se of divine favor, instead
of being partially confined to the posterity of Abraham, was universally
proposed to the freeman and the slave, to the Greek and to the
barbarian, to the Jew and to the Gentile. Every privilege that could
raise the proselyte from earth to heaven, that could exalt his devotion,
secure his happiness, or even gratify that secret pride which, under the
semblance of devotion, insinuates itself into the human heart, was still
reserved for the members of the Christian church; but at the same time
all mankind was permitted, and even solicited, to accept the glorious
distinction, which was not only proffered as a favor, but imposed as an
obligation. It became the most sacred duty of a new convert to diffuse
among his friends and relations the inestimable blessing which he had
received, and to warn them against a refusal that would be severely
punished as a criminal disobedience to the will of a benevolent but
all-powerful Deity.

Chapter XV: Progress Of The Christian Religion.--Part II.

The enfranchisement of the church from the bonds of the synagogue was a
work, however, of some time and of some difficulty. The Jewish converts,
who acknowledged Jesus in the character of the Messiah foretold by their
ancient oracles, respected him as a prophetic teacher of virtue and
religion; but they obstinately adhered to the ceremonies of their
ancestors, and were desirous of imposing them on the Gentiles,
who continually augmented the number of believers. These Judaizing
Christians seem to have argued with some degree of plausibility from the
divine origin of the Mosaic law, and from the immutable perfections
of its great Author. They affirmed, that if the Being, who is the same
through all eternity, had designed to abolish those sacred rites which
had served to distinguish his chosen people, the repeal of them would
have been no less clear and solemn than their first promulgation: that,
instead of those frequent declarations, which either suppose or assert
the perpetuity of the Mosaic religion, it would have been represented
as a provisionary scheme intended to last only to the coming of the
Messiah, who should instruct mankind in a more perfect mode of faith
and of worship: [15] that the Messiah himself, and his disciples who
conversed with him on earth, instead of authorizing by their example the
most minute observances of the Mosaic law, [16] would have published
to the world the abolition of those us