made by it was to be destroyed; nay, if such pieces had been mixed with others, to the

manufacture of which no possible objection could have been taken, these all became

unclean, and had to be destroyed.

These are only general statements to show the prevalent feeling. It was easy to prove

how it pervaded every relationship of life. The heathens, though often tolerant, of

course retorted. Circumcision, the Sabbath-rest, the worship of an invisible God, and

Jewish abstinence from pork, formed a never-ending theme of merriment to the heathen.

Conquerors are not often chary in disguising their contempt for the conquered,

especially when the latter presume to look down upon, and to hate them. In view of all

this, what an almost incredible truth must it have seemed, when the Lord Jesus Christ

proclaimed it among Israel as the object of His coming and kingdom, not to make of the

Gentiles Jews, but of both alike children of one Heavenly Father; not to rivet upon the

heathen the yoke of the law, but to deliver from it Jew and Gentile, or rather to fulfil its

demands for all! The most unexpected and unprepared-for revelation, from the Jewish

point of view, was that of the breaking down of the middle wall of partition between Jew

and Gentile, the taking away of the enmity of the law, and the nailing it to His cross.

There was nothing analogous to it; not a hint of it to be found, either in the teaching or

the spirit of the times. Quite the opposite. Assuredly, the most unlike thing to Christ

were His times; and the greatest wonder of all--"the mystery hidden from ages and

generations"--the foundation of one universal Church.