Chapter XLII.—Call of the Gentiles.

“But inasmuch as it was necessary that the Gentiles should be called into the room of those who remained unbelieving,⁵⁷⁰⁵⁷⁰    [Chaps. 42, 43, show little of the Ebionitic tendency, except in the attempt to reduce the difference between Jews and Christians to the single point of belief in the Messiahship of Jesus.—R] so that the number might be filled up which had been shown to Abraham,⁵⁷¹⁵⁷¹    Gen. xv.; Acts xiii. the preaching of the blessed kingdom of God is sent into all the world.  On this account worldly spirits are disturbed, who always oppose those who are in quest of liberty, and who make use of the engines of error to destroy God’s building; while those who press on to the glory of safety and liberty, being rendered braver by their resistance to these spirits, and by the toil of great struggles against them, attain the crown of safety not without the palm of victory.  Meantime, when He had suffered, and darkness had overwhelmed the world from the sixth even to the ninth hour,⁵⁷²⁵⁷²    Matt. xxvii. 45. as soon as the sun shone out again, and things were returned to their usual course, even wicked men returned to themselves and their former practices, their fear having abated.  For some of them, watching the place with all care, when they could not prevent His rising again, said that He was a magician; others pretended that he was stolen away.”⁵⁷³⁵⁷³    Matt. xxviii. 13.