2 
BETHLEHEM. 
of this system was, that, unlike the perpetual competitorships of later kingdoms, each 
was to be, for its time, wholly without a rival, the supreme governor and guardian 
of civilized mankind. That this period was equally the work of the Divine will is 
proved, as in the former instance, by both miracle and prophecy; the miraculous 
vision of Nebuchadnezzar revealing the existence of the four successive and only Empires; 
and the prophecies of Daniel giving the detail of their origin, their objects, and their 
dissolution. To meet this period, a Religion had also been prepared, nearly five hundred 
years before—the Mosaic Covenant. For, although the Religion of the Jews was 
local in its ordinances, it was universal in its principles: and although expressly devised 
to keep the Jew separate from the profanations of the Heathen, yet in the “ proselytes 
of the gate” it at once provided for the reception of the Gentile, and dispensed with 
those ordinances which were dependent on locality. But the code of Judea, besides 
the purest Religion, exhibited to the surrounding nations an example of the purest 
government. In all conditions of mankind, the two chief elements of public happiness 
are the Supremacy of Law, and the Security of Property. In the Jewish constitution, 
the Heathen saw those two elements placed in the highest point of view; a Law 
superior to all human change, and binding king and people; and a succession of 
property equally beyond tne caprice of man. May it not have been with the direct 
purpose of impressing this example on mankind, that the Jewish kingdom was constantly 
connected with the four successive Empires: the lesson running parallel with them all, 
Judah surviving the three Eastern; and perishing only when the “Period of Empire” 
was to fall with Rome. 
But a third Period was to come, of a totally different character from either of 
the past, and employing a totally different species of action. In this Period, which 
is our own, mankind was to be governed by separate and contemporaneous Sovereignties; 
thus constituting a rivalry of states, that rivalry compelling nations to cultivate their 
peculiar means of power, and that cultivation, obviously tending to bring into the 
fullest activity all the variety and vigour of individual character. This change too 
was the subject of miracle and prophecy. In the vision of the King of Babylon, 
the division of the Western Empire into ten Sovereignties was distinctly shown a 
thousand years before its fulfilment: the prophecies of our Lord, and the Apocalypse, 
splendidly and unanswerably filling up that astonishing development of Providence. 
It is clear, that whatever may be the other high purposes of Christianity, one was 
to provide a new Religion for this new period. Its whole texture was evidently 
intended for a more advanced time than the era of Governments acting solely by 
the pressure of irresponsible power. Its constant appeals to the common-sense of 
man, its demands on the exercise of personal judgment, its declarations of the general 
accountability, and its promises of future glory to all orders of men alike, in proportion 
to the performance of their duty here; contain at once all the essentials of human 
freedom, and all the loftier excitements which can awake the human mind to the 
most vivid exertions of its talents and virtues. This Religion too was given about 
five hundred years before the time for which it was especially designed, that of the 
European Kingdoms. 
