I. AND now, First; How many Pious PARENTS are there, who are Travailing for the Souls of their Children, to see a CHRIST formed in them? They cannot see their Children walking in the Truth, but see them walking in the Vanity of their Minds; and the sight holds them in a painful, and inexpressible Anguish. They long, they long to see their Children Live unto God; and that they may be able to say, This Child was Dead, and is Alive again. My Friends, Hold on Praying, Weeping, Believing. Indeed, nothing less than an Almighty [Page 13] Arm, can Change and Cleanse the Vici­ous Hearts of the Ungodly Children. But the Holy SPIRIT, who is the Arm of the Lord, is no less than the Almighty GOD. Oh! Put those Obstinate Hearts into His Glorious and Almighty Hands. He can give an Astonishing Turn unto them. There is nothing too hard for Him. O Lord, I know, that thou canst do every thing! Believers, Behold what was done at Berlin, and be animated.

II. But in the next place, How much may our Faith be now Encouraged, in the Expectation of the GREAT THINGS, which the Promises of our GOD have assured us, are to be done, for the Con­verting of whole Nations, to come and Worship Him, and Glorify His Name? And more particularly, for the Conversion of the Israelitish Nation; when He that Scat­tered Israel shall Gather him, and Keep him, as a Shepherd his Flock? There are many Good and Wise Men, who are Looking for the Kingdom of God, and those Influ­ences from Heaven upon Earth, which will bring the Maxims of the EVER­LASTING GOSPEL into a General, and [Page 14] an Amazing Operation upon a World that is now lying in Wickedness. The Intention of such Things as have been done at Ber­lin (and elsewhere) is doubtless to let the Faithful see, a few Drops, that may Com­fort their Hopes of the Mighty Showers, which GOD in His own Time, [when the Three Years and Six Months are Expi­red!] will cause to fall upon the Chil­dren of Men, and He comes to dwell with Men.

III. The Words of the Excellent Per­son, who Writes the Preface to this Re­markable at Berlin, are well worthy to be transcribed.

[Page 16]IV. How is it possible to publish the Relation of the Jewish Children at Berlin, without an Address unto the Jewish Na­tion; and a Tender unto them, of Things that should be more thought upon?

If but one Soul of all that Beloved Peo­ple, should be found, and reach'd, and touch'd, by the Things to be now laid before them, it will be well worth all the Pains of these Expostulations. It may be, the same Spirit, who wrought upon the Babes at Berlin, will fall upon some of that Beloved People, while they have these Words before them. We will Pro­phesy over these Dry Bones, and see what the Spirit of Life will do upon them!

What Considerations are there, which would mightily Convince them, that they do they know not what themselves, in their Infidelity; and which, Men and Brethren, Oh! that you would shew your selves Men, and suffer them to awaken you.

[Page 17]When that Just One, whom your Fa­thers took, and with Wicked Hands did Cru­cify, was offering up His Life unto His Eternal Father on the Cross, the first Thing he there uttered, was that mar­vellous Expression of Charity and Com­passion for you; [That horrid Herod, whom some of your People flattered with Messiah-ship, when he was dying was far from treating your People so:] Luk. XXIII. 34. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And many of them, were a few Days after, brought unto Repentance, and Forgiven. Syrs, You know not what you do, in your Infidelity. You little imagine that you Blaspheme and Reject the pro­mised MESSIAH of GOD, and the only SAVIOƲR of the World, in the Indig­nities, which our Blessed JESUS conti­nues to suffer from you. I know you do it Ignorantly in Ʋnbelief: But we are Waiting and Longing for the approaching Time. Ah! Lord how long?— when you shall obtain that Mercy, to be Recovered out of your Ʋnbelief; and He that is now (but will then be much more so) the Light of the Gentiles, will then be (and they shall [Page 18] be most sensible of His being so) the Glory of His People Israel. Joseph was not known to his Brethren, at the first Interview: Anon there came a Second, at which he made himself known unto them. In the mean Time, your Infidelity, wherein you cast so many Ignorant Reproaches on Him, does Confirm our Faith of this Glorious JESUS, and Commend Him the more to our Love, our Praise, and our Adoration. It was foretold by your Prophets, [Isa. LIII. 2, 3. That when you should first see your MESSIAH, you should see no Beauty in Him that you should desire Him; and that He should be Despised and Rejected among you; and that you would hide your Faces from Him, Despise Him, and not Esteem Him. It was foretold, [Psal. LXIX. 21, 22, 23, 15, 28.] That you would Reproach Him, and give Him Gall for His Meat, and Vinegar for His Drink; and that there­upon your Table should become your Snare, and you be Ensnared by your Besiegers, at your Passover; and that your Eyes then should be Darkned, as now they are, and your Habitation Desolate; and that you should be blotted out of the Book of the Liv­ing, [Page 19] and your Genealigies be no longer pre­served among you. It was foretold, [Dan. IX. 26. That about five hundred Years, after the Return from the Babylonish Cap­tivity, the Messiah should come, and be Cut off, and then a People should Come, and Destroy the City and the Sanctuary and it should be made Desolate, by their Abo­minable Armies. Yea, and it was foretold by our JESUS, whom to your Cost, you find a true Prophet of God, even in this Obstinacy of yours, which does refuse to account Him so! [Luk. XIX. 43.] That the Enemies of Jerusalem, should straitly Be­siege it, and lay it even with the Ground, and not leave one Stone upon another in it. And, [Luk. XXI. 24.] That your People should Fall by the Edge of the Sword, and be led away Captives into all Nations; and Jerusalem shall be Trodden down of the Gen­tiles, until Times of the Gentiles, and their Fourth Monarchy, now near Expired, be fulfilled. And, [Joh. V. 43.] That tho' you Rejected Him, yet there would shortly come One in His own Name, a Bar-chochab, whom you would Receive; and thereby bring upon your selves the last Confusion. [Page 20] The Veil of Infidelity, with the Chains of Darkness, holding you in the Dispersion wherein you abide many Days, must accor­ding to those Ancient Prophesies, conti­nue upon your Nation, until the Deter­mined Period. But now and then there comes in One of your Nation, whom God Enlightens with the Knowledge of the Redeemer; and makes part of those First-Fruits, which will e're long be followed with a mighty Harvest, when the Redeemer shall come unto Zion, and shall turn His whole favoured and preserved Name from Ʋngodliness. The Zeal and Hope of doing some Service of this Tendency, causes me now to say, Come now, and let us Reason together, upon a Point, which, O Reason­able Souls, your Everlasting Salvation turns upon. And, O Eternal and Almighty Spi­rit of God; Wilt thou Graciously open the Eyes of the Blind, in thy long Abdicated Na­tion, and cause them with a Mournful Re­pentance, to see and know the JEHOVAH whom they have pierced, and effectually Per­swade them to hearken unto Reason, that so their Sins which are like Scarlet, may be White like Snow, and tho' they have been Red [Page 21] as Crimson, they may be as Wool. Oh! Per­swade them to Repent and be Converted, that so their Sins may be blotted out, and the Times of Refreshing may come from the Presence of the Lord!

Brethren, You are Scandalized at the Cross of our JESUS: It Scandalizes you, that such a Suffering and Abased JESUS, ever should be your SAVIOUR. But was it not expresly Foretold concerning the MESSIAH, That He should suffer Stripes, and be Oppressed, and Afflicted, and be brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter, and be Bruised, and be put unto Grief, and have His Soul made a Trespass-Offering? You find all this, and much more, in the Fifty-third Chapter of your Isaiah's Prophecies: A Chapter which has been blessed of God, for the Conversion of many in your Na­tion; and indeed, it is to be wondred at, how any of you can shut your Eyes against the Light of so Bright a Chapter! I be­seech you, Syrs, to Read it over again. It is most certain, that if the MESSIAH be not already come, yet whenever He does come, He must appear in just such, I say, just such Circumstances of Humiliation, as [Page 22] those for which your most Lovely JESUS is now disliked among you. Yea, you your selves have your Tradition, concerning a Suffering Messiah; and you speak of His Griefs, as the Greatest that any Son of Man can ever meet withal: Things most Marvellously accomplished in our JESUS! I pray, Syrs, consider of it. All your Peo­ple have consented unto that Word of God, Deut. XXVII. 26. Cursed is he that Confirmeth not all the Words of this Law, to do them. Now, 'tis Evident, that not One of you have Done all Things required in the Law; and Continued in the Doing of them. You are every One of you chargeable with many Violations of the Law: It were easy to Convince you of them; yea, where is the Man so Vain, so Proud, so Foolish, as not to own, I am a Sinner! You then lye Obnoxious to the terrible Curse of God, which will shut out all the Wretched Objects of it, from all the Ble­ssedness of the Righteous. You cannot avoid this tremendous Curse, but by presenting before your Holy GOD, a sufficient Sacri­fice to make Expiation for your Offences, and Vindicate the Honour of that Glori­ous [Page 23] Law against which you have Offended. Obedience for the Time to come, will not be a Reparation for your past Injuries to the Law, in those Miscarriages by which you have denied the God that is Above. It will not be a Perfect Obedience: This you find by Woful Experience; when you have done your Best, you will still again, and again Miscarry. And if it could be Perfect, it will be no more than you would have Ow'd if you had never Sinn'd. The Payment of this Debt, would not Cancel that other of Punishment, which your Former Sins have Contracted, and wherein you stand oblig'd unto the Justice of God. Repentance for what is past, will not be an Attonement. For, if that would have done, why was any Sa­crifice, or something Punished and Consumed by the Curse of God falling with a Fiery In­dignation upon it, is by the Demand of Di­vine Justice become Necessary, when the Sin which does Expose unto it, has been Com­mitted? And, O Miserables, what will you now do, that you may Enjoy the Benefit of such a Sacrifice? By being deprived of your Temple, and banished from your City, you are left utterly Destitute of your An­cient [Page 24] Sacrifices. The Prediction, [Dan. IX. 27.] That the Messiah at His coming, should cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease among you, has been in that very Dreadful Way, most wonderfully Accomplished. And if you could have them, yet you fall into ma­ny Presumpteous Sins, for which there were no Sacrifices provided and appointed in the Law of Moses. What will you do, when you fall into a Guiltiness, for which the Law desired not any Sacrifices, nor delighted in any Burnt-Offerings? The MESSIAH, who was promised from the Beginning, under the Character of the Broken, the Contrite, the Bruised one, is your only Refuge. Your Da­vid in such a Case found Him so. [Psal. LI. 16, 17.] Every Thing without Him, will be Despised of God. Nor indeed, can you imagine, that the mean Blood of the Fowls, and the Flock, and the Herd, could yield Sacrifices proportionable to the Majesty of the Great GOD, and the Quality of the High-Treason which there is in every Tres­pass against such a Majesty. No, The An­cient Sacrifices all pointed you, to that which you must be constrained now to make the only Retreat of your distressed [Page 25] Souls. When the Believers of Old, leaned their Hands on the Heads of the Sacrifices, the Doctrine of that Laying on of Hands, & the Thing they intended in it, was a Faith in the Messiah who was to come, and be in like Manner Sacrificed for us. You must have a Sacrificed Messiah to live upon; or else you Dye in your Sins, and perish Miserably. Your Messiah can do nothing for you, unless by a Sacrifice He Reconcile you to God, and so deliver you from the Curse to which your Sins have exposed you. Nor will any Sacrifice, but that of Himself, be accepted with God. You Read, [Isa. LIII. [...]0.] It pleased the Lord to Bruise Him, and put Him to Grief, and make His Soul a Trespass-Offer­ing. A Sacrifice, which the more you consi­der, the more you will see all Interests most admirably Provided for! So then, The Messiah must at first come, in such Obsturity, that he may undergo Bitter Ago­nies, & have His most precious Blood pou­red out, and have the most horrid Punish­ment of Sinners inflicted on Him All, just exactly, just exactly! as our JESUS was dealt withal! Why then, Oh! why should you look for another! And why should the [Page 26] Cross be the Stumbling-block, in the Way of your Faith on our JESUS! A Cross which [...] Invites you to such a suitable Savi­our! A Cross which even Assures you, that He is, and none but He can be your Savi­our! Hundreds of Jews, have in our Days, been brought over to Christianity, by the Blessing of God, on this One irresistible Argument, managed by one Renowned Convert from Judaism, in the City of Ham­burgh. Oh! that all they, who find them­selves unable to answer this Argument, would be so Wise, as to submit unto the Right Words which are so Forcible! Indeed, this Consideration, That when the MES­SIAH comes, it must be just exacty in such Circumstances, as those wherein our Ble­ssed JESUS (Oh! why not yours?) exhibi­ted Himself unto your Fathers, is further Enforced; and it will be seen extended unto so many surprizing Instances, that we shall be able to see nothing short of a Miracu­lous Infliction, in your uncured and persi­sting Infidelity. What can be more Evident than this, [Gen. XLIX. 10.] That the Jewish Nation should not be without (ei­ther Scepter or Lawgivers) greater or lesser [Page 27] Magistrates of their own, till the Peace-giving Saviour should come? And, [Mal. III. 2. Hag. II. 9.] that the Messiah should come, while your Second Temple was yet standing; and so, a greater Glory be there, than there was in the former? And, [Dan. IX. 25, 26] That the Messiah should come within five hundred Years, after the going forth of the Commandment to Restore and Rebuild Jerusalem? So then, the Messiah must come just exactly at such a Time as our JESUS came! And at the very Place too; (Mic. V. 2.) Bethlehem, which is now extinguished. In looking for Another, you look for One in whom it is impossible for the Prophesies of the Messiah to be answer­ed. The coming of the Messiah was not promised on any Condition of your deserv­ing such a Favour; the Promise was not suspended on any Merits of yours; it was a Blessing which tarrieth not for Man, nor waiteth for the Sons of Men. Your Expecta­tion of Another, is nothing less than a Blasphemy against the Faithfulness of the Glorious God. But God will be True, and every Man will be found a Lyar, who says, That the Messiah did not come, at the [Page 28] Time which the Faithful God, had in His Oracles prefixed for it. Nay, you cannot mention any one Thing, in the Circum­stances of our JESUS, but what you may find predicted in the ancient Prophesies of the Messiah: Nor was there any one thing in those ancient Prophesies foretold of the Messiah, but in the Circumstances of our JESUS, you find it marvellously Answer­ed. All just exactly as it should be! The Spirit of Prophecy, has given such a Testi­mony for our JESUS, that you cannot re­fuse Him, without fulfilling another of His Oracles, which long since declared what you should be left unto; [Isa. XLIII. 10, 17.] To Rebel, and Vex the Holy Spirit, so that He turns to be your Enemy; He no more visits you; He leaves you to Err from His Ways, & your Hearts are hardened from His Fear. But that which one would think, should give a final Stroke to your Infidelity, and eternally Bruise the Head of the Croo­ked Serpent, would be this; The RESUR­RECTION of our JESUS from the Dead. Your Countrymen said, If He will come down from the Cross, we will Believe on Him! Syrs, If He come up from the Grave, will not [Page 29] this do as well? For an Holy One to come, with Maxims all evidently Calculated for the Glory of God, and say, I am the Son of God Incarnate, and my Sacrifice to God is the only Atonement that can be made for your Sins, and if you put your selves under my Conduct, I will bring you to everlasting Life. To prove all this, I will Dye, you shall put me to Death; and on the Third Day I will Rise from the Dead. This being accomplished in our JE­SUS, Oh! what can you reasonably desire more, to make you fall down, and cry out, Lord, we Believe and are Sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God? You your selves do in your most Celebrated Writings confess, That if JESUS be in­deed Risen from the Dead, He is One, whom you ought all to hearken to, and that He may claim a Power to supersede any of the Mosaic Institutions. Indeed the Men of Ninive, who hearkened unto a Jonah, af­ter he had come alive out of the Belly of the Fish, will condemn those who have not hearkened unto a Jesus, who comes up alive out of the Belly of the Earth, on the Third Day after he had been buried there. Now, that our JESUS is Risen from the [Page 30] Dead, is a Matter of Fact, which has been Attested with as infallible Proofs, as ever any Matter that was in the World. After His Resurrection, He appeared no less than Ten Times, and unto no less than five Hun­dred at one Time. These chosen Witnesses, conversed with Him, and satisfied all their Senses, that they were not imposed upon. They gave their Testimony in such a man­ner, so Consistently, so Coherently, with such a Conduct, as to shew, that they were no Senseless Idiots. They willingly ex­posed themselves to such cruel Sufferings for their Testimony, as to shew, that it was not a Cunningly devised Fable, which they now put upon the World. One of His Disciples, who Denied Him just before His Death, presently appeared, as one of the most famous Witnesses to His Resur­rection from the Dead. Had it not really happened, you may be sure this Man would have gone on, as you do, (But now, Oh! do it no more!) in the Denial of Him. Their Holy, and Righteous, and Blameless Conversation, shewed, that they were no Impostors. Yea, God from Heaven testified for them, and wondrously confirmed their [Page 31] Testimony, by the Miraculous Gifts He bestowed upon them. You Affirm it, and very truly, That your Elijah was carried up into the Heavens. There was but One to Witness it: But you say, and this very truly too, That this One was a very Good Man, a Prophet of God, and a Worker of Miracles, and One owned of God, as he would not have been, if he had been a For­ger of Lies. We affirm, That our JESUS Ascended up into the Heavens. There was a considerable Number of Men to Witness this. And these were all good Men, and Prophets of God, and Workers of Miracles. There is no Truth in any History upon Earth, if they did not often Speak the Great Things of God, with the Tongues of An­gels; in Tongues which they never had Learnt, but now had them under Angeli­cal Inspiration; and if they did not Mira­culously Heal the Sick, the Blind, and the Lame, and Raise the Dead. God would never have done such Things for the For­gers of a Lye. And then, utterly to over­whelm your Infidelity, by casting a Pon­derous Mountain upon it: The Spirit of God gave a marvellous Blessing to the [Page 32] Faith of a Risen JESUS: He so Blesses it, where it is cordially Entertained, that it fills the Souls of Men, with unspeakable Goodness. It causes them to Love God, & Live unto Him, in all the most shining Instances of Lovely Piety. It causes them to treat their Neighbours with a most sin­cere Love, & a very Charming Benignity. It causes them to sleight this World, and hate and shun every vitious Thing in the World: Fills them with Heaven, and fits them for it. The People are actually Sa­ved who are made partakers of these things. 'Tis the Faith of a Risen JESƲS, which is attended with such a Saving Efficacy. Our JESUS has herein already proved a Savi­our unto Multitudes, whom He has made the Excellent in the Earth. It follows, that He is THE Saviour. Oh! That you would at last make the happy Experiment! Come and see; see, see, whether you do not find Him so! Do not go on under the Blind­ness that has happened unto you, to treat Him as your Enemy, who is your only Saviour. Oh! That they were Wise, and would consider their Latter End.