the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.”

22. This was the first time in which the apostles bore public testimony to the resurrection of Christ; and so powerful did the evidence of its truth appear to the hearers, that three thousand were convinced by it, made an open profession of their belief in Jesus, and were united to his disciples. The proof presented to this assembly must have been felt as overpowering to have produced conviction in so large a number, and to have led them to embrace, as their risen and exalted Saviour, Him whom their nation had crucified. When are men so disposed to resist evidence as when the effect of it is to prove themselves deeply guilty? For Jews to have acknowledged the truth of the testimony of the apostles, was to plead guilty to the charge of having been accessary to the death of the Son of God. Yet so manifest, so irresistible, was the truth of that testimony, confirmed as it was by miraculous interposition, that it came with power to their consciences; and with the eagerness of persons anxious for deliverance from so perilous a condition, they appeal to the apostles as men and brethren for information as to the way in which they might obtain the pardon of sin.

23. A similar scene took place at Jerusalem, not many days after this remarkable occurrence. The apostles performed a miraculous cure on a lame person who occupied a regular station at the entrance of the temple. The miracle naturally excited astonishment. Peter addressed the people, and declared that Jesus, of whose resurrection they were witnesses, had given them power to work miracles in his name, in attestation of the truth of their testimony. "Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though

* Acts ii.

by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole."* On this occasion, as formerly, many of the hearers believed, and were added to the church.

24. The miraculous powers with which the apostles were intrusted were the credentials which they every where exhibited as the servants and ambassadors of Christ. They rested their claim to credit as the witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus on their exercise of the miraculous gifts which they possessed; and which they communicated to others. They appealed to the works which they performed as the attestation of God to their character and mission and as success very rapidly and universally followed this appeal, the conclusion is unavoidable, that these men were the servants of the most high God, who show unto mankind the way of salvation.

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25. What were the circumstances of trial and suffering in which they delivered their testimony? They gained neither honour nor wealth of an earthly nature: and they exposed themselves to all manner of persecution, and even violent death. They had to struggle against power united to hatred in every country. They experienced, as their Lord had told them, manifold tribulations; they did so on account of their adhering to their testimony to the fact of the resurrection of Christ. They were warned of the consequences of such conduct; and they could at any time during their career, by retracting or suppressing their testimony, have not only exempted themselves from sufferings, but have been elevated to riches and honour. Would not the chief men in Judea, who, in their anxiety to conceal the resurrection of Christ, bribed the soldiers who guarded his sepulchre to publish a falsehood; who, for the

*Acts iv.

same end, threatened his disciples with severe punishment; have liberally rewarded the apostles, if they had only been persuaded to have remained silent? Why, if their testimony had been false, did they not accept of this reward? They voluntarily suffered, and counted all that the world could offer but as dross for Christ. They were all equally firm, equally faithful, and adhered with undeviating constancy to their declaration in all circumstances. They bore all that man could inflict not with sullenness but with cheerfulness for Christ's sake; and the greatness of their sufferings only showed the fervour of their attach

ment. Their testimony was the same in the dungeon as on the scaffold; when placed before the tribunals of man, and in the immediate view of appearing at the dread tribunal of God. They looked to eternity with transport and joy; and felt assured that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, would be able to separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord.

26. Finally, the purpose for which they bore testimony to the resurrection of their Lord tends to confirm our faith in their integrity and veracity. It was to promulgate a religion, pure, holy, and benign,—a religion in which God, the supreme moral Governor of the universe, is represented as a just God and a Saviour,—a religion which views man as fallen, depraved, and guilty, but which exhibits and offers to him a salvation adapted to his circumstances and wants. The apostles laboured, suffered, and died, that they might extend a religion which gives glory to God in the highest, while it proclaims peace on earth, and good will to the children of men,—a religion, the chief theme of which is redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ. To make known its blessings, they voluntarily endured stripes, and bonds, and imprisonments, rendering good for evil, and praying for those who despitefully used them and persecuted them.

27. Their testimony on its first announcement was

received by thousands in the very city where our Lord was crucified; who, in commemoration of his resurrection from the dead, began to observe as sacred the first day of the week, the day on which he rose. This day ever since has been kept as the Christian Sabbath by a large portion of the human race: a memorial of the resurrection of the Redeemer, instituted at the time, and in the very place, in which that glorious event happened.

CHAPTER V.

THE TRUTH OF THE MIRACLES RECORDED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT PROVED BY THE TESTIMONY OF NUMEROUS AND UNEXCEPTIONABLE WITNESSES.

1. THE authenticity of the New Testament having been fully established, we must hold that the miracles which the writers of that volume have recorded were really performed. There were twelve persons chosen by our Lord to be witnesses of the numerous miracles which he wrought, and to bear testimony concerning them. They had the best opportunities of ascertaining the truth of the things which they testified; for they were favoured with the most intimate friendship of their divine Master during three years, and all that period had seen the actions of his life, the extraordinary circumstances of his death, his resurrection, and ascension into heaven.

2. Nor do they appear to have been deficient either in capacity or in integrity. The things concerning which they were to bear testimony were not matters of opinion, about which they might be deceived; but they were matters of fact, cognizable by the senses, and in regard to which persons of plain understandings were quite able to form a

correct judgment. This is an important circumstance, by which the witnesses of the miracles of the gospel are distinguished from the advocates and confessors of every other system of religious opinions. The man who submits to persecution and martyrdom rather than relinquish or deny his creed, gives undoubted evidence of his sincerity; but as he suffers for opinions merely, the sincerity of his belief in them does not afford any evidence of their truth. But the case is far different in regard to matters of fact, which are palpable to the senses, and about which it is impossible for one man, far less for twelve men, and least of all for a hundred, to be mistaken.

3. As the witnesses of the miracles of the gospel had capacity to judge of the matters of fact which were submitted to them, so is it evident that they had integrity to prevent them from giving false testimony. No one who reads their writings can regard them as impostors. Their sincerity, disinterestedness, and honesty, are apparent throughout. They speak as in the presence of a holy and heart-searching God. Their whole conduct is that of true men, who spoke only that of which they had certain knowledge, and testified what they had seen. Accordingly, they announced their testimony first to the Jews, who, notwithstanding their erroneous views, had, on the supposition of the authenticity and divine authority of the Old Testament, more knowledge of the criteria by which the truth of any supposed new revelation claiming a divine origin was to be tried than the heathen nations. From their knowledge of the writings of the prophets, they were able to judge, or at least they were in circumstances in which they ought to have been competent to judge, whether the predictions respecting the Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus: and, accordingly, they were required to compare what Moses and the prophets had written with the character, miracles, sufferings, and death of Him whose resurrection and ascension into heaven they proclaimed. The plan which they thus acted upon in the commence