or success of the general preaching of the gospel, is not here mentioned. And therefore the prophecy of the text is not parallel to those others in Scripture, which seemed to foretell the glorious establishment of Christianity in the last days; nor does it appear that they are coincident, otherwise than as the former of these events must be supposed preparatory to the latter. Nay, it is not said here, that God "willeth all men should be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth," 1 Tim. ii. 4, though this is the language of Scripture elsewhere. The text declares no more, than that it was the appointment of God, in his righteous government over the world, that "the gospel of the kingdom should be preached for a witness unto it."
The visible constitution and course of nature, the moral law written in our hearts, the positive institutions of religion, and even any memorial of it, are all spoken of in Scripture under this or the like denomination: so are the prophets, apostles, and our Lord himself. They are all witnesses, for the most part unregarded witnesses, in behalf of God, to mankind. They inform us of his being and providence, and of the particular dispensation of religion which we are under; and continually remind us of them; and they are equally witnesses of these things, whether we regard them or not. Thus, after a declaration that Ezekiel should be sent with a Divine message to the children of Israel, it is added, "and they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, for they are a rebellious house, yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them," Ezek. ii. 5, 7. And our Lord directs the seventy disciples, upon their departure from any city which refused to receive them, to declare, "notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you," Luke x. 11. The thing intended in both these passages is that which is expressed in the text by the word "witness." And all of them together evidently suggest thus much, that the purposes of Providence are carried on, by
