re sure, and grew glorious by opposition." "It filled the lands, and covered the hills "with its shadow: it stretched out its "branches unto the sea, and its boughs "unto the river." In a short number of years Christianity spread itself over the most polished nations of antiquity; and after bearing high its head, and maintaining its majesty, for eighteen centuries, all the civilized nations of the world at this very moment sit beneath its shade.

That "this counsel and this work" are "of God," no reasonable mind can entertain a doubt; for when we compare the result with any human means of producing it, and when we consider how insufficient, to all human appearances, the instruments were which actually effected it; blind, indeed, and obdurate, must we be, not to perceive and acknowledge that the Divine Wisdom alone could direct, and the Divine Power execute, the astonishing scheme. "Twelve "men of obscure and poor birth,' "" says the excellent Jeremy Taylor, alluding to the Apostles," of contemptible trades and

quality, without learning and without "breeding, were sent into the midst of a "knowing and wise world, to dispute with "the most famous philosophers of Greece, "to out-wit all the learning of Athens, to

66

"out-preach all the orators of Rome; to introduce into a newly-settled empire, "which would be impatient of novelties and change, such a change as must destroy "all their temples, or remove from them. "all their gods; to overturn that religion under which their fathers long did

66

prosper, for a religion which (in appear"ance) was silly and humble, meek and "peaceable; not apt, indeed, to do harm, "but exposing men to all the harm in the "world; abating their courage, blunting "their swords, teaching peace and quiet"ness, making the soldier's arms in a man"ner useless, and untying the military "girdle;-a religion that gave countenance "to the poor and pitiful; a religion that "would change the face of things, and "would also pierce into the secrets of the soul, and unravel all the intrigues of the "heart, and reform all vile manners, and break evil habits into gentleness and "counsel: That such a religion, in such a

66

66

time, preached by such persons, should "triumph over the philosophy of the world, "and the arguments of the subtle, and "the sermons of the eloquent, and the power of princes, and the interests of states, and the inclinations of nature, and "the blindness of zeal, and the force of

"custom, and the busy arts of the devil; that "is, against wit, and power, and money, "and religion, and wilfulness, and fame, "and empire, which are all the things in the "world that can make a thing impossible; this, I say, could not be by the proper "force of such" weak and few instruments, as the Apostles, "for no man can span "heaven with an infant's palm, nor govern "wise and mighty empires with diagrams."

No, my brethren, it had been ordained of old, in the counsels of the Almighty, and predicted by his Prophets, that, in God's own appointed time, the Saviour of man should appear in the world, for the salvation of sinners, and for the establishment of a pure, spiritual, and universal religion; and that this faith, sealed by the blood of Christ, and ratified by his resurrection, should "go out into all lands, and "its words unto the ends of the earth;" and it was the promise of the Saviour to those whom he commissioned to preach this religion, after his ascension into heaven, that his grace and might should assist them in the work: "Behold! I am with you "alway, even unto the end of the world." It is no marvel, therefore, that "the Word "of God mightily grew and prevailed" from the moment of its promulgation; for

"

OMNIPOTENCE overshadowed it with his wings; OMNISCIENCE directed it by his spirit; its OUTSET was accompanied by the divine blessing; "the glory of the Lord," displayed in marvels, signs, and wonders, was its rere-ward," and the associate of its CAREER; and hallelujahs and thanks givings to God, the sanctification and salvation of man, will be the companions of its RETURN to the Almighty Being from whom it proceeded; for thus saith the Most High: "As the rain cometh down, and "the snow from heaven, and returneth not "thither, but watereth the earth, and "maketh it bring forth and bud, that it

66

may give seed to the sower, and bread "to the eater; so shall my word be, that "goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not "return unto me void, but it shall accom

66

plish that which I please; and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it."

Nor should it seem to be a matter of doubt, that, as the religion of Jesus Christ was so quickly established and speedily extended by the preaching of the Apostles, "the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following ;" so it will eventually be universal upon earth, and that before "the end of all things" shall come," the various kin

66

dreds, and nations, and tongues of the world will be enlisted under the banner of the Cross; and the Israelite, shaking the veil from his face, and the Pagan, putting away his false gods, will form, with the believers," one fold under one shepherd, "Jesus Christ the Lord."

To this blessed event, indeed, "give all "the Prophets witness," from the earliest dawn of inspiration, to the period when inspiration finally ceased, in the Revelations of St. John.

Abraham, with the eye of faith, "saw "the day" of its accomplishment," and "was glad;" confidently depending upon the divine promise, that in his "seed" "ALL the families of the earth" should "be blessed." David, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, contemplated, through the obscurity of many intervening centuries, the universal triumph of "the Lord's "Christ" in the latter days; and hailed the glorious period when "ALL the Hea"then" should be his "inheritance," and "the utmost parts of the earth his pos"session." And Isaiah, to whom the future fortunes of Christ's church were unfolded with still greater clearness, predicted, in the most precise and glowing terms, the general spread of the pure and