That in the dawn, and even under the full light of the gospel, the general state of the world would but little correspond with the benevolent design of the dispensation itself, is very strongly expressed: I am come to send fire on earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? Suppose ye, that I am come to send peace on earth? I tell you Nay, but rather division.' [Luke xii. 49-51.] These remarkable words of our Saviour are not descriptive of the general end proposed by his coming, but prophetic of the partial effects produced by human opposition and perversion: And however contradictory they may be to the temper and tendency of Christianity, they have been but too fully accomplished in those calamitous events, which have, in fact, attended its promulgation and establishment; and may be equally referred to the enmity of heathens, and the divisions of Christians; to the persecutions which Christianity at first suffered, and the no less fatal persecutions with which its rival sects, in almost every age, to the disgrace and reproach of themselves and their profession, have mutually oppressed, harassed, and destroyed each other.

Still, however, the violence of the adversaries of religion, and even the vices of its adherents, though they have undoubtedly impeded its progress, and perverted its spirit, have neither of them prevented the accomplishment of those prophecies, which relate to its stability and success: On this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Its weak and inconsiderable beginnings, its great and unexpected progress, its beneficent and extensive effects, are all of them, with equal clearness and beauty, prefigured in the following parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard-seed, which a man sowed in his field; which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.' [Matt. xiii. 31.] In this allusion, the friend of Christianity might perhaps discern the suddenness of its first springing up, and the rapidity of its early growth, as well as the large and flourishing spread of its confirmed maturity. But what need can there be of conjecture, where we have the express declaration of Christ? I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God;' [Luke ix. 27.]

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till the authority of Christ be openly displayed in the punishment of the obdurate and unbelieving Jews: which event, as we have already seen, was not to take place till after the gospel had been preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations.' So widely was the knowledge of the gospel to be diffused in a part only of the short space, allotted by nature to the life of man; and so widely, in a fair and sufficient sense of the words, does the history of the church inform us, that it was in fact diffused.

That the conversion of mankind to one faith would be accomplished to so great a degree, in so short a time, and by such inadequate means, was an event, of which human reason could see no probability, and for which the former experience of the world could afford not the slightest presumption. The Jews, we are told, would compass sea and land to make one proselyte;' [Matt. xxiii. 15.] yet the religion of Moses, notwithstanding the divinity of its origin, the zeal of its teachers, and the peaceful disposition of men towards it, still answered its original purpose of distinguishing the descendants of Abraham from every other people. And what improvement in the opinions and manners, not of the great body of mankind, but of any single nation, can be traced from the precepts of philosophy, though recommended, adorned, and exemplified by the wisdom, the eloquence, and the virtues of the most enlightened periods of antiquity? If, then, the great masters of human reason, with every advantage of rank and learning,— with the favour and applause of their own times, and the veneration of every succeeding age, were so little successful; to what can we impute the sudden triumph of Christianity, but to the power of God, and the wisdom of God?'

To conclude ;-Beside the numerous predictions, which have been here adduced, many more, relating to the same. events, might have been easily collected, and some, perhaps, belonging to others may have been faultily omitted: these, however, are amply sufficient to show, that the prophetic character, in its very highest perfection, may be justly ascribed to Christ.

The events predicted are numerous and important; all of them are incidents, not taken at random, but immediately related to the end and effects of his own ministry; many of them are facts of such a nature, as, when considered singly,

were peculiarly unlikely; some again are so connected with each other, that the failure of any one must have broken and destroyed the whole series; and others are apparently so repugnant, that the accomplishment of one seemed to render the rest utterly impossible.

We may observe, too, that these predictions are very many of them delivered with the utmost simplicity, and describe the several events in the plain language of nature, without any obscurity of figure, or uncertainty of application: even the parables themselves are as clear, as the species of composition seems to allow; so clear, indeed, that these which relate to future events, are not at all more dark and difficult than those which allude to the nature of religion, or the plain duties of morality.

Further, the correspondence between the predictions and the facts, in which they were completed, is so perfect, that scarcely a single prediction of any other prophet can be produced, in which that correspondence may be more distinctly seen, or is more closely and uniformly preserved, than in the greater part of the instances now read to you.

And lastly, if to these marks of excellence we add, that these predictions were professedly delivered to give credit and stability to a revelation, which pretended to be derived from heaven, and which, therefore, clearly demanded, if any thing can demand, the particular interposition of God to support it, if true; or to defeat it, if false; we cannot but allow, that the prophecies of Christ afford a strong confirmation to the truth of that religion, which they were given to introduce; and in the beginnings and progress, the misfortunes and success of which, they have been all of them, so amply and exactly

verified.

[JAMES FAWCETT, B.D., Lady Margaret's Preacher.]

SERMON CXII.

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

AID OF THE SPIRIT.

EPH. iii. 14, 16.- -For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might, by his Spirit, in the inner man.

[Text taken from the Epistle for the Day.]

ST. PAUL having entreated the Ephesians to overcome the weakness of their nature, and to faint not at his tribulations for them,' does not leave them to confide in their own unassisted exertions; but warns them in impressive language, that their natural weakness must be overcome by a power supernatural, and greater than their own. Devoutly beseeching Almighty God to vouchsafe them the help of his Holy Spirit, he both implies the necessity of that help to enable them to act agreeably with his injunction; and at the same time instructs them in the nature of the assistance which they required; in the source from whence it was to flow; and the means whereby it was to be procured: For this cause,' he says, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.' May it please the same Holy Spirit to direct our enquiries, while we proceed to consider the strength, which he communicates by his might to the inner man; the exceeding goodness of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in vouchsafing this succour to his servants; and the means, whereby he has appointed that such succour is to be procured.

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1. And, first, as to the strength communicated to us by the Spirit, it is, like the source from whence it proceeds, of a spiritual nature. Man consists of two constituent parts, of the reasonable soul, and flesh.' His carnal part, he inherits more signally from Adam. Formed out of the dust of the earth, our first progenitor was himself earthy; and the same image is borne by all of us, his descendants. In our spiritual part, we were originally created after the image of God. Though polluted and debilitated by sin, that image is still, to

a certain extent, propagated upon us. Offsprings of earth, we are still capable of receiving heavenly impressions. Born in sin,' and naturally servants to iniquity,' we are still capable of being made servants to righteousness unto holiness.' By nature, children of wrath,' we are still capable of being converted into children of grace.' By nature, in bondage to Satan, we are still capable of being admitted into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. By nature, liable to death, we can nevertheless become inheritors of the kingdom of heaven and everlasting life.

But whatever improvement our spiritual part is capable of receiving, it is not capable of furnishing that improvement to itself. We must be wrought upon by supernatural power: we must be strengthened with might, by the Spirit of God, in the inner man.' How he works upon us, we know not: we need not, we cannot know; and it were useless and rash to enquire: for the Scriptures not only do not supply a clue to guide us in the search, but close the door upon such enquiries, by authoritatively asserting the fact, and requiring us to believe it as an article of faith, established on sufficient evidence. Do we ask with Nicodemus, how can these things be? We have our answer in the reply of our Saviour, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.' Let it suffice us then, that the fact of the Spirit working within us is a part of that divine revelation, which Christ came to teach us: and let us not busy ourselves with enquiries into the manner of his operations.

Further however, the Scriptures inform us, and therefore we are right in prosecuting the enquiry, that, whilst all the improvement afforded to our souls proceeds from that one and the self-same Spirit,' yet his operations are greatly diver sified; and that, as the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,' so he manifests himself by diversities of gifts' and graces, according to the wants of the individual, for whose benefit he is pleased to work.

Called by the sacred writers the Holy Spirit' and the Spirit of holiness,' not only as being perfectly holy in himself, which the Father and the Son are also, but as being the cause of holiness in believers; the peculiar office of this blessed Spirit in the work of redemption, is (as our catechism expresses it) to'sanctify us, and all the elect people of God.'