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the healing, purifying fountains; they are the riches of inimitable universal sanctity; they are the rivers, the floods of divine condescension brought down from heaven to earth, and lifting earthly beings to the delights and dignities of heaven.

Deity, towards those countless multitudes of sin- | treasures are the true medicines of diseased souls, ners, involved in the same condemnation and depravity which bring eternal ruin on their equals in transgression; but taking hold of each individual soul in all that multitude, with a love unspeakably more tender than that with which any human heart ever embraced the most select object of its dearest regards. Sacred awful fountain of love! In thee I discern the sublime cause of the great effect. How sovereign, yet how tender! How unobliged, yet how strong and determinate are thy movements! How personal, yet widely expanded! Let me, with revering ecstacy, approach this fountain of love of the first in Deity, while I hear its determinate voice in the word of promise," All these gather themselves together and come to thee; as I live, saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all."

III. A third subject of inquiry invites our thoughts in the words before us. They transfer to the Church of the living God, the honours of his surprising works of love. These converted multitudes become his ornament, "Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth." What an image is here! I know not whether most to admire its august magnificence, or its condescending delicacy and sweetness. It reminds me of similar emblems in other parts of the sacred oracles, such as that, Rev. xii., "A woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." I think of an ancient distinguished member of the Church, the Patriarch Abraham, led forth by the divine hand under the star-bespangled glowing vault of heaven, and turning thither his heavenly directed eyes, to see the emblem of the brighter multitude of believers who should call him father. In my text, honours like his are extended to the whole Church existing previously to those surprising and joyful enlargements.

Let this now be the subject of our inquiry, in what wonderful ways the vast extension of the powers of converting grace through the world shall be enjoyed, with the most delicious sense of ornament and honour, by the genuine Church.

1. By those converted multitudes the Church is honoured, while they acknowledge the inexpressible value of the formerly existing spiritual Church of Jehovah. What are these peculiar treasures and excellencies? I hope, my brethren, many of you know them well. They are the treasures of divine truth, unfolded by a wisdom coming from above; they are the influences of the Spirit of truth, conveying into the inmost soul, with certainty at once sweet and demonstrative, the most interesting and extensive discoveries of divine eternal truth. The treasures and prerogatives of the Church are the stores of salvation; they are the unsearchable riches of merit, righteand redemption, the ransom price, powerful to rescue from the flames of eternity, and to open the paradise of immeasurable joys, and to do this for worlds upon worlds of the guilty. These

ousness,

"

While the multitude of converts in the various climes of this otherwise poor earth, discern those glorious treasures deposited with the once despised Church, they come into the posture in which prophecy exhibits them, "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Isaiah lx. 3. They shall fall down unto thee; they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, surely God is in thee, and there is none else; there is no God." Isaiah xlv. 14. "They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." Isaiah xlix. 23.

2. Benevolence, philanthropy, good will to men. Venerable names, but often abused, and falsely assumed. But it is to the singular and genuine benevolence of the true Church of the living God, that the converted world shall gather its flowers and wreathe its laurels. That heavenbreathed benevolence, those supplications, those self-denied, persevering exertions, which originate in the knowledge and communion of the crucified Saviour, these bear the palm of victory in this warfare. I commiserate those well meaning people who deceive themselves with words, and reasonings, and human authority, while they disregard the loud testimony of Scripture and experience concerning the inutility of all the productions of unrenewed human nature when brought to the work of subduing the stubborn pride and rebellion of an apostate world.

It is in the period to which our thoughts are guided by the prediction in the text, when the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail spread over all nations, shall be destroyed,—it is then that the sentiments of mankind shall be rectified on this subject, and that the world shall discern its real enemies and its true friends. When the fruits of that benevolence, which long sighed and mourned in secret places, or pursued its unostentatious exertions under the shade of obscurity and contempt, appear overspreading and beautifying the whole earth, then the delivered nations shall bless that pious love, that heavenly kindness which, from the days of Abel, the Redeemer of sinners hath infused into the breast of his spiritual spouse.

3. But in what diversified forms, and in what overflowing abundance, shall the honours of the Church, mingled with those of her high Redeemer, flow in upon her from every quarter of the world!

The unfolded secrets of error, superstition, and vice, in every land, shall spread new lustre on the fair lines of eternal truth and holiness. The multitude of human beings inspired with heavenly

energy, combining all the variety and extent of human genius and industry, in investigating and adorning the truth, and in showing forth the praises of the God of salvation, and through the attending influence and blessing of the Spirit from on high, shall enrich and adorn the cities of our God in an unexampled, unimaginable manner. Blessed shall be those eyes which shall see a new train of Christian heroes, philosophers, politicians, princes, patriots, orators, and poets, walking forth in every clime, and gathering in the honour and glory of the nations, to be collected at the feet of the Lamb who was slain, and to decorate the bride, the object of his eternal conjugal regards. Instead of the iron bond of connection, formed by a selfish, sordid, and often blood-stained, spirit of commerce or of conquest, the nations, drawn into union by the silken cords of heavenly love, and formed into fair, symmetrical, peaceful combination, shall be actually assumed by the Church of the Redeemer, as her ornament and glory, and "she shall clothe her with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on her as a bride doeth."

This adorning, these honours, however, shall by no means be confined to the happy race of believers then found on the earth; when such august scenes open they shall reach backward through all ages, they shall embrace the spirits of the righteous in glory, especially "the souls under the altar of them who have been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held." In the living esteem and honour, of these truly enlightened and dignified ages, the sufferers of all periods shall virtually rise from the dust of death, and appear as having judgment given to them from on high, as clothed with white robes, as sitting on thrones, the objects of universal esteem, admiration, and praise throughout the new-born world.

joy, while he spreads out the wonderful scenes of salvation to be transacted in this sinful world. And he exhibits the bright seal of Deity, assuring us that, in the indulging such hope, we do not. follow cunningly devised fables. "As I live, saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament."

The oath of Deity! The life of Deity! What securities are these!

1. It is difficult for us, who know so little of God, to apprehend, in a becoming manner, the solemn grandeur and authority of the oath of God.

The habits of a devilish profaneness debauch the human mind, otherwise we would feel inexpressible awe under the idea of an oath, when emitted by the meanest individual possessed of the power of reason. What, then, would be the solemnity attached to the oath of a seraph, one of the sons of the morning, in the celestial regions? The oath of an angel would rise in its solemnity and force above that of the wisest of human beings in proportion as he possesses deeper reverence of Deity, and is capable of looking farther than mortals can do into those infinite perfections to which the appeal is made. But, when the uncreated Majesty itself in the heavens rises from the throne, and before the appalled multitude of angels, assuming the posture of swearing, appeals to that life of immense glory, whereof he is conscious, to procure belief of his promissory engagements, who shall then hesitate? Shall not unbelief then shrink away with horror? Shall not faith then lift up its head, and, walking on its high places, tread lightly over the tops of obstructing mountains of opposition? "As I live saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament."

2. The infinite life of Jehovah is the source of IV. But have we entered the regions of airy all existence, strength, and excellency; while, therefancy, the fairy land of fiction? Are those things fore, it is appealed to for the purpose of giving asa dream, or is there certainty attached to them?surance of the promises, it exhibits the rich fountain A distinguished heathen poet, addressing himself of all those multiplied energies which shall operate to one of the fictitious objects of his admiration, as the instrumental means of fulfilling these great speaks in this manner: "Do you hear her, or am promises; "I have girded thee," saith God, to the I deceived by a lively fancy? I see myself wan-yet non-existing hero, "I have girded thee, though dering with delight among the groves of the blessod, watered with sweet streams, and fanned with delightful breezes." Such elegant pathos of a poor idolater will be pardoned by the philosopher, and will command the admiration of the man of classical sensibility; but both the philosopher and the man of classical sensibility, if impious, will pronounce it an intolerable enthusiasm, a madness not to be forgiven, if our souls are set on fire by the burning rays of truth coming from the true and eternal God. Shall we stand in awe of such censures? No; we are bound to despise them; for we have examined the grounds of our confidence; we have heard in the sacred oracles that inimitable voice of the Holy One, which shall at length silence all their voices; we know with a certainty, firm as demonstration, and sweet as the joys of heaven, that the Spirit of inspiration speaking in the Scriptures is truth. That Spirit summons us to

thou hast not known me." Even the irrational animals are witnesses of the divine power to impart vigour, sagacity, and invincible fortitude. The horse prancing fearlessly in the valley, the behemoth advancing among the shady trees with bones like bars of iron, the leviathan with a heart like the nether mill-stone, looking forth like the eyelids of the morning, making the deep to boil around him; these are some of the innumerable visible monuments of the efficacy of divine operation in inferior animal beings. But what shall be the effects when Immanuel, the lion of the tribe of Judah, shall pour from the heavens the spirit of wisdom and of might, and shall bring into the world armies of such lions as the world never saw, excepting in some comparatively rare examples, in the days of bloody persecution. The man who shall bear the triumphant cross round the globe, shall exhibit strength and fortitude, not like the terrifying

fierceness of partial selfish heroes, but holy, benevolent, irresistible, heaven-tempered, like the prowess of angels. Before such men in whom Jesus shall put forth his living powers, what obstructions, what terrors, can earth or even hell exhibit? Jehovah lives; therefore the promise shall be accomplished.

Those

It is included in the promissory oath of the Almighty which the text exhibits, that your most enlarged wishes shall be actually fulfilled, respecting those very countries which you have attempted to visit with the knowledge of salvation. gloomy, those burning shores shall become, sooner or later, a part of the triumphal ornaments of the Christian Church, and by whatever means, at whatever time, Jehovah shall appear on those African coasts, in the glory and power of his sal

bodies of your Missionaries took infeftment in the name of Christ, of the polluted abased territories, as the dead body of the ancient patriarch went before his living posterity to the promised land.

3. After such securities it is hardly necessary to reason on the subject, otherwise a long train of arguments, in confirmation of the promise might be brought forward. We might vindicate the supe-vation, it shall then be recognised that the dead rior preferableness of the Church's claims, above those of any other of her haughty rivals; we might show that so many millions of creatures made for eternity are too costly a sacrifice to be always offered up to the wild freak of bloody ambition, or to the equally careless but more sordid monster, commercial avarice, or to the vain-glorious insolence of unfounded impotent philosophy. Such competitors as these must quickly retire when the Church of the living God rises in her brightness. Even the awful sovereign justice of Jehovah, which, in its mysterious range, through the ages that are past, has devoured so many victims, will, at length, say, It is enough, and smelling an odour of rest in the sacrifice of Jesus the Son of God, suffer the earth to become the joyful dominion of triumphant mercy.

Let me be permitted to make a little farther demand on your time and patience, while I attempt, in the spirit of the subject, to address a few words. First, To the directors, members, and friends, of the Glasgow Missionary Society.

Let me

My beloved brethren and fathers, it belongs to the duty of my present situation to speak comfortably to you in the name of the Lord. beseech you to suffer the word of exhortation, and to consider the aspect of the subject which hath been before us, on your past and future exertions in this important work.

In the day when the keepers of the house do tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, it will be no grief of heart to any of you, that the concerns of the kingdom of salvation among the perishing heathen, found a place in your affectionate regards. Wherever unfeigned faith, operating by heavenly love, hath roused to such attempts, the sweet approving voice and smiles of the supreme Judge will attend them, not in proportion to the eventual success, but according to whatever was truly in the heart of the humble Christian to devise and accomplish.

you

When look towards the howling wilderness, which it was your desire and hope might be turned into a fruitful field and garden of spiritual pleasure, you may be ready to adopt the mournful complaint in the context, "Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, my Lord hath forgotten me." I trust a share belongs to you in the consolation also imparted by the answer which comes warm from the bowels of infinite love, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the fruit of her womb; yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee."

Your generous perseverance and assiduity, in strengthening the hands of other societies whom the Lord has been pleased sooner to encourage by symptoms of success, have attested at once the purity of your motives, and a living humility, which is in itself a sure forerunner of good.

Let me request you to go forward a little farther; the night of your discouragement I trust is far spent, the day is at hand. He who has given you

a heart towards this precious work, He who has kept you fixed upon it, in the face of multiplied discouragements, is of power to create and commission fit messengers to the heathen. Perhaps he will do so at this very hour, before we leave this place.

I, therefore, wish to turn round the light and warning energy of the subject we have been contemplating, for the purpose,

Second, Of rousing to this work such persons as the Lord of the harvest may incline and prepare for it

He walks invisible in the midst of us, who, in the days of his flesh, said to chosen individuals, with irresistible immediate efficacy, "Follow me." Perhaps those eyes which are as a flame of fire, see somewhere in this assembly, or perhaps his creating power will now give existence to generous, though humbling, aspirations of heart towards the high exertions and comforts of the successful Missionary, which, strengthened by influences of grace, and with the furniture and armour from above adapted to this work, shall ultimately issue in a joyful harvest of souls in some heathenish lands.

Lord Jesus, lover of souls, director of spirits, conqueror of hearts, we are before thee; choose thy own instruments, prepare thy weapons, select thy own sacrifices, open to some understandings the glory of thy work among the heathen; touch some hearts with the irresistible constraints of thy dying love. Let him that is feeble, be as David. Let souls, formerly wavering and timid, be so bound to this work by thy sovereign hand, as to account it a privilege a triumph to stand forth in this work, though it should require their being cut in pieces, to open the way for more successful labours.

My brethren, whatever be the present impressions on any individuals, whatever the future fruit of these impressions, this is certain, that the subject before us hath enough in it, if brought home

by the Spirit of truth, revelation and power, to form those Missionaries against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail.

In the meanwhile let us not forget the situation of unconverted persons now present in this assembly, and who, for any thing that is known on earth, may soon be in the eternal world. It may be the Lord will crown this meeting of his people by the quickening of some souls who came hither dead in trespasses and sins.

SCRIPTURAL RESEARCHES.

No. XVII.

THE APOSTLES.

BY THE REV. JAMES ESDAILE, D.D.,

Minister of the East Church, Perth.

Ir is wonderful how little we know of the private history of those who have been the greatest benefactors to the human race. In many cases, the very names of those who have introduced the most substantial improvements into the opinions and practice of men, are entirely unknown. We may be sensible of this, when we consider the conflicting evidence as to the claims of those who have discovered, or introduced, the commonest processes for the comfort of life. These observations are particularly applicable to the case of those to whom we owe the highest spiritual blessings. The scourges of the world are remembered; the mischief they do is their monument; the real benefactors of the human race make little noise; their operations are not seen, they act upon the heart and the feelings, and they find their reward in the fruits of righteousness, which are always more anxious to shun than to court observation. These observations are particularly applicable to the case of those to whose labours and exertions, under God, the world is indebted for the unspeakable blessings of the Christian dispensation; the work was His; no length of time, no maturity of human knowledge could ever have led to those doctrines and rules of life which gladden the heart, and guide the conduct of Christians we know who the agents were; but we know little of the parts which they, respectively, acted in the great work of evangelizing the world. The Romish Church has endless legends as to the introduction of Christianity into the different regions of the earth, the greater part of which are palpably absurd; the object was merely to magnify the church and its agents, and to establish a claim upon the world for homage, at the expense of that fealty which is due only to Christ. The ways of God and the ways of men are, especially, at variance on this point; being the author of all good, he claims all the glory; on the same principle that a parent wishes to be recognized as the source of the comforts enjoyed by his children, as this recognition renders both parties happy; the child feeling gratitude, the most genuine source of happiness; and the parent, delight, at seeing his child under the influence of such an improving feeling.

In disseminating the blessings of Christianity, God has done every thing, short of absolute constraint, to make men recognize his sovereignty and eternal government. It is impossible that this religion can be of men; to say nothing of its high character, and sublime doctrines, it contradicts all their pretensions, and resists all their prejudices; and it would indicate an imbecility, approaching to fatuity, to suppose that such a religion could be of human invention. Nevertheless, in investigating the visible means, and considering the characters of the active instruments, we are always too apt to lose sight of the divine agency, and to ascribe undue influence to secondary causes, which never would

all.

have been brought into operation without the immediate power and influence of the Great first cause of With regard to the dissemination of Christianity, we know that it was effected by the instrumentality of men chosen by God, and upheld by him: but as if it had been to counteract that idolatry of agents which so speedily perverted the purity of the faith, very little is known of the personal history of the Apostles, beyond the brief notices recorded in the New Testament; and these are dictated by a very different spirit from that which influences the ordinary chroniclers of general or individual history. How little do we know of the life and history of the Apostles! We know a good deal of the history of St. Paul, an apostle "born out of due time," to whom was committed the ministry of the Gospel among the Gentiles: we are well acquainted also, with the character of St. Peter, from incidents recorded in Gospel history, which indicate his zeal, impetuosity, and self-confidence; the Epistles of St. John exhibit the amiable features of kindness and benevolence by which his character was distinguished, and which we may, perhaps, venture to say rendered him the beloved disciple of his Master, who was himself the essence of love, and the source of love and benevolence to men. But we are thoroughly acquainted with the character of one of them, who, though the most worthless of all human beings, was, nevertheless, honoured with the name and functions of an Apostle; yes, the apostate Apostle! whose infamy' has acquired for him the unenviable distinction of being equally despised and detested by the righteous and the wicked.

Now, it will very naturally occur to any one to inquire how such a miscreant came to intrude himself into the number of the Apostles, or, why such an intrusion was permitted. There must have been a mistake somewhere; it was not on the part of the holy, omniscient Saviour; he said, from the very beginning, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?". John vi. 70. What an announcement was this to the assembled Apostles! What perplexing and distressing feelings must have passed through their minds!. We never hear that their suspicions fastened on Judas, and we have no reason to suppose that he gave them any grounds to suspect him; nor do we know that he had, at that time, formed the diabolical purpose which he afterwards carried into effect. He probably resembled some of those unscrupulous characters who would just as soon be honest as otherwise, provided it answered their purpose equally well, but who have no constraining principle to bind them to integrity and honour, and who may be driven by humour, or caprice, or disappointment, into the most enormous wickedness. Our Lord's words, however, must have filled the Apostles with consternation; but, perhaps, they might conceive that they merely alluded to demoniacal possession, which they knew their Master had power to heal; at all events, one of the number being denounced, but no one named, the whole had the strongest motives to humility and godly fear.

If Judas had any suspicion that our Lord's words applied to him, he manifested no anxiety for the expulsion of the demon from his own breast, but coolly pursued his plans of ambition and temporal aggrandisement. These, we may rest assured, were the motives which first induced him to seek the society of Jesus. Like the other Apostles, he acknowledged Christ's power; like a great number among the Jews, he was prepared to hail him as the expected Messiah; like them, too, he supposed that his kingdom was to be of this world: he evidently aspired to trust; and he was trusted; he obtained the situation most congenial to his avaricious spirit; he was made the treasurer of the small community, "be carried the purse," and was

thus flattered with the prospect of a similar office | in the expected kingdom. We are borne out in these views by every incident recorded in the history of Judas; and in his case we see what a hypocrite can accomplish, and what he can submit to in order to effect a favourite purpose. It has often been said that it would cost a man much less trouble to be really virtuous, than to maintain the consistent semblance of being so, without the reality; perhaps this is true; at any rate, there is infinitely greater pleasure in the reality than in the semblance; the one is a real blessing, the other is irksome restraint. Few sinners ever submitted to such painful restraints as Judas; few ever endured such penance on account of their sins; the heavenly temper, the benevolent feelings, the holy life and conversation of the Saviour, must have been as wormwood to his polluted soul; the generous, the unselfish spirit manifested in every word, look, and action of the merciful Redeemer, must have stung to the heart this wolf in sheep's clothing, who was compelled to appear the very opposite of what he was, and was thus subjected to the most galling torture that can be applied to a reprobate mind. We see in him the sin and the punishment of the hypocrite, the torture of forced self-denial, and the disappointment of a worldly and avaricious mind.

There is no more difficulty, then, in accounting for Judas desiring the apostleship, than there is in explaining the motives why wicked and worldly men have often desired and obtained high rank and preferment in the Church of Christ; only we must allow to him the pre-eminence in wickedness, till we can find one who, with his opportunities of knowledge, and the same demonstrations of the Saviour's holiness and power, shall manifest the same diabolical malignity of heart. It is easy, then, to see the motives which induced Judas to desire a confidential situation under the new regime which was then universally expected; but it may appear a matter of more difficult solution to explain why the omniscient Saviour should have selected him for the work of the apostleship, knowing, as he did from the beginning, the thorough worthlessness of his character, and the diabolical malignity of his heart. But here, as in every thing where the hand of God is seen, we shall be compelled to recognize the wisdom of the divine appointments. The enemy of mankind having failed in every attempt to withdraw the Saviour from his purpose of mercy and love to men, his next device to uphold his tottering empire, was to withdraw the affections of men from Christ, by presenting to their view the agony and ignominy of the cross. In this he has been but too successful; the reproach of the cross has staggered many, and induced them to seek their portion in the present world. This was all that remained for the adversary to attempt; and he hastened to secure this object by the destruction of Him before whom the powers of darkness shrunk in dismay. To attain this end, it was necessary to employ human agents and visible means; the adversary always keeps in the back ground, and employs unsuspected instruments to accomplish his purposes; his stronghold is the "deceivableness of unrighteousness," and he is never so dangerous as when he appears 66 as an angel of light."

From all this it must be obvious that if ever there was one who, in the strong language of the poet, has been "damned to everlasting fame," it is the wretched traitor who lent himself as a tool to accomplish the work of the devil by betraying the Saviour of the world. There are very few offences for which we cannot sympathize with the perpetrator when we see the symptoms of sincere repentance, but we feel no sympathy, no compassion, for Judas, when he exclaims, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood; " it was not sincere repentance, it was the terror of a reprobate

mind, when he found that the devil, to whom he had sold himself, refused to support him any longer. Nevertheless, this wretch did not live in vain; he was the constrained instrument in accomplishing a work in which he had no share; and his dying testimony is entitled to as much regard, so far as mere evidence is concerned, as the dying declarations of the apostles and saints, who rejoiced to be thought worthy to suffer death for the hopes of the Gospel, Unbelievers can get the better of the evidence of the martyrs only by alleging that they were enthusiasts, and that the delusion which they had cherished through life clung to them till the last moment of their existence; but if ever there was unimpeachable evidence in the world, it is that of Judas, who neither lived nor died a Christian; who died convicted but not converted, esteeming it a lighter evil to suffer punishment with kindred reprobate spirits, than to endure the righteous, the withering scorn, of those with whom he had not a single sentiment in common, and whose holy hopes and virtuous feelings would have been gall and wormwood to his corrupted soul.

Thus then we see in Judas, a fit, a willing agent, in doing the work of the devil, whose first attempt on the Saviour was to shake his faith and subvert his innocence, and had he succeeded in this, he would have inade no attempt against his life; the second Adam would, in that case, have fallen like the first, and the devil would have been, in every sense, the God of this world. But being disappointed in this, he directed all his efforts against the life of the Saviour, not knowing the great mystery of godliness, that it was by his death, resurrection and ascension, that Jesus of Nazareth was to destroy the works of the devil. This was very soon rendered apparent; the Saviour's death which prostrated, for a season, the hopes of his disciples, and allayed the fears of his enemies, was soon followed by results equally unexpected by both; on the third day he rose from the dead, was frequently seen by his disciples during the period of forty days, and, on one occasion, appeared to upwards of five hundred of them at once; and, at last, ascended into heaven in presence of them all. There was no longer any doubt or mistake in their minds; they were made acquainted with the spiritual character of his kingdom, and, henceforth, they counted not their lives dear for his sake. But there were no more visible manifestations given to the world, except in the power which he committed to his disciples to cast out demons, and heal all manner of diseases; a power which, we have no doubt, terminated with them, that the world might learn the necessity of improving present oppor tunities, and not to trust to accidents or unusual interventions, after sufficient means of grace have been freely offered and demonstrated to be effectual.

In the testimony and fate of Judas we have a species of evidence in favour of Christianity of a peculiar description, and not to be derived from any other source. We can array on the side of Christianity all those who have adorned human nature by their virtues, and done honour to the human faculties by their exalted attainments; this is an honourable phalanx which has done good service to the cause of Christ, and whose labours will always be prized by the Christian world. But the open and avowed friends of Christianity are charged by the ungodly with unfairness and partiality, and their testimony is objected to merely on the ground that they are Christians, as if it were reasonable to expect that any but such as understood and believed the Gos pel, could give any consistent accounts of its character, its influence, and its doctrines. But even this unrea sonable demand or expectation we can satisfy; the instance of the Apostle Paul approaches very nearly to a case in point; from a determined unbeliever, and no torious persecutor, he became all at once a devoted Christian and a zealous Apostle, with every motive of

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