quent to it, or indeed in any age whatever, was ever able to disprove the facts recorded in these books; and it does not appear, that in the early times any such attempt was made. The facts therefore related in the New Testament must be admitted to have really happened. But if all the circumstances of the history of Jesus, that is, his miraculous conception in the womb of the Virgin, the time at which he was born, the place where he was born, the family from which he was descended, the nature of the doctrines which he preached, the meanness of his condition, his rejection, sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, with many other minute particulars; if, I say, all these various circumstances in the history of Jesus exactly accord with the predictions of the Old Testament relative to the promised Messiah, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, it follows that Jesus was that Messiah.— And again, if Jesus really performed the miracles as related in the Gospels, and was perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and designs of men, his divine mission cannot be doubted.-Lastly, if he really foretold his own death and resurrection, the descent of the Holy Ghost, its miraculous effects, the sufferings of the Apostles, the call of the Gentiles, and the destruction of Jerusalem, it necessarily follows

that he spake by the authority of God himself. These and many other arguments, founded in the more than human character of Jesus, in the rapid propagation of the Gospel, in the excellence of its precepts and doctrines, and in the constancy, intrepidity, and fortitude of its early professors, incontrovertibly establish the truth and divine origin of the Christian religion, and afford to us, who live in these latter times, the most positive confirmation of the promise of our Lord, that, “ the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (a)."

(a) Matt. c. 16. v. 18.

The

The Places and Times of writing the Books

of the NEW TESTAMENT.

St. Matthew St. Mark St. Luke St. John Acts Romans i Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians i Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews St. James

A.D. Judæa

38 Rome

65 Greece

63 Asia Minor

97 Greece

64 Corinth

58 Ephesus

56 Macedonia

57 Corinth or Macedonia

52 Rome Rome

London : Printed by Luke Hansard & Sons,

uear Lincoln's. Ing Fields