preaching of the Apostles one single document to which they had all referred as the authentic record of the life of Christ, and the only authoritative repository of his doctrines. In that case we should have lost the evidence which is now afforded by the uniformity of the creeds of different Churches and the writings of different individuals. It would have been insinuated that the scheme of Christianity had been deliberately planned and steadily executed, and the original record would have been regarded as the product of art and imposture, adapting their means to a preconceived and maturely meditated end. But what says St. Paul?

Though I, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed."* Of all the testimonies which man can give of his sincerity and confidence in the truth of what he teaches, this is the strongest and most unequivocal; and it is the very language held out to us by the history of the successive composition of the books of the New Testament, at periods considerably subsequent to the death of Christ. Whilst we acknowledge, therefore, the difficulties arising from this fact, and perceive the additional complexity which it introduces into the details of the evidences of Christianity, let us at the same time * Gal. i. 8.

be thankful for the additional strength which it gives to the fabric, and the broad and marked line of distinction which it draws between the presumptuous imposture of the deceiver of Arabia and the holy religion of the anointed Jesus.

DISCOURSE VII.

ACTS, chap. xvii. ver. 3, latter part.

"This Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”

By the miraculous nature and benevolent tendency of his works, joined to the purity of his precepts and the blamelessness of his life, our Saviour vindicated, in a most satisfactory manner, his claims to the dignity of a divine commission. His works declared that the Father had sent him, and without pursuing our inquiries beyond this point, his religion becomes, upon the strength of this conclusion alone, most fully entitled to our gratitude and obedience. Jesus, however, aspired to something more than the simple character of a Messenger from Heaven. Moses had said unto the Fathers, "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear." Arrayed in the

*Acts iii. 22.

authority of that prophet, the Son of Mary appeared unto the world, and demanded, in consequence, a more than ordinary deference and attention to his commands. His religion he declared to be entitled to more than common acceptation, because it was the religion of one who in his nature and dignity was far superior to any common prophet. He assumed to himself the office and honours of the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed of God.

Pretensions of a character at once so grand and so peculiar could never have been established by any miracles, however certain or numerous or magnificent, when considered merely as miracles, that is, as effects contrary to our general experience of the agency of human strength and unassisted man, and as works, for the production of which the favour and interposition of the Deity were necessary. Many preachers of righteousness had appeared since the days of Moses, unto Israel, had fashioned their lives in strict conformity with their precepts, and performed many and mighty wonders in their support-had healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead to life, and multiplied the food of man in a most astonishing manner, by a mere blessing pronounced from their lips. Yet were they none of them considered, even for a moment, or by the most

unthinking, as the Christ. Elisha had cured the Syrian Naaman of his leprosy, had restored her son to the woman of Shunem, and caused the widow's cruse to pour forth its oil in a stream of miraculous increase. All these things had Elisha done. He had prophesied, too, and his prophecies were fulfilled. He was like unto our Saviour in the nature of his works, and in the holiness of his doctrine and his life; yet with all his power he was ranked only in the general class of prophets. He was numbered with Samuel and Elijah, those mighty men of God, but neither professed himself, nor was looked upon by others, to be the expected consolation of Israel. In the publicity, then, and in the mercy, and in the magnitude of his miracles; in the reasonableness of his doctrines and the righteousness of his precepts; in the godliness of his life, and in the clearness and certainty of his prophecies, though we may behold indisputable evidence that Jesus of Nazareth" was approved of God," yet can we not find in them, when considered without reference to the ancient predictions, any satisfactory proof that he was the Messiah of the Scriptures, and the looked-for of the Jews. Our confidence in that great fundamental article of our religion, must be derived from another source. The doctrines and miracles of the Gospel do indeed mutually confirm each other, and incontestibly show it to