafon alfo it was, that the fame Providence of God, who alone can bring Good out

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of Evil, did afterwards punish the Sins of his own People, by fending them Captives into Babylon; and at the fame time that he punifhed them, and effectually cured them of the Sin of worshipping Idols, he gave their Conquerors a merciful Occafion of coming to the Knowlege of Himfelf, and of his glorious Attributes; and by the wonderful Miracles which He publickly wrought, delivering his faithful Servants DANIEL, SHADRACH, MESHACH, and ABEDNEGO, from Death, he gave many Nations and Kingdoms fufficient Reafons to fee the Folly of their ábfurd and ftupid Idolatry, when their very Kings were forced to declare, that there was no God but the God of Ifrael, who was able to deliver after that manner; and forbad all the People of their Dominions to fpeak any thing against the God who could do fuch Wonders.

And how earnestly is it to be wifhed, that fuch Chriftians, who by the fame Providence, and by various Ways, have been fent amongst the Heathens, in these latter Days, would seriously confider, what great Good or Evil they are capable of doing, by their virtuous or vicious Behaviour, the one hardening them in their Unbelief, the other difpofing them to receive the Gospel !

As to the NEGROES, the Defcendants of Ham and Canaan, who, according to one of the moft ancient Prophecies (Gen. ix. 25.), are become Slaves to Chriftians, the Defcendants of Japheth;-furely the only righteous Recompence that can be made them, for having been forced from their native Country into a strange Land, and for their Labours there, will be to endeavour to bring them to the Knowlege and Worship of the true God, the God of the Spirits of all Flefb, who would have all Men be faved, and with him is no Refpect of Perfons.