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and so obdurate were the chief priests and Pharisees become, that nothing but a miracle could have changed their hearts. Moreover, if many of the principal men had, like Saul, been miraculously converted, they would, it is probable, have sought to make Christianity, instead of Judaism, the established religion. At all events, if the conversion of the men in power had been general, it would have furnished modern unbelievers with plausible grounds for asserting that the Gospel owed much of its prevalence in the world to the aid and protection of the state. Nor was it morally possible that the great men of Judea, debased as they were by wealth and luxury, . should make the hard and peculiar sacrifice which Christ enjoined upon his sincere followers to make in that age

and country.

Q. What sacrifice, pray, did Jesus enjoin on his followers in Judea, which he did not enjoin on all his followers in every age and country of the world?-A. This sacrifice is implied in the answer which he gave to the rich Pharisee, who came and asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said unto him, "Go, sell thy property, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have a treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.' The young man, having heard this saying, went away grieved, for he had large possessions. And Jesus said unto his disciples, With what difficulty shall a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven! And again, I say unto you, It is more easy for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Peter could at the time, with truth, say for himself and his brethren, "Behold, we have left all and followed thee." The first Jewish converts were made sensible of this distressing obligation; and they cheerfully sold their respective property, and placed it at the feet of the apostles to form a common stock. A few months after the resurrection of Christ, many ten thousand acted this most extraordinary part. All of these converts had seen Jesus:

all of them had visited and conversed with at least some of the persons whom he had miraculously healed: all of them were acquainted with the rank and character of the apostles all of them witnessed the miracles which they wrought in attestation of the fact that their divine Lord had really risen from the grave and ascended to heaven. With this knowledge, they were called upon not only to adopt a new scheme of religion, the most repugnant to their former opinions and habits as Jews, but also to dispose of their property, and to part with all that the world deem dear and valuable. They might not be aware of the end to be answered by this extraordinary sacrifice: they might think it unnecessary and impolitic. But the wisdom of God is not as the wisdom of men he sees all future ages in the present; and a thousand years with him are as one day. It was an unspeakable felicity to hear the son of God himself; to receive the words of eternal life, as they distilled like manna from his lips; to witness the effects of his own doctrine displayed in his holy life and conversation; to see him miraculously curing the sick, the lame, the deaf, and the blind, and even raising the dead. Those who enjoyed this privilege were in their turn obliged to submit to privations and sacrifices not obligatory on the rest of mankind; to proclaim as with a trumpet from heaven the sincerity of their conversion; to lift up as a high beacon, whose light extends to the boundaries of the earth, and to the remotest ages of the world, the moral impossibility of their having become the followers of Jesus Christ, without the truth of the facts recorded in the Four Gospels.

Q. It is a remarkable fact, that Matthew and John, the only two Evangelists who were also Apostles of Christ, do not directly assert his ascension; while Mark and Luke, who were not Apostles, bear direct testimony to that important fact. Can you, Matthew, give a satisfactory account of this strange omission?-A. With

regard te myself, it was not necessary for me to assert this in my Gospel. I published it in Judea, where it was allowed even by his enemies, that the body of Jesus was not in the grave; where, moreover, it was universally known that he was not among the living. It followed of course, without my affirming it, that he had left the earth, and was gone where he professed to go-to his heavenly Father. But I have a further, and I trust more satisfactory, reply to make to this question.

The enemies of Christ could not deny that he appeared to his disciples after his death; but they maintained that it was not Jesus himself, but a demon or a god in his shape. In an age when a belief in supernatural beings was general, and the laws of nature little understood, it was very difficult to defeat this artful subterfuge. Divine wisdom, however, furnished us with means sufficient for this purpose. In his last discourse to the apostles, when they were sinking under apprehension of the evils before them, Jesus says for their consolation, "But I tell you the truth, it is expedient to you that I go away. If I do not go away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I I will send him to you." go, John xvi. 7. The disciples were not yet prepared to have his meaning more fully explained to them; but it was to this effect: "You have witnessed my miracles, and you will soon witness my resurrection; but even then, the evidence of my divine mission, and of a future state, will not be complete. Our enemies will endeavour by a false philosophy to set aside my resurrection, by saying it was not the man Jesus, but a god within him, or a god in his shape, that appeared to his followers after death. I will frustrate this false doctrine by not delegating to you now the miraculous power necessary to ensure you success in the propagation of the Gospel, but defer it until I ascend to my Heavenly Father. It shall then descend upon you in a visible form, and expressly with the design to prove that the Jesus who

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was crucified is the same with the Jesus who rose from the grave, and that the Jesus who rose from the grave did actually ascend into heaven, and will thence hereafter return to raise the dead, and to confer eternal happiness on his faithful followers. This divine gift, which will enable you to work miracles and speak with unknown tongues, shall come down upon you in a visible form, that all might see whence you derived it, that all might see you did not derive it from intercourse with demons, or from the base arts of magic. As it is intended to identify my person, and prove the reality of my ascension, it shall be attached to, and display its effects only in the name of Jesus. And as you are the faithful witnesses of all I said and did, and especially of my resurrection, this power shall be communicated to you, and you alone, though through you it shall be extended to such converts among the Jews and Gentiles, as the holy spirit shall deem worthy to receive it."

This was the promise which Christ made to his apostles, with the request that they should wait in Jerusalem till its fulfilment. They did wait, and it was fulfilled. With this seal of heaven, as it were, in their hands, the apostles went forth preaching, in opposition to the impostors, the simple humanity of Christ, his ascension to heaven, and his certain return to raise the dead, and to reward the righteous. By virtue of these few simple truths, they called upon all men to repent, to leave their former evil ways, however depraved and sinful, and to lead a new life of virtue and holiness, as the indispensable condition of being finally saved. And if they did this with sincerity, they should receive the holy spirit, which they were to consider as the signature of God himself to the truth of what they had been taught. By these means a multitude of men in every country, at Antioch, in Alexandria, in Rome, as well as in Jerusalem, saw in others, and in fact felt in themselves, sensible proofs of the real resurrection and ascension of our Lord

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Jesus Christ. The effect corresponded with the wisdom and efficacy of the means. Peter immediately preached on the spot, and in the face of his enemies and several thousands became converts, delivering up their property, and consecrating the remainder of their lives to that Saviour whom, a few days before, they hurried away to crucifixion.

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To the question, then, How came Matthew and John to omit to say that Jesus ascended to heaven? the answer is, They were apostles, and, as such, they had no need to say it for they were among the honoured instruments in the hands of God, of proving that fact every day by the communication of the holy spirit, which implied and sealed its truth. Mark and Luke, being not apostles, did the only thing which remained for them to do ;- -as they were not qualified to prove the ascension of their Divine Master by deeds, they assert it in words.

CHAPTER VI.

Christianity the same with the religion of Moses and the Prophets refined and perfected by Jesus Christ.-Philo and Josephus historians and apologists of the Gospel under the name of Judaism.

I HAVE already observed that the new method adopted by our Lord, of interpreting the Jewish Scriptures, divided the whole nation into two distinct parties. Judaism, as embraced by the Priests and Pharisees, comprehended the form without the substance of godliness, such as the perpetuity of the temple service; the immutable obligation of the ceremonial law; a temporal

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