CHRISTIANITY NO SECT, AND YET EVERY WHERE SPOKEN AGAINST. "For as concerning this sect, we may know that every where it is spoken against."-ACTS zxviii. 22. WOULD you think that such a false and invidious representation as this should ever be given of the Christian religion, that 'pure religion and undefiled, which came into the world supported by the strongest evidences of truth, and recommended by the most endearing allurements of grace and goodness, the sayings whereof are so faithful, and so well worthy of acception; that sacred institution which scatters the brightest rays of divine light and love that ever were darted from heaven to earth? That it is which is here so invidiously called a sect, and is said to be "every where spoken against." It will be worth while to observe, 1. Who they were that said this, they were the chief of the Jews who were at Rome, ver. 17. The Jews were looked upon, at least they looked upon themselves, as a very knowing people; the Jews at Rome, a place of learning and inquiry, thought themselves more knowing than the other Jews. St Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, ch. ii. 17-20, takes notice of it: "Thou art called a Jew, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will,—and art |