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and therefore out of the reach, or rather, above the comprehension, of the great bulk of mankind: The maxims of Christ were so plain, and his method of imparting instruction so simple, that they penetrated the understandings and the hearts of the lowest and most illiterate men. By all former teachers, the poor and the distressed had been neglected. Heathen philosophers, in the pride of their hearts, had conceived, that poverty was a sufficient cause for neglect, and a legitimate object of contempt and oppression. The distinctive mark of Christ's teaching, was his addressing himself particularly to the poor. In the manners of the idolater, the distressed were unheeded, and the infirm abandoned, and the weak oppressed: Christianity was calculated to redress these evils; it said 'weep with them that weep'-'do good and distribute, hoping for no earthly reward' bear one another's burdens'-' be kindly affectioned one towards another.' The religion of the idolater provided not for the regulation and well-being of domestic life. The life and liberties of the wife, and children, and servants, were, in a great measure, dependent on the will of the father and head of the family: and, at the best, the wife might be ill-used and abandoned with impunity; the child and the servant might be treated ungenerously: Christianity introduced a better system; it exhorted husbands to love their wives, and to treat them with kindness-fathers, not to provoke their children to wrath-servants, to perform their duties, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as serving the Lord Jesus Christ, and as in the sight of

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God-masters to adopt the golden rule of benevolence with respect to their servants, remembering that their Master in heaven hath no respect unto persons. The ancients were in the most distressing uncertainty respecting a future life, and all their reasonings seem to have ended in vain theories and unsatisfactory speculations: Christ taught with authority, that, which they, with all their research and learning, had not been able to ascertain: The hour cometh when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the son of man and come forth.' The views which the idolater entertained respecting a future state were gloomy and uninviting: 'I had rather be a rustic, and work for a poor man in life,' says the Achilles of Homer, than possess a large empire amongst the dead' that is, amongst those who had passed from human life, into the fabled Elysium of the blessed. Christianity says, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which are reserved for those who love and obey God.' The system of the idolater committed the souls of the virtuous into the bowels of the earth, where, amongst shades, and spectres, and creatures of the imagination, they led a life of listlessness and discontent: Christianity says, 'Ye shall be admitted into the mansions of your Father in heaven, and be introduced to an innumerable company of angels; ye shall associate with the spirits of the just, and enjoy more of the presence and favour of God, and be the companions and friends of Jesus, the mediator of the new and spiritual covenant. The religion

of the idolater not only presented men with a gloomy abode, but a discontented, exclusive, assembly: Christianity presents us with a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb;

saying blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever." Idolatry represented its deities as utterly unworthy of power, by the deeds which they perpetrated, and by their con demning of men to eternal torments for following their example: Christianity says, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive, glory, and honour, and power. for thou hast created all things for thy pleasure: that is, for the pleasure of beholding all the rational creation finally virtuous and happy., The systems of the idolater resigned the world to a blind and resistless fate, superior even to the gods themselves; and this relentless power might, for aught they knew, finally involve all things and beings in one common ruin: The religion of our blessed Lord says, "Christ shall reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And when all things shall be subdued unto Christ, then shall the son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.'

Was not the system which contains such instruction as this, applicable to the benighted state of the ancient world? Would it not apply a remedy to the mental and moral diseases under which mankind suffered? And must it not be acknowledged,

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that herein are contained the means of recovery from the consequences of the besetting sins of humanity-of salvation to all people, at all times and in all conditions? Yea, divine truth sits upon its front, and speaks in its benevolent maxims. It is an unprohibited tree of life, whose fruit may be freely plucked, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations;' he that partakes thereof shall be no longer in darkness, for his eyes will be opened to the perception of good and evil, and his understanding enlightened with wisdom from above.

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Praise God, therefore, in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness: who, of his great mercy, and for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ: who by grace hath saved ùs; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.'

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IV. OF TESTIMONY.

The mystery and intolerance of established creeds, together with mens' indifference to spiritual things, form a principal cause of opposition to the religion of Jesus. Applicability of the Christian preceptst and doctrines to the wants and circumstances of mau.-Testimony a most important means of knowledge.-The means by which we learn, the existence of facts which do not come under our own observation. Testimony of the Christian witnesses.-Rules of judgment respecting the truth of what they relate.-1. They relate what was possible2. They relate what was probable.-3. They were not deceived.— 4. Neither were they deceivers.-5. They agree upon the chief points. -6. They agree in several remarkable points with contemporary and independent historians.-7. Christian scriptures referred to by a regu lar succession of writers, from the days of the Apostles to the present time.-8. Persons hostile to the Christian faith did, nevertheless, confirm the testimony of the Christian witnesses.-Reflectious on the foregoing evidence, and on the objections of the unbeliever.

DID we not know what mysterious doctrines and impossible systems have been exhibited to the world as genuine Christianity, and what inconsistent, intolerant, and cruel conduct has been displayed by professing Christians; and did we not

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