Before concluding this chapter, we must notice four arguments of a more general character; all of which are undisputed, and all of which are distinctly in favour of the Jewish Religion. The first is that the Jews are all descended from _one man_, Abraham. They have always maintained this themselves, and there seems no reason to doubt it. Yet it is very remarkable. There are now about _sixteen hundred_ million persons in the world, and if there were at the time of Abraham (say) _one_ million men (_i.e._, males), each of these would, on an average, have 1,600 descendants now.[173] But the Jews now number, not 1,600, but over 12,000,000. This extraordinary posterity would be strange in any case, but is doubly so, considering that it was foretold. It was part of the great promise made to Abraham, for his great faith, that his seed should be as _the stars of heaven_, and as _the sand which is upon the sea-shore_ for multitude.[174] [Footnote 173: _I.e._, descendants in the male line; descendants through daughters are of course not counted.] [Footnote 174: Gen. 22. 17.] The second is that the Jews are anyhow _a unique nation_. For centuries, though scattered throughout the world, they have been held together by their religion. And according to the Bible, their religion was given them for this very purpose, it was to make them a _peculiar people_, unlike everyone else.[175] If then it was, as far as it went, the true religion, revealed by God, the fact is explicable; but if it was nothing better than other ancient and false religions, it is hopelessly inexplicable. [Footnote 175: Deut. 14. 2; 26. 18.] The third is that the early history of the Jews, either real or supposed, has exerted a greater and more beneficial influence on the world for the last thousand years, than that of all the great nations of antiquity put together. Millions of men have been helped to resist sin by the Psalms of David, and the stories of Elijah, Daniel, etc., over whom the histories of Egypt and Assyria, Greece, and Rome, have had no influence whatever. And the _effect_ of the Religion being thus unique, makes it probable that its _cause_ was unique also; in other words, that it was Divinely revealed. The fourth is that the Jews themselves always prophesied that their God, Jehovah, would one day be universally acknowledged.[176] And (however strange we may think it) this has actually been the case; and the God of this small and insignificant tribe--_the God of Israel_--is now worshipped by millions and millions of men (Christians) of every race, language, and country, throughout the civilised world. These are facts that need explanation, and the Truth of the Jewish Religion seems alone able to explain them. [Footnote 176: _E.g._, Ps. 22. 27; 86. 9; Isa. 11. 9; Zeph. 2. 11.]