of a remote country, over the borders of which he himself never passed, and which he never saw, but at a distance? Had ambition or fame been his object, he had only to wait the death of Pharaoh, when, recommended as he was by talents, the choice of Egypt had probably fallen upon him, and with its armies at his command, with its forces under his control, and with its resources for his resort, according to all human appearance, he might have effected his purpose with greater ease, and certainly would have enjoyed more temporal splendor. What interest had Isaiah, or any of the prophets, in pronouncing, and recording, denunciations which provoked their countrymen, and which superinduced not only immediate hardships and bitter imprisonments, but eventually terminated in their martyrdom? What interest had Luke to serve in overlooking a liberal and respectable profession as a physician, to link his life and his fortunes with those of an houseless Nazarene, and a few outcast Galileans, his wandering disciples? What interest had Paul to serve, in descending from the sphere of applause and of honor in which he moved as a Pharisee, to encoun- . ter the danger, the disgrace, and the death annexed to a profession of christianity? What motives of interest could lead the first propagators of the christian religion to provoke the fury of an enraged populace, to draw down upon themselves the wrath of the rulers, to oppose the prejudices not merely of their countrymen, but of the whole heathen world, to endure the loss of all things, and to suffer death itself, in defence of the doctrines which they promulgated, the precepts which they taught, or the facts which they related? Deluded men, infidelity may think, and call them: but interested men, no one, with truth, or even the sem blance of truth, can aver that they were! Let it not be said that they expected applause, and were not acquainted with the sad consequences that would result from the line of conduct which they pursued. They were neither fools nor mad; and common sense was sufficient to convince them of their danger. If they had not been originally suspicious of it, their Master plainly predicted it; and they had before their eyes, the fearful evidence of what they were to expect, in his excruciating and ignominious death. They did not surely expect better treatment than their Lord: and no man could, with such an example before him, teach christianity from interested motives. In justice to them, therefore, we ought to conclude, that they had the best of motives in all that they did and wrote. As this may be gathered from their sufferings, so also may it be collected from all that they taught. Did they ever say any thing with a view to entice men, or to purchase the favor of the great and the noble? Did they flatter them by giving license to the sins to which they were prone, or by permitting the indulgence of their tempers and lusts? Did they dazzle them with the promise of ease, comfort, splendor, fame, or emolument? Did they not oppose their prejudices, their principles, their vices, and their passions? Did they not delineate christianity in faithful colors, and paint all the ignominy and danger involved in a profession of it? Surely this was not the way to obtain human applause, or to serve interested motives! But what did they say of themselves? Let us hear the apostle Paul explain his own motives to the elders of the Ephesian church, in the solemn moment of eternal separation from them. "Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befel me by the lying in wait of the Jews; and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things which shall befal me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and imprisonments abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God"-Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears "I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak; and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."-Is this the language of an interested man? and above all of an interested man at such a moment? We will not multiply passages in which similar protestations are used relative to their own conduct; and you are bound to believe them, because neither their lives nor their doctrines were those of persons who are actuated by interested motives. Otherwise they would soon have relinquished so hopeless a scheme. At the very com mencement of their labors one was stoned,* another beheaded,† the greater part of them scattered over strange cities, and their cause and their sect every where spoken against. You see them, nevertheless, steadfast, immoveable, abounding in the work of the Lord, preaching Jesus with all diligence, knowing that their labor was not in vain in the Lord. Surely, we must admit, that they were actuated by the best of motives, in all that they did and wrote. Observe, VII. THAT THEY THEMSELVES BELIEVED, AND WERE GUIDED BY THE TRUTHS WHICH THEY TAUGHT. This proposition stands allied to the preceding one, and the same train of reasoning will fairly establish it. They suffered death for the cause which they attempted to promulgate, and this was a decisive evi. dence that they believed it. It is readily granted that martyrdom is no evidence of the goodness of a cause, or of the truth of the religion, which the man believes, and for which he dies. Many have suffered in a bad cause; and many have died for a false religion. The enthusiasm of a Roman more than once led him to sacrifice himself for his country; and superstition has also boasted her martyrs still boasts them on the plains of Indostan, and among untutored savages. Martyrdom, however, we may fairly assert is a proof of sincerity in the person who suffers; and this is all that we wish to prove in the present instance. We urge the sufferings and the death of the apostles upon you, not as an evidence of the truth of their religion (it is founded on stronger arguments than these,) but Acts vii, 59. #Acts viii, 1-4; xi, 19. †Acts xii, 2. as a decisive proof of their sincerity, and as an invincible demonstration that they really believed what they taught. You may add to this the simplicity of their manners, of their narratives, of their preaching, and of their lives, strongly presumptive, to say the least, of their unaffected sincerity. Nor will any man be able to investigate their characters and deportment, without acquitting them of all design to deceive. The same arguments will hold good in favor of the writers of the Old Testament. The prophets suffered death for their predictions, and those who did not, manifested, by their lives, their belief of the truths which they taught. They not only believed, but were guided, by these things. Those only can enter into the argument by which we establish this assertion, who are accus. tomed to read the Bible; and indeed he who opposes Revelation, ought, in reason and in justice, to be as well acquainted with the sacred writings, as the man who professedly maintains it. Upon a comparison between the lives of the apostles and prophets, and their writings, we are persuaded it will be found, that the one is an exact. transcript of the other. The benevolence and charity which they recommended to others, they felt themselves. The love to Jesus Christ which they taught, warmed their own bosoms. He was the object of their faith, of their hope, of their joy, of their worship. In him all their wishes and expectations centred; and for him, they were willing to live or to die. They exemplified the christian patience and meekness, which they recommended to their hearers, in their own resignation and uncomplaining sufferings. They could make their appeal to their conversation and say, "Brethren, be ye follow |