it, but also to unveil futurity before them, taught them, that after
the Jews had rejected the gospel, the Gentiles would receive it, and
the church grow and become great; that a falling away would afterwards
follow, which would spread wide, and continue for a longtime, till it
became nearly total; that when such was the state of the church,
Christ would come, take the kingdom, and reign on earth.

Such were the outlines of futurity, relative to Christianity, as
sketched out before the apostles. But if we descend to particulars,
and examine the prophecies with attention, we shall find that the
defections, which were to take place antecedent to the reign of the
Redeemer, were to be of two kinds--that they were to arise at
different times, and from different sources--that one was to be a
corruption of religion, the other a rejection of it--that the former
was to antecede and prepare the way for the latter.

This will be the subject: of another discourse.



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SERMON IV.

_The Declensions of Christianity, an Argument of its Truth_.

Luke xviii. 8.