suffering Messiah--the doctrine of Christ crucified was indeed to them a stumbling block. Considered as an article of faith in this new religion it both shocked the understandings, and was most humiliating to the pride of persons principled as they were. And, if we were to turn our attention to the Gentile world, the Gospel had to combat the vices of an age which, according to all the accounts that have been given of it, appears to have exceeded the usual measure of depravity. According to prophetic language, “darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people." Idolatry, superstition, and vice, reigned triumphant among the great mass of the people-while the philosophers, to whom they looked up as guides, despised the Gospel for its simplicity, so different from the subtleties of the schools. Thus the two great divisions of mankind viewed it differently, according to their different national characters; but the effect, an indignant rejection, was the same in both. "The Jews required a sign," that is, an evidence of the interposition of heaven which might overpower their minds, and command an unlimited assent: and "the Greeks sought after wisdom”—that is, the elaborate productions of oratory and ingenuity, which might at once convince their reason and gratify their curiosity. But to both parties the apostles preached Christ crucified-a doctrine so far from suiting the inclinations of either that to the Jew it was a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness-to the one it was an object of abhorrence, to the other of contempt: but to such as were divinely instructed to understand its import and see the glory of God shining in it, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God unto salvation. So much for the spirit of the doctrine-let us next look,

2. To the weakness of the instruments employed to publish it. What were they? And we may learn from it how very different was the policy of heaven from the wisdom of this world! The apostle Paul thus states the matter to the Corinthians:-"God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence," 1 Cor. i. 27—9. How just

SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL PROVES ITS DIVINITY.

141

a description of the fishermen of Galilee, and their associates--some of the lowest class of the people, poor, illiterate, and totally unacquainted with the world-destitute of all advantages of education (Paul excepted)---men, who before they received this extraordinary commission to go and convert the world, had been obliged to earn their bread by a toilsome occupation, and had probably never dared to open their mouths in the presence of their superiors. Such were the agents employed in effecting the greatest revolution that was ever produced on the earth. And then look at the time when this took place. Was it in a rude and unlettered age, or was it only to the illiterate that these heralds of mercy and grace were charged to communicate the glad tidings of salvation? On the contrary, it was when Rome was in the zenith of her power; it was at the time when all the Grecian arts and sciences shone forth in their highest splendour. It was then that these plain untutored men were commissioned to preach the Gospel to every creature---to proclaim it indiscriminately as from the house-tops: and this they accordingly did, to the Jews in the temple and in the synagogues, and to the Gentiles in the forums of the cities, and in other places of public resort, and with what success has been already shown.

Under all the disadvantages now enumerated--with all this complicated and combined opposition-" the word of God grew and multiplied"--" a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith." Without the aid of power or wealth, and in despite of inveterate prejudices--without accommodating itself to reigning vices or popular opinions---without drawing the sword, or fomenting sedition, or tempting mankind by the prospect of the honours, emoluments, or riches of this world; but solely by the power of their doctrine, which commended itself to the consciences of men--by humble, peaceable, laborious teaching, they spread abroad the savour of the knowledge of Christ in every place-they turned men from the worship of idols to the service of the living and true God, and to wait for the return of the Son of God from heaven, even Jesus, who delivers from the wrath to come. How is this fact to be accounted for? Only by admitting the interpretation of heaven---that the finger of God was there and, this admitted, the inference is irresistible--CHRIS

TIANITY IS DIVINE.

LECTURE VI.

Sketch of the History of the Evangelists and Apostles with some of the earliest Fathers—their Lives, Labours, Sufferings, Writings, &c. &c.—Credibility of their Testimony.

I INTEND, in the present Lecture, to take a survey of the pillars by which the Gospel-history is more immediately sustained, with the view of ascertaining whether they are of sufficient strength for bearing the weight of so great a superstructure. Christianity has come down to us by means of testimony-the only way in which it was possible for it to reach us. We were, none of us, either eye or ear witnesses of the things which we believe. Are the individuals who have reported them unto us worthy of credit?-have we sufficient evidence that their writings are authentic and genuine ?—in a word, that the Gospel is not a cunningly-devised fable? This is a most important enquiry, as must strike every reflecting mind; but it is one from which Christianity does not shrink; on the contrary, it invites the most rigid scrutiny. By accurately examining every part, we shall be sensible that this magnificent structure has been planned by the wisdom, and reared by the hand of God, for the benefit of mankind; and that it justly claims the Deity himself both as its proprietor and architect. Such of you as have had an opportunity of dipping into the writings of the Deists, must have observed with what flippancy they move their objections against the Gospel of our Salvation in this way:-"Christianity is obviously founded upon the New Testament—that book was professedly written by several different persons, at different times and places. But what proof have we that they really were written at the time and by the individuals they profess to be?

How do

HISTORY OF THE EVANGELISTS AND APOSTLES.

143

we know but the whole is a pious fraud, concocted by the Catholic priesthood, in the dark days of popery, and foisted upon mankind as a revelation from heaven, to serve their own sinister ends? And some have actually gone so far as to affirm confidently that the fact is so. Now, as I would not intentionally evade any one difficulty in relation to this important enquiry, in this Course of Lectures, I trust I shall have your excuse for detaining you while we examine into the grounds of this matter, and endeavour to obviate these idle cavils. The Gospels, as books of history, are supported by their early publication-by the character of their authors-by the authenticity of the present copies-by the wonderful success of the gospel in every part of the then known world-by the institutions of the Kingdom of Christ, or Christian church, particularly the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper-and by the fulfilment of prophecies, among which I may instance those that relate to the destruction of Jerusalem. These are direct proofs, because they establish the truth of all the matters contained in the evangelic history. But to go into a critical examination of each of the particulars now mentioned, and to illustrate them as they deserve, would unavoidably carry me beyond the limits of many Lectures; for, in truth, they form the basis of Dr. Paley's two volumes on the Evidences of Christianity; a work which is now in almost every one's hand, and to which I beg to refer you, as supplying whatever deficiencies may be found in the present Lecture. Some notice I am bound to take of the subject: but I shall compress what I have to say into as short a space as is consistent with perspicuity.

Although the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the setting up of his kingdom in this world, were the subject of a long train of prophecies which commenced at a very early period, extending their course down the stream of time during nearly four thousand years, until the "fulness of time" arrived when these predictions began to meet their accomplishment in the coming and kingdom of the promised seed-the desire of all nations--it is not necessary for us to dwell on this at present. Christianity is beyond all doubt the perfection of Judaism--for the testimony concerning Jesus is the spirit, scope, end, or design of the prophetic dispensation. It will, however,

be sufficient for my present purpose to take up the subject where the New Testament takes it up-to examine its claims to credibility as we there find it--and to show that, whether we regard its external or internal evidences, it is entitled to our most cordial acceptation.

The history of the life, character, and actions of Jesus Christ is given us by four distinct writers who are termed Evangelists ----namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And here let me observe that the whole series of Christian writers, from the first age of Christianity down to the present time, in their discussions, apologies, arguments, and controversies, proceed upon the general story which these four gospels contain and upon no other. The main facts, the principal agents are alike in all. This argument will appear to be of great force, when it is known that we are able to trace back the series of writers to a contact with the historical books of the New Testament, and to the age of the first emissaries of the Christian religion, and to deduce it by an unbroken continuation from that time to the present.

These four evangelists take up the subject from the beginning; they inform us of the descent and family of the person whose history they undertake to write-the time and place and circumstances attending his birth-they speak of his exalted nature and complex person, as Emmanuel, God with us, or the incarnate Word—the peculiar design of his mission into this world, viz. to save his people from their sins--they mention his circumcision when eight days old, and his baptism at the age of thirty, when he entered upon his public ministry-they record the choice and calling of his twelve apostles-his ministry and miracles, which were all acts of beneficence and mercy towards the children of men--they tell us of his transfiguration, with the attestations then given to his divine mission by a voice from the excellent glory, declaring him to be the beloved Son of God in whom the Father is well-pleased---they narrate his life of opposition and suffering-the meekness and gentleness with which he bore them, and his patience and resignation under them--they describe his agony in the garden of Gethsemane when no human hand was upon him-we read of the confession which he made concerning his kingdom before Pontius Pilate-his stripes, crucifixion, death, and burial---his resurrection on the third day