To  effect  this  glorious  design;  he  lays  open  to  the  Rabbi,
that  it  was  agreeable  both  to  the  doctrines  of  Moses,  as  well  a»
the  will  of  God,  that  the  Redeemer,  in  this  state  of  mortality,
should  be  exposed  to  poverty  and' distress  of  every  kind:  that
his  conquests  were  not  to  be  of  a  ^mporal  nature,  over  the
hearts  and  wills  of  mankind  :  that  his  throne  was  not  to  be
.  established  in  the  eartlily,  but  heavenly  Jerusalem ;  previous  to
wlfich  he  was  to  shed  his  blood,  as,  by  virtue  of  the  same,  all  df
every  nation  and  kingdom  throughout  the  earth  might  pass
into  the  heavenly  world,  and  there,  for  ever,  provided  th^  reli-
ed on  his  merits,  and  conformed  their  lives  to  the  doctrines
he  preached,  enjoy  that  summit  of  hlimf  which,  through  his  suf-


80  LIFE  OP  CHRIST.
feringSy  was  provided  for  them,  by  God  himself,  to  all  eter-
nity.
This  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  Christianity ;  this  is  the  sum
and  substance  of  what  our  blessed  Lord  preached  to  Nicodemus,
that  great  ruler  and  teacher  of  the  Jews ;  a  sermon  compre-
hending the  whole  of  what  need  be  taught,  notwithstanding  re-
ligion is  at  this  day  rent  to  pieces  by  sectaries ;  each  of  whom
invent  some  new-fangled  doctrine,  suggested  by  ignorance,
presumption,  or  both  united.
