even these they conducted by degrees, and step by step, to the fulness of evangelical truth; having milk for babes, and strong meat for those of full age.

There is another point of difference to be noted, as to the first preaching of the Gospel. John the Baptist, we are told, preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; such a remission, that is, as sinners would receive, upon being admitted, after having qualified themselves by repentance, into the privileges of the Gospel covenant. Our Saviour himself was chiefly occupied in proving, by the fulfilment of the prophecies in his own person, that the kingdom of heaven, or of the Messiah, was come; and in preparing the Jews for the abrogation of the ceremonial law; for the reception of a more spiritual worship of God; and for the great doctrine, that he himself was to be the final atonement for the sins of the world. The Apostles, after the day of Pentecost, insisted upon the necessity of repentance, or an entire change of sentiment and opinion; an implicit faith in Jesus Christ as a Teacher and a Saviour; the result of which was to be that the believer's sins should be blotted out. And the foundation,

*Heb. v. 13, 14. + Mark i. 4. † Acts iii. 19.

or at least the key-stone, of all these doctrines was that great miracle, of which, by preeminence, the Apostles were witnesses, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This was the fact, upon which they most strenuously insisted, and for asserting which they were subjected to persecution and martyrdom; because it was in fact. the seal and attestation which God had set to the divine mission of Jesus, and to the truth of the Gospel.

The fourth chapter of the Acts contains a striking example of that hardness of heart, and that blindness of understanding, which sometimes close the eyes of men against the clearest and fullest light of truth. The rulers and elders of the Jews, being enraged at the success which had attended the preaching of Peter and John, conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. They persuaded themselves, probably, that this miracle had been wrought by the agency of evil spirits; that as Jesus had been crucified, in spite of his

pretensions to a relationship with God, nothing could afterwards establish the authority of his mission; and that no proofs whatever could be valid, which went to abrogate the law of Moses. In fact, there is no kind of evidence, against which the mind may not be closed by prejudice or passion. And in some cases, the very efforts, which a profane or sensual heart makes against the admission of divine truth, generate a malignity and bitterness of hatred, which increases in proportion to the claims and evidences which it has to combat, and makes them, who were first doubtful, and then unbelieving, become at length blasphemers and persecutors of the truth. Of this we have seen of late a dreadful example, in that knot of miserable sinners, who meet together in the heart of this Christian country, not to discuss the evidences of Christianity, but to ridicule the Gospel, and to revile its blessed Author. Yet if they cannot believe that Gospel, there is surely nothing to hate in it: the purity of its morality; the peacefulness and charity of its precepts; the bright examples which it

* For a statement of the prejudices which prevented the Jews from receiving Jesus as their Messiah, the reader may consult with advantage Jortin's Discourses concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion, chap. I.

sets forth of patient endurance and courageous piety, are such as might claim the respect and admiration even of those who deny its divine authority. But what should make the unbeliever hate, and deride, and insult it? Why should he revile and calumniate that Just and Holy One, who, to say the least, went about doing good during his life, and laid down that life, that he might convince mankind of the truth of his religion? We cannot account for it, except on two principles; first, that the more unreasonable and improbable any position is, when once it has been taken, the more tenaciously and obstinately it is defended, by the passions, rather than the reason; and, secondly, that after a certain resistance to conviction, the grace of God is withdrawn; the sinner is left to a judicial hardness of heart, as a punishment for having done despite unto the spirit of grace:

The same chapter teaches a memorable lesson to the ministers of the Gospel, which in different ages of the Church they have been called upon to realize in suffering and death. When the council commanded Peter and John not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus, they answered and said unto them, Whether it

* Heb. x. 29.

be right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Such has ever been the language holden by the martyrs and confessors of Christ's Church, when threatened by the terrors, or enticed by the promises of the world, to be faithless to their sacred trust. Such also will be the language of every true minister of the Word, when he finds the prevalent and popular opinions of those, amongst whom he lives, opposed to the genuine doctrines of the Gospel. When popularity might be purchased by flattering their prejudices, or by overlooking their unchristian practices, he remembers that he is the servant of God and of the truth, not of the world; and frequently puts the alternative to his own conscience, in order to animate himself in the faithful and fearless discharge of his duty; Whether it be right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto these more than unto God, it is easy to judge. I cannot but speak the things which I find plainly written in his word; woe unto me, if I preach not the Gospel.* I beseech you, my brethren, to remember this burthen which God has laid upon our consciences, when

* 1 Cor. ix. 16.