the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word with signs following," and utterly impossible without that supposition. "Destitute of all advantages, protected by no authority, assisted by no art, not recommended by the reputation of its author, nor enforced by eloquence in its advocates, the word of God grew mightily and prevailed. Twelve men, poor and artless, and illiterate, triumphed over the fiercest and most determined opposition; over the tyranny of the magistrate and the subtleties of the philosopher; over the prejudices of the Gentile and the bigotry of the Jew. They established a religion which preached doctrines, pure and spiritual, such as corrupt nature was prone to oppose, because it shrunk from the severity of their discipline; which required its followers to renounce almost every opinion they had embraced as sacred, and every interest they had pursued as important; which even exposed them to every species of danger and infamy; to persecution unmerited and unpitied; to the gloom of a prison, and to the pangs of death. Hopeless as this prospect might appear, to the view of short-sighted man, the gospel yet emerged from the obscurity, in which it was likely to be overwhelmed, by the complicated distresses of its friends, and the unrelenting cruelties of its foes. It succeeded in a peculiar degree, and in a peculiar manner; it derived that success

from truth, and obtained it under circumstances where falsehood must have been detected and crushed *." White's Sermons, p. 142.

The following passage of Philo, on the same subject, is here worthy of being quoted, "The children of wisdom resemble the sand; because

The dispute about the Esseans is one of those subjects, which the protestant writers have warmly controverted with the catholics; and undoubtedly it is a subject, in the discussion of which, they appear to great disadvantage. Scaliger, Basnage, Prideaux, Mosheim, and even the candid and cautious Lardner, have all concurred, in direct opposition to the faith of history, in vilifying this injured people, in order to deny their claims as the followers of Jesus. I shall here subjoin what the last of these writers has said in regard to the Esseans; and the reader, in perusing his words, will be apt to feel emotions of a different kind from that respect usually commanded by this great and good man. “As for the Essenes," says he, "not being mentioned by the Evangelists, it was not their design to write the history of the Jewish sects, but of our Saviour's ministry. And it is likely this did not lead them to take any particular notice of them. They were not very numerous. Josephus computes their number at about four thousand; but I think he means only those of them that entirely rejected marriage. Philo says, that in Syria and Palestine there were about four thousand of them. As they were not very numerous, so they lived very retired. Philo says, they sacrificed no living creatures, and that they shunned cities. Josephus says, they sent presents to the temple, but offered no sacrifice there. They seem not, therefore, to have come much abroad; and they would not admit a man of another sect into the apartments in

the sand is uncircumscribed in number; and because, as the sand which lines the shore, repels the incursions of the sea; so the divine word of instruction does the sins of men. This word (namely the gospel), according to the promises of God, spreads to every corner of the universe, and renders him who receives it, the heir of all things, extending in every way to the east, and to the west, to the north, and to the south. For it is written, It shall expand to the sea, to the south, to the north, and to the east. (Gen. xxviii. 14.) A good man is not a blessing only to himself, but the common benefit of all other men; as he readily communicates to all others the advantages which he himself enjoys. For as the sun is a light to all those who have eyes, so the divinely wise are the light of all rational beings. For in thee, says the scripture, shall all the tribes of men be blessed. If any one therefore in a house, or a city,

which they lived. In order to be admitted among them, a year's probation was required without doors, that it might be seen whether a person could bear their way of life.Is it any wonder that the Evangelists had no particular occasion to mention this private set of men in writing the life of our Saviour? These men would not come to him, and it would have been a disparagement to him to have gone to them. It is, I think, a just observation of Dr. Prideaux, that almost all that is peculiar to this sect is condemned by Christ and his apostles, and that is sufficient for us." Lard. Vol. I. 128,

or a country, or a nation, is become enamoured of wisdom, those who live in that house, or city, or country, or nation, must learn from him to mend their lives. For as the aromatic spices, which exhaling spread on the breeze, fill with their sweet odour those who are near; in the same manner the friends and acquaintances of a good man derive from the breath of virtue, which emanates, far and wide, from his character, a perfume that adorns and enriches their own ** What a glorious testimony this to the divine origin, to the reform

μάτων

* Το δε σοφίας γενος αμμῳ γης εξομοιούται δια τε πληθυν απεριγράφον, και διοτι τας μεν της θαλαττης επιδρομας ἡ ὑποταίνιος αμμος ανακρούει, τας δε των αμαρτη ὁ παιδειας λογος. Ουτος δε κατα τας θειας ὑποσχέσεις αχρι των περατων του παντος ευρύνεται, και του έχοντα αποφαίνει των του κοσμου κληρονομον μερων φθανοντα, παντη προς τα έωα, προς τα έσπέρια, τα κατα μεσημβρίαν τα προσαρκτια. Λεγεται γαρ, ότι πλατυνθήσεται επι θαλασσαν, και λίβα, και βορραν και ανατολας. Εςι δ' ὁ αςειος ουκ ίδιον μονον, αλλα και κοινον αγαθον άπασιν εξ έτοιμου την αφ αυτου προτεινων ωφε λειαν. Ως γαρ ήλιος απαντων εςι φως των οψεις εχοντων, και σοφος των όσοι της λογικής κεκοινηκασι φύσεως. Ενευλογηθήσονται γαρ εν σοι, φησι, πασαι αι φυλαί . . . . εάντε τις κατ' οικον, η πολιν, η χωραν η εθνος γενηται φρονήσεως ερασης, αναγκη και την οικίαν εκεινην, και την πολιν, και την χωραν και το εθνος αμεινονι βίῳ χρησθαι.

...

ing influence, to the rapid and triumphant prevalence of the word of God, while yet new and uncorrupted among men! Let it be considered, too, that it is a testimony given by one, who was himself a spectator and an agent in the scenes which he so eloquently describes. So vast and unquestionable were the facts which he delineates, that they filled his soul with the sense and conviction of their truth; and forced upon his imagination the richest figures that are to be found the most splendid productions of nature.

among

Καθαπερ γαρ τα εκθυμιωμένα των αρωματων ευωδίας τους πλησιάζοντας αναπιμπλησι, τον αυτον τροπον όσοι γειτο νες και όμοροι σοφου της απ' αυτού σπώντες αυρας επι μήκισον χεομένης, βελτιούνται τα ήθη. Vol. I. 647. p. 592. Compare with this passage Matt. v. 13. 14. viii. 11. xi. 19. Rom. viii. 14-17.