privations and hardships and the long catalogue of sufferings which he has himself enumerated in one of his letters to the church at Corinth, and all this-for what? why, that he might manifest his gratitude for pardoning mercy, and make others partakers of his own happiness, by conveying to them a knowledge of that Saviour whom he himself had found. This is the subject of the ninth chapter.

There is only one other topic which I intend to touch upon in the present lecture, and that is the calling or admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of Christ, which occupies chapters x. and xi. The covenant which God had entered into with the Israelites, at Mount Sinai, had now existed for 1500 years, forming a wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles; but that covenant having answered the purposes of divine wisdom and goodness in giving birth to the Messiah, the Saviour abolished it by his death. Such, however, were the prejudices of the Jewish people, and, for a time, even of those who were converted to the faith of Christ, that a supernatural revelation was necessary to counteract this influence, and reconcile the minds even of the holy apostles to the notion that the Gentiles were to be received into the churches of Christ on the very same terms as the Jews. This we learn was the meaning of the vision which the apostle Peter had at Joppa, as recorded in chapter x., and it served to counteract his prejudices; he was now taught to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; and when he saw that God himself made no difference between them, granting the Gentiles repentance unto life, purifying their hearts by faith, and conferring upon them the Holy Spirit in his miraculous operations, he came to a very just conclusion when he said, in answer to the rebukes of his brother apostles, who took him to task for his conduct in eating with men uncircumcised and unclean, "What was I, that I could withstand God?"

From the beginning of the thirteenth chapter to the end of the book, we are presented with a succinct account of the indefatigable labours of the great apostle of the Gentiles and his associates, in carrying the glad tidings of salvation throughout the benighted countries in which idolatry sat enthroned, and men were bowing down to stocks and stones and graven images, the work of their own hands. And in this narrative we see their success, under

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God, in converting men to the faith, and gathering the disciples into churches, to observe the ordinances of public worship and minister to each other's comfort and joy. On this, however, I decline to enter at present, as it is my intention to resume the subject in a subsequent lecture, when we come to narrate the means by which Christianity was propagated in the world. Hitherto we have merely glanced at its origin, and taken a survey of the infant, as it were, in the cradle, or, to return to Daniel's prophecy-the stone cut out of the mountain without hands—and I have pointed you to the Acts of the apostles, as furnishing us with a perfect pattern of an Ecclesiastical History. We have taken a cursory view of the materials of which it is composed, and find it to be a record of most interesting documents-an authentic memorial of the faith, and zeal, and labours of the inspired founders of the Christian church. A history which presents facts like these to the mind of an intelligent reader is not likely to incur the imputation of containing only barren and uninteresting details. On the contrary, so long as the Gospel of Christ continues to interest the hearts and affections of mankind, so long will the history of his church, in every age, be an object of important contemplation, by unfolding the mysteries of ancient prophecy, and presenting the spoils of time to the consideration of posterity. As we proceed, we shall find that when empires and kingdoms dissolved into ruins before the ruthless hand of time-while systems of philosophy, which held nations in admiration, vanished like the morning cloud or the early dew-Christianity, the moral sun of the universe, not only survived the wreck of human power and wisdom, but demonstrated to the world its divine origin, by the indestructibility of its essence, by the relief which it is so divinely adapted to administer to the sorrows of mankind, by the lively hopes which it ensures of a blessed immortality, and, in a word, by its abundant sources of whatever can instruct the ignorant, reclaim the vicious, and confer happiness on all orders and conditions of

men.

LECTURE II.

The Nature of Christ's Kingdom, as contrasted with the Kingdoms of this World-Syllabus of the Doctrine on which it is founded-the Mediation of the Son of God--His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven, &c. &c.

THE Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ-or, which is the same thing, the Christian church-is an economy so totally different from every other institution which is found in this world, that, before we proceed further with its history, it seems important that we should bestow a little time in inquiring into its real nature and characteristic properties, and showing wherein this difference consists. This will appear the more necessary from the consideration that the most fatal mistakes have prevailed on the subject in every age, mistakes that have led multitudes astray from the way of truth, and caused them to confound the things that differ. Unless our views on this head are found according to truth, unless they harmonize with the doctrine of Christ and his apostles when treating on the same subject, it will be of little use to us to study Ecclesiastical History, because we shall continually be in danger of mistaking the corruptions of Christianity for Christianity itself, as thousands now do, and are instructed by the writers on this subject to do. The Jewish nation looked forward with anxious expectation to the coming of their Messiah, as "the desire of all nations," and fondly anticipated the setting up of his kingdom in the world, agreeably to the predictions of Isaiah, Daniel, and other of the prophetic writers; but unhappily they were under the dominion of a master prejudice respecting the very na

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ture of his kingdom, imagining it to be of the same kind with that of David and Solomon, and the consequence was an almost total rejection of the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be their king, notwithstanding the sublime and heavenly doctrines which flowed from his lips, and the miracles which he wrought in attestation of them.*

Now, to lead you into something like correct views of this very important subject, I apprehend we cannot do better than go back to the confession which Jesus Christ himself made concerning his kingdom, when interrogated on the subject by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. The accusation brought against him, by his adversaries, was his having said, "that he himself was Christ-a king." And when Pilate enquired whether this was true, he did not deny the charge, but immediately replied “ My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence." John xviii. 36. But a kingdom which is not of this world must be distinguished from such as are by certain constituent principles, sufficiently definite and characteristic to enable us to ascertain wherein the distinction lies, and to this point I shall now address myself, by stating, in a few leading particulars, what I think the Scriptures teach on this subject.

1. When the Son of God declares that his kingdom is not of this world, it must, I think, imply, that it is not of a worldly origin: and this indeed is the account which the prophet Daniel gave of it, when he explained Nebuchadnezzar's dream; for he declared that it should be set up by the God of heaven, ch. ii. 44. The kingdoms of this world, for the most part, originate in the bad passions of mankind, such as pride, ambition, avarice, and the lust of power and dominion. But the kingdom of which we are treating did not take its rise from any thing of this kind, nor yet from the social compact, or the concurrence of politicians.

* It is well observed, by Dr. George Campbell, that, "as the great source of the infidelity of the Jews was a notion of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, so we may justly say, that the great source of the corruption of Christians, and of the general defection foretold by the inspired writers, has been an attempt to render it, in effect, a temporal kingdom, and to support and extend it by earthly means. This is that spirit of Antichrist which was so early at work as to be discoverable in the days of the apostles? See his Preface to the Gospels, p. lvii. 2nd edit.

It originated in the pure benevolence of the Deity, his wonderful condescension and love towards a fallen world; and it is founded upon the mediation of his beloved Son, who came into the world to save guilty mortals, and who, to effect their deliverance, humbled himself even to the death of the cross. Phil. ii. 8,9. It is a kingdom founded upon the death of its Sovereign, and in this respect there is nothing that bears a resemblance to it in the history of the world.

The account which the inspired penmen give us of this matter, and it is no doubt the true one, is, that the mission of Christ Jesus into this world was an act of the purest benevolence on his part, though in obedience to the will of his heavenly Father, who sanctified him, or set him apart in his eternal councils, sent him into the world in the fulness of time, and gave him a commandment to lay down his life for the redemption of a lost world; that having taken part in flesh and blood, with those whom he came to save, he condescended to act in the capacity of his Father's righteous servant, in all his obedience and sufferings, and especially in laying down his life for guilty rebels; that by his death, which was a voluntary act on his part, the great atonement for sin was made, the justice of God satisfied, everlasting righteousness brought in for the justification of the ungodly, and a way opened for the salvation of perishing sinners, in perfect harmony with the claims of the holy law of God and the honours of the divine government. In this work of obedience and suffering, the Eternal Father had the highest satisfaction, which he manifested, not only by raising his Son from the dead, but also by the reward which he conferred upon him, in crowning him with glory and honour at his own right hand in the heavens, committing all authority and power into his hands, and seating him as King upon his holy hill of Zion, and this is the foundation of his kingdom. The report of his crucifixion is the grand attractive in drawing his subjects unto him, agreeably to what he himself said in the days of his public ministry: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me; thus signifying what death he should die." John xii. 32.

2. And as the kingdom or Church of Christ is not of a worldly origin, so neither has it this present world for its object, end, or attainment; and herein again it differs from all worldly king