I l Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. Case Shelf Book DivlaioR Section * No, BK 9S .<337 ' Intnfr /tmritun OF THE JEWISH TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE. ALTAR or BURNT OFFERINGS ExoA. XXVX1.18 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE Exoa.m.1.5 A h:.u>ixu(l *i:° London X n.hiAmrcIi ENTRANCE TO P E T 1 A • - IE (D)(0) NT • JERF.M-XLIX. 17. A^ullartm & C? Xanflan &E dinbiiigb. . w THE CHRISTIAN CYCLOPAEDIA ; OR REPERTORY OF BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. BY TITE REV. JAMES GARDNER, M.D. & A.M., AUTHOR OF MEMOIRS OF EMINENT MISSIONARIES, &C., &C. A. FULLARTON AND CO., STEAD’S PLACE, EDINBURGH; 10G NEWGATE STREET, LONDON; AND 22 EUSTACE STREET, DUBLIN. / S' } Edinburgh: MACNAB, PRINTERS. LKITH WALK. FULLARTON AND PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE. The plan of this Cyclopaedia is somewhat different from the other Bible Diction¬ aries and Cyclopaedias which have of late years issued from the press, combining as it does the general features of a Biblical and a Theological Cyclopaedia, with a com¬ prehensive digest of the Literature and Biography connected with Christianity. The Compiler has freely availed himself of all accessible sources of information, with the view of supplying, both to the Theological Student and the non-professional reader, a popular compendium of what has been written, both in ancient and modern times, on the most important subjects which are either involved in or allied to Bible Christianity. Instead of making a parade of erudition, which is calculated to dazzle, and some¬ times to mislead, rather than to instruct the general public, the present volume is designed to present the results rather than the processes of a somewhat prolonged studious investigation, in a form so simple as to be within the comprehension of the most unlettered reader. All discussions of a purely grammatical and exegetical I character have been sedulously avoided. The doctrines and precepts of Christianity have been fully considered, not in the light of mere human systems, but with a constant reference to the Word of God — s the only unerring standard of divine truth. Much attention has been bestowed on Oriental Manners and Customs, as illustrat¬ ing many passages in the Bible, as well as enabling the reader to enter into the whole spirit and genius of the sacred books. The opinions of the various sects which have sprung up in the course of the His¬ tory of the Christian Church, have been fully explained. The corrupt doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome have been freely ex¬ posed, and their absurd and unscriptural character clearly shown. To render the work more complete, the Compiler has introduced a Biographical History of the most eminent divines, who have either originated sects, or, at all events, powerfully influenced the times in which they lived. No point, in short, has been willingly omitted which seemed to throw' light upon Bible Christianity, or to enlarge the religious information of the Bible Christian. The present work, it is hoped, may serve to promote the interests of vital godliness, i as well as to advance the cause of true scriptural knowledge. The rapid progress of Christian literature, which chai’acterises the age in which we live, seems to call for the appearance of such a volume as that wdiich is here pre¬ sented to the public. Many valuable accessions have no doubt been made of late years to this department of Literature, but the greater number of them have been more erudite than popular, besides being almost, if not entirely, limited in their range to subjects of a strictly Biblical character. But the sphere of the present volume extends to all that can be fairly considered as included in religion, and may therefore prove a useful closet companion to the Bible, as wrell as the source of much varied and interesting information to the general reader. - ... ■ PREFACE. The present volume is intended to supply a felt desideratum in the Christian Literature of the day. During the last half century, various Biblical and Theological Dictionaries and Cyclopaedias have issued from the press, affording to the professional student ample means of advancing his knowledge of Divine Truth. It is desirable, however, that a taste for Sacred Literature should no longer be confined to our Theological Halls, but should be diffused as widely as possible among the Christian Families of our land. To contribute, in some degree, towards the accomplishment of this all-important object, the “Christian Cyclopaedia” is now offered to the public, being designed as a popular compendium of what has hitherto been written on all those subjects which are either involved in, or allied to Christianity. Among the numerous topics discussed in the work may be mentioned The Doctrines and Duties of Theology, — the various Opinions of the different Sects which have arisen in the course of time in the Christian Church, along with a Biographical History of the most eminent Divines, — the corrupt Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome, — the Natural History of the Bible, — and a view of Oriental Geography, Manners, and Customs, in so far as these bear upon the illustration of the Word of God. In its plan, in short, this Cyclopaedia em¬ braces the general features of both a Biblical and Theological Dictionary, along with a com¬ prehensive digest of the Literature and Biography connected with Christianity ; the idea having been suggested by, as the volume is founded on a work which was published in America nearly twenty years ago, under the title of “ The Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge,” — a book which, however useful at the time of its appearance, falls far short of the present advanced state of Theological Literature. To the preparation of the “Christian Cyclopaedia,” the Compiler has devoted the careful study and laborious research of many years ; and, while a large portion of the book is the original product of his own pen, it is only becoming to mention that he has availed himself largely of the writings of his prede¬ cessors in the same walk of literature. In drawing up the articles on Natural History, he gratefully acknowledges his obligations to the valuable work of Harris ; and for the strictly Theological articles he has been much indebted to the Dictionaries of Buck and Brown. The erudite work of Calmet, with the no less erudite Fragments of Taylor, the sensible and judicious Dictionaries of Watson and Jones, and the admirable and profoundly learned Cyclopedia of the lamented Kitto, have opened up rich mines of precious material, from which has been derived much of the information with which the present work is enriched. The knowledge here communicated, indeed, has been obtained from every accessible source ; and, therefore, far from making any pretensions to originality, the “ Christian Cyclopaedia ” professes to be nothing more than a “Repertory of Biblical and Theological Literature,” suited to the age in which we live. ; ’ : II 1 I 1 , 1 ; •• INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION ON THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. PART I. It is a well-attested truth, that immorality ever grows with infidelity; and to the pre¬ valence of vice must certainly be imputed that scorn and derision in which too many in the present day hold the sacred oracles of God, — the revealed will of the great Creator of heaven and earth. From hence, therefore, it is reasonable to ask, what cause can produce so strange a deviation from the ways of God ? Doubtless, from that unhappy disregard, either to the gospel in general, or to his peculiar and essential truths so visible in the world, and which appear to be contin¬ ually increasing. It is too evident that multitudes among us, like those of old, who thought and professed themselves the wisest of mankind, or in other words, the free-thinkers of the age, have been desir¬ ous of banishing God and his truths from their knowledge; and it is therefore the less to be wondered at, if 44 God has given them up to a reprobate mind;” to the most infamous lusts and enormities; and to a depth of degeneracy, which, while it is in part the natural consequence, is in part also the just, but dreadful punishment of their apostasy from the faith. And we are persuaded that those who wish well to the cause of Christ, as every true Chris¬ tian most certainly does, cannot serve it more effectually, than by endeavouring to establish men in their belief of the gospel in general, and to build them up in its most holy faith. The latter, we flatter ourselves, we have sufficiently done in the course of the various topics embraced in this Christian Cyclopaedia; and propose in this Dissertation to prove, that the Chris¬ tian religion is true, and owes its origin to God himself. It will be needless to observe, that this is a matter of the highest importance, as every one will apprehend that this is the foundation of all our hopes. It is absolute¬ ly necessary, in this age of libertinism, that every Christian should be able 44 to give a reason for the hope that is in him,” and to put to silence the tongues of those men who have evil will at Zion. And may the Almighty enable us to plead his cause with success ! May the divine Spi¬ rit accompany these arguments, that the faith of our readers being more and more established, it may appear that the tree is watered at the roots, by all the other graces growing and flourishing in an equal proportion. God has made ample provision for the honour and support of his gospel, by fur¬ nishing it with a variety of proofs, which may, with undiminished, and indeed with growing conviction, be displayed in the eyes of the whole world : and we should be greatly wanting in gratitude to him, in zeal for a Redeemer’s kingdom, and in a VI INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. charitable concern for the conversion oi those who reject the gospel, as well as for the edification of those who embrace it, should we wholly overlook those argu¬ ments, or neglect to acquaint ourselves with them. This is the evidence we pro¬ pose, and beg our readers would peruse it with becoming attention. In prosecution of this great design, we shall endeavour more particularly to show, that if we take the matter on a general survey, it will appear highly probable, that such a system of doctrines and pre¬ cepts, as we find Christianity to be, should, indeed, have been a divine revelation ; and then, that if we examine into the ex¬ ternal evidence of it, we shall find it, cer¬ tain in fact , that it was so, and that it had its origin from on high. First, then, we are to show, that taking the matter merely in theory, it will appear highly probable, that such a system as the gospel should be indeed a divine revelation. To prove this, we shall endeavour to show, That the state of mankind was such, as greatly to need a revelation ; that there seems, from the light of nature, encourage¬ ment to hope that God would grant one ; that it is reasonable to believe, that if any were made, it should be introduced and transmitted as Christianity was; and that its general nature and substance should be such as we find that of the gospel is. If we satisfactorily prove these particulars, there will be a strong presumptive evidence that the gospel is from God, and a fair way will be opened for that more direct proof which is principally intended. 1. The case of mankind is naturally such as to need a divine revelation. We would not be understood to speak here of a man in his original state, though, even then, some instruction from above seemed necessary to inform him of many particulars which it was highly proper for him then to know ; but we speak of him in the degenerate condition in which he now so evidently lies, by whatever means lie fell into it. It is very easy to make florid encomiums on the perfection of natural light, and to deceive unwary read¬ ers by an ambiguous term, as a late author has done in his deistical writings : a fal¬ lacy beneath an ingenuous reasoner, and which alone ought to have exposed his book to the contempt of every serious reader. Truth needs no disguise; a can¬ did advocate scorns such subterfuges ; let facts speak for themselves, and controversy will soon be decided. We appeal to every intelligent reader who is acquainted with the records of antiquity, or that has any knowledge of the present state of those countries where Christianity is unknown, whether it is not too obvious a truth, that the whole Heathen world has lain, and still lies, in a state of wickedness. Have not the greater part of them been perpetu¬ ally bewildered in their religious notions and practices, very different from each other, and almost equally differing on all sides from the appearances of truth and reason ? Is any thing so wild as not to have been believed ; any thing so infam¬ ous as not to have been practised by them, while they not only pretended to justify it by reason, but to have consecrated it as a part of their religion? To this very day, what are the discoveries of new nations in the American or African world ; but, gen¬ erally speaking, the opening new scenes of enormity? Rapine, lust, cruelty, hu¬ man sacrifices, and the most stupid idol¬ atries, are, and always have been, the morality and religion of almost all the Pagan nations under heaven ; and if they have discovered a dawn of reason, it has only sufficed to convince them of the want of an abler guide, to direct them in pur¬ suit of real happiness. But perhaps some of our readers have only heard those things by uncertain re¬ ports. If this be the case, look around you within the sphere of your own ob¬ servation, and remark the temper and character of the generality of those who have been educated in a Christian and even INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. in a Protestant country. Observe their ignorance and forgetfulness of the divine Being, their impieties, their debaucheries, their fraud, their oppression, their pride, their avarice, their ambition, their unna¬ tural insensibility of the wants, sorrows, and interest of each other ; and when you see how bad they are in the midst of so many advantages, judge by that of the probable state of those that want them. When the candid reader has well weighed these particulars, let him judge whether a revelation be an unnecessary thing. 2. There is, from the light of nature, considerable encouragement to hope, that God would favour his creatures with so desirable a thing as a revelation appears to be. That a revelation is in itself a possible thing, is evident beyond all shadow of doubu Shall not He that made man's mouth , who has given us this wonderful faculty of discovering our sentiments, and communicating our ideas to each other ; shall not he be able to converse with his rational creatures, and by sensible mani¬ festations, or inward impressions, to con¬ vey the knowledge of things which lie beyond the discernment of their natural facilities, and yet may be highly conducive to their advantage ? To own a God and to deny him such a power, would be a no¬ torious contradiction. But it may appear much more dubious, whether he will please to confer such a favour on sinful crea¬ tures. Now it must be acknowledged, that he would not certainly conclude he would never do it ; considering, on the one hand, how justly they stood exposed to his final displeasure : and, on the other, what pro¬ vision he had made by the frame of the human mind, and of nature around us, for giving us such notices of himself as would leave us inexcusable, if we either failed to know him, or to glorify him as God, as the apostle argues at large, (Rom. i. 20, &c.) Nevertheless, we should have something of this kind to hope from con- vii sideling God as the indulgent father of his creatures ; from observing the tender care he takes of us, and the liberal supply which he grants for the support of the ani¬ mal life ; especially from the provision he has made for man, considered as a guilty and calamitous creature, by the medicinal and healing virtues he has given to the productions of nature, which man, in a perfect state of rectitude and happiness, never would have needed. This is a circumstance which seems strongly to intimate, that he would some time or other graciously provide an ade¬ quate remedy to heal the minds of the children of men ; and that he would inter¬ pose to instruct them, in his own nature, in the manner in which he is to be served, and in the final treatment which they may expect from him. And certainly such an apprehension seems very congruous to the sentiments of the generality of mankind ; a sufficient proof that men naturally ex¬ pect some such kind of interposition of the Almighty. 3. It is natural to conclude, that if a revelation were given, it would be intro¬ duced and transmitted in such a manner as the Evangelists show us Christianity was. It is, for instance, highly probable, that it should be taught either by some illus¬ trious person, sent down from a superior world, or at least by a man of eminent wisdom and piety, who should himself have been not only a teacher, but an ex¬ ample of righteousness. In order to this, it seems probable, that he should be led through a series of calamities and distress ; since otherwise he could not have been a pattern of that resignation which adorns adversity, and is peculiar to it. And it might also have been expected, that in the extremity of his distress, the Almigh¬ ty, whose messenger he was, should, in some extraordinary manner, have inter¬ posed either to preserve, or to recover him from death. It is, moreover, exceeding probable, INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. viii that such a person, and perhaps also they who were at first employed as his messen¬ gers to the world, should be endowed with a power of working miracles, both to awaken men’s attentions, and to prove his divine mission, and the consequent truth of his doctrines, some of which might, perhaps, be capable of no other proof ; or if they were, it is certain that no method of arguing is so short, so plain, and so forcible, and on the whole so well suited to conviction, and probably the reforma¬ tion of mankind, as a course of evident, repeated, and uncontrolled miracles. And such a method of proof is especially adapted to the populace, who are incom¬ parably the greater part of mankind, and for whose benefit we may assure ourselves a revelation would be chiefly designed. It might be added, that it was no way im¬ probable, though not in itself certain, that a dispensation should open gradually to the world ; and that the most illustrious messenger of God to men, should be ushered in by some predictions which should raise a great expectation of his ap¬ pearance, and have an evident accomplish¬ ment in him. As for the propagation of a religion so introduced, it seems no way improbable, that having been thus established in its first age, it should be transmitted to fu¬ ture generations, by credible testimony, as other important facts are. It is certain, that affairs of the utmost moment, trans¬ acted among men, depend on testimony : on this, voyages are undertaken, settle¬ ments made, and controversies decided ; controversies on which not only the estates, but the lives of men depend. Though it must be owned, that such an historical evidence is not equally convincing with miracles which are wrought before our own eyes ; yet it is certain it may rise to such a degree as to exclude all reasonable doubt. We know not why we should ex¬ pect, that the evidence of a revelation should be such, as universally to compel the immediate acquiescence of all to whom it is offered. It appears much more pro¬ bable, that it should be so adjusted, as to be a kind of touchstone to the tempers and characters of men, capable, indeed, of giving ample satisfaction to the diligent and candid inquirer, yet attended with some circumstances, from whence the cap¬ tious and perverse might take occasion to cavil and object. Such we might reason¬ ably suppose a revelation would be, and such we maintain Christianity is. The teachers of it undertake to prove, that it was thus introduced, thus established, and thus transmitted ; and we trust that this is a strong presumption in its favour, espe¬ cially as we add, 4. That the principal doctrines in the gospel are of such a nature, that we might in general suppose a divine reve¬ lation would be, rational, practical, and sublime. It is natural to imagine, that in a reve¬ lation of a religion from God, the great principles of natural religion should be clearly asserted and strongly maintained; such as the existence, the unity, the per¬ fection, and the providence of God ; the essential and immutable difference be¬ tween moral good and evil; the obliga¬ tions we are under to the various branches of virtue, whether human, social, or di¬ vine; the value and immortality of the soul ; and the rewards and punishments of a future state. All these particulars every rational person would conclude were con¬ tained in it; and that upon the whole it should appear calculated to form men’s minds to a proper temper, rather than to amuse them with curious speculations. It might, indeed, be farther supposed, that such a revelation would contain some things which could not have been learnt from the highest improvements of natural light ; such as, that God would pardon the sins of the most flagrant offender, on ac¬ count of the satisfaction made by his dear Son, the Redeemer of the world ; that he would work holy desires in the hearts of his people, by the power of his divine INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. grace ; and form them for happiness here¬ after, by implanting in them a principle of holiness. In short, the Christian system is un¬ doubtedly worthy of God, nor is it possi¬ ble to imagine from whom else it could have Droceeded.* * Thus have we considered the first branch of the argument, and shown, we hope satisfactorily, that taking the Chris¬ tian system only in theory, it appears highly probable. The truth is, to em¬ brace the gospel is so safe, and upon the whole so comfortable a thing, that a wise man would deliberately venture his all upon it, though nothing more could be offered for its confirmation. But, blessed be God, we have a great deal more to offer in this important cause ; and can add, with still greater confidence, that it is not only probable in theory, but, Secondly , That it is in fact certain ; that Christianity is indeed a divine revelation. On this it must be confessed the chief stress is to be laid ; and therefore we shall insist more largely on this branch of the argument, and endeavour, by the Divine assistance, to prove the certainty of this gieat, this important fact. And in order to this, it will be necessary to show, I. That the books of the New Testa¬ ment now extant, may be depended upon as written by the first preachers and pub¬ lishers of Christianity. And, II. That from hence it will certainly follow, that what they assert is true ; and that the religion they teach, brings with it such evidences of a Divine authority, as may justly recommend it to our ac¬ ceptance. Each of these heads would furnish mat¬ ter for several volumes; but as we are * From what lias been said, it sufficiently ap¬ pears, that revelation was absolutely necessary to instruct mankind in the most important principles of religion, and consequently all the fallacious ar¬ guments of deistical writers against the necessity of an extraordinary revelation, fall to the ground, like a mighty structure when the foundation is de¬ stroyed. writing only a Dissertation, it is our busi¬ ness to strike at the most obvious and im¬ portant particulars, by which they may briefly be illustrated and confirmed. I. We are to prove, that the books of the New Testament, now extant, were written by the first preachers and publish¬ ers of Christianity. We shall now confine ourselves to the books of the New Testament, as that par¬ ticular part of the sacred Oracles has en¬ grossed our present attention ; though we propose, in another place to lay down some solid arguments in defence of the authen¬ ticity of the Old, which is an invaluable treasure, being the very foundation of the New, and demands our daily, pleasing, and grateful perusal, and is capable of be¬ ing defended in a manner we are persuad¬ ed its most subtle enemies will never be able to answer. After premising these particulars, we shall go on to the argument, and advance it by the following degrees. We shall prove that Christianity is an ancient reli¬ gion — That there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth crucified above seven¬ teen hundred years ago, at Jerusalem — That the first preachers of his religion wrote books, which went by the name ot those that now make up the volume of the New Testament — And that the English translation of them now publicly used, is in the main faithful, and may be depend¬ ed upon. 1. It is certain that Christianity is not a new religion, but one that was main¬ tained by great multitudes soon after the time in which the gospels tell us Jesus appeared. That there was, considerably more than seventeen hundred years ago, a body ot men that went by the name of Christians, is full as evident as that a race of men was then subsisting in the world ; nor do we know that any enemy to the religion of Jesus has ever been vile and confident enough to dispute it. Indeed there are such numbers both of Christian and hea- INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. then writers, who attest this fact, that it would be madness to deny it, and there¬ fore superfluous for us to prove it. But we cannot help observing' that Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny, Marcus Antonius, and others, not only attest the existence of such a body of men, but also inform us of the extreme persecutions they underwent in the very infancy of their religion ; a strong evidence that they were firmly persuaded that their religion was from on high. 2. That there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified at Jerusa¬ lem, when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor there. It can never be imagined, that multitudes of people should take their names from Christ, and sacrifice their lives for their adherence to him, even in the same age in which he lived, if they had not been well assured that there was such a per¬ son. Nay, Tacitus himself tells us that he was put to death under Pontius Pilate, who was procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius. And it is well known that the primitive Christian apologists often ap¬ peal to the acts of Pilate, or the memoirs of his government, which he, according to the custom of all other procurators, trans¬ mitted to Rome as containing an account of these transactions ; and as the appeal was made to those who had the command of the public records, we may assure our¬ selves such testimonies were then extant. But it is a fact which our enemies never denied. They owned it; they even glori¬ ed in it, and upbraided the Christians with the infamous death of him whom they call¬ ed their Saviour. Thus it sufficiently ap¬ pears that there was, at the time common¬ ly supposed, such a person as our blessed Saviour Christ, who was a divine teacher, and who gathered many disciples, by whom his religion was afterwards published in the world. 3. It is also certain that the first pub¬ lishers of this religion wrote books, which contained an account of the life and doc- tiines of Jesus their Master, and which went by the names of those that now make up our New Testament. It was in the nature of things highly probable that they would declare and pub¬ lish to the world in writing, the things they had seen and heard ; considering how common books were in the age and coun¬ tries in which they taught ; and of how great importance an acquaintance with the history and doctrine of Christ was to the purposes which they so strenuously pur sued ; but we have much more than such a presumptive evidence. The most inveterate adversaries to Christianity must grant that we have books of great antiquity, written some four¬ teen, some fifteen, and some more than six¬ teen hundred years ago; in which mention is made of the life of Christ, as written by many, and especially by four of his disci¬ ples, who by way of eminence are styled Evangelists. Great pains have indeed been taken to endeavour to prove, that some spurious pieces were published under the names of the apostles, containing the his¬ tory of these things. But all these have been confuted, and the vile asserters stig¬ matized with that contempt their false as¬ severations justly deserved. And we are sure he must be very little acquainted with the ancient ecclesiastical writers, who does not know that the primitive Christians made a great difference between those writings, which we call the canonical books of the New Testament, and others: which plainly shows that they did not judge of writings merely by the names of their pre¬ tended authors, but inquired with an ac¬ curacy becoming the importance of these pretences. The result of this inquiry was, that the four Gospels, the Acts, the Epis¬ tles of St Paul, one of St Peter, and one of St John, were received upon such evi¬ dence, that Eusebius, a most accurate and early critic in these things, could not learn that they had ever been disputed. And afterwards the remaining books of the New Testament, namely, Hebrews — James — the second of Peter — the second and third INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. of John — Jucle — and the Revelation, were admitted as genuine, and added to the rest. On the whole, it is sufficiently plain, that the primitive Christians were so thorough¬ ly satisfied of the authority of the sacred books, that they speak of them not only as credible and authentic, but as equal to the oracles of the Old Testament, as di¬ vinely inspired, as the words of the Spirit, as the law and organ of God, and as the rule of faith, which cannot be contradict¬ ed without the greatest guilt ; with many other expressions of the same kind, which often occur in their discourses. To which we may add, that in some of their coun¬ cils, the New Testament was placed on a throne, to signify their desire, that all their controversies might be determined, and their actions regulated by it. From the whole, therefore, it is plain, that the primitive church did receive cer¬ tain pieces which bore the same titles with the books of our New Testament. Now we think it is evident, that they were as capable of judging whether a book was written by Matthew, John, or Paul, as the ancient Romans could be of determining whether Horace, Tully, or Livy, wrote those which go under these names. And certainly the interest of the former was much more concerned in the writings of the apostles, than that of the latter in the composition of their poets, orators, or even their historians ; and there is reason to believe, they would take much greater care to inform themselves fully in the merits of the cause, and to avoid being imposed upon by artifice and fiction. Let us now proceed to show, 4. That the books of the New Testa¬ ment have been preserved in the main un¬ corrupted, to the present time, in the original language in which they were written. This is a matter of the last importance; and blessed be God, we have a propor¬ tional evidence : an evidence, in which the hand of Providence has, indeed, been remarkably seen ; for it is certain there is xi no other ancient book in the world which may so certainly and so easily be proved to be authentic. And here we will not argue merely from the piety of the primitive Christians, and the heroic actions and resolutions with which they chose to endure the great¬ est extremities, rather than deliver up their Bibles, though that consideration is evi¬ dently of the greatest weight ; but shall entreat our readers to consider the utter improbability of altering them. From the first ages they were received and read in churches, as a part of their public wor¬ ship, just as Moses and the prophets were in the Jewish synagogues; they were pre¬ sently spread far and near as the boun¬ daries of the church were increased ; they were early translated into other languages, of which translations some remain to this very day. Now when this was the case, how could they be adulterated ? Is it a thing to be supposed and imagined, that thou¬ sands and millions of people should have come together from distant countries; and that, with all their diversities of language and customs, and, it may be added, of senti¬ ments too, they should have agreed on corrupting a book, which they all acknow- ledged to be the rule of their faith, and their manners, and the great charter by which they held their eternal hopes ? It would be madness to believe it, especially when we consider what number of heretics ap¬ peared in the very infancy of the church, who all pretended to build their notions on scripture, and most of them appealed to it as the final judge of controversies. Now it is certain, that these different sects of Christians were a perpetual guard upon each other, and rendered it impossible for one party to practise thus grossly on the sacred books, without the discovery and clamour of the rest. Nor must we omit to observe, that in every age, from the apostles’ time to our own, there have been numberless quota¬ tions made from the books of the New Testament ; and a multitude of commen- INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xii taries in various languages, and some of very ancient date, have been written upon them ; so that if the books them¬ selves were lost, they might, in a great measure, if not entirely, be recovered from the writings of others. And we may ven¬ ture to say, that if all the quotations ever made from all the ancient writings now in Europe were gathered together, the bulk of them w’ould by no means be comparable to that of the quotations taken from the New Testament alone. So that any man might with much better reason dispute whether the writings ascribed to Homer, Demosthenes, Virgil, or Csesar, be in the main such as they left them, than he could question it concerning those of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, and Paul. It may be said, in the main, because wre readily allow, that the hand of a printer, or of a transcriber, might chance, in some places, to insert one letter or word for another ; and the various readings of this, as well as all other ancient books, prove, that this has sometimes been the case. But those various readings are generally of such little importance, that he who can urge them as an objection against the as¬ sertion we are now maintaining, must have little judgment, or little integrity; and, indeed, after those excellent things which have been said on the subject by many defenders of Christianity, he must, if he has read their writings, have little mo¬ desty too. Since then it appears that the books of the New Testament, as they now stand in the original, are, without any material al¬ teration, such as they were when they came from the hands of the sacred authors, nothing remains to complete this part of the argument, but to show, 5. That the translation of them now in common use may be depended upon, as, in all particulars, agreeable to the original. This is a fact of which the generality of readers are not able to judge immediately, though it is of the last importance : it is therefore with great pleasure we reflect, how ample evidence they may have an¬ other way, to make their minds easy on this head. We mean, by the concurrent testimony of others, in circumstances in which it cannot be imagined they would unite to deceive them. There are few who preach the gospel of the Son of God, but have examined this matter with the greatest care, and are able to judge in so easy a case ; and who will all unanimously declare, that the com¬ mon English translation is in the main faithful and judicious. We do not, indeed, scruple, on some occasions, to animadvert upon it; but these remarks never affect the fundamentals of religion, and seldom reach any farther than the beauty of a figure, or the connexion of an argument. But the argument does not wrholly rest on the unanimous suffrages of the teachers of the gospel. The different sects of pro- testants in this kingdom bear witness to this truth. For it is certain, that where a body of men dissent from the public establishment, and yet agree with the church from which they dissent, in using the same translation, though they are ca¬ pable of examining and judging of it, is as great evidence as can be desired, that such a translation is right in the main. But the dissenters unanimously unite with us in bearing testimony to the oracle of God, as delivered in our own language ; and consequently our translation may be de¬ pended upon. Thus have I finished the first part of my argument, and shown that the Chris¬ tian religion is certainly true, and that the New Testament is genuine. I shall next proceed to show, II. That from allowing the New Tes¬ tament to be genuine, it will undeniably follow, that Christianity is a divine reve¬ lation. And here a person is at first ready to be lost in the multiplicity of arguments which surround him. It is very easy to find proofs ; but difficult to range and dis- INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. pose them in such an order as best to illus¬ trate and confirm each other. We shall therefore offer them in the following natu¬ ral series. The authors of the books contained in the New Testament were certainly capa¬ ble of judging concerning the truth of the facts they asserted: their characters, so far as we can judge of them by their writings, render them worthy of regard; and they were under no temptation to attempt im¬ posing on the world by such relations as they have given us, if they had been false. Nevertheless, it is certain in fact, that they did gain credit, and succeeded in a most amazing manner, against all opposi¬ tion. It is therefore certain, that the facts which they asserted were true; and if they were true, then it was reasonable for their cotemporaries, and it is reasonable for us, to receive the gospel as a divine revelation: especially if we consider what has happened in the world for the confir¬ mation of it, since first propagated by them. This is the conclusion to which we must attend ; and therefore let us seri¬ ously consider each of the steps by which we arrive at it. It is exceedingly evident, that the wri¬ ters of the New Testament certainly knew the facts they asserted were true. And this they must have known, for this plain reason ; because they inform us, they did not trust merely to the report even of persons whom they thought most credible, but were present themselves when several of the most important facts happen¬ ed ; and so received them on the testimony of their own senses. On this St John, in his first epistle, ch. i. ver. 1 — 3. lays a very great and reasonable stress: “That which we have seen with our eyes;” and that not only by a sudden glance, but “ which we have attentively looked upon, and which even our hands have handled of the word of life;” i.e. of Christ and his gospel, “ declare we unto you.” Let the common sense of mankind judge here. Did not Matthew and John xiii j certainly know whether they had person- | ally, and familiarly, conversed with Jesus of Nazareth or not? Whether he had chosen them for his constant attendants and apostles? Whether they had seen him heal the sick, dispossess devils, and raise the dead ? And whether they themselves had received from him such miraculous endowments as they declare he bestowed upon them ? Did not they know whether he fell into the hands of his enemies, and was publicly put to death or not? Did not John know whether he saw him ex¬ piring on the cross or not? and whether he received from him a dying charge, which he records, chap. xix. ver. 27. Did he not know whether he saw him wounded in the side with a spear or not? and whether he did or did not see that effu¬ sion of blood and water, which was an in¬ fallible argument of his being really dead ? Concerning which, it being so material a circumstance, he adds, “ He that saw it bare record; and he knoweth that he saith true;” i.e. that it was a case in which he could not possibly be deceived. And with regard to Christ’s resurrection, did he not certainly know whether he saw our Lord again and again ; and whether he handled his body, that he might be sure it was not a mere phantom ? What one circumstance of his life could he certainly know, if he were mistaken in this ? Did not Luke know whether he was in the ship with Paul when that extraordi¬ nary wreck happened, by which they were thrown ashore on the island of Malta ? Did he not know whether, while they were lodged together in the governor’s house, Paul miraculously healed one of the family, and many other diseased persons in the island, as he positively asserts that he did in Acts xxviii ? Did not Paul certainly know whether Christ appeared to him on the way to Damascus or not? whether he was blind; and afterwards, on the prayer of a fellow- disciple, received his sight ? or, was that a circumstance in which there could be h xiv INTRODUCTORY room for mistake? Did lie not know whether he received such extraordinary revelations and extraordinary powers, as to be able, by the laying on of his hands, or by the words of his mouth, to work mir¬ acles? To add no more: Did not Peter know, whether he saw the glory of Christ’s trans¬ figuration, and heard that voice to which he so expressly refers, when he says, “ We have not followed cunningly devised fables, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty, when there came such a voice to him; and this voice we heard,” 2 Pet. chap. i. ver. 1 6 — 18. Now Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and Peter, are by far the most con¬ siderable writers of the New Testament ; and surely when we reflect on these par¬ ticulars, we must own, that there are few historians, ancient or modern, that could so certainly judge of the truth of the facts which they have related. The reason why we have enlarged in stating so clear a case is, that it is the foundation of the whole aro-ument; and that this branch of it alone cuts off infidels from that refuge which they could generally choose, that of plead¬ ing the apostles were euthusiasts ; and leaves them silent, unless they will say that they were impostors. For you evi¬ dently see, that could we suppose these facts to be false, they could by no means pretend an involuntary mistake; but must, in the most criminal and aggravated sense, as Paul himself expresses it, 1 Cor. xv. 15. “be found false witnesses of God.” But how unreasonable it would be to charge him with so notorious a crime, will in part appear, if we consider, That the character of these writers, so far as we can judge by their works, seems to render them worthy of regard ; and leaves no room to imagine that they in¬ tended to deceive us. It would be unnecessary to show at large, that they appear to have been persons of natural sense, and, at the time of their writing, of a composed mind ; for certainly, DISSERTATION. no man that ever read the New Testament with attention, could imagine they were idiots or madmen. Let the discourses of Christ in the Evangelists, of Peter and Paul in the Acts, as well as many passages in the Epistles, be perused, and we will venture to say, he who is not even charm¬ ed with them, must be a stranger to all thejustest rules of polite criticism. But he who suspects that the writers wanted common sense, must himself be most evi¬ dently destitute of it : and he who can sus- J pect they might possibly be distracted, must himself, in this instance at least, be just as mad as he imagines them to have been. — It was necessary, however, just to touch upon this; because, unless we are satisfied that a person be himself in what he writes, we cannot pretend to determine his character from his writings. Having premised this, let us, on perus¬ ing the New Testament, observe what evident marks it bears of simplicity and integrity, of piety and benevolence; upon which we shall find them pleading the cause of its authors, with a nervous, though gentle eloquence; and powerfully persuad¬ ing the mind, that men, who are capable of writing so excellently well, must evi¬ dently appear to have strictly adhered to the rectitude of truth. The manner in which they relate this narration is most happily adapted to gain our belief. For as they tell it with a great deal of circumstances, which by no means could be prudent in legendary wri¬ ters, because it leaves so much the more room for confutation ; so they also do it in the most easy and natural manner. There is no air of declamation and harangue; no¬ thing that looks like artifice and design ; no apologies, no encomiums, no character, no reflections, no digressions; but the facts are recounted with great simplicity, just as they appear to have happened; and those facts are left to speak for themselves in their great Author. It is plain that the rest of these writers, as well as the apostle Paul, did not affect excellency of speech. INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. or flights of eloquence, as the phrase sig¬ nifies ; but determined to know nothing, though among the most learned and polite, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. A conduct which is the more to be admired, when we consider how extraordinary a theme theirs was, and with what abundant variety of most pathetic declamation it would easily have furnished any common writer ; so that one would really wonder how they could forbear it. But they rightly judged, that a vain affectation of ornament, when recording such facts of their own knowledge, might perhaps have brought their sincerity into question; and so have rendered the cross of Christ of no effect. Their integrity likewise evidently ap¬ pears in the freedom with which they men¬ tion those circumstances, which might have exposed their Master and themselves to the greatest contempt, among prejudiced and inconsiderate men; such as they knew they must generally expect to meet with. As to their Master, they scruple not to own, that his country was despised, his birth and education mean, and his life in¬ digent ; that he was most disdainfully re¬ jected by the rulers, and accused of sab¬ bath-breaking, blasphemy, and sedition ; that he was reviled by the populace as a debauchee, a lunatic, and a demoniac; and at last, by the united rage of both rulers and people, was publicly executed as the vilest of malefactors, with all imaginable circumstances of ignominy, scorn, and abhorrence. Nor did they scruple to own that ter¬ ror and distress of spirit into which he was thrown by his sufferings, though this was a circumstance at which some of the heathens took the greatest offence, as ut¬ terly unworthy so excellent and divine a person. As to themselves, the apostles readily confess not only the meanness of their original employment, and the scan¬ dals of their former life, but their preju¬ dices, their follies, and their faults, after Christ had honoured them with so holy a calling. They acknowledged their slow¬ ness of apprehension under so excellent u teacher, their unbelief, their cowardice, their ambition, their rash zeal, and their foolish contentions. So that, on the whole, they seemed every where to forget that they were writing of themselves, and ap¬ pear not at all solicitous about their own reputation ; but only that they might re¬ present the matter just as it was, whether they went through honour or dishonour, through evil report or good report. Nor is this all ; for, It is certain that in their writings there are the most genuine traces, not only of a plain and honest, but a most pious and devout, a most benevolent and generous disposition. These appear especially in the epistolary parts of the New Testa¬ ment, where, indeed, we should most rea¬ sonably expect to find them ; and of these it may be confidently affirmed, that the greater progress any one has made in love to God, in zeal for his glory, in a compas¬ sionate and generous concern for the pre¬ sent and future happiness of mankind, the more humble and candid, and temper¬ ate and pure he is, the more ardently he loves truth, and the more steadily he is determined to suffer the greatest extremi¬ ty in its defence. In a word, the more his heart is weaned from the present world, and the more it is fired with the prospects of a glorious immortality, the more pleasure will he take in reading those writings ; the more will he relish the spirit which discovers itself in them ; and find, that as face answers face in water, so do the traces of divine grace which appear there, answer to those which a good man feels in his own soul. Nay, it may be added, that the warm and genuine workings of that excellent and holy temper, which every where discovers itself in the New Testament, have for many ages been the most effectual method of animating true believers with a zeal for the honour of the gospel, and a de¬ sire of framing their conversation as be¬ comes the gospel of Christ. xvi INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. Where, then, there are such genuine marks of an excellent character, not only in their discourses, but in their epistolary writings, and those sometimes addressed to particular and intimate friends, to whom the mind naturally opens itself with the greatest freedom, surely no candid and equitable judge would lightly believe them to be all counterfeit; or would imagine, without very substantial proof, that per¬ sons who breathe such exalted sentiments of God and religion, should be guilty of any kind of wickedness ; and in proportion to the degree of enormity and aggravation attending such a supposed crime, it may justly be expected that the evidence of their having really committed it should be unanswerably strong and convincing. Now it is very certain, on the principles laid down above, that if the testimony of the apostles were false, they must have acted as detestable and villanous a part as one can easily conceive. To be found, as the apostle with his usual energy express¬ es it, false witnesses of God, in any single instance, and solemnly declare to have done miraculously, what we, in our own consciences, know was never done at all, would be an audacious degree of impiety, to which none but the most abandoned of mankind could arrive. Yet if the testi¬ mony of the apostles was false, as we have proved they could not be themselves mis¬ taken in it, this must have been their case ; and that not in one single instance only, but in a thousand. Their lives must, in effect, be one continued and perpetual scene of perjury : and all the most solemn actions of it, (in which they were speaking to God, or speaking of him as God the Father of Christ, from whom they receiv¬ ed their commission and powers,) must be a most profane and daring insult on all the acknowledged perfections of his nature. And the inhumanity of such a conduct would, on the whole, have been equal to its impiety. For it would have been de¬ ceiving men in their most important inter¬ ests, and persuading them to venture their own future happiness on the power and fidelity of one whom, on this supposition, they knew to have been an impostor, and justly to have suffered a capital punish¬ ment for his crimes. It cannot be sup¬ posed that God, who regards the interest of his children, would long suffer an im¬ position to prevail, without preventing it by the interposition of his wisdom and power. It would have been great guilt to have given the hearts and devotions of men so wrong a turn, even though they had found magistrates ready to espouse and establish, yea, and to enforce the religion they taught. But, on the contrary, to labour to propagate it in the midst of the most vigorous and severe opposition from them, must equally enhance the guilt and folly of the undertaking. For by this means they would have made themselves access¬ ary to the ruin of thousands : and all the calamities which fell on such proselytes, or even on their remotest descendants, for the sake of Christianity, would be in a great measure chargeable on these first preach¬ ers of it. The blood of honest, yea, of pious, worthy, and heroic persons, who might otherwise have been the greatest blessings to the public, would, in effect, be crying for vengeance against them. And the distresses of the widows and orphans, which those martyrs might leave behind them, would join to swell the account. So that, on the whole, the guilt of those malefactors, who are from time to time the victims of public justice, even for robbery, murder, or treason, is small, when com¬ pared with that which we have now been stating. And corrupt as human nature is, it appears to be utterly improbable, that twelve men should be found, we will not say in one little nation, but even on the whole face of the earth, who could be ca¬ pable of entering into so black a confeder¬ acy on any terms whatsoever. And now, in this view of the case, let us make a serious pause, and compare with it what we have just been saying of - - - — _ _ _ _ INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. the apostles of Jesus, feo far as an indiffer¬ ent person could conjecture it from their writings; and then say whether we can in our hearts believe them to have been these abandoned wretches, at once the reproach and astonishment of mankind? Would they have sealed a known falsity with their blood, or bartered their lives for the confirmation of vague notions, or uncer¬ tain conjectures? We cannot surely be¬ lieve such things of any, and much less of them, unless it shall appear, they were in some peculiar circumstances of strong temptation; and what those circumstances could be, it is difficult even for imagina¬ tion to conceive. But history is so far from suggesting any un though t-of fact, to help our ima¬ gination on this head, that it bears strong¬ ly the contrary way. I shall now pro¬ ceed to show, That they were under no temptation to forge a story of this kind, or to publish it to the world, knowing it to be false. They could reasonably expect no gain, no reputation by it, but on the contrary, supposing it an imposture, they must with the most ordinary share of prudence, have foreseen infamy and ruin, as the certain consequence of attempting it. For the grand foundation of their doctrines was, that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified at Jerusalem by the Jewish rulers, was the Son of God, and the Lord of all things. We appeal to men’s consciences, whether this looks at all like the contriv¬ ances of artful and designing men. It was evidently charging upon the princes of their country, the most criminal and aggravated murder; indeed, all things considered, the most enormous act of wick¬ edness which the sun had ever seen. They might therefore depend upon it, that these rulers would immediately em¬ ploy all their art and power to confute the testimony, and to destroy their persons. Accordingly one of them was presently stoned, another quickly beheaded ; and most of the rest were scattered abroad into strange cities, (as we learn from the Acts, of the Apostles) where they were sure to be received with great prejudices, raised against them amongst the Jews, by reports from Jerusalem, and highly strengthened by their expectations of a temporal Mes¬ siah: expectations which, as the apostles knew by their own experience, it was ex¬ ceedingly difficult to root out of men’s minds: expectations which would render the doctrine of Christ crucified an insuper¬ able stumbling-block to the Jews. Nor could they expect a much better reception among the Gentiles, with whom their business was to persuade them to re¬ nounce the gods of their ancestors, and to depend upon a person who had died the death of a malefactor, to persuade them to forego the pompous idolatries in which they had been educated, and all the sensu¬ al indulgence with which their religion (if it may be called a religion) was attended, to worship one visible God through one Mediator, in the most plain and simple manner: and to receive a set of precepts, most directly calculated to control and restrain, not only the enormities of men’s actions, but the irregularities of their hearts. A most difficult undertaking! And to engage them to this, they had no other arguments to bring but such as were taken from the views of an eternal state of hap¬ piness or misery, of which they asserted their crucified Jesus to be supreme dis¬ poser, who should another day dispense his blessings or his vengeance, as the gospel had been embraced or rejected. Now, could it be imagined that men would be easily persuaded, merely on the credit of their affirmation, or in compliance with their importunity, to believe things which to their prejudiced minds would appear so improbable, and to submit to impositions to their corrupt inclinations so insupport¬ able? And if they could not persuade them to it, what could the apostles then expect? What but to be insulted as fools or madmen by one sort of people; and by INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xviii another to be persecuted with the most savage and outrageous cruelty) as blasphe¬ mers of their gods, as seducers of the peo¬ ple, and disturbers of the public peace? All which we know happened accordingly. Nay, they assure us, that their Lord had often warned them of it; and that they themselves expected it; and thought it necessary to admonish their followers to expect it too. And it appears, that far from drawing back upon that account, as they would surely have done if they had been governed by secular motives, they be¬ came so much the more zealous and arduous, and animated each other to resist even at the price of their blood. Now, as this is a great evidence of the integrity and piety of their characters, and thus illustrates the former head, so it serves to the purpose now immediately in view, that is, it proves how improbable it is, that any person of common sense should engage in an imposture, from which, as many have justly observed, they could, on their own principles, have nothing to expect but ruin in this world, and damnation in the next. When we therefore consider and compare their character and circumstances, it ap¬ pears utterly improbable, on various ac¬ counts, that they would have attempted in this article to impose upon the world. But suppose, that in consequence of some unaccountable, as well as undiscoverable frenzy, they had ventured on the attempt, it is easy to show, That, humanly speaking, they must quickly have perished in it; and their cause must have died with them, without ever gaining any credit in the world. Com¬ mon sense must have suggested to them, that a report of a circumstance most extra¬ ordinary in its nature, if not attested by the most convincing evidence, must have exposed their cause as base, absurd, and contemptible. One may venture to say this in general, on the principle which we have before laid down. But it appears still more evident, when we consider the nature of the fact they asserted, in conjunction with the methods they took to engage men to be¬ lieve it; methods which, had the apostles been impostors, must have had the most direct tendency to ruin both their doctrine and themselves. Let us a little more particularly reflect on the nature of that grand fact, namely, the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ ; which, as already observed, was the great foundation of the Christian sys¬ tem, as first represented by the apostles. The resurrection of a dead man, and his ascension into, and abode in the upper world, was so strange a thing, that a thou¬ sand objections might immediately be raised against it; and some extraordinary proofs might justly be required as a bal¬ ance to them. Now the rejecters of the gospel, it might be supposed, would set themselves to invent some hypothesis, which should have some appearance of probability, to show how such amazing cir¬ cumstances should ever gain credit in the world, if they had not some very convinc¬ ing proofs. But this, with all their endea¬ vours, is totally impracticable ; and conse¬ quently, the most convincing proof thatcan be given of the great truth of the whole. When the Christian seriously considers the horrid but vain attempts these enemies to the gospel make, to pervert that religion on which the redemption of the human race is founded, how natural is it for him to ask, Is it possible, that even the most impious and obstinate atheist can read with attention the various and astonishing cir¬ cumstances that attended the Divine Re¬ deemer, from his birth to his crucifixion, and yet disbelieve ? Does not even the minutest circumstance and transaction fully evince the great truths of his mission ? and shall the atheist continue even to doubt, merely because himself was not an eye¬ witness of the facts recorded by those who were? The celebrated Dr Watts has very just¬ ly pictured the character of the atheist in the following stanzas : INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. Fools in their hearts believe and say. That all religion’s vain, Tiiere is no God that reigns on high, Or minds the affairs of men. From thoughts so dreadful and profane. Corrupt discourse proceeds ; And in their impious hands are found Abominable deeds. Their tongues are used to speak deceit, Their slanders never cease ; How swift to mischief are their feet? Nor know the path of peace. Such seeds of sin (that bitter root) In all their hearts are found ; Nor can they bear diviner fruit, Till grace refine the ground. But let us pursue the argument a little farther, and we shall easily discover what must destroy every observation made by the infidel, and confirm* his opponent in the incontrovertible and glorious cause of the Christian religion. The manner in which the apostles un¬ dertook to prove the truth of their testi¬ mony to these facts : and it will evidently appear, that instead of confirming their system, it must have been sufficient ut¬ terly to have overthrown it, had it been itself the most probable imposture that the wit of man could ever have contrived. It is evident that they did not merely assert that they had seen miracles wrought by this Jesus, but that he had endowed them¬ selves with a variety of miraculous powers. And these they undertook to display, not in such idle and useless tricks as slight of hand might perform ; but in such solid and important works, as appeared worthy of a divine interposition, and entirely su¬ perior to human power : restoring sight to the blind, soundness to lepers, activity to the lame, and, in some instances, life to the dead. Nor were these things under¬ taken in a corner, in a circle of friends or dependants : nor were they said to be wrought on such as might be suspected of being confederate in the fraud : but they were done often in the public streets, in the sight of enemies, or the persons of such as were utter strangers to the apos¬ tles ; but sometimes well known to neigh¬ bours and spectators, as having long laboured under those calamities, which, to human skill, were utterly incurable. Would impostors have made such preten¬ sions as these? Or, if they had, must they not immediately have been exposed and ruined ? Nor is there any room at all to object; that perhaps the apostles might not under¬ take to do these things on the spot, but only assert that they had done them else¬ where ; for even then, it would have been impossible that they should have gained credit ; and they would have seemed the less credible, on account of such a pre¬ tence. Whatever appearance there might have been of gravity, integrity, and piety, in the conversation of Peter ; for instance, very few, especially such as had known but little of him, would have taken it upon his word, that he saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead at Bethany, but fewer yet would have believed upon his affirmation, had it been ever so solemn, that he him¬ self raised Dorcas at Joppa, unless he had done some extraordinary work before them, correspondent at least, if not equal to that. One may easily think of invin¬ cible objections which otherwise might have been made; and undoubtedly the more such assertions had been multiplied, every new person, scene, and fact, had been an additional advantage given to the enemy, to have detected and confuted the whole system, which Peter and his breth¬ ren had thus endeavoured to establish. But to come still closer to the point : If the New Testament be genuine, as we have already proved it, then it is certain, that the apostles wrought miracles in the very presence of those to whom their writings were addressed ; nay more, they likewise conferred those miraculous gifts in some considerable degree on others, even the very persons to whom they wrote; and they appeal to their consciences with regard to the truth of it. And could there possibly be room for delusion here ? It is exceedingly remarkable to this purpose xx INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. that Paul makes this appeal to the Corin¬ thians, and to the Galatians, when amongst them there were some persons disaffected to him, who were taking all opportunities to sink his character and destroy his in¬ fluence. And could they have wished for a better opportunity than such an ap¬ peal ? An appeal, which, had not the fact it supposed been certain, far from re¬ covering those that were wavering in their esteem, must have been sufficient utterly to disgust his most cordial and steady friends. The same remark may be applied to the advices and reproofs, which the apos¬ tle there gives, relating to the use and abuse of their spiritual gifts; which had been most notoriously absurd, and even ridicu¬ lous, had not the Christians, to whom he wrote, been really possessed of them. And these gifts were so plainly supernatural, that as it had been often observed, if it be allowed, that miracles can prove a divine revelation, and that the first Epistle to the Corinthians be genuine (of which, by the way, there is at least as pregnant evidences, as that any part of the New Testament is so) then it follows, by a sure and easy consequence, that Christianity is true. Nevertheless, other arguments are not to be forgot in these observations. And therefore, as we have proved, that had the testimony of the apostles been false, it is not to be imagined, that they could have gained credit at all ; especially when they had put the proof of their case on such a footing as we are sure they did. We shall now proceed to show, That it is a certain fact, the apostles did gain early credit, and succeeded in a most wonderful manner ; from whence it will follow, that their testimonies were true. That the apostles did, indeed, gain credit in the world, is evident from what we before offered, in order to prove the early prevalence of Christianity in it, and this may be further confirmed from many passages in the New Testament. And here we insist not so much on express his- torical testimonies, though some of them are very remarkable; especially that ot the brethren at Jerusalem, who speak of vast numbers of believing Jews assembled at the feast of Pentecost, mentioned in chap. ii. of the Acts. But I argue from the epistles written to several churches, which plainly prove that there were con¬ gregations of Christians in Rome, Co¬ rinth, Ephesus, Colosse, Thessalonica, Philippi, Laodicea, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Crete, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithy- nia, and many other places; insomuch, that one of the apostles could say, “That Christ had so wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient not only in word or pro¬ fession , but in deed too; that from Jerusa¬ lem, even round about unto Ulyricum, he had fully preached the gospel of Christ or, as the word imports, “ had accomplish¬ ed” the purposes of it. And there is a great deal of reason, both from the na¬ ture of the thing, and from the testimony of ancient history, to believe, that others of the apostles had considerable success elsewhere. So that St Paul mig-ht with reason apply to them and their doctrine, what is originally spoken of the luminaries of heaven and the instruction they com¬ municate, “their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” So great was the number of those who were made proselytes to Christianity by the preaching of the apostles. And we have all imaginable reason to believe, that there was none of all those proselytes, but what were fully persuaded of the truth of the testimony they bore; for otherwise no imaginable reason can be given for their entering themselves into such a profes¬ sion. The apostles had no secular terror to affright their proselytes ; no secular re¬ wards to bribe them ; no dazzling elo¬ quence to enchant them; on the contrary, all these were in a powerful manner pleading against the apostles; yet their testimony was received ; and their new INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xxi converts were so thoroughly satisfied with the evidence which they gave them of their mission, that they encountered great per¬ secutions, and cheerfully ventured estate, liberty, and life itself, on the truth of the facts they asserted: as plainly appears from the many passages in the Epistles, which none can think the apostles would ever have written, if those first Christians had not been in a persecuted condition. Nor will it signify any thing to object, that most of these converts were persons of a low rank and ordinary education, who therefore might be more easily imposed upon than others. For, not to mention Sergius Paulus, Dionysius the Areopagite, or domestics of Caesar’s household, (with others of superior station in life) it is sufficient to call to mind, that the apostles did not put their cause on the issue of laboured arguments, in which the populace might quickly have been entangled and lost; but on such plain facts as they might judge of as easily and surely as any others; indeed, on what they themselves saw, and in part too, on what they felt. Now this might be sufficient to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. It has been shown, that there is no reason to believe, that the apostles, who certainly knew the truth, would have attempted a fraud of this kind — so, if they had attempt¬ ed it, they could not possibly have suc¬ ceeded; nevertheless, they did succeed in a very remarkable manner. Whence it plainly follows, that what they testified was true. Admitting the facts which they testified concerning Christ to be true, then it was reasonable for their cotemporaries, and is reasonable for us, to receive the gospel, which they have transmitted to us, as a divine revelation. The great things they asserted were, that Jesus was the Christ; and that he was proved to be so, by prophecies accom¬ plished in him, and by miracles wrought by him, and by others in his name. Let us attend to each of these, and we shall find them no contemptible arguments; but must be forced to acknowledge, that these premises being established, the conclusion most easily and necessarily follows. And this conclusion, “that Jesus is the Christ,” taken in all its extent, is an abstract of the gospel revelation; and therefore is some¬ times put for the whole of it. The apostles, especially wdien disputing with the Jews, frequently argued from the prophecies of the Old Testament, in which they say many things were expressly fore¬ told, which were most literally and exact¬ ly fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Now greatly to the evidence, confirmation, and advantage of Christianity, so it is that these prophecies are to this day extant in the ori¬ ginal language; and this in the hands of a people most implacably averse to the gos¬ pel. So that an attentive reader may still in a great measure satisfy himself as to the validity of the arguments drawn from them. On searching these ancient and impor¬ tant records, we find not only in general, that it appeared the wisdom of God to raise up for his people an illustrious de¬ liverer, who, among other glorious titles, is sometimes called the Messiah, or the Anointed One ; but we are more particu¬ larly told, that this great event should happen before the government ceased in the tribe of Judah, while the second temple was standing; and a little before its destruc¬ tion, about four hundred and ninety years after a command given to rebuild Jeru¬ salem; which was probably issued out in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longima- nus, or at least within a few years before or after it. It is predicted that he should be of the seed of Abraham, born of a vir¬ gin, of the house of David, in the town of Bethlehem; that he should be anointed with an extraordinary effusion of the di¬ vine Spirit; in virtue of which he should not only be a perfect and illustrious exam¬ ple of universal holiness and goodness, but should also perform many extraordinary and beneficial miracles. Nevertheless, that for want of external pomp and splen- c INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xxii flour, he should be rejected and insulted by the Jews, and afterwards be cut off and slain by them. It is added, that he should rise from the dead, before his body should be corrupted in the grave, and should be received up to heaven, and there seated at the right hand of God, from whence he should, in a wonderful manner, pour out his Spirit on his followers; in consequence of which, though the body of the Jewish people perished in their obstinate opposi¬ tion to him, yet the Gentiles should be brought to the knowledge of the true God, and a kingdom established amongst them, which from small beginnings should spread itself to the end of the earth, and con¬ tinue to the remotest ages. Besides these most material circum¬ stances, there were several others relating to him, which were either expressly fore¬ told or at least hinted at ; all which, with those already mentioned, had so evident an accomplishment in Jesus, that we have no reason to wonder that they should re¬ ceive the word with all readiness who searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so predicted there, as the apostles affirmed. For we are per¬ suaded that no wise and religious person could imagine, that God would permit an impostor to arise, in whom so great a variety of predictions, delivered by so many different persons, and in so many distant ages, should have an exact accom¬ plishment. When the apostles were preaching to heathens, it is indeed true, that they might wave the argument from prophecy, because they were not capable judges of it. But when they insist on another, which might as soon captivate their belief, and as justly vindicate; we mean “the miracles performed by Christ, and those commissioned and influenced by him many of these were of such a nature, as not to admit of any artifice or deceit; especially that most signal one of his re¬ surrection from the dead, which may be called a miracle performed by, as well as upon, Christ ; because he so expressly declares, that he had himself a power to resume his life at pleasure. The apostles well knew, that this was a fact of such a nature, that those who believed this, would never doubt of the rest. They often therefore single this out, and lay the whole stress of their cause upon it. This they proved to be true by their own testimony miraculously confirmed : and in proving this, they established Christianity on an impregnable rock. For we may safely refer it to any judge, whether it is an im¬ aginable thing that God should raise the dead body of an impostor, especially when he had solemnly appealed to such a resur¬ rection, as a grand proof of his mission, and had expressly fixed the very day on which it was to happen. From these undeniable observations it is evident, that those who on the apostles’ testimony believed that the prophecies of the Old Testament were accomplished in Jesus, and that God bore witness to him by miracles, and raised him from the dead, had abundant reason to believe that the doctrine which Christ taught was di¬ vine, and his gospel a revelation from heaven. And if they had reason to ad¬ mit this conclusion, then it is plain that we who have such satisfactory evidences on the one hand, that the testimony of the apostles was credible, and on the other, that this was the substance of it, have reason also to admit this grand in¬ ference from it, and embrace the gospel as a faithful saying, and well worthy of acceptation. This is the thing we have attempted to prove ; and here we should finish the argument, were it not for the confirmation it may receive from some ad¬ ditional considerations, which could not properly be introduced, under any of the preceding heads. We therefore add, in the last place, That the truth of the gospel has received farther and very considerable confirmation, from what has happened in the world since it was first published. INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. XX 111 And here we must desire the reader to consider, on the one hand, what has been done to establish it, and on the other, the methods which its enemies have been tak¬ ing to destroy it. 1. Consider what God has been doing to confirm the gospel, since its first publica¬ tion; and we will venture to assert, that it will prove a farther evidence of its divine original. We might here argue at large from its surprising propagation in the world; from the miraculous powers with which not only the apostles, but succeeding preachers of the gospel, and other converts, were endowed; from the accomplishment of the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament; and from the preservation of the Jews, as a distinct people, notwithstanding the various diffi¬ culties and persecutions through which they have passed. It might be particularly urged in con¬ firmation of the truth of Christianity, the wonderful success with which it has been attended, and the surprising propagation of the gospel in the world. We have endeavoured, under a former head, to show, that the gospel met with so favourable a reception in the world, as evidently proved, that its first publishers were capable of producing sufficient evi¬ dence of its truth; evidence absolutely in¬ compatible with imposture. But we shall now carry this remark farther, and assert that, considering the circumstances of the case, it is amazing, that even truth itself, under so many disadvantages, should have so illustrious a triumph; and that its won¬ derful success so evidently proves such an extraordinary interposition of the Almighty in its favour, as may justly be called a miraculous attestation of it. There was not only “ one of a family, or two of a city, taken and brought to Zion: but the Lord so hastened it in its appointed time, that a little one became a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.” And as the apostles themselves were hon¬ oured with very remarkable success, so this divine seed was propagated so fast in the next age, that Pliny testifies, “ He found the heathen temples in Acliaia al¬ most deserted ;” and Tertullian afterwards boasts, “That all places, except those temples, were filled with Christians; so that were they only to withdraw, cities and provinces would be depopulated.” Nor did the gospel only triumph thus with¬ in the boundaries of the Roman empire ; for long before Tertullian was born, Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, which seems to have been written not much above a hundred years after Christ’s death, declares, “ That there was no nation of men, whether Greeks or Bar¬ barians, not excepting those savages that wandered in clans from one region to another, and had no fixed habitation, who had not learned to offer pray ers and thanks¬ givings to the Father and Maker of all in the name of Jesus, who was crucified.” Now how is it possible to account for such circumstances as these, but by say¬ ing the hand of the Lord was with the first preachers of the gospel, and there¬ fore such multitudes believed, and turned to the Lord? How was it possible for so small a fountain to have swelled immediate¬ ly into a mighty river, and even have so extensively spread itself on the face of the earth, if it had not sprung from the sanc¬ tuary of God, and been rendered triumph¬ ant by his Almighty arm. Had this new religion, so directly con¬ trary to all the prejudices of education, been formed to soothe men’s vices, to coun¬ tenance their errors, to defend their super¬ stitions, or to promote their secular in¬ terest, we might easily have accounted foi its prevalence in the world. Had its preachers been profound philosophers, or polite and fashionable orators, many might have been charmed, at least for a while, to follow them: or had the princes and poten¬ tates of the earth declared themselves its patrons, and armed their legions for its defence and propagation, multitudes might have been terrified into the profession xxiv INTRODUCTORY though not a soul could by such means have been rationally persuaded to the use of it. But without some such advantages as these we can hardly conceive, how any new religion should so strangely pre¬ vail; even though it had crept into the world in its darkest ages, and the most barbarous countries; and though it had been gradually proposed in the most art¬ ful manner, with the finest veil industri¬ ously drawn over every part which might at first have given disgust to the beholder. But every one knows that the very re¬ verse of all this was the cause of Christi¬ anity. It is abundantly evident, from the apparent constitution of the religion of Jesus, that the lusts and errors, the super¬ stitions and interests of carnal men, would immediately rise up against it as a most irreconcileable enemy. It is known that the learning and wit of the Greeks and Romans were early employed to ridicule and obstruct its progress. It is known that as all the herd of heathen deities were to be discarded, the priests, who subsisted by the superstitious worship paid them, must in interest find themselves obliged to oppose it. It is known that the princes of the earth drew the sword against it, and armed torments and death for the destruc¬ tion of its followers. And yet it triumph¬ ed over all, though published in ages and places celebrated for learning and ele¬ gance; and proposed not in an ornamental and artificial manner, but with the utmost plainness; the doctrines of the cross being always advanced as its grand foundation, though so notorious a stumbling-block both to Jews and Gentiles: and the abso¬ lute necessity? not only of embracing Christianity, but also of renouncing all idol worship, being insisted on immediate¬ ly and in the strongest terms, and which must have made the religion of the gospel appear to them the most singular that had ever been taught in the world. Had one of the wits or politicians of the present age seen the apostles, and a few other plain men, who had been edu- DISSERTATIOX. cated among the lowest of the people, as most of the first teachers of Christianity were, going out armed with nothing but faith, truth, and goodness, to encounter the power of princes, the bigotry ot priests, the learning of philosophers, the rage of the populace, and the prejudices of all; how would he have derided the attempt, and said with Sanballat, “What will these feeble Jews do?” But had he seen the event, surely he must have own¬ ed with the Egyptian Magi, in a far less illustrious miracle, that it was the finger of God; and might justly have fallen on his face, even among those whom he had insulted, with an humble acknowledgment “that God was with them of a truth.” We must not forget to mention the ac¬ complishment of several prophecies, re¬ corded in the New Testament, as a fur¬ ther confirmation given by God to the gospel. The most eminent and signal instance under this head, is that of our Lord’s pre¬ diction concerning the destruction of Jeru¬ salem, as recorded by St Matthew, in his twenty-fourth chapter. The tragical his¬ tory of it is most circumstantially describ¬ ed by Josephus, the historian, who was an eye-witness of it; and the description which he has given of this sad calamity, so exactly corresponds with the prophecy, that one would have thought, had we not known the contrary, that it had been written by a Christian, on purpose to illus¬ trate it. And one can never enough ad¬ mire that series of amazing providence, by which the author was preserved from most imminent danger, that he might leave us that invaluable treasure which his writ¬ ings contain., We have no need of further evidence than we find in Josephus, of the exact ac¬ complishment of what was prophesied con¬ cerning the destruction of Jerusalem. But our Lord had also foretold the long con¬ tinued desolation of the temple. And we cannot forbear mentioning the awful sanc¬ tion which was given to that part of the 1 INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. prediction. For it is well known, that a heathen historian has assured us, that when J Lilian the apostate, in deliberate contempt of that prediction, solemnly and resolutely undertook to rebuild it, his impious design was frustrated, miraculously, again and again; the workmen consumed by globes of fire, which broke out from the founda¬ tions. The prediction of St Paul, concerning the man of sin, and the apostasy of the latter times, is also well worthy of our re¬ mark; and though a great part of the book of Revelation be still concealed under a dark veil, yet the division of the Roman empire into ten kingdoms; the usurpation, persecution, and idolatry of the Romish church, and the long duration of the papal power, with several other extraordinary events, which no human prudence could have foreseen, and which have happened long since the publication of that book, are so cleardy foretold there, that we can¬ not but look on that part of the scripture as an invaluable treasure : and it is not at all improbable, that the more visible ac¬ complishment of some of its other prophe¬ cies, may be a great means of reviving the Christian cause which is at present so much on the decline. The preservation of the Jews, as a distinct people, is another particular, under this head, which well deserves our atten¬ tive regard. It is plain that they are very numerous, notwithstanding all the slaughter and de¬ struction of this people, in former and latter ages. They are dispersed among various and most distant nations, and par¬ ticularly in those parts of the world where Christianity is professed; and though they are exposed to great hatred and contempt, on account of their different faith, and in most places subject to civil incapacities, if not to unchristian severities; they are still most obstinately tenacious of their religion: which is the more wonderful, as their fathers were so prone to apostatize from it; and as most of them seem to be entire strangers to piety or humanity, and pour the greatest contempt on the moral precepts of their own law, w'hile they are so attached to the ceremonial institutions of it, troublesome and incon¬ venient as they are. Now let us seriously reflect, wdiat an evident hand of Provi¬ dence is here, that by their dispersion, preservation, and adherence to their reli¬ gion, it should come to pass, that Chris¬ tians should daily see the accomplishment of many remarkable prophecies, concern¬ ing this people ; and that we should al¬ ways have amongst us such a crowd of unexceptionable witnesses to the truth of these ancient Hebrew records, on which so much of the evidence of the gospel de¬ pends : records, which are many of them so full to the purpose for which we allege them, that, as a celebrated writer very w'ell observes, “ Had it been represented that the whole body of the Jewish nation had been converted to Christianitv, men would certainly have thought the assertion bad been forged by Christians ; and have looked upon them in the same light with the prophecies of the Sibyls, as made many years after the events which they pretend¬ ed to foretell.” And to add no more here, the preserva¬ tion of the Jews, as a distinct people, evi¬ dently leaves room for the accomplish¬ ment of those Old and New Testament prophecies, which relate to their national conversion and restoration : whereas that would be impossible in itself, or at least impossible to be known, if they were pro¬ miscuously blended with other people. On the whole, it is such a scene in the con¬ duct of Providence, as we are well assured, cannot be paralleled in the history of any other nation upon earth : and affords a most obvious and important argument in favour of the gospel. Thus has Christianity been further con¬ firmed since its publication by what God has done to establish it. It only remains that we consider, 2. What confirmation it receives from INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xxvi the methods which its enemies have taken to destroy it. And these have generally been, either persecution, or falsehood, or cavilling at some particulars in the revelation, with¬ out entering into the grand argument on which it is built, and fairly debating what is offered in its defence. Now, who would not think the better of a cause for being thus attacked ? At first it is known, that the professors, and especially the preachers of the gospel, were severely persecuted. In every city bonds and imprisonment awaited them. As soon as ever the apostles began to preach Jesus and his resurrection, the Jewish rulers laid hold on them ; and hav¬ ing confined and scourged them, strictly prohibited their speaking any more in his name. A little while after, Stephen was murdered ; and afterwards James and some other of the apostles. Now certain¬ ly such a conduct evidently betrayed a consciousness that they were not able to answer the apostles, and to support their own cause by the fair methods of reason and argument, to which, so far as the his¬ tory informs us, they made no pretence : but attempted to bear them down by dint of authority, and to silence them by bru¬ tal force. It would be needless to attempt show¬ ing particularly how these unrighteous methods were pursued in succeeding ages and distant countries. The savage cruel¬ ties of Nero to these innocent and holy men were such as raised the pity even of their enemies. Yet this was one of the least extensive and destructive of the ten general persecutions, which arose in the Roman empire, besides several others in the neighbouring countries, of which ec¬ clesiastical history informs us. These early enemies of the gospel add¬ ed falsehood and slander to their inhuman¬ ities. They endeavoured to murder the reputations of Christians, as well as their persons ; and were not ashamed to repre¬ sent them as haters of the whole human species, for no imaginable reason, but that they would not associate themselves in their idolatrous worship. Nay, they charg¬ ed them with human sacrifices, incest, idolatry, and all the crimes for which themselves and their false gods were in¬ deed justly detestable; but from which the Christians knew' how to vindicate them¬ selves, highly to their own honour, and the everlasting reproach of these malig¬ nant and pestilent accusers. And they have not failed to do it in many noble apologies, which through the divine Pro¬ vidence are transmitted to us, and are in¬ comparably the most valuable of any an¬ cient uninspired writings. Such w’ere the infamous, the scandalous methods, by which the gospel was opposed in the earliest ages of the church ; and it must be added, that the measures more lately taken to subvert it, especially among ourselves, seem rather to reflect a glory on it. The unhappy enemies of the gos¬ pel of the Son of God have been told again and again, that we put the proof of it on plain facts. They themselves do not, and cannot deny, that it prevailed early in the world, as we have shown at large. There must have been some man or body of men who first introduced it; and even themselves, notwithstanding all their obstinacy and perverseness, general¬ ly confess that Christ and his apostles were the persons, which is a manifest ac¬ knowledgment of the most forcible argu¬ ment they can give against their own de¬ based principles. Now which of these schemes will the unbelievers take ? It seems that the deists of the present age fix on neither, as being secretly conscious they cannot support either; but they content themselves with cavilling at some circumstances attending the revelation, without daring to encoun¬ ter its grand evidence ; that is, they have been laboriously attempting to prove it to be improbable, or absurd, to suppose that to have been, which nevertheless plainly appears to have been facts. One of them INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. most weakly and sophistically attempts to prove, in defiance of the common sense of mankind, that the light of nature is a per¬ fect rule , and therefore, that all revelation is needless, and indeed impossible. An¬ other disguises the miracles of Christ by false representations of them, and then treats them as idle tales. A third takes a great deal of fruitless pains to show, that some prophecies, referred to in the New Testament, are capable of another sense, different from that in which the apostles have taken them. These things have been set in a very artful and fallacious light by persons, whose names will perhaps be transmitted to posterity, with the infamous stigma of having been leaders in the cause of infi¬ delity ; but not a man of them undertakes to ascertain the grand fact. Nay, they generally take no more notice of the posi¬ tive evidences by which it is even demon¬ strated, than if they had never heard it proposed : though they cavil at inciden¬ tal passages in those books in which it is most clearly stated. And as for what they have urged, though perhaps some who were before weary of Christianity may have taken occasion to reject it, and others, for want of consulting the answers to them, may have been unwarily in- snared ; yet the examination of these points has been greatly for the honour and vindication of the truth, which seems on this occasion to have been set in a clearer and stronger light than ever, at least in these latter ages. The cause of Christianity has greatly gained by debate, and the gospel comes like fine gold out of the furnace, which the more it is tried, the more it is approv¬ ed. It must be owned, that the defenders of the gospel have appeared with very different degrees of ability for the work ; nor could it be otherwise among such numbers of them, but, on the whole, though the patrons of infidelity have been masters of wit, humour, and address, as well as of a moderate share of learning, xxvii and generally much more than a moderate share of assurance ; yet so great is the force of truth, that (unless we may except those writers who have unhappily called for the aid of the civil magistrate in the controversy) we cannot recollect to have seen any defence of the gospel, which has not, on the whole, been sufficient to estab¬ lish it, notwithstanding all the sophisti¬ cal arguments of its subtle antagonists. This is an observation that is continual¬ ly gaining new strength as new assaults are made upon the gospel ; and we cannot forbear saying, that, as if it were by a kind of judicial infatuation, some who have dis¬ tinguished themselves in the wretched cause of infidelity, have been permitted to fall into such gross misrepresentations, such senseless inconsistencies, such palpa¬ ble falsehoods, and, in a word, into such various and malignant “superfluity of naughtiness,” that to a wise and pious mind, they must appear like those veno¬ mous creatures, which are said to carry an antidote in their own objections, particu¬ larly a noble lord, who has given up several of the deistical objections, and even acknowledged the divine original of the gospel : for he asserts, “ That no re¬ ligion ever appeared in the world, whose natural tendency was so much directed to promote the peace and happiness of man¬ kind.” He declares, that “ No system can be more simple and plain than that of a natural religion as it stands in the gos¬ pel.” He avers, that, “ he will not say, that the belief that Jesus was the Messiah is the only article of belief necessary to make men Christians, There are other things doubtless contained in the revela- tion he made of himself, dependent on, and relative to this article, without the be¬ lief of which, I suppose our charity would be very defective. But this I say, that the system of religion which Christ pub¬ lished, and his evangelists recorded, is a complete system to all the purposes of re¬ ligion, natural and revealed. It contains all the duties of the former, it enforces INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. ' XXV 111 the whole law of faith, by promising re¬ wards and threatening punishments, which he declares he will distribute when he comes to judge the world.” The same writer alloweth, that the gospel is in all cases one continued lesson of the strictest morality, of justice, of benevolence, and of universal charity. He professeth a great concern for true charity, in opposi¬ tion to theology, and says, that 44 genuine Christianity was taught of God.” And not to multiply passages to this purpose, he pronounces, that, 44 the Christian sys¬ tem of faith and practice was revealed of God himself, and it is absurd and impious to assert, that the divine Being revealed it incompletely and imperfectly. Its simpli¬ city and plainness show, that it was de¬ signed to be the religion of mankind, and also manifest the divinity of its original.” After reading those quotations, and a great variety of others, which might be produced from his lordship’s writings, the reader may easily judge what religion has to fear from this noble writer’s argu¬ ments, and we will venture to assert, that he has himself entirely confuted his own objections. Thus have we given the reader a brief view of the chief arguments in proof of Christianity ; and the sum of the whole is this — The gospel is probable in theory ; as considering the nature of God, and the circumstances of mankind, there was rea¬ son to hope a revelation might be given ; and if any were given, we should natural¬ ly apprehend its internal evidence would be such as that of the gospel is, and its external such as it is said to be. But it is also true in fact ; for Christianity was early professed as it was first introduced by Jesus of Nazareth, whose life and doc¬ trines were published by his immediate at¬ tendants ; whose books are still preserved in the original language, and in the main are faithfully translated into our own ; so that the books of the New Testament now in use may be depended upon as ! I i written by the persons whose names they bear; and admitting this, the truth of the gospel follows by a train of very easy con¬ sequences ; for the authors certainly knew the truth of the facts they related ; and considering what appears in the characters and circumstances, we can never believe they would have attempted to deceive us ; or if they had, they could not have gained credit in the world ; but they did ffain it in a very remarkable manner ! Therefore the facts they attested were true, and the truth of the gospel evidently follows from the certainty of those facts, and is completely confirmed by what has happen¬ ed in the world since the publication of it. This is the sum of what we flatter our¬ selves we have sufficiently proved ; and shall now conclude what we have to say on this subject, with a few words by way of reflection. 1. Let us gratefully acknowledge the Divine goodness, in favouring us with so excellent a revelation, and confirming it to us by such ample evidence. We should daily adore the God of na¬ ture, for lighting up the sun, that glorious, though imperfect image of his own unap¬ proachable lustre ; and appointing it to gild the earth with its various rays, to cheer us with its benign influences, and to guide and direct us in our journeys and our labours. But how incomparably more valuable is that 44 day-spring from on high, which hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace ?” Oh ye Chris¬ tians, whose eyes are so happy to see, and your ears to hear, what reason have ye for daily and hourly praise ! When your minds are delighted with contemplating the riches of gospel grace; when you view with wonder and joy the harmonious sys¬ tem of your redemption ; when you feel the burden of your guilt removed, the freedom of your address to the throne of grace encouraged, and see the prospect of a fair inheritance tn eternal glory opening L INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xxix upon you; then, in the pleasing transports of your souls, borrow the joyful anthem of the Psalmist, and say, with the humblest gratitude and self-resignation, “ God is the Lord, who showeth us light ; bind the sacrifice with cords even to the horns of the altar. Adore God, who first com¬ manded the light to shine out of dark¬ ness,” that by the discoveries of his word and the operations of his Spirit, he hath “ shined in your hearts to give you the knowledge of his glory, as reflected from the face of his Son.” Let us all adore him, that this revelation hath reached us, who live in an age and country so distant from that in which it first appeared; while there are to this very day, not only dark corners, but regions of the earth, that “ are full of the habitations of idolatry and cruelty.” Let us peculiarly address ourselves to those whose education and circumstances of life have given them opportunities of a fuller inquiry into the state of those an¬ cient or modern nations, that have been left merely to the light of unassisted rea¬ son, even to those who are acquainted with the history of their gods; the rites of their priests, the tales and even the hymns of their poets; nay, we will add, the reason¬ ing of the sagest philosophers ; all the pre¬ cious, and all the erroneous things they j have said where religion and immortality are concerned. It may be imagined, that God gave to some of the most celebrated pagan writers that uncommon share of genius and eloquence, that they might, as it were, by their art, embalm the monsters of antiquity; that so succeeding ages might see, in a more affecting view than we could otherwise have done, how weak the human mind is in its best estate, and the need which the greatest as well as the meanest of mankind have of being taught by a revelation from above. While we are daily conversing with such monuments as these, and are also surveying the evidences of Christianity, in a large and more dis¬ tinct view than it was possible for us here to suppose them, we are under peculiar obligations to be very thankful for the gos¬ pel ourselves, as well as to compassionate the cause of those to whom it has never been offered, or by whom it is slighted. And this leads us to another reflection. 2. What reason have we to pity those who reject this glorious gospel, even when they have opportunities of inquiring into its clearest evidences! Such undoubtedly we have in our age and nation: and surely we should some¬ times bestow a compassionate thought upon them, and lift up humble prayers for them, that God, peradventure, may give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the devil, who are now led captive by him at his pleasure; we should pity heathens and Mahometans under their darkness and errors; but how much more deplorable is the cause of these, who though they dwell in Emmanuel’s land, and in the valley of Zion, turn it into the valley of the shadow of death, by closing their eyes against so bright a lus¬ tre, and stopping their ears against the voice of the charmer? They are, indeed, in their own conceit, the only wise people, but their wisdom will die with them: so that to be sure, they will scorn our pity. But who can forbear it? Is there a more melancholy thought than this, that the Son of God should have done so much to introduce and establish the gospel, and his Spirit so much to perpetuate and in¬ crease its evidence; and that, after all, it should be contemptuously despised, even by creatures who are perishing without it? This is not only done, though we believe most frequently, by men of profligate and abandoned lives; but sometimes by per¬ sons who have the appearance of external morality, decency, and humanity, (for such are to be found among them) as well as men of wit and genius, of politeness and learning, of human prudence and experi¬ ence in worldly affairs. It may also be added, that it is the case of some who INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. XXX were the children of pious parents, who were trained up in religious exercises, who once discovered serious impressions, and gave very encouraging hopes. Alas, whither are they fallen ! How shall we shelter those that were once our brethren, that are perhaps still our friends, from the aw'ful sentence which the gospel pro¬ nounces against all that reject it, without any exception? As to the wretches that add insult and derision to their infidelity, we tremble to think of that load of guilt which they are bringing upon themselves; and how near their approach to the unpar¬ donable sin, if they have not already com¬ mitted it. For the rest, who behave in a modest and sober manner, it will, no doubt, be a very difficult task to convince them; and so much the rather, as some of them, by too easy a transition, have re¬ nounced many of the most important principles of natural religion: nay, it might be added, even the whole of it, together with the Christian revelation. But the influences of Divine grace are almighty. Let us recommend them to it, and omit no other proper method, either of recovering such as are already seduced, or at least of securing those who are not yet infected; but may be, as most of the youth are, es¬ pecially in the most populous places, in imminent danger of the contagion. To this end let us add, 3. How reasonable it is that Christians should form a familiar acquaintance with the great evidences of our common faith. It is what we so apparently owe to the honour of God, to the interest of Christ, to the peace of our own souls, and the edi¬ fication of others, that we hope we need not urge it at large, especially considering what has been said before. In conse¬ quence of all, let it be your care to make evidences of Christianity the subject of your serious reflection and frequent con¬ verse. Especially study your Bibles, where such marks of truth and divinity are to be found, that we hope few who have familiarly known them, and have had a relish for them, wrere ever brought to make shipwreck of their faith as it is in Jesus. Above all, let it be your care to act on the rules which are here laid down: and then you will find your faith growing in a hap¬ py proportion, and experience the truth of our Saviour’s declaration, that if any man will resolutely and faithfully do his will, he shall know of the Christian doctrine, whether it be of God. We verily believe, that it is the purity of its precepts which lies at the bottom of most men’s oppo¬ sition to it; or a natural pride of heart, which gives them an aversion to it: or a fond affectation of seeming wiser than others, in rejecting what most of their neighbours do, and profess to believe. When these unhappy prejudices and con¬ ceptions are, by Divine grace, conquered and rooted out, the evidence of truth will daily appear with increasing lustre: as the light of the sun does to an eye recovering from a film with which it hath been over¬ grown; and which before had veiled it with midnight in the midst of noon. 4. How solicitous should we be to em¬ brace and obey that gospel, which comes attended with such abundant evidences! We may undoubtedly address ourselves to most of our readers, and say, as Paul did to king Agrippa: “ Believest thou the prophets? I know thou believest:” yet let me entreat and charge you not to rest here; but attentively to examine how far your hearts are affected, and your lives regu¬ lated by such a belief. The Christian revelation is a practical thing; and is heard, believed, and professed in vain, if it be not obeyed. In this gospel “ the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the un¬ godliness of men :” but it is revealed with redoubled fury against that audacious sin¬ ner, “ who holds the truth in unrighteous¬ ness.” In this gospel the blessed Jesus is exalted as a Prince and Saviour; and it is not with impunity, that the impenitent rebel can reject his yoke, and trample on his blood. What must they expect, who INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. have poured contempt on such a Sove¬ reign, and on such a Redeemer? Let it be earnestly and frequently re¬ collected, that this gospel is the touch¬ stone by which we are one day to be tried ; the balance in which an impartial Judge will weigh us : and must, on the whole, prove our everlasting triumph, or our ever¬ lasting torment. The Almighty did not introduce it with such solemn notice, such ] high expectation, such pompous miracles, such awful sanctions, that men might re¬ ject, or dishonour it at pleasure; but it will certainly be found, to the greatest and meanest of those that hear it, “ a sa- j vour of life unto life, or a savour of death unto death.” Let it therefore be your immediate care ] to inquire, which of these it is likely to prove to your souls; remember it is so far from being a vain thing, that it is really your very life. If it has been hitherto despised, and that blessed Re¬ deemer, in whom it so evidently centres, xxxi has been neglected, assure yourselves, that all we have said in confirmation of its truth proves only that the hand-writing of God is set to your condemnation. Allow yourselves therefore not a moment’s rest, till you have with humble submission ap¬ plied to his throne, while there is yet hope that it may be reversed. And for you who have hitherto believed and obeyed the gospel, let it be your care to defend and adorn it ; “ be blameless and harmless, the children of God with¬ out rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, shining among them as lights in the world perhaps your example may not only serve to entertain their eyes, but “ to guide their feet into the way of peace,” and engage them also to join with you in “ glorifying your Fa¬ ther which is in heaven above all, be careful to hold fast the form of sound words, and to adorn the doctrine of your blessed Saviour in all things. INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. PART II. Having taken a rapid survey of the Evi¬ dences of Christianity in the previous Part of this Dissertation, we pass now to a consideration of a special department of the argument which has not yet been considered in this Dissertation. We refer to the practical effects of Christianity both upon nations and individuals. To this part of our inquiry it is perhaps all the more important that we should direct the attention of our readers, as being that por¬ tion of the Evidences which stands palpa¬ bly out before the eyes of all mankind. An abstract argument, stated however clearly, reaches conviction to the minds of those only who are capable of compre¬ hending its meaning; but an argument drawn from the outward and obvious ef¬ fects of a system all can feel the force of, because all can understand its true nature and bearings. Hence our blessed Lord himself, when he was pointing out the utter hollowness of false pretensions to revelation, laid down the following crite¬ rion by which true prophets might be readily and most effectually distinguished from the false : “ By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” This test is one which all men admit to be at once easy and effectual. In judging of a tree we may be deceived by the ap¬ pearance of its bark and its leaves and its branches and its blossoms, but it is by the fruit that we may really discover the quality of the tree. In proof of the accu¬ racy of the test which Jesus proposes, He appeals to the common experience of men. We expect the fruit invariably to correspond with the nature of the tree. u Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” And our Lord assures us that, in this instance, the experience of men is founded on a sound principle. “For every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” The fruit of the tree is its natural produce ; and Christi¬ anity, if it exist in the soul, will influence the life. Religion is a living operative principle. Wherever it is found the heart has been changed, a new creation has sprung up in the soul; “ instead of the thorn has come up the fir-tree, and in¬ stead of the briar has come up the myrtle- tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” In such a case the fruit shall assuredly be unto holiness, and the end shall be everlasting life. Nor is the test which the Redeemer proposes, applicable only to individuals; it is equally applicable to communities. The beneficial influence of Christianity upon a country will make itself manifest in the advanced civilization, good morals, and social prosperity of the people. If such be the condition of a popidation who have embraced the Christian faith, we cannot fail to perceive in this moral and INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. social transformation a strong argument in favour of our holy religion as having its origin from above. It has been well remarked — “ Whenever you have ascer¬ tained the true results of any system of doctrine, you have found a plain and cer¬ tain expression of its intrinsic character. It is good in proportion as the fruit is good. If its fruit be godly, it must itself be of God.” The proposition then which we lay down is that Christianity may be known by its fruits to be a divine revelation, a religion which has come from God. Let us, in the first instance, test the Christian system by the character of that influence which it exerts upon communi¬ ties. The religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans was a splendid system of fable and romance. It has been recom¬ mended to the study of the learned with all the attractions of eloquence and the charm of verse; but if we would know the actual state of the people upon whom this much- vaunted religion was inculcated, we have only to turn to the melancholy description which Paul gives of the actual state of the heathen world in his own time — “ filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, ma¬ lignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant -break¬ ers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.” Could that religion be the work of God which resulted in a morality so polluted and impure? Even at their very altars the Greeks and Romans might learn the lessons of the foulest vice. If the gods who were adored taught and authorized immorality by their own ex¬ ample, the errors of inferior beings would naturally be excused and even vindicated by an appeal to the corrupt wanderings of superior natures; and heaven itself was thus made to lend a ready and infal¬ lible sanction to the weaknesses and even the guilt of men. But the gods of ancient xxxiii heathenism not merely taught crime by example ; they produced and promoted it by their influence. We find them per¬ petually interfering to kindle the evil passions and prompt the evil designs of men. No wonder that with such noxious influences brought to bear upon a people in many respects the most refined and civilized upon the earth, one of their own authors should describe the character of the youth of Rome in the time of Cicero, in such language as the following: “Lux¬ ury, avarice, and pride, enslaved them; they wantoned in rapine and prodigality ; undervalued their own and coveted what belonged to others ; trampled on modesty, friendship and continence; confounded things divine and human, and threw off all manner of consideration and restraint.” If such was the character of the most cultivated people of the ancient world under the practical operation of heathen¬ ism, how much darker and more revolting would have been the picture had we de¬ scribed the actual condition in point of morality of other pagan nations ! No doubt, even amid the darkness of Pagan¬ ism, we may find rare exceptions of men, such as Socrates, who taught, and of others, such as Cato, who practised pre¬ cepts of pure morality. These, however, were not the fruits of the religious system which prevailed in the country and age in which they lived, but single, solitary instances of men here and there, who had framed for themselves a system of faith and morals widely different from that which reigned around them. Neither these men nor any other ever taught sound morality or lived a virtuous life under the influence of a false religion. From ancient we turn to modern sys¬ tems of religion. The Persians and Ma- hommedans, it must be admitted, have made some advances in moral teaching and conduct beyond those of purely Pagan countries. Zoroaster abolished idolatry among the ancient Persians, and so also did Mohammed in more modern days. But while the Persian religion for centu- xxxiv INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. ries held an undisturbed sway over mul¬ titudes of people, it failed to make men virtuous, pure, and holy. The prophet of Arabia taught the knowledge of the one God, and inculcated lessons of justice and charity. Alms-giving was set forth as one of the highest of duties, and from a tenth to a fifth of a Mussulman’s in¬ come was demanded by the Koran to be paid in charity. Prayer five times a-day, ablutions numberless, and fastings the most rigid, were enjoined upon all believ¬ ers. But the same religion which con¬ tained these precepts laid it down as a truth of undoubted certainty to be pro¬ claimed to the people, that the blood of their enemies was a sure passport to the Mohammedan paradise; and that every Mussulman, however wicked, would be admitted into heaven after expiating his sins in purgatory for a period not exceed¬ ing five thousand years. “ The sword,” such is the language of the prophet of Mecca, <( is the key of heaven and hell ; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months spent in fasting and prayer. Whoso falleth in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment, his wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion and odoriferous as musk, and the loss of his limb shall be supplied by wings of angels and cherubims. They who have suffered for my sake and been slain in battle I will surely bring them into a gar¬ den watered by rivers.” Under the pre¬ tence of compelling the heathen to em¬ brace his faith, the follower of Mohammed was enjoined to proceed in his onward course from the plunder of caravans and the extermination of tribes and villages to the overthrow and devastation of states and empires. Thus were the most unholy passions nourished, and a people taught by the preaching of an ambitious schemer to find in the very piety and devotion of their faith the justification and the en¬ couragement of all the crimes of intoler- o ant barbarity. Equally powerless in the production of a sound public morality has been the Brahminical religion. Wise and salutary doubtless are many of the precepts incul¬ cated by Hindu moralists. But however good in themselves, these precepts are scattered through the pages of a vast variety of volumes difficult of access and of doubtful authority. Sometimes they are said to have issued directly from the lips of the gods, sometimes to have been promulgated by the inspired favourites of heaven or compiled from the records of ancient tradition. And }^et while such is alleged to be their origin, these excellent moral truths are perpetually blended and mixed up with the wildest and most ab¬ surd doctrines. Thus while charity is declared in the moral code of the Brah¬ mins to be the most essential of all duties, it is pronounced in the same breath to be a far higher and holier virtue to retire from the world and embrace the life of an ascetic in the deserts. The man is said to be wise who goes forth among his fel¬ low's to protect and to bless them, but he is declared to be wiser still who abandons finally and for ever the companionship of men and takes up his abode with the beasts of the field. The former is worthy to be praised, but the latter has acquired perfection in this world and secured per¬ fection in the next. According to the moral system of Hinduism the distinc¬ tions of right and wrong are utterly con¬ founded. That which is deeply criminal in a man of a lower caste is a light and venial trespass in a man of a higher. The worst and most unpardonable crime in a despised Sudra becomes expiable in a Brahmin by the payment of a trifling fine. The Pariah who simply breathes upon his superior is declared worthy of death by the same code which enforces compassion and tenderness to the cravl- ing worm; and while the protection of the irrational animal is enforced under the heaviest penalties, the aged parent is permitted to be abandoned on the river’s bank by an unnatural son, and to be left to perish unpitied and alone amid the re- INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. tiring waters. The influence and effects of such a religious system cannot fail to be pernicious in the highest degree. “ Acts,” says Dr. Duff, “ which in a Christian land would be treated as wilful murder, — far from being regarded as dis¬ honourable or criminal or deserving of public execration — are reputed holy and meritorious, and demonstrative of the greatest possible affection and kindness.” Such is the stupifying power of a baleful superstition. Cruelty and obscenity are transformed into devotional virtues. The gravest votary is not ashamed to witness the wantonness which dances round his altars; and the Gentoo, while he treads cautiously on the earth lest he should crush a reptile, and diffuses his charities as his priest requires, and performs his task of oblation and prayer with pious scrupulosity, is found to delight in the sacrifice of the funeral pile and to mingle in the mercenary impurities which are encouraged for priestly gain in the pago¬ das of his idols. How complete the contrast, in point of pure morality and beneficial influence upon the minds, the character, and con¬ duct of men, between the religion of Christ and all the other systems of religion which have existed upon the earth ! Let us descend to particulars, and the contrast will become more strikingly apparent.” One of the most important and tho¬ roughly practical principles of all religion is that which refers to the Beinsr and At- tributes of God. On this point the false religions we have alluded to are at utter variance with one another. According to one system God is a Being wrapped up in eternal contemplation and repose ; ac¬ cording to another, an ethereal flame per¬ vading and animating the universe ; ac¬ cording to a third, a Being composed of parts perpetually emanating from his per¬ son, and destined finally to return to it. Such views of Deity are little more than metaphysical speculations, having not the remotest bearing upon the conduct of mankind. But the God of Christianity xxxv and the Bible, while He is a spirit far removed from the weaknesses and imper¬ fections of His creatures, is the Father of Spirits who keeps mercy for thousands of them that love Him, who compassion¬ ates and embraces the returning sinner, who makes the sun to rise upon the just and the unjust, and who wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wicked ways and live. By such views of God our affections are awakened; our trust and fortitude con¬ firmed ; a light is kindled which warms and animates the soul ; and a confiding faith is implanted in the heart which fills us with a peace that passeth all under¬ standing, and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. The Christian’s God is great and glorious, but He is also mer¬ ciful and kind; holy, and yet loving; a just God, and yet a Saviour; just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly who believe in Jesus. In the contemplation of such a Deity as this, hope and joy are blended in the soul of the worshipper with sacred reverence and salutary fear. We tremble even while we trust, and the confidence that reposes in the divine mercy and love is tempered by a dread of the divine majesty and holiness which leads us to “ stand in awe and sin not.” The god of other systems of religion is degraded into a being of contemptible weakness and in¬ consistency. Often was the Zeus of the Greek mythology seen to descend from the heights of Olympus and to exhibit all the imperfections and foibles and even sins of “one like unto ourselves;” habi¬ tually does the god of the Mussulman blend maxims of high, practical wisdom with the deliberate and solemn sanction of lust and impurity ; and ever and anon may the god of the Hindu be found as¬ suming the most grotesque and ludicrous shapes, fitted, instead of awing, to amuse the worshipper. But in the God of Christianity all is sublime consistency and harmony in the perfections of his nature. No feebleness limits his power, no prejudice controls his will, no error XXXVI impairs his designs, with his sinful creatures who have thrown themselves upon his compassion as mani¬ fested through Christ, “ mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace embrace each other.” In regard then to this first and fundamental point of all religion, the being and attributes of God, Christianity stands out in bold relief from the numberless religious systems which are, or ever have been, known among men, as the only one that reveals the Divine Being in His own perfections and in His relationship to man, so as to cor¬ respond with our highest conceptions, and to exert the holiest influence upon our minds and hearts in all circumstances and in all situations. Another fundamental truth of all reli¬ gion respects the Providence of God, and in this point also Christianity sets forth such views as clearly show it to be divine. Here, the false religions of men com¬ pletely differ among themselves. One system represents God as exercising 710 superintendence over the creatures of His hand, sitting separate and apart in sullen majesty, and leaving all events to the capricious and fitful movements of blind, uncertain chance; another tells us of a principle of evil dividing the government of the world with a principle of good, both conflicting for a superiority denied to either ; another still informs us of demons and genii interposing with fantas¬ tic levity or resistless power in the affairs of men. But Christianity makes the sublime annunciation of a Providence which carefully superintends and actively regulates all and eveiy event which hap¬ pens throughout the wide domains of uni¬ versal nature, embracing alike in His all- comprehending care the loftiest archangel that stands before the throne in heaven, and the meanest insect that crawls upon the surface of the earth. There is no¬ thing so great as to resist His power, no¬ thing so minute as to escape His notice. He numbers the very hairs of our heads; He appoints the bounds of our habitation. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge and express permission. And in addition to this common provi¬ dence which God exercises over all His creatures, Christianity tells us further of a special providence which is the covenant privilege of true believers. God is in heaven infinitely exalted above all the works of his hands, enwrapped in the con¬ templation of his own ineffable glory ; but to the true Christian he is more than all this — He is a Father in heaven. He looks down with approbation from the throne of his gloiy upon each one of that blessed people whom He hath chosen for himself. He knows their condition with the utmost minuteness. He pities their weakness, their helplessness, their poverty. He sup¬ plies all their wants both temporal and spiritual. He hath given them a suffi¬ cient pledge that He will withhold no good thing from them that love him. u If God spared not his own Son, but freely gave Him up unto the death for us all, will He not with Him also, freely give us all things?” Thus Christianity unfolds to us a scheme of Providence the most consolatory and improving, for it assures us that “ all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his pur¬ pose.” The consideration of the providence of God suggests an additional topic which may well form a test by which to try the divinity of a religion — whether it is fitted to comfort the heart amid the numberless trials of this valley of tears. In this re¬ spect also Chi-istianity may be plainly discerned to be of God, for it alone, of all the religions that ever existed, imparts true comfort to the afflicted soul. We have already seen that in the system of Providence which it unfolds, the particu¬ lar is not lost in the universal ; and the government which watches over and pre¬ serves all, equally watches over and pre¬ serves each. But in the arrangements of the Almighty Governor a wise discrimi¬ nation is maintained ; for while to the XXXVI INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. and in his dealings INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. XXXV11 wicked Pie increaseth sorrow, “ He giv- eth to the man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy.” One system of religion speaks to the afflicted, only of the ever-varying empire of time and chance which happen alike to all ; another tells him that he is under the stern dominion of unbending fate ; and another reminds him that there are con¬ flicting deities who send down prosperity or adversity, affliction or joy, happiness or misery, with a blind partiality and fitful caprice which baffles all calculation. The Christian, however, knows well that, ac¬ cording to the consolatory teachings of his religion, no event happens by chance, affliction springs not from the ground, all things are working together for his good, all the apparent discordances or real calamities which mingle in his life will be found ultimately to have been sent for the wisest and the best of purposes, to promote his spiritual progress on earth, and prepare him for that brighter and better world where all is happiness and peace and joy. These considerations, so well fitted to comfort the troubled spirit, are recommended to us not only by pre¬ cept but by actual example. Jesus him¬ self, though He was a Son, yet learned obedience through suffering, and accord¬ ingly all the followers of Jesus are sub¬ jected to the same fatherly discipline. “What son is he whom the Father chas- teneth not?” This is the law of the family. “ Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” The religion which opens up such inexhaustible sources of comfort as these must necessarily have come from the God of grace and of all consolation. A system of religion which asserts a valid claim to be Divine must inculcate the observance of a pure spiritual devo¬ tion. This naturally and obviously arises out of the nature of the Being whom we adore. If God be a spirit, He cannot but require those that worship him to worship him in spirit and in truth. This condition of a divine religion Christianitv fully meets. Under other religions the Deity is to be propitiated by forms which have little to do with the frame and tem¬ per of the mind. But the religion of Christ requires not a mere outward but an inward devotion. Thus its author himself enjoins in reference to true accep¬ table prayer : “ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are : for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” The hypocrite and the formalist love to per- ! form their religious duties in the most public places and in the most open man¬ ner, because they have no higher aim than to be seen of men. When the true Christian prays he stands afar off, as it were, from men — his eyes are towards heaven. And how is his heart engaged i in that interesting moment? He feels his entire, his absolute dependence upon God ; his desires are towards Him ; his highest delight is in his presence, he is pouring out his heart before Him. The hypocrite desires the presence of man, that he may exhibit before him the apparent fervency of his devotions, but the Chris¬ tian loves to be alone with his God. Prayer is felt by the true believer to be at once a duty, a privilege, a pleasure, and a benefit; not because it is a form but a blessed reality, a true communing of the heart with God. Five times a-day does the Koran enjoin the Mussulman to say his prayers; the Bible however enjoins the Christian to “pray always with all prayer and supplication,” but then it must be “ in the Spirit.” It is this which is the substance of prayer. “ My son, give me thine heart,” is the command of God to each one of his people; and the religion which holds forth this truth with such prominence and persevering earnestness e INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. must have had its origin from Him who is emphatically u the Searcher of hearts.” In treating of the influence of a reli¬ gion upon a people, it is impossible to overlook its external rites and ceremonies. If these be idle and vain, burdensome and unedifying, the religious creed, however valuable and accurate, will fail in produc¬ ing a beneficial moral effect upon the people. By this test also Christianity may be safely tried. Not merely may its moral precepts and religious doctrines be submitted to such a scrutiny, but the rites and institutions of the gospel in their re¬ ference to the nature and happiness of man. Being essentially spiritual in its character, it seems to attach comparatively little importance to outward rites of any kind. In this respect a remarkable dif¬ ference may be observed between the style of the Old and that of the New Testament ; and not only is this differ¬ ence apparent in the style of the Jewish writings, but also in the whole spirit of the Jewish economy as compared with the Christian. The whole Jewish ritual being designed as strictly symbolical, was addressed to the senses in the first in¬ stance, and conveyed instruction to the Jews, only through a sensible medium. And this adaptation of the truth to our physical nature, which is apparent in the Old, is no less apparent in the New Tes¬ tament, in the institution of the standing ordinances of the church. In the sacra¬ mental symbols an impressive exhibition is made to our bodily senses of some of the most important and interesting truths of the Christian sj^stem, and not only are these truths significantly represented, they are also impressively sealed upon the believing children of God. In other words, by the sensible display given in the solemn ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, ample provision is made for the emblematic exhibition of the truths as well as of the actings of God in refer- ence to his people. The sacramental ordinances therefore of the Christian church may be conceived as holding a place somewhat analagous to that of the typical institutions in the Jewish church, with this important exception, however, that while the symbolical rites of the an¬ cient economy related to events which could only be beheld by the eye of faith penetrating the dark vista of futurity, the emblematic ordinances of the church, under the gospel dispensation, refer to events which are already stamped with the impress of historical certainty, and the bearing of which upon individual be¬ lievers can on that account be more read¬ ily comprehended and felt. In reference to the wisdom and utility of the ordinance of baptism, it is interesting to notice the ultroneous admission of the infidel Bo- lingbroke. “ No institution,” he says, “ can be imagined more simple or more void of all those pompous rites and thea¬ trical representations which abound in the religious worship of the heathen, than that of baptism in its origin. It is not only an innocent but a profitable cere¬ mony, because it is extremely proper to keep up the spirit of true natural religion by keeping up that of Christianity, and to promote the observance of moral duties by marking a respect for the revelation that confirmed them.” Such remarks are peculiarly important as having come from the pen of an avowed unbeliever of re¬ vealed religion ; and if they are justly applicable to the simple and impressive ordinance of baptism, they are equally, if not still more, applicable to the Lord’s supper. That beautiful and instructive ordinance is admirably calculated, in its very nature, to elevate and purify the mind. Under the simple emblems of bread and wine, bread broken and wine poured out, truths the most sublime and affecting are set before the mind and brought home to the heart. Not to speak of engaging in the ordinance, it is scarcely possible even to witness its celebration without feeling that it stamps divinity upon the religion which claims it as one of its leading institutions. cT> Two other standing ordinances of INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. Christianity might be noticed under a similar aspect — the ordinance of the Sabbath and that of the ministry of the church. Both these institutions exert a most improving effect upon the commu¬ nity among whom they are recognised. Look at the holy, humanizing influence of the Sabbath and the sanctuary upon the unlettered peasantry of a country vil¬ lage. All labour and worldly care has given way to the peaceful and solemn re¬ pose of the day of holy rest. Nature her¬ self seems to sympathize with the stillness which pervades the homes of the simple villagers. The morning is ushered in with the delightful exercise of family worship, in which, having offered up their hymn of praise, and read together a por¬ tion from the sacred page, the whole assembled household kneel in earnest prayer to the Lord of the Sabbath. With hearts thus solemnized and ele¬ vated, the humble pious group go up to the house of God. The public exercises of the day are in beautiful harmony with the private devotions of the morning. The pastor, however, has not merely read but expounded the word, and urged its precious lessons upon the consciences and hearts of the people. The living, the life- giving influence of the truth is felt, and the audience retire to their homes not only to ponder and pray over the instruc¬ tions they have heard, but to exhibit the hallowed effects of the Sabbath and its sacred employments, in their ordinary walk and conversation among men. No reli¬ gion of man’s invention has ever set forth external institutions so simple, yet so effi¬ cacious in their operation upon the char¬ acter and conduct of those who observe them. Here then we possess another evidence of the peculiar excellence of the Christian system. Hitherto we have been comparing or rather contrasting Christianity with other religions, so as to prove by its obvious superiority to them, in points which are common to both, that it, and it alone, is divine in its origin. But an additional xxxix and perhaps more powerful argument in favour of Christianity may be drawn from what may be considered as its peculiarities. That there are peculiarities in the Christian religion sufficient to mark it out as separate and distinct from all the other modes of religion that either are or have been prevalent in the world, no can¬ did inquirer can fail to perceive. And the first point of this kind to which we refer, is the clear revelation of a future state beyond death and the grave. That the reason of man hath never arrived at any, even the remotest, conception of a life to come, we are far from affirming. Fre¬ quent allusions to such a state of ex¬ istence are found in the most approved authors of antiquity, but withal so obscure and indistinct as scarcely to convey to the mind of the reader the impression, that by any individual in these remote ages the doctrine was steadily and undoubtingiy believed. Even Socrates, though a martyr to the comparative purity of his doctrines, and held forth by Bishop Warburton, in his ‘ Divine Legation of Moses Demon¬ strated,’ as of all the ancient philosophers the only believer in a future state, must needs in his last moments, when his view of immortality might have been expected to have been stronger than ever, remind his friend that he owed a cock to ACs cil¬ ia pi us ; and Cicero himself, with all his high notions of moral truth, could reach no farther in his belief of a future state than u the ardent longing after immortali¬ ty.” — Si erro, libenter erro ! It would be as improper as it is unnecessary to deny the existence of vague conceptions among the ancients in reference to this important doctrine ; it is sufficient to establish the doctrine, however, as a peculiar tenet of the Christian system, if it can be shown that never before was it proposed to man as a matter of general and well-grounded practical belief. And yet it has been al¬ leged, in opposition to any argument of this kind, that the Jews under the law were entirely unacquainted with this all- important doctrine. That obscure inti- INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xl mations of a future state may be afforded even by unassisted reason is sufficiently obvious, we think, from the fact, that it has been in all ages a matter of specula¬ tion and anxious discussion ; and if so, can we believe that a system of policy so complete as that of the Mosaic economy, would have contained not the remotest allusion to a matter of paramount interest to the whole human family? This, it may be said, is the language which has been currently adopted by the sceptic and the infidel when objecting to the Divine authority of the Jewish laws ; and yet it is language to which we cannot refuse our entire concurrence. With all deference to Bishop Warburton, we would be far from thinking it necessary to change our position, and endeavour to show his omis¬ sion of the doctrine of a future state to have been any proof that Moses was di¬ vinely inspired. It is giving no undue advantage to the adversaries of our holy faith should we admit the doctrine to be set forth in the law, not prominently and directly, but by implication. This is pre¬ cisely the mode in which a priori we should have expected the revelation of a future state to have been made to the Jews. It must never be forgotten, that, never since the fall of man could the motives of human actions, founded on eternal rewards and punishments, have been fairly urged without a clear and ex¬ plicit proclamation of all the peculiar doc¬ trines of the Gospel which are necessarily connected with it ; and as it did not seem consistent with the purposes of God in the ancient economy to give such a clear and simple and spiritual revelation of his will as was afterwards given, was it not more in accordance with the partial ob¬ scurity which pervaded the other parts of the Jewish system that “life and immor¬ tality” should be covered with a veil of mystery and darkness? Should the infi¬ del press his objection from the difficulty of finding in the law any allusion to a future state, we would remind him that it is equally difficult to discover in the law any of those peculiar doctrines which are unfolded to us with such simplicity and clearness in the Christian Scriptures. It is not enough to affect surprise that a truth, in some degree discovei’able by human reason, should have so rarely, if at all, been mentioned by the Jewish legislator. We admit the doctrine, abso¬ lutely speaking, to form a part of the re¬ ligion of nature, but we unhesitatingly deny that in the form and connexion in which it is set forth in revelation, it either has been, or ever could be, discoArered by the most persevering efforts of human reason. It is this then which we allege to constitute it a peculiarity of the Christian system, and one which distinguishes that system from all other religions whatever. In this view of the matter we would be warranted in expecting a priori that it should share in the obscurity which covers all the other peculiar doctrines of Christi¬ anity, in so far as they are referred to in the law of Moses. The time of full and unclouded revelation was not yet come. To imagine therefore that any other than the darkest reference would be made to the doctrine of eternal rewards and pun¬ ishments, is to indulge the idea that Moses, as a divinely inspired writer, would have imparted to the Jews a distorted view of the divine arrangements. He must either have simply stated the fact that such rewards and punishments would be here¬ after awarded without stating the princi¬ ples of the divine government on which they would be bestowed, and in this case he would have conveyed a false impres¬ sion to the minds of the Jews in reference to a subject of infinite moment ; or he must have stated the fact in connexion with the full details of the Christian scheme — a proceeding which would have been entirely subversive of the end and design of the ancient dispensation. Either the one mode cf acting or the other would, O 7 if adopted, have been alike unworthy of a divinely commissioned legislator. Moses, however, on this as well as on other points, has been completely consistent. He has INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xli referred to a future state of retribution just as frequently and with as much clear¬ ness as to the other peculiarities of the later and more spiritual dispensation. The great importance of the doctrine of immortality arises from its practical hearing upon the heart and the conduct of men. Now, it must be borne in mind that no statement can produce a legiti¬ mate moral effect upon man unless pre¬ sented under an aspect of truth. But supposing the doctrine to which we allude simply revealed as a fact, without unfold¬ ing the principles connected with it, the impression of the fact conveyed to the minds of the Jews would have been de¬ cidedly erroneous. It is not true, ab¬ stractly speaking, that men are rewarded for their virtuous in the same sense as they are punished for their vicious actions. Yet such would have been the belief on our present hypothesis prevalent among the Jews; and in order to disabuse them of such an idea, it would have been abso¬ lutely necessary to have stated even the minutest details of the Christian doctrine in reference to justification and acceptance with God. To avoid an alternative of this kind the Jewish legislator wisely placed the doctrine of immortality on a footum with all the other doctrines of Christianity; and while the Jews were thus left in undisturbed possession of all that nature revealed upon the subject, they had an opportunity of gathering ad¬ ditional information upon this and all the other parts of the Christian dispensation, from their own obscure and emblematic economy. It is rather surprising that some emi¬ nent divines should have rested the exclu¬ sive claim of Christianity to the revelation of a future state on a single clause of sacred Scripture, which, when viewed in connexion with the preceding context, appears to afford not the slightest ground for the inference which they have sought to deduce from it. The passage in ques¬ tion occurs in 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. “ Who hath saved us, and called us with an liolv calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began ; but is now made mani¬ fest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel .” Now the whole scope of the passage warrants us in con¬ sidering the last clause, not absolutely as referring to the revelation of a future state, but as modified in its meaning by what has gone before. The apostle, it may be perceived, is speaking, in the 9th verse, of salvation as being founded not on the good works of the believer, but on the absolute and sovereign election of God in u Christ Jesus before the world began;” which election, he goes on to say, “ is now made manifest by the appear¬ ing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who abolished death,” which evidently awaited the sinner, “ and brought life and immor¬ tality to light through the gospel,” or, in other words, promulgated not life and immortality, absolutely speaking, as be¬ longing to every man, but as the peculiar inheritance of believers through Christ their living head. From these two verses then we would hardly think of inferring the doctrine of a future state, simply and by itself as a peculiarity of the Christian religion. There are several circumstances however, connected with the doctrine as propounded in this passage, which are, in the strictest sense of the word, peculiar to Christianity; and we would prefer, there¬ fore, in consonance with this and other texts, grounding the peculiarity on the mode in which, and the design for which, life and immortality are set forth in the gospel, rather than on the simple fact that the doctrine itself is therein exclu¬ sively revealed. There is enough in the mode of its revelation in the Scriptures to distinguish it from all other announce¬ ments of the fact which either have been or may be supposed to have been made. In intimate connection then with this doctrine of a future state, we would next xlii INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. refer to the doctrines of atonement and justification as most striking and promi¬ nent peculiarities of Christianity. Whe¬ ther we look to the feeble and inadequate views entertained in all ages in reference to expiation for sin, or contrast with these abortive attempts of unaided reason, the clear revelation made to us in the Chris¬ tian Scriptures, we would be inclined to regard the doctrines of atonement and justification as par excellence the grand peculiarities of Christianity; and to rest our argument on these two points alone were perhaps the most effective and unas¬ sailable position we could possibly occupy. In most of the other articles of religion, especially those connected with Christian ethics, it is so difficult to draw the line of separation between that which originates in the exercise of human reason and that which is simply discovered to us by reve¬ lation, that the force of our conclusions is often completely destroyed by selecting our arguments from matters of doubtful disputation. By far the safest mode of defence, if we choose to resort to that plan of warfare, is to occupy some im¬ pregnable fortress from which our foes, neither by art nor by arms, can possibly drive us. Nature hath made known to man many valuable and essentially im¬ portant truths; but in reference to the doctrine of atonement and the true mode of acceptance with God, that is, through the merits and mediation of a Redeemer, nature hath been utterly silent. These are the grand arcana of the Christian scheme, and it is only as connected with these that any doctrine can be considered as peculiar to Christianity, whether as op¬ posed to the religion of nature or to the numberless systems of false religion which have existed in the world. When we view, therefore, the doctrine of a future state in intimate and close connexion with salvation through a Redeemer’s merits and atonement, we discover a peculia¬ rity of a most remarkable kind which dis¬ tinguishes Christianity from all other sys¬ tems of religion — that while “ the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is the grand principle which per¬ vades the revelation of God’s will to sin¬ ful man. u God is now in Christ recon¬ ciling a guilty world unto Himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses.” No other system of religion has ever given anything approaching to a satisfactory so¬ lution of the awful problem how a sinner may become just before God. Christi¬ anity hath removed the difficulty, by teaching us the consolatory truth that “ Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.” There is a peculiarity also in the mode in which Christianity proposes to operate upon men, and which clearly shows it to be the work of Him who “ knows what is in man.” On this subject Archbishop Whately makes the following valuable remarks : “ Human ethics and natural religion may be sufficient to satisfy the understanding as to the nature and the claims of virtue ; but to engage the feel¬ ings on the same side belongs, in an espe¬ cial manner, to the gospel. It is neces¬ sary, indeed, to convince men’s reason and to point out to them their time inter¬ est ; but Christ and his followers were not satisfied with this ; they knew that it is in vain the reason is convinced if the heart be not warmed ; and that man will not follow his own interests if all his af¬ fections lie the other way. That this should be the case with rational beings is the great paradox which we in vain en deavour to explain, though daily expe¬ rience compels us to acknowledge it. And to find a remedy for this weakness — to induce men to pursue the line of conduct which their own sober judgment admits to be the best — has been admitted by all moralists ; though not very success¬ fully and not always judiciously. Our Lord and his followers, ( who knew what is in man, were well aware that such a being could not be practically influenced by an appeal to his understanding alone. INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. They did not therefore make religion a matter of mere prudent calculation, but of affectionate zeal. When Christ was committing to Simon Peter the care of the beloved flock which He had Himself redeemed, He meant him indeed to un¬ derstand no doubt that he would be pun¬ ished if he neglected this charge, and that great would be the reward of diligent obedience; but these were not the topics he chose to insist upon. ‘ Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?’ Peter replied, ‘Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.’ Jesus said unto him, ‘Feed my sheep.’ Thrice was this injunction given, and thrice was the appeal made, not to the hopes and fears, but to the affections of the apostle. In like manner, the apostle Paul, in exhorting the churches, alludes occasionally only to the rewards and pun¬ ishments of a future state, and the folly of not preparing for it; but he insists continually on the mercies which God has already shown us, and the gratitude we ought to feel for them ; and strives to fill us with an earnest desire of pleasing Him and an abhorrence of sin as odious in his sight. For example, when he tells the Colossians to ‘ forgive one another if any man have a quarrel against any,’ it is on this ground — ‘ even as Christ forgave you;’ and again, ‘Children, obey your pa¬ rents in all things, for this is well-pleas¬ ing unto the Lord.’ And again, ‘Be ye followers of God as dear children ; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us.’ ” The prevailing motive then in the heart of the Christian is the love of the Redeemer, which is more powerfully effec¬ tive than any that could possibly be ad¬ dressed to man ; and in no other system of religion has any motive of action been set forth which, in the slightest degree, could admit of a comparison with it. Whether in prosperity or adversity, in health or sickness, in life or death ; the love of Christ is all-powerful in its influ¬ ence over the believer. It strengthens him for the performance of duty, it sus- xliii tains him in the season of trial, it enables him to meet with composure all the vicis¬ situdes of this changeful scene, and it smooths his pillow in the hour of dissolu¬ tion. Various and diversified are the motives by which worldly men are actu¬ ated, but in the Christian this one princi¬ ple reigns supreme over all the desires and affections of his heart, and regulates his conduct in the minutest details of or¬ dinary life. It is certainly a peculiarity of no slight importance thus to propose a principle of action admirably fitted to operate upon our moral constitution with all the impelling and constraining influ¬ ence of a ruling passion. “ O thou bleed¬ ing Lamb, the true morality is love of Thee.” It forms a truly interesting characteris¬ tic of our holy faith that, amid all the rich and varied illustrations of its doctrines which the Bible contains, the main design is uniformly kept in view — to operate with effect upon the heart and conscience of the human being, and thus most pow¬ erfully to influence the character and conduct. To this all the truths of Reve¬ lation, however important in themselves, are rendered subservient. By too many writers on the subject, as well as private Christians, the religion of the Scriptures is viewed entirely apart from that practi¬ cal bearing which it uniformly has in the record itself. There Ave find no doctrines presented as matters of merely curious speculation — no abstract metaphysical disquisitions ; but a plain statement of truths in their relative connection with the nature and actual condition of the human being. Whatever is a matter of curiosity, not of practical utility, is care¬ fully suppressed. Some are extravagant enough to expect from the Scriptures full information on points of natural as well as of moral science ; but the latter alone fall properly within the scope of the Bible. There are many allusions no doubt to subjects connected with strictly natural phenomena, couched however in such language as plainly shows that there xliv INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. is no intention to explain at length ob¬ jects of that kind, but to pass with as much rapidity as possible to the purely spiritual and divine. The truths of na¬ tural science are far from being fixed and determined with certainty in any one of its great departments ; facts have been accumulated, theories have been devised and multiplied, but to every one of the varied departments of human inquiry within the sphere of the natural sciences may the oracular dictum of Bacon be ap¬ plied at this day with equal justice as in his own time — “ I note it deficient.” In these circumstances, while men are strug¬ gling to attain more enlarged and correct view's on such subjects, it is well that revelation has not interposed its resistless authority in favour of any particular theories or modes of explaining the phe¬ nomena of nature. The Ptolemaic sys¬ tem of astronomy held sw'ay for ages over the minds of men, and to have mooted, much less maintained, an opposite theory, might have been fatal to the unhappy speculator ; at length the Copernican system hath effectually and for ever de¬ stroyed its rival and gained the assent and concurrence of all. But amid all this clashing and conflict of human opi¬ nions the Word of God hath stood un¬ touched, giving forth its lessons not in consonance Avith the theoretical senti¬ ments of particular men, but in conso¬ nance with the obvious vieAvs of the great mass of men. It is no doubt a mighty offence to some ignorant sciolists that the Bible should speak of such an astronomi¬ cal absurdity as the sun standing still in the heavens ; when the merest tyro in such subjects knows full well that it is the earth itself and not the sun which is in motion. We have often smiled at the frivolity and utter thoughtlessness which have generally characterized the propos¬ ers of such an objection. Let us suppose the inspired writer to have adopted dif¬ ferent language, and the objection would ha\*e come, not from a few pretenders to astronomical information, but from the • 0 great multitude of men Avho are regulated in their notions simply by what is sensible and apparent. They see that the sun rises in the east and sets in the Avest, and hence they naturally imagine that he has completed his daily course ; and should Ave endeavour to undeceive them in this particular point, the attempt Avere utterly hopeless in so far as their practical act¬ ings, nay, even their ordinary language, is concerned. The inspired writers ac¬ cordingly, never losing sight of the grand object for which revelation has been im¬ parted, express themselves on every other subject in such a Avay as shall be perspi¬ cuous and plain to the most illiterate among men. It ought never to be for¬ gotten that the Bible is intended to in¬ struct us not in natural philosophy, astro¬ nomy, geology, or any other science wdiich is conversant simply with mere natural phenomena, but its grand design is to make men Avise unto salvation, to instruct them in these things which belong to their everlasting peace. Christianity we have found adapting itself above all other religions to the true nature and constitution of man. There is, hoAvever, a peculiarity to Avhich Ave cannot refrain from adverting, and which is found in the fact that it regards not more the constitution than the actual condition of the human family. It vieAvs man in a twofold aspect as to his spiritual condition — as subject to the divine laAA', and as a transgressor of that laAv. It takes for granted his possession of such poAvers and principles of action as con¬ stitute him a moral and responsible agent, and it also takes for granted that he has availed himself of these very poAvers and principles to violate the Lavs and to tram¬ ple on the authority of his great and gra¬ cious Creator. The Bible sometimes ad¬ dresses us as subjects of the law, and at other times as breakers of the laAv. It commands our obedience to its precepts in the one case, and urges our acceptance of its offered blessings on the other. By the proclamation of the former, sinners INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. are humbled to the dust; by the pro¬ clamation of the latter their faith is ele¬ vated, their hearts are purified, their souls are comforted and refreshed. The whole human family then, considered in their relation to God, are at once subjects and rebels, and the Divine revelation regards them in both these capacities. We are responsible agents, and yet we are ruined transgressors; and to treat the human being in either aspect to the exclusion of the other, were to act unfaithfully by the word of God and the soul of man. As moral agents the law must be proclaimed to us in all its spirituality of extent and of application, and the more completely it is felt to be “ weak through the flesh,” so much the more certainly will the conscious transgressor be led to trust implicitly in Him who by a sin-offering condemned sin in the flesh. It is the consciousness of our inability to comport ourselves aright as those who are subject to the law, which leads us to feel our wretched and ruined condition as breakers of the law. It is by a proper and judicious combination, therefore, of these two separate and distinct parts of Divine truth, or in other words, by a proper judicious combination of law with gospel, that the truth will be most successfully commended to every man’s conscience as in the sight of God. That system of religion which addresses itself with such complete adaptation to the nature and to the condition of man, cannot be from man, but must be from man’s Almighty Maker. The morality itself of the Christian sys¬ tem is obviously the highest and the purest ; it must be of God. Not so the morality of the Koran; not so the morality of the Hindu Shasters; not so the morality of Confucius. No doubt there are many ex¬ cellent moral precepts in the writings of almost every false prophet that has ever lived. Even a Balaam could say, “ Let me die the death of the righteous, let my last end be like his.” But Christianity teaches a morality which in all its princi¬ ples commends itself to us as pure, exalted, xlv sublime, having its origin evidently from the highest and the holiest of Beings. What is the first and fundamental point of all religion and of all true morality? The supreme love of God. This in Chris¬ tianity is the first and great command¬ ment, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” This, however, is not a natural principle inherent in the corrupt heart of man. We may, it is true, by the exertions of our own reason discern evident proofs of the existence and the natural attributes of a Supreme Being. From the things which are seen we may learn His eternal power and Godhead. But Christianity alone hath unfolded to us the true char¬ acter of God, and the intimate relation which binds us to Him as our Creator, our Preserver, our Benefactor, and above all, our Redeemer. And before we can rightly recognize the solemn obligations which arise out of these relations, and be¬ fore the whole current of our affections, in consequence of this recognition, can flow forth toward Him, this principle of love to God must be implanted in our hearts. The natural heart of man, instead of breathing love to the loving Jehovah, is enmity to God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Un¬ less an entire change then be wrought by God himself in the heart and soul and mind of man, the love of God cannot pos¬ sibly dwell in him. Hence the Apostle Paul teaches that “ The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us.” And the manner in which the Spirit produces this love in the soul, is by enabling us to recognize and believe the love of God in Christ Jesus. Thus we learn to love Him, be¬ cause He first loved us. The holiest Being in the universe takes the highest place in the Christian’s affections and as¬ similates him to His own likeness. We are so framed that it is a necessity of our nature to love. We must have some ob¬ ject on which to place our affections, and INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xlvi a celebrated writer, Madame de Stael, throws out the suggestion that probably the element of saddest anguish in the place of final torment will be the awful feeling that the lost soul has none to love, and none to be loved by. Our nature being thus formed to love, the Christian’s God comes forth with the demand, u Thou slialt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” None other can wholly engage the affections, none other can satisfy the desires of an immortal soul. God is in¬ finitely worthy to be loved. In Himself He is altogether lovely, nay, He is love itself, the essence, the source, the centre of love. This great duty would have been required of us though we had been sinless beings, and our duty in this respect remains the same even after we have sinned, for our sin changes neither the character of God nor His claim upon our affections and obedience. This heaven-born principle, supreme love to God, is the mainspring of the Christian’s moral conduct in the world. For if it be the first and great command¬ ment, u Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” the second is like unto it, a Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Every man is in one view distinct and separate from every other, and therefore each man has a distinct accountability. The natural advantages of men are widely different even from their very birth. To one man God hath given wealth, to an¬ other a powerful intellect, to another bodily strength, and all in different degrees. It is not true, therefore, as has sometimes been alleged, that in point of natural ad¬ vantages all men are born alike, and that the inequalities of man’s condition are to be traced to the perverse influences of our social state. Men are born on an equality, it is true, not, however, in respect of natural advantages, but in respect of na¬ tural right to use the advantages which an all-gracious Creator hath bestowed upon them. And there is an inherent principle in every man’s nature, self-love, which leads him to use these advantages as far as possible for the promotion of his own happiness. In this manner he loves himself. And Christianity makes this self-love a standard by which we are to regulate our conduct to our fellow-men, not restricting the word neighbour to any particular class of men, but as our Lord teaches us in the parable of the good Samaritan, giving it a range of meaning so wide as to comprehend even the alien and the enemy. Every man is our neigh¬ bour, and toward every man we must so act as to leave to him unviolated the right to iise his own natural advantages for the promotion of his own happiness. This principle, then, when minutely examined, resolves itself into the golden rule, “ What¬ soever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them;” and this rule | points out the manner in which the law of loving our neighbour as ourselves is to be applied in eveiy individual case. The standard is within us, easy of application, at all times and in all circumstances, and we have simply to suppose the condition of our neighbour as our own, and to apply the standard to that condition, and we shall have no difficulty in knowing how to act. Such a principle, if carried into operation both by individuals and com¬ munities, would avert injury at the outset, and lead us invariably to return good for evil, and blessing for cursing. In the case of the second, as well as in that of the first and great commandment, we may plainly perceive, that to fit us for obedi¬ ence to this pure and benevolent precept, we must be renewed in the spirit of our mind. In the unrenewed heart self-love has degenerated into selfishness, and therefore the very standard by which we would measure our neighbour’s rights has become perverted and erroneous. An en¬ tire change, therefore, must be effected by the Spirit of God in our own souls, before we can be prepared rightly to act toward our neighbour. The standard within must be regulated by the word of God without us, before it can be safely applied to the case of another. And hence every INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. true child of God, though under the in¬ dwelling operation of the Holy Spirit, rejoices in being able to say, “ Thy word is a light unto my feet, and a lamp unto my path.” It is well worthy of being noticed, that there appears a singular propriety in self¬ lovebeing selected as the principle by which Christianity would have us to regulate our conduct to our fellow-men. This is a strong impelling principle, and thus there is no danger in a well regulated mind, of benevolence or love to our neighbour ex¬ celling in degree our love to ourselves. The command is not to love our neigh¬ bour as much as ourselves, but as our¬ selves, pointing to the manner in which the love is exercised rather than the degree. We are enjoined to cherish and cultivate a love similar in kind rather than equally intense with that which we exercise toward ourselves. The very same God who hath issued the command, hath secured us by the very framework of our moral constitution against all possibility of excess. I cannot, neither am I com¬ manded, to love my neighbour better than myself, but if the balance in point of natural advantages should be even in the slightest degree in my favour, I am bound to see to it that, as far as lies in my pow¬ er, my neighbour’s comfort be promoted. On this principle an apostle puts the question, “ Whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have need, how dwelleth the love of God in him 1 ” These two great principles of true mo¬ rality, love to God and love to our neigh¬ bour, are the grand principles which lie at the foundation of the morality of the Christian system, and what better evi¬ dence could be adduced in favour of Christianity as a divine religion than the place which these principles occupy in its moral code ! “ On these two command¬ ments,” declares Christ himself, “hang all the law and the prophets.” In other words, the Old Testament, and by conse¬ quence the New, rest on these as the basis of their whole system. These are xlvii the foundation-truths, the essential ele¬ ments alike of Judaism and Christianity. No other religion enunciates them in the same connection, or professes to build its whole framework upon them as one har¬ monious system of consistent moral truths. Even the spiritual theology of the Chris¬ tian dispensation is simply an expansion of these two commandments. For what is either faith in Jesus Christ or repent¬ ance unto life but a most expressive mode of manifesting our cordial obedience to the command to love the Lord our God. For this is specially the commandment of Him whom we are commanded to love, “ That we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.” And no stronger proof could we give that we are strangers to the love of God than if we set at nought the great salvation. Not only in its fundamental elements, but in the whole of its moral precepts, Christianity is pure and holy like its Divine Author. The morality and the religion of the Bible are not only coherent and consistent; they are one and the same. “ This is the love of God that we keep his commandments.” There is no love to God without keeping His com¬ mandments, and there is no keeping His commandments without love to God. It is in regard to the principle of morality that moral philosophers have so egregi- ously erred. “ It is striking to observe,” says John Foster, “how small a portion of the ideas which distinguish the New Testament from other books many moral philosophers have thought indispensable to a theory in which they professed to in¬ clude the entire duty and interests of men. A serious reader is constrained to feel that there is either too much in that book or too little in theirs.” We agree to the latter alternative. Moral philosophers try to construct their systems of morality independently of Christianity and the Word of God; the consequence is that their theories want sti’ength, co¬ herence, and a solid substratum on which to rest. There are no sound ethical prin- INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. xlviii ciples but those which are recognized in the Christian system. There all is pure, lofty and immutable. The question oc¬ cupied for ages many a profound en¬ quirer, What is the summum bonum , the greatest good of man ? V arro tells us that previous to his time nearly three hundred different opinions had been held upon the point. Christianity has settled the question in one single sen¬ tence, “ Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Many and keen were the disputes, more especially among the Jew¬ ish writers, on the question — What is the greatest duty of man? This also has been answered definitively by Christian¬ ity in the announcement of the first and great commandment. Love to God, car¬ rying with it in its train love to man, is the all in all of Christian morality, the fulfilling of the whole law. The objection, however, has often been started to the Christian system that the place which morality occupies is such as deprives it of all its efficacy, inasmuch as it is made to follow, not to precede, our justification and acceptance with God. We do not, according to the teaching of the Bible, earn the favour of God by our good works, but justification is wholly of grace, being made to rest not upon our righteousness but upon the righteousness of Christ our surety. On this point we quote the following admirable remarks of Dr. Gardiner Spring: “If this is so, of what avail, it is asked, are all the moral virtues, and what encouragement have men to do the will of God? We need only reply to this, that the foundation of man’s acceptance and justification before God is one thing, and the character or moral condition in which he is justified is another. The foundation of his justifica¬ tion is the finished atonement, the obe¬ dience unto death of God’s eternal Son. The character, or moral condition in which he is justified, is that of a repentant sinner, an humble believer in Jesus Christ. But what is the faith which is thus the condition of his acceptance? Is j it a cold assent to the truths of the Gos¬ pel? Or is it a warm, vivifying senti¬ ment of the heart, working by love and putting all the powers of the soul into vigorous action in deeds of righteousness? 1 What doth it profit, though a man say he have faith and have not works?’ Do the Scriptures recognise any such faith as this, even though a man may say he have | it, and that it is the true faith ? 1 Can such a faith save him?’ Never. If it have not works, ‘it is dead, being alone.’ It is no faith. Works of righteousness are not merely the fruits of faith, but they enter into the nature of all the faith that lives, and breathes, and throws its ani¬ mating pulsations throughout his moral frame. So that the method of gratuitous justification by faith in the Son of God, instead of annihilating, confirms ; instead of diminishing, augments; and instead of countervailing, gives a new impulse to the primeval obligations and motives to moral virtue. i How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?’ Is this un¬ dermining the obligations to moral virtue ? ‘ Ye have been bought with a price, and that not of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot ; wherefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits, which are his.’ Is this diminish¬ ing the motives to moral virtue ? 1 The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they which live should not hence- i forth live unto themselves, but to him that died for them, and rose again.’ Is this weakening the force of moral obliga¬ tion ? ‘ Do we make void the law through faith? Yea, we establish the law.’ 4 This do, and thou shalt live ,’ is to the transgressor an impracticable con¬ dition. It is too late for a sinner to dream of being justified by deeds of law. But there is another law. 4 Believe, and thou shalt be saved.’ Under the first covenant, obedience secures salvation ; under the second, salvation secures obedi¬ ence. He 1 loves much who has much forgiven;’ and he only obeys who loves.” The argument we have thus far con¬ ducted in favour of the divine origin of the Christian system has been drawn from the subject viewed in two different lights, first, Christianity as compared with other religions in those points which belong to all religions ; and, secondly, Christianity viewed in what may be considered its dis¬ tinctive peculiarities. We feel, however, that an argument of this nature must necessarily be incomplete unless we can establish that in the actual results which it has accomplished it has shown itself to be a religion designed, and fitted to pro¬ mote, the best interests of the human family. It is not enough to show that the system is theoretically good, unless we can demonstrate also that it has proved itself to be practically beneficial. Like the works of nature, it proclaims with a loud voice that the hand which made it is divine. The doctrines which it teaches are full, pure and perfect, forming a system to which nothing can be added without debas¬ ing the spirit of the whole, and from which nothing can be taken away without im¬ pairing its just and fair proportions. The more Christianity is examined, the more does its excellence become manifest, and the more completely adapted is it seen to be to the state and condition of mankind. What more suitable to a fallen race than the plan of salvation which it discloses1? What more fitted to give relief to the sin- burdened soul than the glad tidings of great joy which it so freely proclaims? Other religions partake of a local and temporary character, but the religion of Christ is obviously designed for men of all ages and of all nations. “Philoso¬ phers,” says Dr. Olinthus Gregory, in his ‘ Letters on the Evidences of the Christi¬ an Religion,’ “ recommend the cultivation and diffusion of the sciences because of their tendency to sharpen the intellectual faculties of man and meliorate his condi¬ tion in society. With how much greater reason and earnestness then should Chris¬ tians recommend the dissemination and adoption of 1 pure and undefiled religion,’ considering its direct tendency to enlarge the understanding and yet fill it with the contemplation of Deity; to purify and harmonize the passions, to refine the moral sense, to qualify and strengthen for every function in life; to sustain under the pressure of affliction, to afford conso¬ lation in sickness, and enable us to tri¬ umph in death ! What other science can ever make a pretension to dethrone op¬ pression, to abolish slavery, to exclude war, to extirpate fraud, to banish violence, to revive the withered blossoms of para¬ dise ? Such are the pretensions and blessings of genuine Christianity, and wherever genuine Christianity prevails, they are experienced. Thus it accom¬ plishes its promises on earth where alone it has enemies ; it will therefore accom¬ plish them in heaven where its friends reign.” Of which of all the religions that have existed upon the earth can it be said with truth that it can stand the test of the in¬ quiry, — has the world been the better for it ? The reply is at hand, Christianity, and Christianity alone. Other religions have marched in triumph from nation to nation, propagated by fire and sword. But Christianity has made its silent, on¬ ward course, bearing the olive-branch of peace, spreading comfort and happiness all around. Destitute of every adventi¬ tious advantage, indebted for support to no secular arm, with no other recom¬ mendation but its own intrinsic excellence, the religion of Christ has shed its benign and heavenly influences on almost every part of the globe. Wherever it has found its way, blessings innumerable have fol¬ lowed in its train. — Multitudes once plunged in heathen darkness and super¬ stition, are now rejoicing in the light and life of the gospel. The moral transfor¬ mation thus wrought upon the face of society in those countries which have em¬ braced Christianity is palpable even to the INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. 1 most prejudiced unbeliever. Civilization has taken the place of savage barbarism. Freedom reigns where cruel despotism held her iron sway. The yoke of the oppressor has been broken. The degrad¬ ed idolater has been converted into the humble and devoted worshipper of the true God. Sanguinary laws have been abrogated; mild, peaceful, humane insti¬ tutions have been established. Literature and the arts are now eagerly and success¬ fully cultivated. Fivers have been opened in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. The wilderness has be¬ come a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. u Instead of the thorn has come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar has come up the myrtle -tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” In answer to all this, however, the in¬ fidel is wont to adduce the explicit de¬ claration of the Great Author of Christi¬ anity: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth : I come not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter - in - law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” Does not the author of this much-boasted re¬ ligion, says the unbeliever, assert plainly in these words that its effects will be dis¬ astrous, not beneficial to the human fami¬ ly ; that it will be the source of wars and contentions, not of peace upon the earth”? Undoubtedly he does. But to under¬ stand this statement of Christ, we must bear in mind a distinction of the ut¬ most importance — that which exists be¬ tween the tendency of a system, and the occasional effects of a system. — When the creation at first sprang from the hand of the Almighty, He pronounced it good, very good. Its original tendency and de¬ sign was only good. But no sooner did man fall into sin than the aspect of mat¬ ters, even in reference to the eternal world, became entirely changed. From that moment the whole creation has been groaning and travailing together in pain until now. The fallen creature, to whom was committed the dominion of the earth, has been uniformly converting that which is good in itself into the instrument and occasion of ten thousand evils. The gifts of God have been turned into weapons of rebellion against the Giver; the Provi- dence of God has been made the occasion of denying the high and holy attributes of Him who ruleth over all ; and what won¬ der is it if the Gospel of peace has been perverted by the evil passions of men into a source of strife and contention in families, in neighbourhoods, and large districts of the world? No animosity is deeper than that which has its origin in hatred to the truth, and no wars have been more fierce and bloody than those which have been miscalled religious wars. Christ, then, in the passage to which we have referred as frequently quoted by in¬ fidels, must be viewed as warning his apostles of the abuse which men will make of the very best gifts of God. Even His own coming, He declares, fraught though it was with blessings to a lost world, would be perverted into an occasion of evil by the very men whom he had come to save. No sooner would the truth be faithfully and fearlessly proclaimed, than the evil passions of man would rise in re¬ bellion against it; no sooner would the truth be received and cordially embraced by any individual, than he must straightway gird himself for a contest the keenest and the most persevering. The hatred which the ungodly world bears to the truth will be poured forth upon every man who steadfastly believes it. Nor will even the strongest earthly ties, those which are de¬ signed to bind together in harmony and love the members of the same family and household, prevent the outbreakings of this deadly enmity to the truth of God. Nay, such is the malignity which dwells in the unrenewed soul against God and godliness, that the closer the tie in such a case, the sti’onger the hatred. Let the child _ _ ~r | INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. li of ungodly parents have been converted by the resistless power of the Spirit of God? and instantly the yearnings of a father’s love, and the warm gushings of a mother’s fondness have been seen to give place to a hatred so virulent that the youthful fol¬ lower of Jesus has been rudely thrust from his father’s house and cast upon the cold charity of an unfeeling world. So true is it that while Jesus hath made peace by the blood of his cross, while peace hath been proclaimed upon earth and good will towards the children of men, Jesus has indeed “come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother.” But while such have been the occa¬ sional and accidental influences of the in¬ troduction of Christianity into a fallen world; it is no slight proof that the sys¬ tem comes from above, when, instead of seeking, like all false religions, to please the world, it follows out, with unfaltering steps, in the midst of all opposition of men and of devils, its one grand design of saving and restoring a ruined world. It might have been expected that a reli¬ gion which waged unflinching war against the passions and the prejudices, and even the ordinary maxims and manners of men, would not only have been persecuted and retarded in its progress, but speedily extir¬ pated from the earth. It was not so. This religion is of God, and therefore no created power can ever overthrow it. Christianity hath taken effectual root in the earth, and when we consider the hos¬ tility that has in all ages arrayed itself against it, we may well trace a striking proof of the divine origin of the system, in the remarkable and undeniable fact that it hath not only maintained its ground in the face of all opposition, but is silently yet surely advancing through¬ out the world. And wherever it is dif¬ fused its blessed effects are manifest, both upon individuals and communities. To what but to the leavening influence of Christianity are we indebted for the marked civilization and refinement which characterize nations professing to believe it ? What has any mere human system of religion ever done to promote the com¬ fort of men and the happiness of nations ? Human wisdom has tasked itself to pro¬ duce schemes of extensive improvement j with the view of enlightening and regen¬ erating the world. But after all that has j been devised and done, statesmen have yet to learn that the fundamental princi¬ ple of all good government lies in the maxim that “ righteousness exalteth a na¬ tion, and sin is a reproach to any people.” To promote the progress of Christianity in the earth is to employ the grand, the ap¬ pointed means of advancing the happiness of the human family both in time and through eternity. Shut up the Bible, abolish Christianity, and we know not whence can be obtained effectual comfort for man amid the sorrows and the trials of this brief span of time. Christianity sustains the soul in the hour of deepest affliction, and even when the very flesh and the heart begin to faint and to fail, Christianity enables its disciple to lift up the eye of faith to his Father in the heavens and to say — “ Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” The humanizing effects of the Christian religion were early apparent and obvi¬ ous to all. Paul tells us of its hallowed influence upon the primitive Christians, when after enumerating “ idolaters, effe¬ minate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, re- vilers, extortioners,” he adds, “and such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Similar have been its effects in all ages wherever it has been known and received. The change thus produced in any individual soul affords, where the soul is conscious of it, a strong, an irrefragable testimony, that the religion which produced it is from God. “ Come see a man,” exclaimed the woman of Sa¬ maria in reference to Jesus, after she had conversed with him at the well, “ Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ?” This self-evidencing power of the truth is the privilege of every believer, and ever and anon, as he makes progress in the divine life, this powerful convincing evidence be¬ come^ stronger and stronger. He per¬ ceives that Christianity depicts his natural character in the very light in which he himself has been led to see it, and de¬ scribes the Spirit’s work in the soul pre¬ cisely as he himself has felt it. Every step he advances in his heavenward jour¬ ney he is refreshed by the clear perception of a most beautiful and consistent har¬ mony between the statements of Christian truth and the facts and phenomena of his own experience. Thus he is able to say of Christianity in language analogous to that which the woman used concerning Christ, “ Behold a system of religion that tells me all that I have ever done, all that I have ever felt, all that I have ever known ; is not this system the very truth of God? Let any other man deny it, I never can. I have the witness in myself that Christianity is of God.” To this view of the religion of Christ as exerting a transforming influence upon individuals and societies of men, the ob¬ jection has sometimes been started by the infidel that the progress of the gospel is slow, and that a remedy of more rapid and powerful effect, one which would have eradicated the disease, suddenly and in a moment, would have afforded a readier a more striking proof of the skill and capacity of the Great Physician. In reply to such an objection, we would hint to the infidel that we have no right to found an argument on what God might have done, but must from the very nature of the case be limited to what he has done. But passing from this preliminary demurring to an argument of this kind as against Christianity, we have no hesita¬ tion in admitting that it was quite in the power of the Almighty to have accom¬ plished the restoration of the human family to His own favour and image by the express and immediate fiat of His will without the co-operation of any means whatever; but the very fact that he has not done so is a strong presump¬ tion that the adoption of the means sug¬ gested by the objector was not consis¬ tent with the great purposes of Infinite Wisdom. And not only so, but we are happily in a condition to turn the very objection itself into an argument in fa¬ vour of the divine origin of Christianity. For is not this very slowness of operation one of the elements which the great author of Christianity Himself predicted would characterize His gospel? What are His own words : “ Another parable spake he unto them ; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a wo¬ man took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” In this parable Jesus plainly likens Christi¬ anity to leaven hid in meal operating slowly yet surely, silently yet powerfully. The process of leavening with the grace of God, whether in the case of individuals or communities, we are here taught, on the best of all authority, will be tardy but certain in its effects. The whole lump will in due time be leavened. “We are renewed,” not suddenly, and all at once, but gradually and without fail, “renewed in the whole man after the image of God.” And this is true not only of the work of grace in the individual soul, but of the diffusion of the gospel in the world. The work of evangelization is progress¬ ing slowly, but we may rest assured that God’s promise will be fulfilled in his own time. “As I live, saith the Lord, the whole earth shall be filled with my glory.” If the religion of Christ be thus accom¬ plishing its great design in the very man¬ ner predicted by Christ himself, is there not in this very fact, instead of, as the in¬ fidel would have it, an argument against, a powerful and effective argument rather in favour of, its divine origin ? It were no difficult matter to show, rea¬ soning from the ordinary mode of the Divine procedure, that by a slow and gradual operation the gospel will best Hi INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. accomplish its grand object, the pre¬ paration of man for a state of perpetual and unchangeable bliss. On this sub¬ ject Dr. Inglis, in his able 1 Vindication of Christian Faith,’ makes the follow¬ ing judicious and conclusive remarks: “ A sudden restoration to the perfec¬ tion and bliss, which we had lost, might have an effect similar to what is pro¬ duced by the indulgence of a fond but injudicious earthly parent towards a child who is ever offending and ever for¬ given, without being rendered duly hum¬ ble for his past folly and presumption. But the discipline, through which Chris¬ tians have to pass in this world, — the various troubles which here accrue to us from the present disordered state of our moral frame, and the imperfect success of our best endeavours to recover the perfec¬ tion and happiness of our nature, — are well calculated to correct every tendency to that proud and froward spirit, with which we are so unhappily infected, and even to clothe us with humility — with that per¬ manent character of humility, which ap¬ pears so essential to a future state of permanent perfection and bliss.” And again, viewing the same objection in still another aspect, the same author adds: “Though the Divine Being still looked upon us with the pity and the distinguish¬ ing love of a father, — such an immediate restoration as it was, no doubt, in his power to accomplish, might have been inconsistent with the natural means of impressing us with such a sense of its value as to qualify us for a permanent and unchangeable state. If we must now be taught more highly to value, and more duly to maintain, that conformity to the Divine Image to which we shall yet be restored, any recovery of our disordered frame, produced without labour and dif¬ ficulty on our part, could but little operate as a natural mean of advancing this design of Heaven. But, left for a time to feel and lament the prevalence of indwelling sin, — stimulated by the strongest motives to contend against its power, — deriving liii from Heaven such measures of Divine aid, as serve to cherish our hopes and invigorate our endeavours, but never in this world completely to fulfil our wishes, — strug¬ gling, therefore, with the weakness of our nature, and slowly advancing in our arduous Avork, — yet at length attaining, by the grace of God, the whole object of our unwearied desire in the blessed man¬ sions above, — we shall never account our¬ selves able to value, sufficiently, that per¬ fection and bliss to Avhich Ave are restored, — we shall never forfeit or lose our renewed possession.” But no sooner do Ave set aside one objec¬ tion, than straightAvay the infidel puts forth another. The fact is, that the rejec¬ tion of Christianity by unbelie\rers arises not so much from the state of the under¬ standing as from the state of the heart. Infidelity in its true character is moral rather than intellectual. True, arguments are addressed to him in favour of the Divine origin of Christianity, but, hoAvever strong, and even apparently irresistible, these arguments may be, he shuts his eyes upon the light, and deliberately surrenders him¬ self to the full influence and melancholy effects of a state of spiritual darkness. In this he is chargeable Avith a perversion of intellect which is culpable in the extreme; and yet his criminality lies deeper than in any mere abuse of his reasoning powers; it is to be traced to the moral habits and actions of the man. That our perception of truth, whether in its real meaning or its true excellence and value, is affected to a great extent by our moral character, no one acquainted with the ordinary Avorkings of the human intellect can possibly deny. But this is more especially the case in regard to Avhat is called Moral Truth. Hence the remarkable declaration of our Saviour, “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, he shall knoAv of the doctrine whether it be of God.” The responsibility of man for his belief or disbelief of Divine truth is founded on the fact that his moral is strictly and indissolubly connected with his intellectual nature, and it is at his 9 INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. liv peril, therefore, if, through self-induced obliquity of mind, he shall reject the evi¬ dence in favour of Christianity and be¬ come ensnared in the mazes of a reckless infidelity. Unbelief is not, as some would try to persuade themselves, a mere error in judgment; it is a moral crime, and that too accompanied with greater aggravations than any other. The evidence in favour of Christianity is strong. “ There is light enough,” says Pascal, “ for those who sincerely wish to see,” but he adds in words of great significance, “ There is darkness enough for those of an opposite description.” Moral evidence, however powerful, is in no case entirely irresistible. Though we could succeed in convincing a man, by dint of argument alone, that Chris¬ tianity was of God, still if the native enmity of the heart to the truth were un¬ subdued he would no doubt fall back upon one plausible objection after another in excuse for his unbelief. His infidelity lies deeper than in the mere processes of mind; it lies hid, yea, hid even it may be from his own consciousness, amid the emotions and feelings and desires of the heart. It is not a mere speculative denial of truth, the evidence of which has been carefully and candidly examined, but a moral aversion to the truth which refuses to examine, and therefore will not be con¬ vinced. Hence arises the necessity of the Spirit’s operation in opening the eyes to a clear perception of the truth and the excellence of Christianity. Were the reception of Christianity a purely intel¬ lectual act, we would put the man upon his own resources, but being fundamentally a moral act dependent on the state of the heart as well as of the understanding, we must look upward for the direction of a supernatural agency which can reform and renovate the heart, for, in strict accord¬ ance with this view of the subject, it is declared by an Apostle: “The natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.” These remarks on the nature and origin of infidelity are peculiarly appropriate in closing our argument in proof of the Divine origin of the Christian system drawn from the internal character of the system itself, more especially as being de¬ signed to operate with salutary effect upon individuals and communities. Such an argument supposes obviously, in order to its right appreciation, a sound moral con¬ dition on the part of the man to whom it is addressed. Without this, neither its meaning nor force would be understood or felt. The reasoning throughout the whole of this second part of our Introduc¬ tory Dissertation is decidedly moral in its nature. It treats of Christianity as a moral system, and on its decided superiority to all other systems of morality we have founded a confident appeal in favour of its divinity. Its palpable adaptation to the moral nature of man, we have put forward as an irrefragable proof that it could only have sprung from man’s Crea¬ tor. We have carefully tested other re¬ ligions in reference to the points which we might naturally be authorized in expect¬ ing every religion to possess; and in these points we have found all of them want¬ ing. Christianity alone has stood every one of the tests applied, and has thus vindicated its claim to a complete superi¬ ority to all other religious systems. As a religion simply, and in points common to it with all religions, it bears away the palm of honour as being the religion which contains, in the highest degree of purity and excellence, all that we conceive a religion ought to contain. Not only, however, have we compared Christianity with the other leading religious systems which have prevailed upon the earth ; we have made a rigid examination of Chris¬ tianity itself, in its characteristic doctrines and precepts, scrutinizing narrowly those points which may be termed its peculiar¬ ities. The result of this minute investiga¬ tion has been that we have found each of these special and peculiar points stamped with the impress of Divinity. Here the argument might have come to a close; INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION. lv but in such a case it might have been regarded as imperfect. To render it com¬ plete, therefore, we have followed up the theoretical with the practical aspect of the matter. Having pointed out what Chris¬ tianity is , both as compared with other re¬ ligions, and in its own peculiar doctrines and precepts, we have also endeavoured to point out what Christianity has done, tracing its practical effects upon the hearts and consciences, the character and con¬ duct of men, both as individuals and social masses. These effects we have found to be such as we might expect to arise from the promulgation of a heaven-born system of religion. What then is the conclusion to which we are irresistibly brought by the whole argument? It is simply this, that Chris¬ tianity, and Christianity alone, is A RELIGION WHICH HAS COME FROM God. ' - A (y1 M \^®Q£°eie.&L./ ■ THE CHRISTIAN CYCLOPEDIA, A the simplest of all sounds, and therefore nsed as j the first letter in almost all alphabets. In the Hebrew language it is called Aleph ; in the Greek, Alpha. It is probable that the power of this letter, in ancient times, was that of an unaspirated H; or, in other wrords, used for the purpose of enouncing the vowel following it, without any audible aspiration. This, indeed, is the opinion of the Jews generally, and of all who read Hebrew with the vowel points. In Arabic, Aleph is used to designate any vowel constitut¬ ing or beginning a syllable. But whatever may have been the original use of the letter Aleph , it came in process of time to designate one of the most frequent sounds in all languages. Both the Hebrews and Greeks used their letters as numerals. Hence A {Aleph) came to signify the first; as did also Alpha, a distinguishing title assumed by our Lord. Thus, in Rev. i. 8, “ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saitlr the Lord;” — ver. 11, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” Nearly the same expressions occur in Rev. xxi. 6, and xxii. 13. This was a mode of expression not unfrequent among the Jews, and it is evidently employed by our Lord to indicate the perfection of his nature, as being not only eternal and underived in so far as his own exist¬ ence is concerned, but the source of existence to all other beings. It was probably to denote the high reverence entertained for the Lord Jesus, and their entire dependence upon him, as the beginning and the end, the source and the consummation of all their hopes, that the primitive Christians were wont to inscribe upon their tombs the letters Alpha and Omega ; thus adopting a most significant symbol to distinguish their tombs from those of idolaters. AARON, the son of Amram and Jochebed, the grandson of Levi, and the brother of Moses. It was from this remarkable man that the Jewish high priest¬ hood had its origin ; and accordingly, we find its cha¬ racteristic, as described by the Apostle Paul, to have been, that it was after the order of Aaron. The ety¬ mological derivation of the name is by no means ap¬ parent. Being three years older than his brother Moses, he was bom some time before the cruel edict was issued by Pharaoh for the destruction of the Hebrew male infants. Not a single incident is re¬ corded in Scripture of the early history of Aaron, nor, indeed, until his marriage to Elisheba, the daugh¬ ter of Amminadab, by whom he had four sons, — Na- dab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. He was selected by the Almighty to assist his brother Moses in the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage; and, from his eloquence, he was appointed to plead with the Egyptian ruler the cause of his poor op¬ pressed countrymen, and to denounce those fearful judgments which Jehovah was pleased to execute by the hand of Moses. For a time the heart of Pharaoh was hardened against the arguments of Aaron, as well as the miracles of Moses. But at length the efforts of God’s faithful servants were successful, and the Israelites were led forth from the land of bond¬ age under the immediate protection of Jehovah, who had rescued them with a strong hand and a stretched- out ami. Moses and Aaron were the leaders of the Israelitish host in their journeying through the wil¬ derness ; and we find it declared, that on one solemn occasion, when Moses was absent on the mount, re¬ ceiving the law from the hand of God, Aaron was guilty, in accordance with the wishes of the people, of making and setting up a molten calf, as an object of idolatrous worship. Accustomed as the Israelites had been, when in Egypt, to witness, and perhaps on some occasions to participate in, the grossest forms of idolatry, some excuse might perhaps be found for the clamorous demand on the part of the ignorant among them ; but, instead of yielding to their im¬ portunate desires, it certainly might have been ex¬ pected that Aaron would have resisted, and firmly reproved their idolatrous' propensities. It was not so, however. He aided and encouraged the people in their heinous transgression ; and had not Moses stood in the breach, Aaron and the whole army of the Israelites would have perished by the hand of the Lord. As it was, three thousand fell by the sword ; the tribe of Levi, which seems to have stood aloof from the horrid sin, being employed as the instruments for the destruction of their brethren. Aaron repented of his sin, and was restored to the favour and friendship of God. He was ordained to the office of high priest, and that sacred office was limited to his family ; although two of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, proved themselves very unworthy of the high distinction. In tracing the history of Aaron, we find him, along with his sister, Miriam, guilty of rebelling against Moses, and claiming an authority equal to his. The Almighty, in vindication of his servant, smote Mi¬ riam with leprosy ; and although, for reasons which seemed good to the All-wise, Aaron was exempted from this disease, he was far from escaping punish¬ ment, a similar rebellion having been raised against himself, by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with their followers, amounting to two hundred and fifty persons. On this last occasion the judgment of God was remarkably displayed, — the leading conspirators having been swallowed up by an earthquake, and their followers consumed by fire from heaven. In con- A AARONITES— ABANA. 2 sequence of this same conspiracy a pestilence was sent among the people, destroying multitudes, and threat¬ ening to destroy multitudes more, had not Aaron, by his intercession, prevailed with God, and the plague was forthwith stayed. In memorial of this event, the censers offered by Korah and his company were made broad plates for a covering of the altar, that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense unto the Lord. And besides, the princes of the different tribes were commanded to bring their rods, or sceptres, to Moses, with their names inscribed upon them. Aaron’s name was writ¬ ten upon the rod of Levi ; and all the rods were laid up in the ark of the congregation, before the testimony. Next morning, Aaron’s rod “was budded, and brought forth buds, and blossomed blossoms, and yielded al¬ monds.” At the command of Moses this rod was laid up before the testimony, in token of God’s obvious in¬ terposition in vindication of his anointed high priest. Aaron was also implicated in the sin of Moses at the waters of Meribah. The people murmured for want of water at the wilderness of Sin. Moses and Aaron were commanded to speak to the rock, and water would gush forth. Instead of speaking to the rock, however, they spoke to the people, saying, “ Must we fetch you water out of this rock?” and struck the rock, as if triumphantly glorying in their power, and forgetting that the glory of this, and every other wonderful work, is due only to the Lord. It was on account of this sin that Aaron, as well as his brother, was prevented from entering the promised land. He survived this prohibition only one year, when the Almighty having commanded him to come up to mount Hor, he was there divested of his priestly robes, which were put upon his son Eleazar. Aaron then expired upon the mountain, at the age of one hundred and twenty-three, and was buried there. It might perhaps be useful to mention some parti¬ culars in reference to the history and character of Aaron, which point him out as an eminent type of Christ ; but his official distinction, as the first High Priest of Israel, being the chief, if not the only, ground on which the typical resemblance rests, this point falls to be considered under that article. AARONITES, Levites of the family of Aaron, of whom Eleazar was the chief. To them was com¬ mitted the charge of the sanctuary. These appear at one time to have been a very numerous body ; for we find them mentioned in I Chron. xiii. 27, among the bands that came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, as amounting to no fewer than three thousand and seven hundred. AB, the eleventh month of the civil year among the Jews, and the fifth month of their ecclesiastical year. It has thirty days, and corresponds with part of our July and August. On the 1st day of this month a fast is held by the Jews, on account of the death of Aaron, the high priest ; and on the 9th another fast is observed, in commemoration of the destruc¬ tion of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and of the second by the Romans ; which, according to Josephus, occurred on the same day. ABADDON (Hebrew, corresponding to Apollyon, Greek, and signifying Destroyer), the angel of the bot¬ tomless pit, and king over the symbolical locusts. Rev. ix. 11. (See Locust.) There is considerable difference among commentators in expounding this passage. Some explain it as denoting Satan. Le Clerc, Grotius, and Hammond, interpret these locusts of the zealots and robbers who, under John of Gis- chala, desolated Judea, before the destruction of Jerusalem. But Mr Mede remarks, that the title Abaddon alludes to Obodas, the common name of the ancient monarchs of that part of Arabia from which Mahomet came ; and considers the passage as descriptive of the inundation of the Arabians or Saracens, under Mahomet and his successors. Mr Lowman, and after him Bishop Newton, adopts and confirms this interpretation. He shows that the rise and progress of the Mahometan religion and empire exhibit a signal accomplishment of this prophecy. All the circumstances correspond to the character of the Arabians, and the history of the period that ex¬ tended from a.d. 612 to a.d. 762, being five prophetic months, or one hundred and fifty years. The title of Destroyer, given to their king, was peculiarly suitable to a succession of caliphs, who, in propagating the Mahometan imposture by fire and sword, destroyed at once both the bodies and the souls of men ; and seemed to be the visible representatives of Satan himself, who was “ a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth.” John viii. 44. An opinion is advanced by many expositors of this passage, that by the locusts are to be understood the various orders of the Romish clergy ; and by their king Abaddon, the Romish pontiff, as the head of that corrupt hierarchy. But, on a careful considera¬ tion of the whole passage, we are inclined to coincide in sentiment with those who consider Mahomet as here called the angel or messenger of the bottomless pit. He was emphatically the Destroyer, for innumer¬ able are the multitudes who have perished under the fatal influence of his delusions. There are sup¬ posed to be one hundred and forty millions of Maho¬ metans upon the earth ; and when we consider that more than twelve hundred years have elapsed since this system of error was first promulgated, we may well recognise in the Arabian deceiver the great Abaddon or Apollyon, the destroyer of the souls and bodies of men. ABAGTIIA, one of the seven chamberlains of king Ahasuerus, mentioned in Esther i. 10. Nothing further is known concerning this individual. ABANA and PHARPAR, rivers of Damascus, in Syria. The name Abana is formed from Aben, a stone. This name may appear significant when it is known that the Abana is probably that branch of the Barrady, or (as the Greeks called it) Chrysorrhoas, which inns through the city. The Pharpar, there is reason to believe, is not the Orontes, as some have supposed, but another branch of the Barrady, which watered the gardens without the walls of Damascus. The Barrady itself, according to Maundrell, springs from the foot of Mount Lebanon, or Libanus, east¬ ward. Its name seems derived from the refreshing coolness and purity of its waters. The river Barrady at present divides itself into three branches, of which the middle one, Abana, runs through the middle of Damascus ; and the other two run on either side of the city. It is probable that when Naaman the Syrian used the indignant lan¬ guage, “ Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Da¬ mascus, better than all the waters of Israel ? may I not wash in them and be clean ?” (2 Kings v. 12) he had in view the numerous and important advantages which Damascus derived from the streams of the Barrady. The proud soldier was enraged that the prophet should issue so simple a command as to go and wash in Jordan seven times — just as if there were not streams in his own native land which might have ABARIM— ABBEY. proved far more efficacious in healing the leprosy. He simply viewed the act of washing in Jordan as a means of cure, without adverting to the all-important circumstance, that it was God’s appointed means, and deriving all its efficacy from him alone. ABARIM, a range of mountains in the land of Moab, between the rivers Ai-non and Jordan. One part of these mountains was called Nebo and Pisgah. That these were not two separate ridges, but names for two different portions of the same ridge, is indi¬ cated by these words, “ And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho.” Deut. xxxiv. 1 . It is very probable, from this de¬ scription, that Pisgah was the highest peak of mount Nebo, belonging, to a range of mountains termed Abariin. Wells, in his ‘Historical Geography,’ states that Eusebius and Jerome mention the names of Abarim and mount Nebo as both of them in use in their time. Nebo is chiefly remarkable as the spot where Moses died. Dr Milman, in his ‘ History of the Jews,’ describes, in the following graphic language, the splendid prospect which Moses en¬ joyed from mount Pisgah : — “ From the top of mount Abarim, or Nebo (the former of which names may, perhaps, be traced in Djebel Attarous, the highest point in the district), the lawgiver, whose eyes were not yet dimmed, and who had suffered none of the infirmities of age, might survey a large tract of country. To the right lay the mountain pastures of Gilead, the romantic district of Bashan ; the windings of Jordan might be traced along its broad and level valley, till, almost beneath his feet, it flowed into the Dead Sea. To the north spread the luxuriant plains of Esdraelon ; the more hilly, yet fruitful country of Lower Galilee. Right opposite stood the city of Jericho, embowered in its groves of palms ; beyond it, the mountains of Judea, rising- above each other till they reached the sea. Gazing on this magnificent prospect, — beholding, in prophetic anticipation, his great and happy commonwealth oc¬ cupying its numerous towns and blooming fields, — Moses breathed his last. The place of his burial was unknown ; lest, perhaps, the impious gratitude of his followers might ascribe divine honours to his name, and assemble to worship at his sepulchre.” ABBA, an Aramaean or Syriac word of endear¬ ment, signifying My Father, it is often applied to God. David Levi, in his ‘Lingua Sacra,’ derives it from a root denoting desire, delight, complacency, satis¬ faction. The learned Selden has proved, from the ‘ Babylonian Gemara,’ that a slave or menial servant was not permitted to employ this appellation in ad¬ dressing the ah, — that is, the lord and head of the family ; because it was indicative of the closest re¬ lationship and the tenderest reciprocal affection. Its use was restricted to such as sustained this intimate relationship, and was regarded as the appropriate language of children, whether by birth or adoption. Its use in the New Testament seems to correspond exactly with the facts here stated. It is employed by our Lord himself during his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, “when he offered up prayers and sup¬ plications, with strong crying and tears,” and “ said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee ; take away this cup from me : nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” Mark xiv. 36. What filial adoration, submission, tenderness, confidence, breathe in these words ! So, when recounting to the Roman and Galatian Churches the peculiar privileges of those 3 in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells, the apostle de¬ scribes this as their peculiar distinction, above such as still continue slaves to sin, or in the bondage of a legal state, that through that Spirit they cry, “ Abba, Father!” In other words, true believers address God in a language of filial love and confidence, cor¬ responding to that new and endearing relation which they sustain as “ children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Hence it appears that all Christians, by vir¬ tue of their relation to God in Christ, are authorised to employ this language of filial hope and tenderness in their approaches to their heavenly Father. “ Be¬ cause they are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” This is the cry, the tender, affectionate, loving cry, of a true child of God. “ This feeble crying,” to use the language of Luther, “ is a mighty noise in the ears of God, and so filleth heaven and earth that God heareth nothing else ; for it drowneth the cries of all other things whatsoever.” It has been observed, that the title “ Abba” was not allowed to be used by slaves when addressing the head of the family, this privilege being reserved for the children ; and thus we may perceive a peculiar force and beauty in the apostle adverting to this, as a characteristic of the redeemed family of God. They feel a peculiar, childlike con¬ fidence in approaching their reconciled Father. The feeling, of bondage and restraint is removed, and “ they have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they can cry, Abba, Father.” The word Abba, in after ages, came to be used in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic Churches, as a title given to their bishops. The bishops themselves be¬ stow the title “Abba” more eminently upon the bishop of Alexandria ; which gave occasion for the people to call him Baba, or Papa, — that is, grandfather • a title which he bore before the bishop of Rome. From this word is obviously derived the English title of Abbot, given to the superior of an abbey. ABBE', a term, when used in a monastic sense, equivalent to the title Abbot (which see). When used in a modern sense, the word is used to indicate a class of men in France, who, before the French Revolution, were possessed of considerable weight. They had devoted themselves to the study of theo¬ logy, in the hope of obtaining from the king a share in the revenues of a monastery. They were men, in general, possessed of considerable literary attain¬ ments, and contrived to acquire no small influence in society. Since the Revolution, towards the end of the eighteenth century, the order to which we now refer, though still employed as public and pri¬ vate instructors of youth, are no longer viewed with the same respect as formerly. ABBESS, the superior or ruler of a convent of nuns. She possesses the same authority as that whick is exercised by an abbot over the monks belonging to his monastery. ABBEY, a monastery to which the deluded vo¬ taries of popish superstition sometimes retire, with the professed view of shutting themselves out from the vanities and follies of the world, and devoting them¬ selves exclusively to exercises of devotion. These religious houses, as they are termed, are under the authority of an abbot or abbess, who has full power to enforce all the regulations of the institution, how¬ ever stringent. Previous to the Reformation, abbeys abounded both in England and Scotland, and they generally succeeded in procuring grants of the richest lands in the whole country. Thus both the State ABBOT— ABEDNEGO. 4 and the nobility were impoverished, to enrich these receptacles for idle and profligate monks or nuns. In describing the state of religion in Scotland before the Reformation, Dr M£Crie remarks, in his ‘ Life of Knox,’ — “ Through the blind devotion and munifi¬ cence of princes and nobles, monasteries, those nur¬ series of superstition and idleness, had greatly multi¬ plied in the nation ; and though they had universally degenerated, and were notoriously become the haunts of lewdness and debauchery, it was deemed impious and sacrilegious to reduce their number, abridge their privileges, or alienate their funds. The kingdom swarmed with ignorant, idle, luxurious monks, who, like locusts, devoured the fruits of the earth, and filled the air with pestilential infection, — with Friars, white, black, and grey ; Canons regular and of St An¬ thony, Carmelites, Carthusians, Cordeliers, Domini¬ cans, Franciscan conventuals and observantines, Ja¬ cobins, Premonstratensians, Monks of Tyrone and of Vallis Caulium, and Hospitallers, or Holy Knights of St John of Jerusalem ; Nuns of St Austin, St Clair, St Scholastica, and St Catherine of Sienna ; with Canonesses of various clans.” If such was the state of Scotland before these nests of corruption were removed by the Reformation, England was in an equally deplorable condition. At length light be¬ gan to shine upon the benighted land. Henry VIII. instituted an inquiry into the state of matters in the monasteries ; and the exposure was such, that the whole system was brought to an end. The Crown became possessed of the abbey lands, and grants were made of many of them to various noble families. The suppression of the monasteries in both ends of the island was the natural effect of the introduction of the pure doctrines of the Reformation. It was no longer accounted either a privilege or a duty for a man to bury his talents in the earth, and, instead of seeking to benefit his fellow-men, to flee like a coward from the duties of his station, and render himself ut¬ terly useless, and a cumberer of the ground. At the same time, these institutions, though in a religious point of view utterly indefensible, were, in the dark ages, the store-houses of literature, and the seminaries where alone knowledge could be procured. Valuable books and national records in these turbulent days were generally lodged in monasteries, as in safe places. The monks, many of them though professedly devoted to religious exercises alone, spent their whole time in literary pursuits, — transcribing manuscripts, keep¬ ing careful records of passing events, and comparing and storing up the histories of former days. Thus it is that much valuable knowledge has been preserved which would otherwise have been lost ; and these very institutions, which had their origin in a distorted view of religion, were overruled by a gracious and all-wise Providence as means, to some ext ent, of good. They were hospitals for the sick and poor, and served as places of entertainment, when there were no inns. They were also asylums for aged and indigent per¬ sons of good family. (See Monachism.) ABBOT, the chief ruler of a monastery or abbey. Originally a name applied to every aged monk, but after the eighth century it was applied to the chief ruler. At first they were laymen, and subject to the bishop and ordinary pastors. Their monasteries being remote from cities, and built in the furthest solitudes, they had no share in ecclesiastical affairs ; but there being among them several persons of learning, they were called out of the deserts by the bishops, and fixed in the suburbs of the cities, and at length in the cities themselves. From that time they degenerated, and learning to be ambitious, aspired to be indepen¬ dent of the bishops, which occasioned some severe laws to be made against them. At length, however, the abbots 'carried their point, and obtained the title oi lord, with other badges of the episcopate, particularly the mitre. Hence arose new distinctions among: them. Those were termed mitred abbots who were privileged to wear the mitre, and exercise episcopal authority within their respective precincts, being exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishop. Others were called crosiered abbots, from their bearing the crosier, or pastoral staff. Others were styled oecumenical or universal abbots, in imitation of the patriarch of Con¬ stantinople ; while others were termed cardinal ab¬ bots, from their superiority over all other abbots. At present, in the Roman Catholic countries, the chief distinctions are those of regular and commendatory. The former take the vow and wear the habit of their order ; whereas the latter are seculars, though they are obliged by their bulls to take orders when of proper age. Since the Revolution, when the abbeys became national property, abbots have diminished in France ; but they still abound in Italy, where young scholars are called abbots, merely from having under¬ gone the tonsure, though not in orders. ABDA. A person of this name is mentioned in 1 Kings iv. 6, as being the father of Adoniram, whom Solomon appointed over the tribute. Another of the same name appears, from Neh. xi. 17, to have been one of the Levites employed in the service of the second temple, after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. ABDON, one of twenty- two large cities belonging to the tribe of Asher, which occupied the north-west province of Palestine. It was one of the four cities assigned as a residence to the Levites of the family of Gershom, as mentioned in Josh. xxi. 30. Abdon was also the name of the tenth judge of Israel, who lived about 1160 b. c. He judged Israel eight years. Nothing is recorded of him, except that he had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode upon seventy asses’ colts. Another person of the name of Abdon is recorded as being one of those whom Josiah sent to Huldah the prophetess, to in¬ quire of the Lord how he and his people were to avoid the punishments written in the book of the law. ABEDNEGO, the Chaldean name given to Aza- riah, one of the three noble Hebrew youths, who, animated by an unshaken attachment to the true religion, refused to render homage to the idol of Nebuchadnezzar, in the plain of Dura. They were therefore cast into the fiery furnace, heated, through the wrath of the tyrant, seven times hotter than usual. The splendid miracle by which it pleased God to honour this consistent and fearless piety, together with its powerful effect upon the mind of the Chal¬ dean monarch, is recorded in the third chapter of Daniel. Azariah is supposed by some to have been the same with Ezra ; but this opinion is by no means probable, Ezra not having sprung from the royal line of Judah, but having been a priest of the tribe of Levi. There is a circumstance connected with the change of name, which is worthy of attention. It has been thought that the motive of the Chaldeans in giving the new name, was, in fact, more religious than political. The Hebrew and the Chaldee lan¬ guages were very similar. The Chaldeans perfectly understood the Hebrew names ; and they knew also how tenacious Hebrew parents were to give names ABEL— ABESTA. to their children, which bear some relation to Jeho¬ vah, the god of their fathers. (See Daniel — Shad- RACH - N EBOCHADNEZZAR.) ABEL. The second son of Adam and Eve, born probably very shortly after the fall of man and his banishment from Eden. Ilis name, which signifies vanity or mourning , was singularly appropriate to the period of his birth, as well as to the melancholy events of his history. The occupation which he fol¬ lowed was that of a shepherd, while his brother Cain, like their father, was a tiller of the ground. Trained by their parents to the worship of God after the newly appointed mode of sacrifice, we are informed that “ in process of time,” or, as it is often rendered, “ at the end of days,’’ both the brothers presented an offering to the Lord, Cain bringing “ of the fruit of the ground,” and Abel “ the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.” The result of their respective acts of worship is mentioned, Gen. iv. 4—7. Whence these different results ? The Apostle Paul expressly in¬ forms us where the difference of the two sacrifices lay — “ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” We are not informed in what manner the Lord manifested his acceptance of the sacrifice, but not improbably it might be as in after times by fire from heaven. The result, however, was that Cain, instead of being humbled by the non- acceptance of his offering, was “ very wroth, and his countenance fell.” He envies his brother — is enraged against him — and slays him. Thus, about the year of the world 130, was Abel murdered, the first in the long line of martyrs who have fallen as victims to the perse¬ cuting intolerance and bigotry, and ruthless unrelent¬ ing cruelty and rage of the seed of the serpent.” Abel (mourning), sometimes called The Field of Joshua, a place near Beth-shemesh, a city in the tribe of Judah, which belonged to the priests. The name of Abel was given to the place by the Israelites, on account of the mourning which took place when mul¬ titudes were struck dead for looking into the ark. On that occasion a great stone was raised, in comme¬ moration of that melancholy event, which was called “ Abel the Great.” Abel (the plain) , a prefix to several Hebrew names. Thus, — 1. Abel-beth-Maaciiah, or plain of the temple of Maachah ; the same as Abel, or Abila, a city in the tribe of Manasseh, north-west of Damascus, between Libanus and Antilibanus. According to other geo¬ graphers, and probably with greater correctness, it is regarded as a city belonging to the tribe of Naph- tali, on the north of Palestine. It was to this city that Sheba fled (2 Sam. xx. 13-22), to escape from the soldiers of David ; and the inhabitants, afraid that the place would be besieged on his account, cut off his head, and threw it over the wall. About eighty years afterwards it was taken and ravaged by Ben- hadad, and, long after, by Tiglath-pileser, by whom its inhabitants were carried captive into Syria. It was subsequently rebuilt, and became the capital of the tetrarchy of Abilene, under the government of Lysanias. Luke iii. 1. Josephus calls it Abel-Ma- cliea. (See Abila.) 2. Abel-Keramim, or the plain of the vineyards, originally a village of the Ammonites, situated, ac¬ cording to Eusebius, six Homan miles north-west of Philadelphia, or Eabbath- Ammon ; the ruins of which village were discovered by the traveller Burck- hardt. The same writer mentions another place as bearing the same name, situated beyond the Jordan, twelve miles east of Gadara. The ruins of the latter are still extant. 3. Abel-Maim, the same as Abel-beth-Maachah. 1 Kings xv. 20 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 4. 4. Abel-Meiiolah (the place of dancing), the birth¬ place of Elisha. It is said by Eusebius to have been about sixteen miles south of Scythopolis (1 Kings iv. 12), and celebrated for Gideon’s victory over the Midianites. Judges vii. 22. 5. Abel-Mizraim (the mourning of the Egyptians), a name given to the threshing-floor of Atad, in conse¬ quence of the lamentations which attended the burial of the patriarch Jacob, in which all the nobles of Egypt united with Joseph. Gen. 1. 11. Jerome places it between Jericho and the Jordan, three miles from the former and two from the latter, where Bethagla afterwards stood. Josephus says it was in Hebron, about twenty miles south of Jerusalem, and that Joseph’s brethren were buried there. 6. Abel-Shittim was in Moab, about eight miles east of the Jordan, and opposite Jericho. Eusebius says it was in the neighbourhood of mount Peor. Josephus says it was sixty furlongs from Jordan. It is sometimes called Shittim only ; Shittim, probably, being the name of the town, — and Abel of the plain on which it stood. Here Moses encamped. Numb, xxv. 1, xxxiii. 49. Here, seduced by Balak, the people fell into idolatry, and worshipped Baal-Peor ; for which they were severely punished. Numb. xxv. ABELA, a city in Persea, on the Batansea, in the half tribe of Manasseh, about twelve miles east of Gadara. 2 Sam. xx. 14. ABELIANS, or ABELONIANS, a sect in the dio¬ cese of Hippo in Africa, who professed to regulate marriage after the example of Abel, who, they pre¬ tended, was married, but lived in a state of continence. They therefore allowed each man to marry one woman, but enjoined them to live in the same state. To keep up the sect, when a man and woman entered into this society, they adopted a boy and girl, who were to inherit their goods, on condition that they followed the principles of the sect. As might be supposed, a sect originating on principles so false, and opposed to the divine institution of marriage, was not of long continuance. It arose in the reign of Arca- dius, and ended in that of Theodosius ; but its me¬ mory remains among the proofs of human weakness, when affecting to be wiser and purer than the revealed wisdom and purity of the Word of God. The same foolish notions prevail among the Shakers, in North America. ABEN-BOHAN, the name of a boundary-stone between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, to the east, in a valley leading to the town of Adummim. It derives its name from Bohan, a descendant of Reuben. ABESTA or AVESTA, the name of one of the sa¬ cred books of the Persian Magi, which they ascribe to their great founder Zoroaster, or Zardusht. Though the Zend-Avesta, as it is more frequently called, was undoubtedly the most ancient sacred record of the Persians, it is more properly, in its fundamental prin¬ ciples, a system of philosophy. The system proceeds on the notion of a kind of dualism, or the existence of two original principles equally powerful, the principle of light and of good, which he termed Orniuzd, or Oromasdes, and the principle of darkness and of evil, which he termed Ahriman, or Arimanius. These ABETTORS— ABIGAIL. 6 two he regarded as the principles of all things. For three thousand years was the contest between the two to be carried on, and the lordship of the world divided between them. In the next three thousand years, Ahriman, the principle of evil, would prevail ; but after that his power would be broken, the wicked would disappear from the earth, the dead would rise, and the principle of good would finally be predomi¬ nant for six thousand years longer, at the end of which period the world would come to an end. The author of this strange philosophical system of religion is generally supposed to have been a Mede by birth, and to have lived about the time of the Babylonian .captivity. His system, absurd though it was, main¬ tained its ground for a long period, and had numer¬ ous and learned supporters. Though they worship¬ ped fire, they regarded it as simply a representation of the intellectual fire, a supreme deity whom they termed Mitlira, and from whom all other beings come forth by a kind of emanation. ABETTORS, Accessaries, Accomplices, in cri¬ minal cases, such as support another in his designs by connivance, encouragement, or help. In these cases the abettors are universally regarded as in¬ volved in the guilt of the principal. Ps. 1. 18 ; Prov. xiii. 20 ; 2 John 11. ABEZ, a city mentioned in Joshua xix. 20, and belonging to the tribe of Issacliar. ABGAR, or Abgarus, a name given to several of the kings of Edessa in Syria. None of them are men¬ tioned in the Bible ; but one of them, the seventeenth of that name, is alleged by Eusebius to have written a letter to our Saviour, and received an answer from him, both of which may be found in ‘Lardner’s Works,’ and in ‘Jones on the Canon,’ and in the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica.’ They are curious documents, as being very ancient forgeries, and although their genuineness has been denied by most writers, it is admitted by Cave and Grabe, and a few others. Eusebius, who translated them from the Syriac, says that they were taken from the archives of the city of Edessa. ABHOR, to hate, Lev. xxvi. 11, 30 ; Deut. vii. 26 ; Rom. xii. 9. ABHORRED, loathed, Exod. v. 21 ; Zech. xi. 8 ; rejected, Lev. xx. 23. ABI or ABIJAIL, the wife of Ahaz,kingof Judah, and mother of king Hezekiah. 2 Kings xviii. 2. ABIA, in the New Testament, is the Greek form of Abijah in the Old. ABIAH or ABIJAH, the name of one of the twenty-four courses of the priests among the Jews. 2 Chron. xxiv. 10. This was the name also of the second son of Samuel, and by whom he was appointed one of the judges over Israel. Both he and his brother Joel, being partial in their judgments, the indignation of the people was roused, and after a time the elders desired a king. ABIATHAR, the son of Ahimelech, and the tenth high priest among the Jews, being the fourth in de¬ scent from Eli. 2 Sam. viii. 17; 1 Chron. xviii. 16. When Saul sent to Nob to murder all the priests, Abiathar escaped the massacre, and fled to David in the wilderness. There he continued in the quality of high priest ; but Saul, out of aversion to Ahime¬ lech, whom he imagined to have betrayed his inte¬ rests, transferred the dignity of the high priesthood from Ithamar’s family into that of Eleazer, by con¬ ferring this office upon Zadok. Thus there were at the same time two high priests in Israel, Abiathar with David, and Zadok with Saul. In this state things continued until the reign of Solomon, when Abiathar being attached to the party of Adonijah, was by Solomon divested of his priesthood, a.m. 2989 ; and the race of Zadok alone performed the functions of that office during the reign of Solomon, to the exclusion of the family of Ithamar, according to the word of the Lord to Eli. 1 Sam. ii. 30, &c. A difficulty occurs in the history of this individual, I which is thus satisfactorily explained in ‘ Horne’s Critical Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures ’ : — “ A difficulty arises from the circumstance that in 1 Kings ii. 27, Abiathar is said to be deprived of the priest’s office by Solomon ; while in 2 Sam. viii. 17 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 16, xxiv. 3, 6, 31, Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, is said to be high priest along with Zadok. The most probable solution is, that both father and son each bore the two names, Ahimelech and Abiathar ; as was not at all unusual among the Jews. In this way also we may remove the difficul¬ ty arising from Mark ii. 26, where Abiathar is said to have given David the shew-bread, in allusion to 1 Sam. xxi. 1, &c., where it is Ahimelech.” This is the opinion of some eminent commentators, — among others, of Kuinoel and Heumann. ABIB, the name of the first month in the Jewish sacred year, and of the seventh in their civil year. Exod. xiii. 4. This month was afterwards called Nisan ; it contained thirty days, and answered to part of our March and April. It signifies green ears, and was so named because grain, particularly barley, was in ear at that time. It was an early custom to give names to months from the appearances of nature ; and the custom is still in force among many nations. The year among the Jews commenced in September, and consequently their jubilees and other civil mat¬ ters were regulated in that way, Lev. xxv. 8-10 ; but their sacred year began in Abib, according to the Divine command, “ This shall be to you the beginning of months.” Exod. xii. 2. The Feast of the Pass- over was celebrated on the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, or between three and six o’clock. ABIDAN, the son of Gideoni, prince of the chil¬ dren of Benjamin. He is described, Numb. vii. 60, as having presented offerings of different kinds, when Moses set up the tabernacle in the wilderness. ABIDE. This word in the Scriptures means more than mere passive or temporary residence. It is used for voluntary vital attachment, dependence and adherence, the result of the most intimate and per¬ manent union. Thus John xv. 4, our Saviour says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine ; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.” See also 2 Tim. ii. 13 ; 1 John ii. 17, 28 ; John xv. 4, 10, xiv. 16; but particularly Col. ii. 6,7. Christians often speak of living near to Christ ; the Bible speaks of living in Him. — What force is there in this idea ! If this term, then, be used to signify a settled resi¬ dence, how awful is that passage, John iii. 36 : “ He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Withering idea ! that a human soul should be a home for the residence of the wrath of God ! ABIEL, the father of Kish and grandfather of Saul. ABIEZER, one of the thirty chiefs in David’s army. He is mentioned in 2 Sam. xxiii. 27 as an Anethothite, or a native of Anethoth. ABIGAIL, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. She is described in Scripture as “ a woman of good under- ABIHAIL— ABIMELECH. 7 standing, and of a beautiful countenance.” Her hus¬ band, who was a man of wealth, “ was churlish and evil in his doings.” This unhappy disposition was remarkably manifested on one occasion, and would have been followed by the most serious consequences, had not the superior prudence and sagacity of Abi¬ gail averted the threatening calamity. David, when he fled from his relentless enemy, Saul, had taken refuge in the neighbourhood of Nabal’s residence. Unwilling to resort to plunder for the support of him¬ self and his followers, he sent a respectful message to Nabal, to entreat his kindness. The message ar¬ rived at a time of festivity and rejoicing, and the wealthy churl, probably heated with wine, not only denied the request, but returned a most insulting re¬ ply. David, enraged at the conduct of Nabal, both threatened and prepared to destroy him and every male in his family, before the morning. Abigail, hearing of the imprudent and harsh conduct of her husband, and dreading the vengeance of David, took upon herself the task of appeasing his wrath. She succeeded in her attempt, and thus warded off from her house apparently impending ruin. Her husband, meanwhile, engaged in revelling and drunkenness, was utterly insensible to the danger which threatened himself and his family ; but when he recovered from his fit of intoxication, and became aware of what had happened, “ his heart,” we are informed, “ died within him, and he became as a stone.” Ten days afterwards Nabal was cut off suddenly by the hand of God ; and David, probably struck by the remarkable discretion, good sense, and piety which Abigail had shown so recently before, asked and obtained her in marriage, immediately after the days of mourning for her hus¬ band were ended. From the date of her marriage to David we learn nothing more of the history of Abigail from the Sacred Scriptures, except that her son is called, in 2 Sam. iii. 3, by the name of Chileab, and in 1 Chron. iii. 1, by that of Daniel. This is pro¬ bably one example, among many, of the same per¬ son bearing two names; a fact which solves several seeming contradictions in the Old and New Testa¬ ments. Abigail, the sister of David, the wife of Jether the Ishmaelite, and mother of Amasa. ABIHAIL. Several persons bearing this name occur in Scripture. 1. The father of Zuriel, who was the father of the families of Merari, belonging to the tribe of Levi. Numb. iii. 35. 2. The son of Huri, of the tribe of Gad. 1 Chron. v. 14. 3. The wife of Rehoboam, king of .Judah, and the daughter, or rather the descendant of Eliab, the son of Jesse. 2 Chron. xi. 18. 4. The father of Queen Esther, and the uncle of Mordecai. Esther ii. 15. ABIHU, one of the sons of Aaron, who, with his brother Nadab, was destroyed by fire from God for presuming to offer incense to Him with strange fire, instead of that from the altar of burnt-offering. Lev. x. 1, 2. This awful event occurred only eight days after their consecration ; and their sin seems to have been occasioned by wine, which was afterwards for¬ bidden to priests, when about to minister in the sanc¬ tuary. A punishment so sudden and severe, was designed to impress all God’s ministers with the immense importance of fidelity in discharging the duties of their office ; observing his will in every particular, that He may be glorified. — But had it not also a deeper meaning ? May it not be regard¬ ed as a standing example of that divine wrath which shall consume all who pretend to seiwe God, except with incense kindled from the one altar and offer¬ ing hy which He for ever perfects them that are sanctified ? ABIJAII. Four persons of this name are found in the Sacred Writings. 1. A son of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. He was attacked with a danger¬ ous disease, and his mother repaired to Shiloh, for the purpose of consulting Ahijah, as to the issue of the disease. Ahijah assured her that her son would die. “ And all Israel,” the prophet added, “ shall mourn for him, and bury him ; for he only, of Jeroboam, shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.” 2. The son of Reho¬ boam, king of Judah. He succeeded his father, but his reign was only of three years’ duration. He is called also Abijam in 1 Kings xv. 1. 3. The wife of Ahaz, and mother of Hezekiah, king of Judah. She is also called Abi in 2 Kings xviii. 2. 4. A de¬ scendant of Eleazar, one of the sons of Aaron, and of the twenty-four companies of priests. 1 Chron. xxiv. 10 ABILA, or ABELA, called by the Greeks Leu - cadia,, that is “ white rock town,” the capital of Abi¬ lene. Luke iii. 1. It was situated in a plain adjacent to the river Chrysorhoas, or Abana. Several medals, still extant, serve to identify its site, and to show that it was a place of considerable magnitude and importance. Two of these are given by Calmet. Some antiquities and inscriptions are mentioned by Pococke as still remaining in the neighbourhood, which confirm the fact of its former consequence. It is now called Beilinas. ABILENE, a province of Ccelosyria, bounded on the east and west by Libanus and Antilibanus. It derived its name from its chief town, Abila, signify¬ ing verdant spot. Lysanias was tetrarch, or gover¬ nor, of this province in the fifteenth year of the reign 1 of the Emperor Tiberius. ABILITY, worldly substance. Lev. xxvii. 8 ; Acts xi. 29. Talents. Dan. i. 4 ; Matt. xxv. 15. ABIMELECH, My father the king : from Abi, my father, and Melech, king. It seems to have been the title of the kings of Philistia, as Caesar was of the Roman emperors, and Pharaoh of the sovereigns of Egypt. Two kings under this name are men¬ tioned in Genesis, one of whom appears to have been the son of the other. Gen., xx. and xxvi. The first of these two was king of Gerar, and contempo¬ rary with Abram. While that illustrious patriarch resided in Gerar, he was guilty of deceit and false¬ hood, in pretending that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. He was afraid that the people of that land would put him to death, that they might obtain pos¬ session of his wife, who appears to have been a woman of remarkable beauty. It is worthy of notice, that in attempting, by improper means, to avoid an ima¬ ginary evil, he plunged himself into the very calamities which he dreaded. His sin was followed by almost immediate punishment. Sarah was taken from him under the impression that she was not his wife ; and had not the Almighty mercifully interposed, she would inevitably have fallen into the hands of the king. Abimelech was warned of God, in a dream, to restore Sarai to her husband, under pain of death. In obedience to the Divine command, he presented gifts to Abram, and restored to him his wife. It has been thought strange, as Calmet remarks, that a mi¬ raculous interference should have been necessary to convince him of his criminality in detaining the wife of ABINADAB— ABISHAI. 8 Abraham ; and equally strange that Abraham could not procure Sarah’s release by proper application and request. But such thoughts arise only from ignorance of the customs of the east. Whenever a woman is taken into the harem of an eastern prince, with the design of making her his wife, she is secluded with¬ out a possibility of coming out, at least during the life of the prince on the throne. Nor is communica¬ tion with women in the harem in ordinary cases to be obtained. The late editor of Calmet has given an affecting instance in the case of Colonel Pitt, an officer of the Russian army, whose wife and daughter, both beautiful women, fell into the hands of the Tartars, and were presented to the grand signior at Constantinople. The efforts of the distracted father and husband to procure their release, only resulted in his own imprisonment in a dungeon, with the dreadful assurance that when any of the sex were once taken into the seraglio, they were never suffered to quit it more. — Critical Review, vol. iii. p. 332. This anec¬ dote places the propriety of some exertion of Provi¬ dence in behalf of Abraham in the strongest light. It seems also to explain the fears of both Abraham and Isaac, arising from the remarkable beauty of Sarah and Rebecca, and tempting them both to use culpable dissimulation. The name Abimelech seems to have belonged to another king of Gerar, probably a son of the former, and it is remarkable that a similar event to that which we have just noticed appears to have occurred in his reign also. Isaac, like his father Abraham, had left Canaan on account of a famine, and gone | to reside in Gerar. While there, he was guilty of resorting to the same artifice as his father had adopted, calling his wife his sister. In this instance, however, Abimelech, who appears to have been a man of greater acuteness than his predecessor, de¬ tected the stratagem, and therefore, instead of taking Rebecca from Isaac, he sharply reproved the patri¬ arch for his dissimulation, and issued a proclamation, discharging all his people from doing injury to Isaac or his wife. At length the Lord so prospered the patriarch, that he became so rich as to become an object of jealousy to Abimelech, who dismissed him from the place ; and even when Isaac removed to Beersheba, he pursued him thither, and there they entered into a covenant with each other. A third person bearing the name of Abimelech was one of the seventy sons of Gideon, a usurper and a murderer. On the death of his father, he went to Shechem, where his mother’s family lived, and hav¬ ing contrived to get possession of some money, he hired some profligate abandoned characters to aid him in his schemes ; and by this means he seized upon his brothers, and put them to death. One only escaped, viz., Jotham, the youngest. Imagining that the way to the throne was now open, he had influence suffi¬ cient to procure an assembly of the people in the plain of Shechem, at the foot of mount Gerizim, with the view of proclaiming him king. On that occasion, J otham, having heard of the design, repaired to the spot, and addressed the people, — introducing in his speech the celebrated fable of the trees assembling to choose a king. Judges ix. 8-20. This is the oldest fable on record, and shows with what power the reason and conscience can be addressed through the medium of the imagination. But however appropriate the pa¬ rable was to the circumstances in which it was spoken, it seems to have failed in its purpose. Jotham was compelled to flee from the face of Abimelech. Only three years from this period had elapsed, when the Shechemites rose in rebellion against Abimelech ; but the cruel usurper was too powerful for them. He razed the city to the ground, and utterly destroyed the people. Flushed with success, he next attacked Thebez, a city about fourteen miles from Shechem. But the guilty career of this wicked man was now destined to close. While attempting to set fire to the door of the tower, a woman threw down a piece j of a mill-stone, which fractured his skull. Feeling | that death wTas near, and unwilling to have it said of him that he had died by the hand of a woman, he commanded his armour-bearer to thrust him through the body with his sword. This was accordingly done, and Abimelech died. Thus did the judgments of God follow this aggravated transgressor throughout the whole of his brief course ; and. upon him, as well as upon the treacherous Shechemites, came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal. There is still another individual mentioned in the Sacred Writings of the name of Abimelech, who ap¬ pears to have been a high priest in the reign of David. He is generally thought to be the same with Ahiine- lech, and he is said, in 1 Chron. xviii. 16, to have been the son of Abiathar. This seems to have been the person that gave the sword of Goliath to David, when he fled from Saul. ABINADAB. This name frequently occurs in the Old Testament. It was borne by a Levite belonging to the city of Kirjath-jearim, to whose care the ark was committed, after it had been restored by the Philistines. 1 Sam. vii. 1. One of the sons of Saul, who fell with his father at the battle of Gilboa, was called Abinadab ; and also one of the brothers of David. The name occurs, besides, in 1 Kings iv. 11, as applied to one of the principal officers of King Solomon. ABINOAM, the father of Barak, one of the judges of Israel, and the conqueror of Sisera. Judges iv. 6, v. 1. ABIRAM, a prince of the tribe of Reuben, who was one of the leaders of the conspiracy against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. He, along with Korah and Dathan, the other heads of this rebellious move¬ ment, was visited by the marked judgments of the Almighty. Numb. xvi. There is another person of the name of Abiram, who was the eldest son of Iliel the Bethelite, and who was visited with sudden death, because his father had attempted to rebuild the walls of Jericho, con¬ trary to the express prohibition of God, through his servant Joshua, — “ Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho : he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.” This prophecy was literally fulfilled five hundred and thirty-seven years after it was spoken. 1 Kings xvi. 34 ; Josh. vi. 26. ABISHAG, the young and beautiful wife of David, selected to nurse him in his old age. After David’s death, his son Adonijah demanded her in marriage ; but Solomon, justly supposing that this was only a step towards his assumption of the regal power, re¬ fused his solicitation, and punished his treasonable design with death. 1 Kings i. 3, ii. 13-25. ABISHAI, son of Zeruiah, David’s sister, was one of the most valiant men of his time, and a chief gene¬ ral in David’s armies. Some of his exploits are mentioned in 2 Sam. xxi. 17, and xxiii. 18. He was brother to Joab and Asahel ; but in his character and ABISIIALOM— ABOMINATION. 9 services to his uncle the king, he seems to have sur¬ passed them both, and to have been through life David’s favourite general and friend. 1 Sam. xxvi. 7-11 ; 2 Sam. ii. 18, 24, x. 10, xvi. 9, xviii. 2, xx. 6, xxi. 17, xxiii. 18 ; 1 Chron. xi. 20, 21, xviii. 12, xix. 1 1, 15. ABISHALOM, the grandfather of Abijam, one of the kings of Judah. 1 Kings xv. 2. ABISHUA, the son of Phinelias. He was the fourth in succession who filled the office of high priest among the Hebrews. The Chronicon of Alex¬ andria places him in the days of Ehud, judge of Israel. Judges iii. j 1 Chron. vi. 50. Josephus calls him Abiezer. ABITAL, the sixth wife of David, and the mother of Shephatiah. 1 Chron. iii. 3. AB1UD, the son of Zorobabel, and the father of Eliakim mentioned in Matt. i. 13. ABLUTION, or bathing of the body in water, has been a custom prevalent in all ages, and appears to have its origin in a natural feeling. In hot climates more especially the .practice is resorted to for the sake of the refreshment afforded to the surface of the body, and to promote health and cleanliness. But ablution even from the earliest times was also a religious ceremony, intended for the purpose of puri¬ fication, and to point out the necessity of inward purity in the service of God. There were two kinds of washing among the Jews, one of the whole body by immersion, which was used by the priests at their consecration, and by proselytes at their initiation ; the other, which was in daily use, of the hands or feet, and also of the cups and other vessels used at their meals. In the conversation between our Lord and Simon Peter, recorded in John xiii., we find an obvi¬ ous allusion to both these modes of purification. Nor were ablutions confined to the Jews. The Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, all practised the same mode of purifying themselves. The early Christians had their ablutions before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. On these occasions, before the sacramental elements were distributed, the deacons brought a basin of water, in which the presiding ministers washed their hands in the presence and in name of the whole con¬ gregation, — a practice probably derived from the lan¬ guage of the Psalmist, “ I will wash mine hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar.” ABNER, the son of Ner, uncle to King Saul, and general of his armies. After the death of Saul, he supported Ishbosheth for seven years ; but conceiv¬ ing himself injured by him, he went over to David. He was treacherously slain by Joab under the pre¬ tence of his being a spy ; but more probably either from jealousy of his influence, or to revenge the death of his brother Asahel. David highly disap¬ proved the conduct of Joab (see Joab), and compos¬ ed an elegy on the death of Abner. 2 Sam. ii., iii. —a. m. 2956. ABOMINATION, or Abominable. These terms always denote things which are hateful and detest¬ able to the last degree. Gen. xliii. 32 ; Lev. vii. 18 ; Deut. vii. 25, 26. They are the strongest terms the language affords. Hence, 1. Sin in general, being the reverse of the divine perfections and law, and the object of God’s most awful and unchangeable displeasure, is frequently styled an abomination. Prov. iii. 32, viii. 7, xvii. 15 ; Jer. vii. 10, xliv. 22. To be holy as he is holy, we must penitently view it in the same light ; and hate, avoid, and oppose it, with the same inflexible constancy. This is in fact the precise sense of the precept, “ Let love be without dissimulation : Abhor that which is evil ; cleave to that which is good.” Rom. xii. 9. That is, the proof of the sincerity of your love , whether to God or man, lies in its being invariably attended with a lively abhorrence of sin, and an ardent attachment to holiness. 2. Particular sins are in various passages of scripture stigmatized as abominations. For exam¬ ple, Pride, Prov. xvi. 5 ; Lawlessness, or a conten¬ tious, unteachable, ungovernable spirit, Prov. iii. 32 ; False doctrine, Rev. xvii. 4 ; Hypocrisy, Prov. xv. 8, xxi. 27, xxviii. 9 ; Scorning, Prov. xxiv. 9 ; False swearing or perjury, Jer. vii. 9, 10 ; Murder, adultery, and theft, Jer. vii. 9, 10 ; Falsehood, Prov. xii. 22. Things that are highly esteemed among men, par¬ ticularly Covetousness, Luke xvi. 14, 15; Idolatry, with all its instruments and appendages, Exod. viii. 26 ; Deut. xvii. 2-7} xii. 31, xviii. 9-14. 3. Various forms of particular sins, especially when of a very gross description, are marked out as abominations — as, Offering blemished or deformed sacrifices, Deut. xvii. 1; eating forbidden kinds of food, Lev. xi. ; every species of unchastity, Lev. xviii. 29, 30 ; wearing the dress of the opposite sex, Deut. xxii. 5 ; a false balance, false weights, and measures, Prov. xi. 1, xx. 10, 23 ; a proud look, a lying tongue, murderous hands, a heart of wicked imagina¬ tions, feet swift to mischief, a false witness, and he that soweth discord among brethren, Prov. vi. 16-19. 4. Emphases, or distinctive uses of the term. To “make an abomination,” is to make an idol, Deut. xxvii. 15 ; to “ commit abomination,” is to practise idolatry, or unnatural crimes, Ezek. xvi. 50 ; Rev. xxi. 27. “ Abominable works,” are actions tainted and corrupted by impiety, Ps. xiv. 1. “ The abominable,” mentioned as a distinct class, Rev. xxi. 8, are pro¬ bably such as are guilty of unnatural crime ; a cha¬ racter mournfully prevalent throughout the heathen world, Rom. i. 26-32 ; 1 Cor. v. 9-11. The most usual application of the word in Scrip¬ ture is to idols, and idolatry. Thus, in Exod. viii. 26, we find Moses declaring, “We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God.” ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. This phrase seems to be used Dan. xi. 31 as a general designation for whatever denotes the triumph of idolatrous power over the sanctuary of God. Its more particular reference, in the New Testament, is to the Roman armies under Titus. Dan. ix. 27, xii. 11, compared with Matt. xxiv. 15. The images of their gods and emperors were delineated on the en¬ signs themselves, especially the eagles which were carried at the heads of the legions, were objects of wor¬ ship ; and therefore, according to the style of Scrip¬ ture, an abomination. The horror with which the Jews regarded them, sufficiently appears from two acts mentioned by Josephus — Pilate’s attempt to put his troops in winter quarters at Jerusalem, and Vitel- lius’ proposing to march through Judea to attack Aretas, king of Petra. The people supplicated and remonstrated against both, on religious accounts, to such a degree, that Pilate was obliged to remove his army, and Vitellius to march his troops another way. Jerome informs us that the Jews themselves applied Dan. ix. 27 to the Romans. The appearance of their idolatrous banners, therefore, at Jerusalem, was the prophetic sign that “ the desolation t hereof was nigh.” The evangelists Matthew and Mark add to our Lord’s prediction in a parenthesis, “ Whoso readeth, let him 10 ABOUND. understand ; ” hereby intimating that this event was approaching, though yet future when their histories were published, and that the reader who consulted his own safety, would do well to retire seasonably from the devoted city. Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Mark xiii. 14. — In forty years from the time “ the Messiah was cut off” by wicked hands, to use the sublime language of Bossuet, “ the Roman eagle descended, and J udea was no more ! ” ABOUND. The peculiar force of this emphatic word has never yet been sufficiently illustrated. It is generally taken to be equivalent with to increase, or to be full ; but if so, why does so accurate a writer as Paul, in 1 Thess. iii. 12, add the word abound to the word increase, and in Philip, iv. 18, after saying, “ I have all,” immediately subjoin, “ and abound l ” This use of the Avord evidently implies, that, in the apostle’s own mind, it conveyed some additional, or stronger idea. What that idea is, may be ascertained by turning to Prov. viii. 24, where the word first occurs, in a connection that clearly unfolds its exact mean¬ ing, — “ fountains abounding Avitli water.” This pecu¬ liarly rich and beautiful idea of the exuberant and overfloAving fulness of a fountain, a fulness rising and spreading from deep and inexhaustible springs, is the appropriate meaning of this Avord, as any one may perceive Avho Avill carefully consult all the passages where it occurs in the Bible. In this light, what neAV force is added to our conceptions of such expressions as the following : — Rom. v. 20: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.” This may be taken either positively, or in relation to our conceptions ; since the introduction of clearer light, by the written laAv, did not only manifest with more distinctness the ex¬ tent, the power, the criminal nature, pollution, and punishment of sin ; but by encountering the opposi¬ tion of the human heart, and operating as a test of its sinfulness, did occasion an incalculable increase in the number and aggravations of human transgres¬ sion. In its light, sin seemed already to have over- floAved the whole world, like the Avaters of the deluge when the fountains of the great deep were broken up, — pervading, filling, overflowing every human heart, lip, and life ; Avhile neAV obedience to its com¬ mands, neAV violations of its restrictions, neAV excuses, evasions or blasphemous objections to its threatened penalties, continually rising into existence, swelled yet more and more the appalling and apparently endless flood of guilt and ruin. “ But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound .” Even where the introduction of the Avritten Iuav had charged human guilt Avitli its heaviest aggra¬ vations, had so immensely extended men’s concep¬ tions of the universality and evil of sin, and proved its poAver to be beyond the influence of any light, authority, or sanctions of mere law to repress and subdue ; there the introduction of the Gospel unfold¬ ed a depth of contrivance, poAver, and compassion in the Divine mind, fully and abundantly adequate to the exigencies of the case. He, therefore, though the very chief of sinners, Avho receives and relies upon the Gospel of Christ, shall find that the grace of God therein revealed, as flowing through the cross, infinitely exceeds his most enlarged conceptions, Avants, and desires ; that springing from sources not only apparently, but even absolutely inexhaustible, “ the unsearchable riches of Christ,” it overfloAvs, prevails, and triumphs over all his aggi'avated guilt, j corruption, and unworthiness ; not only pardoning, but purifying, not only saving from endless ruin, but exalting to endless joy ! “ That as sin had reigned,” under the administration of law, “ unto death,” even so, under the administration of the Gospel, “might grace reign through righteousness unto eter¬ nal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eph. i. 8 : “ Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” The apostle here suggests to us that God, in the method of dispensing the riches of his grace, has pursued a course in Avliich his prudence and wisdom appear equally conspicuous as his unfathomable love, — in bestoAving his grace on sinners only through a redeeming mediation, lest the laAv should be dishonoured and made of no effect (Rom. iii. 31) ; in selecting the only fit person to be a Mediator between God and man (John iii. 16 ; 1 Tim. ii. 5) ; in appointing him his proper work, its several offices and periods (Gal. iv. 4, 5 ; Isa. liii. i 10-12 ; Heb. iii. 1, 2, viii. 6-12) ; in arranging the circumstances of his incarnation, sufferings, and glory (Isa. xlii. 1-4, Iii. 13-15 ; John. x. 18, xii. 49, 50, xiv. 31 ; Acts iv. 27, 28) ; in the time, instruments, and manner of publishing the Gospel (Eph. iii. 1-11, iv. 7-16) ; in the measure and ministers of its suc¬ cess, and the glory of its ultimate issues (1 Cor. i. 26-31, iii. 5-9 ; 2 Cor. ii. 12-16 ; Gal. iii. 8 ; 1 John iii. 8 ; Rev. xi. 15, xx. 1-6, xxi. 1-27) ; and lastly, in ordering all the allotments, advantages, afflictions, and deliverances of individual believers, so as to Avork out their spiritual and everlasting good (Rom. viii. 28-39 ; 1 Cor. iii. 21-23 ; 2 Cor. iv. 15). Rom. iii. 7 : u If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, Avhy yet am I also judged as a sinner ? ” In this objection to the doc¬ trine of human responsibility, the truth of God is re¬ presented under the image of a perennial and majestic stream, whose depth and force become more visible by means of the obstructions raised against it ; which, however formidable in appearance, it surmounts with the utmost ease, in consequence of its own overfloAv- ing fulness. This objection — commonly urged on the admitted fact, that the declarations of God in his Word touching human depravity, are seen to be true, with more abundant evidence in every fresh instance of sin, and especially in the false assumptions of those Avho deny the Divine testimony — is repelled by the apostle, by appealing to its monstrous consequences. The principle of the objection is, that whatever con duct serves in any Avay, even by way of contrast, to illustrate the glory of the Divine attributes, cannot be criminal, and Avorthy of punishment. The apostle says, If such a principle he true (inasmuch as it is certain that the Divine perfections will appear more glorious by opposition to human depravity, and the very lie of him Avho denies it but confirms the truth of that God Avho affirms it), then that depravity might be justified and indulged to any extent, under the specious pretext of “ doing evil that good might come,” — an abominable maxim, confounding the ATery distinction betAveen good and evil, scorning every restraint of virtue, sanctioning every crime, and subverting the moral government of God from its foundation. The apostle therefore pronounces the final condemnation of such as adopt it to be just. Prov. xxix. 22 : “ A furious man aboundetk in trans¬ gression;” and Matt. xxiv. 12: “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall Avax cold.” In both these passages we may remark the allusion to an overfloAving fountain or stream, which breaks over ABRAHAM. 11 its ordinary limits, and spreads and deepens on every side. 1 Cor. xv. 58 : “ Always abounding in the works of the Lord.” The addition of the word “ always,” adds to the beautiful idea of this passage the utmost force and magnificence. This, then, is the only scriptural mea¬ sure, that we be continually rising above measure ; not rest¬ ing in present attainments and usefulness, not satisfied with the standard of our predecessors and contempo¬ raries ; but, as circumstances supply opportunity, and experience gives facility, pleasure, and skill, breaking away from the limits of the past, and seeking a wider sphere of action in the future, in the fulness of a heart exuberant with zeal and affection, and “always over¬ flowing in the work of the Lord.” Philip, i. 9-11; 1 Thess. iv. 1 ; 2 Cor. ix. 8. ABRAHAM. Abram, for such was his original name, was born only two years after the death of Noah, though there were nine generations between them. His parents appear to have been idolaters, and probably he himself continued a stranger to the true God till he was called, when seventy-five years old, to leave his father’s house and his native country. In obedience to the Divine command, he departed from Ur of the Chaldees, with his aged parent Terah, his wife Sarai, and Lot, his brother’s son, together with all their substance. He was conducted in safety to the promised land; hut instead of being put in possession of it, he “ had none inheritance, no, not so I much as to set his foot on.’’ Palestine was at that time inhabited by the Canaanites, who were idola¬ ters, but Abram maintained his religion, and stead¬ fastly adhered to the worship of the true God. He first settled at Siehem, a valley situated between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim ; thence lie removed to a hilly region on the north of Jericho, and at length, in consequence of a famine, he retired into Egypt. After a time he returned to Canaan, and pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai. Here Abram and his nephew Lot agreed to separate from each other, on account of the vast increase of their flocks and herds, and a contention which had arisen between the herdsmen of the two parties. Lot chose the plains of Sodom, and Abram retired to Mamre near Hebron. Some years afterwards, the cities of the plain became the seat of war, and Lot and his family were taken prisoners. No sooner did the intelligence of this calamity reach Abram, than, summoning his numerous attendants, he set out for the rescue of his relative. This, under the Divine protection, he soon accomplished. On his return from this war he was met by a mysterious personage, Melchizedek, king of Salem, supposed to be the city ' afterwards called Jerusalem. This man, who was not only a king, hut a priest of the most high God, blessed the patriarch, and Abram gave him a tithe of the spoil, generously restoring the rest to the king of Sodom. Abram was designed for very eminent services, and accordingly he was distinguished by a title of high honour, for “be was called the Friend of God.” On various occasions, he experienced remarkable visions of the Almighty. It was during one of these seasons of communion that the promise was given him that, though now childless, and Sarai far ad¬ vanced in years, they should nevertheless have a son, and that the seed of Abram should be as the stars of heaven for multitude ; and, it is added, “ he believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteous¬ ness.” Still the fulfilment of the promise was de¬ layed, and Sarai in her impatience proposed to Abram that he should marry Hagar, one of her handmaids, as his secondary wife. To this unhallowed proposal Abram assented, and the fruit of this marriage Avas Ishmael. Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, when Abram was ninety-five years old, and Sarai ninety, the Lord appeared to him again, changed his name to Abraham, the “ father of many nations,” and renewing the promise of a son, declared its fulfil¬ ment to be near at hand. As the sign of the cove¬ nant with Abraham and his seed, God instituted the rite of circumcision, to which the patriarch submitted, as “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised.” At length Isaac was born, as had been foretold, (b. c. 1897.) The joy of the parents was great, but the happiness of their family Avas in a little Avhile disturbed by the jealousies and contentions which arose about the children of the different mothers. The result was, that Abraham was reduced to the necessity of dismissing the bondwoman and her son. The patriarch now appeared to be in a settled state of tranquillity. But his trials Avere not yet ended. When Isaac had reached his twenty-fifth year, Abra¬ ham was commanded by God, for the final trial and illustration of his faith, to offer up his only son in sa¬ crifice on Mount Moriah. The trial was painfully severe, but the patriarch proceeded to fulfil the command of God. “ Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.’’ This Avas enough. Abraham had been tried, and Isaac was rescued by the Divine interposition. The angel of God called from heaven and declared his approbation of Abraham’s conduct. A ram, miraculously provided for the very purpose, was substituted, and presented to God in Isaac’s stead. The sequel of the patriarch’s history is soon told. The time at length came Avlien he was called to mourn the loss of Sarah, his beloved wife, who died in Hebron. As a burial-place for her, he purchased the field of Machpelab, with the cave and sepulchre in it. This was the only possession which, during his life, Abraham ever enjoyed in Canaan. It Avas the first-fruits and earnest of the fulfilment of the pro¬ mise. In his old age, the patriarch, having made arrangement for the marriage of Isaac, entered him¬ self again into the married state. He married Ke- turah, by whom he had six sons, who became heads of different people which dAvelt in and around Ai'abia. To each of these he gave a separate portion, but to Isaae he assigned the chief of all his substance. His temporal concerns being settled, Abraham died, aged an hundred and seventy-five years, (b. c. 1822.) It Avould no doubt have been very gratifying had it pleased the Spirit of God to record a detailed account of the death-bed experience of this eminent saint, that we might have listened to his closing tes¬ timony to the faithfulness of that God Avho had been his guardian and his guide throughout a long and chequered earthly pilgrimage. It Avould have been pleasing and profitable to have heard from the lips of the dying patriarch the solemn assurance that while he had lived in faith, he also died in faith, counting Him faithful Avho had promised. But the simple statement of inspiration concerning the clos¬ ing scene of faithful Abraham’s life is, that “ he was gathered to his people.” But if we have no particu¬ lars of his death, one thing we do knoAv on the high¬ est authority, that he lives in glory ; for Ave find Je¬ hovah declaring, more than three hundred years after ABRAHAM— ABSOLUTION. 12 to Moses at the burning bush, “ I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;” and our Lord’s own comment upon this saying is, “ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living;” while in the only parable which lias ever drawn aside the veil from the unseen world, Abraham is represented as au inhabitant of heaven. Luke xvi. 22. It was a noble testimony which Jesus bore to the strength of the patriarch’s faith, when He declared concerning him, “ Abraham saw my day afar off and was glad.” He could pierce through the darkness and the distance of two thousand years, and losing sight of the types, could hold converse by faith with the great Antitype as a living reality upon the earth, walking, preaching, bleeding, dying; and in his case faith was not only the substance of things hoped for, but the evidence or realization of things not seen. No won¬ der that “ he was glad.” The Christ, even amid the darkness of that early period, was as clearly present to the eye of his faith, as afterwards to Simeon when he said, “ Now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” ABRAHAM’S BOSOM ; a figurative mode of describing the happiness of heaven. Luke xvi. 22. The allusion is to a magnificent feast, at which the redeemed, out of every nation, are represented as sitting down in the kingdom of God. Matt. viii. 1 1 ; Luke xiii. 29. To be, or lie on one’s bosom, refers to the oriental mode of reclining at table, by which the head of one person was necessarily brought al¬ most into the bosom of the one that sat above him, or at the top of the triclinium. In this manner, John, as the disciple whom Jesus loved, is said to have leaned on his bosom. John xiii. 23. ABRAIIAMITES,a sect of heretics, so called from their founder, who, in the eighth century, revived the errors of the Paulicians (which see). Another heretical sect in the ninth century, or more properly, an order of monks, were called Abrahamites. They were exterminated for indulging in idolatrous prac¬ tices. There was also a modern sect of the same name, which appeared in Bohemia about the middle of the last century. They denied the divine legation of Moses, and only received the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. They denied the doctrine of Original Sin, the Trinity, and other peculiarities of Gospel truth. For a time this sect was tolerated, but at length they were banished to Transylvania and the Bannat of Temeswar. There are still remains of this sect in Bohemia, but they no longer bear the original name. ABSALOM, the son of David by Maacah, daugh¬ ter of Talmai, king of Geshur. He was remarkable for his beautiful countenance, his fine head of hair, and handsome figure. One of his brothers, Amnon, having violated his sister Tamar, Absalom sought an opportunity of avenging his sister’s wrongs. Two full years elapsed, during which he harboured in his mind the horrid design of murder. At length, invit¬ ing the whole of the royal family to a feast at Baal- hazor, he caused Amnon to be assassinated. After the perpetration of this awful crime he fled to Geshur, taking refuge under the roof of his grandfather. Here Absalom remained three years, when, by the intercession of Joab with David, he was permitted to return to Jerusalem ; and, in process of time, he was again received into the royal favour. The per¬ fidious youth took advantage of his position at court, to alienate the people from his father, and to ingra¬ tiate himself into their affections. As soon as he imagined that his plans had been successful, he un¬ folded his rebellious design, and caused himself to be proclaimed king at Hebron. The great mass of i the people joined the unnatural usurper ; and David was, in consequence, obliged to flee from Jerusa¬ lem. Absalom marched against David, and crossed the Jordan, with the view of attacking the king. David’s forces were headed by Joab. A battle en¬ sued, in which the rebels were signally defeated, and the rebellious Absalom driven from the field. While seeking safety in flight, his hair became entangled in the branches of a tree, and the mule on which he rode left him suspended. Joab, on hearing of what had happened, hastened to the spot, and thrust the rebel through with three darts. Joab’s armour* bearers completed the tragedy, smiting him to death, casting his body into a pit, and throwing over it a heap of stones. Absalom, like many other vain mortals, was ambi¬ tious of posthumous fame. At an early period of life, he caused a pillar to be erected in the king’s valley for the purpose of perpetuating his name ; “ for,” said he, “ I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” 2 Sam. xviii. 18. It seems he either lived to have three sons and a daughter (2 Sam. xiv. 27) after that time, or they were all dead when he erected the pillar, which is not very probable. True I glory has been said to consist “ in doing what de¬ serves to be written, or in writing what deserves to be read.” Absalom’s reputation has indeed survived i him ; and it will continue while time shall last ; but if estimated by that standard, it would be difficult to I fix upon any recorded action of his life that would stand the test.' ABSOLUTION, a term generally applied to the I act of forgiveness of sins, arrogated by the priests of the Church of Rome. They blasphemously assume the power of absolving the penitent from his sins, — | not in a merely declaratory way, but absolutely ; grounding their right so to remit sin on their posses- i sion of the power of the keys, and quoting in their defence the well-known passage, “ And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shalt be bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” And again, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” The interpretation which Romanists would put upon these words goes to assign to the priest an authority equal to that of Him who “ hath the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man openeth.” Now, who can forgive sins, but God only ? The apostles preached through Jesus the forgiveness of sins ; but we never find them adopting language in any sense similar to that of the Romish priest, in what he terms the form or essence of the sacrament of penance, — “ I absolve thee of thy sins.” Following up, therefore, the foolish idea of an abso¬ lute power on the part of the priest to forgive sins, remission is made to depend on the mere will of the j priest, — so that if he be unwilling, God cannot for- [ give sin ! That an act so obviously belonging to Omnipotence, should be made to rest upon the will of any created being, is so contrary to the plainest dictates of common sense, that we can scarcely con¬ ceive it possible that such an idea should ever have been seriously entertained : yet it is plainly taught by the Church of Rome ; and if any man shall confess ABSTEMII— ABYSS. his sins to a Romish priest, he solemnly acquits or ab¬ solves him from his guilt. How daring the presump¬ tion ! Weak, fallible man dares to ascend the tri¬ bunal of the great Judge of all, and to dispense or to withhold forgiveness at his pleasure. Even the declaratory forms of absolution which occur in the Liturgy of the Anglican Church are highly objection¬ able, inasmuch as they are liable to convey to the mind of the hearer an impression, that to the Church has been committed a power which belongs to God alone. The Church may, no doubt, bind or loose, in so far as the external privileges of the Church are concerned ; and if her actings in this respect be in accordance with the Word of God, she has reason to believe that they are ratified in heaven ; but to for¬ give sins, she has in no sense the power, — except to adopt the language of the apostle, “Through this man” (Jesus) “is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” ABSTEMII, a name given to such persons as could not partake of the cup of the eucharist, on ac¬ count of their natural aversion to wine. ABSTINENCE, in a general sense, is the act of refraining from something to which we are accustom¬ ed, or in which we find pleasure. It is more parti¬ cularly used for fasting or forbearing of customary food. Among the Jews, various kinds of abstinence were ordained by their law. Among the primitive Christians, some denied themselves the use of such meats as were prohibited by that law ; others looked upon this abstinence with contempt : as to which Taul gives his opinion, Rom. xiv. 1, 3. The council of Jerusalem, which was held by the apostles, en¬ joined the Christian converts to abstain from meats strangled, from blood, from fornication, and from idolatry. Acts xv. Upon this passage, Dr Doddridge observes, “ that though neither things sacrificed to idols, nor the flesh of strangled animals, have, or can have, any moral evil in them, which should make the eating of them absolutely and universally unlaw¬ ful ; yet they were forbidden to the Gentile converts, because the Jews had such an aversion to them, that they could not converse freely with any who used them. This is plainly the reason which James as¬ signs in the very next words, the twenty-first verse, and it is abundantly sufficient. This reason is now ceased, and the obligation to abstain from eating these things ceases with it. But were we in like circumstances again, Christian charity would surely require us to lay ourselves under the same restraint.” The Roman Catholic Church has introduced an¬ other kind of abstinence, — forbidding the use of par¬ ticular meats at certain times and seasons. In this respect that Church has realized the description given by Timothy of the apostasy of the latter times, — “Commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every crea¬ ture of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” Unless, there¬ fore, Christians shall at any time be placed in cir¬ cumstances similar to those which are contemplated by Dr Doddridge in the above quoted remarks, it is plain that no such abstinence is warranted by the Word of God. Of late years, however, it has been alleged, that, in so far as all spirituous liquors are concerned, the Christian Church has reached a period when she is situated in the precise position contemplated by the apostle when he said, “ I will not eat meat while the world standeth, if it make my 13 brother to offend.” And accordingly, proceeding upon this view, Abstinence Societies, binding their mem¬ bers to abstain from spirituous liquors of every kind, have been formed in great numbers throughout a vast part of the world. That these societies have done much good we are far from denying, and we would be far from discountenancing or discouraging any man from following out what he conscientiously believes to be his duty, in the present circumstances of the age in which we live ; but it ought never to be forgotten, that in these matters of duty, not binding universally, but only binding in peculiar circum¬ stances, “ every man ought to be fully persuaded in his own mind.” No rule can be laid down on the matter applicable to all, because all do not feel the circumstances to be such as warrant the rule. The position, therefore, which any individual Christian occupies, in so far as respects Abstinence Societies, depends altogether on the view which he is led to take of the expediency or inexpediency of such a line of acting as these societies require. If, on a careful consideration of the matter, he conceives it to be his duty to abstain, let him abstain ; but if his conviction be otherwise, let him not bind himself where con¬ science tells him he is free. See Fasting — Animals — Blood. ABSTINENTS, a set of heretics that appeared in France and Spain about the end of the third century. They are supposed to have borrowed part of their opinions from the Gnostics and Manichseans, be¬ cause they opposed marriage, condemned the use of flesh meat, and placed the Holy Ghost in the class of created beings. ABUMA, a city of Judah, and, according to Jo¬ sephus, the birth-place of Zebudah, the mother of king Jehoiakim. This place is also called Rumali in 2 Kings xxiii. 36. ABUNDANCE, an overflowing fulness. In the passage, Rom. v. 17, “ They which receive the abun¬ dance of grace and of the gift of righteousness,” the expression obviously refers to the fulness of grace which is treasured up in Christ Jesus, and out of which the believer is ever drawing, by faith, those supplies of grace which are needful for him. It may also refer to the overflowing riches of Divine grace, which originated the glorious work of man’s redemp¬ tion, and which pervade every part of that marvellous scheme* ABUSE, to use things or persons from wrong motives to wrong ends, — in a sinful or dishonourable manner. Judges xix. 25. Children abuse their parents, when, by disobedience of any kind, or by neglecting to support or comfort them, they shorten or embitter their existence. Such as do these things are called “ murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers.” 1 Tim. i. 9. Men abuse the world , when they use the good things of it to dishonour God, and gratify their own lusts, forgetful of eternity. 1 Cor. vii. 31. ABYSS, or deep. This word sometimes in Scripture language denotes the deepest part of the sea, and in the New Testament the regions of the dead, or Hades. In Luke viii. 31, it seems to mean the place of torment. The Hebrew notion, and indeed the notion of many of the Orientals, was that the earth was founded upon the waters, or at least its foundations were on the abyss. Ps. xxiv. 2, cxxxvi. 6. Under the waters, and at the bottom of the abyss, they supposed the place of eternal suffering was situated. In the Book of Revelation, the abyss is used to indicate the place of wicked ABYSSINIAN. 14 spirits. “ And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth ; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upou the earth : and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. — And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyom’’ Rev. ix. 1-3, II. (See Abaddon.) “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” Rev. xi. 7. “ And I saw an angel come down from heaven, hav¬ ing the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no ; more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled : and ! after that he must be loosed a little season.” Rev. xx. 1-3. The word in these passages is abyss in the i original Greek. Macknight thinks that by the abyss of the New Testament is usually meant Hades, the place of departed souls, so called because it was sup¬ posed by the Jews to be as far below the surface of the earth as heaven was thought to be above it. In this sense that learned commentator explains the word as it occurs in Rom. x. 7, “ Who shall de¬ scend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)’’ But it seems apparent, from the whole scope of the passage, that the apostle is simply availing himself of a proverbial mode of expressing difficulty, nay, impossibility. ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. Very little is known of the present state of Christianity among the Ori¬ ental nations ; and for this little we are chiefly in¬ debted to various travellers, who were far from mak¬ ing it an immediate object of research : of course our information on this subject must be attended with some degree of uncertainty^ The seven Churches of Asia, existing in the primitive times, appear to have vanished from the page of history, without leav¬ ing scarcely a vestige behind ; and nothing remains in their place but the various mutilated forms of Christianity. Abyssinia, or Ethiopia Superior, is an ancient king¬ dom of Africa, whose inhabitants are supposed to : have received the Gospel from the Ethiopian eunuch, j or prime minister of their queen, Candace, though their general conversion was not effected before the ! middle of the fourth century. Their emperor, who is nominally a Christian, exercises a kind of supre- j macy in ecclesiastical matters, and confers all bene¬ fices, except that of their chief prelate. The Abyssinians boast themselves as beingof Jewish extraction, and assume to imitate the service of the tabernacle and temple of Jerusalem ; so that their doctrines and ritual form a strange compound of Judaism, Christianity, and superstition. They prac¬ tise circumcision, and are said to extend the cere¬ mony to females as well as males. They observe both the first and the seventh day as a Sabbath, and eat no meats prohibited by the law of Moses. They take off their shoes before they enter their churches, and sit on the bare floor. Their worship is said wholly to consist in reading the Scriptures, adminis¬ tering the eucharist, and hearing some homilies of the fathers. They read the whole of the four Gos¬ pels every year in their churches, beginning with Matthew, and proceeding to the rest in their order ; and when they speak of any event, they say, “ It happened in the days of Matthew;” that is, while they were reading Matthew’s Gospel in their churches. They observe four fasts in a year with much severity ; and on their grand festivals they begin their music and dancing before day-light, in imitation of David, who danced before the ark. They pray for the dead, have a great veneration for the Virgin Mary, invoke saints and angels, and have at least as many miracles and legends of saints as the Church of Rome. The supreme ruler of the Abyssinian Church is a bishop, styled Abuna, who receives his appointment from the patriarch of Alexandria ; but the inferior clergy are appointed by the emperor. The primate has an order of men under him, whom they style Kymos, or Hegumenos. Every parochial church lias one of these, who is a kind of arch-presbyter, and has all the inferior priests and deacons, as well as the secular affairs of the parish, under his care and government. The office of the inferior priests is to supply that of the kymos in their absence, and to assist them in the public service. They have another order of ecclesiastics, called Debtaris, who are a kind of Jewish Levites or chanters, and assist at the public offices of the church. All these orders are allowed to marry, even after they have been ordained priests ; and, which is more singular, even some of their reli¬ gious orders or monks, who are numerous, are allowed the same privilege ; but those who observe celibacy are commonly held in greater esteem. The distinguishing doctrine of the Abyssinian Church relates to the person of Christ. They main¬ tain that the divine and human nature are united in him, without either confusion or mixture ; yet though the nature of Christ is really one, it is at the same time twofold and compound. They disown the pope’s supremacy, and transubstantiation, though they be¬ lieve the real presence of Christ in the sacrament. They believe in a middle state, in which departed souls must be purged from their sins ; use confession, and receive penance and absolution from the priests. Various attempts have been made to bring this Church under the Papal yoke, but without success. The Portuguese having opened a passage into Abys¬ sinia in the fifteenth century, an emissary was sent to extend the influence and authority of the Roman pontiff, clothed with the title of the Patriarch of the Abyssinians. The same important commission was afterwards given to several Jesuits, when some cir¬ cumstances seemed to promise them a successful and happy ministry ; but the Abyssinians stood so firm to the faith of their ancestors, that towards the end of the sixteenth century the Jesuits had lost nearly all hope in that quarter. About the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Portuguese Jesuits renewed the mission to Abys¬ sinia, when the emperor created one of them patri¬ arch ; and not only swore allegiance to the Roman pontiff, but also obliged his subjects to forsake the rites and tenets of their ancestors, and to embrace the doctrine and worship of the Romish Church. At length the emperor became so exasperated at the violent proceedings of the patriarch, in subverting the established customs of the empire, for the pur- ACACIANS— ACADEMICS. pose of confirming the pope’s authority, especially in imposing celibacy on some, and requiring divorce of others who had married more than one wife, that he annulled the orders formerly given in favour of Popery, banished the missionaries from his dominions, and treated with the utmost severity all who had any connection with the undertaking. From this period the very name of Rome, its religion, and its pontiff, have all along been objects of peculiar aversion among the Abyssinians ; and so lately as about the middle of the last century, the edict prohibiting all Europeans to enter into Ethiopia was still in force, and executed with the greatest rigour. The present state of the Church of Abyssinia, however, is such, that little be¬ sides the name of Christianity is to be found among them. Their religion is a motley collection of tradi¬ tions, tenets, and ceremonies, derived partly from Judaism and partly from Christianity, in its most corrupted form. In their ritual of worship the former seems to predominate ; but, like the Roman Catholics, they have festivals and saints innumerable. One day is dedicated to Balaam’s ass ; another to Pontius Pilate and his wife, — to Pilate, because he washed his hands before he pronounced sentence on Christ, —to his lady, because she warned him to have no¬ thing to do with the blood of that just person. In legends and miracles, too, they are scarcely inferior i to the Church of Rome ; and, upon the whole, it may truly be affirmed, that the religion of the Abyssinians is a monstrous compound of superstitions, unworthily dignified with the name of Christianity. ACACIANS, a sect of heretics in the fourth cen¬ tury ; so named from Acacius, bishop of Caesarea, who denied the Son to be of the same substance with the Father, though some of them allowed that he was of a similar substance. Also, the name of another sect, named after Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople in the fifth century, who favoured the opinions of Euty- chus. See Eutychians. ACADEMICS, a name given to those philosophers who sprung from the school of Plato. They received this name, apparently, from Academia, a grove near Athens, favourable, from its retirement, to philoso¬ phical contemplation. There were three schools to which the appellation “ Academics ” was applied, — the first, the middle, and the new. The first Aca¬ demics taught the doctrines of Plato nearly in their original purity, as they had received them from the mouth of the philosopher himself. Their system, accordingly, was founded on his esoteric, or secret doctrine ; while the systems of the middle and new Academics were more removed from the real opinions of Plato, being founded on his popular, or exoteric doctrine. We shall give a brief sketch of each of these three schools in succession. The first, or ancient Academics, held the real opi¬ nions of their founder, Plato. The system of this eminent philosopher is, on many accounts, not so easily explained as many of the other philosophical systems of Ancient Greece. It was, however, one of the most beautifully connected and consistent sys¬ tems that the mind of man has ever framed. The final object and distinctive character of philo¬ sophy, in the opinion of Plato, is this : For all that exists conditionally, to find a ground that is unconditional and absolute, and thereby to reduce the aggregate of human knowledge to a system. The first enunciation of such a problem indicated, on the part of this philosopher, a marvellous reach and comprehensiveness of intellect ; and the successive steps by which he attempted its 15 solution were worthy of the same gigantic mind. Psychology, or an investigation into the nature, the faculties, and the operations of the thinking prin¬ ciple, was, in his opinion, the natural introduction to philosophy. In opposition to the mere physical prin¬ ciple of life and motion, man is obviously endowed with a spiritual principle, or Mind, — the principle of sensibility and thought. The two great faculties which Mind exercises are Perception and Thought ; the one being an exercise of the mind originating in, and dependent on, an impression from without, — the other being a spontaneous exercise of mind itself. The thinking principle may be considered as consisting of understanding and reason. What characterises par¬ ticularly the thinking faculty, is the power of judging. — of concluding and of uniting ideas. The under¬ standing is strictly connected with sensation ; the senses present the materials, — the understanding ope¬ rates upon them. The objects of thought are images, notions, and ideas ; the first belonging to the senses, — the second, to the understanding, — the third, to the reason. The senses exhibit to us individual ob¬ jects ; — the understanding compares and combines them, enabling us to form general notions. In all this, however, there is nothing peculiar to Plato. The distinctive characteristics of Iris philo¬ sophy were rather to be found in his Doctrine of Ideas. According to the system of Plato, ideas are the eternal copies or types of things as existing in the Divine Mind. They form the essence of things ; but they are free from all conditions of space and time, as well as from sensible form. They compose the intelligible world, ever present to the Divine Mind ; but they must not be confounded with the Divine Mind itself. They are general notions of the highest order, — they are the true universals of things. They are communicated to the mind of man imme¬ diately by God himself, and thus they are innate, — not derived from man’s own experience. The philo¬ sophy which this eminent thinker taught was a sys¬ tem of lofty idealism. Plato’s views were many of them sublime and pure; so much so, that surely he must have been acquainted with the Sacred Scrip¬ tures. Josephus, in his desire to exalt his coun¬ trymen, alleges that Plato and the other Greek phi¬ losophers derived their whole philosophy from the Jews. The idea savours more of national vanity than of a sound judgment. In the early ages of Chris¬ tianity, Plato’s doctrines were no doubt much ad¬ mired; but that he had ever drawn any of his opinions from the Bible, is in the highest degree improbable. The Bible was, in his days, limited entirely to the Jews themselves, not having been translated even into the Greek language till a later period. It is impossible, however, to shut our eyes to the fact, that the high admiration entertained for this eminent man led to the adoption of expressions, in the first ages of Christianity, which are obviously borrowed from his philosophical system. This is remarkably the case with what is termed the Logos, or Word. (See Word.) This term, which seems to have been used by Plato to denote an intelligent nature which existed before the creation of the world, is employed by the Apostle John in speaking of Jesus Christ : “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The idea, also, which the Jews held as to the pre-existence of men in another state, before they came into this world, and which is obviously conveyed in the question put to our Lord on one occasion : “ Did this man sin, or ACCAD— ACCHO. 16 his parents, that he was born blind ? ” is identical with an opinion entertained by Plato. Several of the Jewish sects, indeed, particularly the Essenes, held various tenets akin to those of the same philo¬ sopher. His influence may be discerned in many of the views held by the Jews, and in some of the ex¬ pressions employed even by the Christians. ACCAD, one of the four cities builded by Nimrod, the founder of the Assyrian empire. Gen. x. 10. By the Septuagint the word is written Archad. It was contemporary with Babylon, and was one of the first four great cities of the world. Jerome and others say it is the same as Nisibis; and the Targums read it Nisibin. It is not mentioned under its ancient name by any profane author ; but modern travellers inform us, that about six miles from Bagdad is a gigantic pile of ruins, called by the Arabs and Turks the Hill of Nimrod, in which the materials and style of build¬ ing are so perfectly similar to those of ancient Baby¬ lon, as to make it certain that here was the site of one of the four cities built by Nimrod. It was not Babylon, — it was not Erech, — it was not Calneli, — the unavoidable inference is, that it was Accad ; an inference strengthened by the name of the place, Akarkouff ; especially when it is recollected that the Syrian name for Accad was Achar. Dr Wells sup¬ poses that some faint traces of the name are to be found in that of a small river called Argades, which flows near Sittace, a town situated at some distance from the Tigris. ACCEPT, Acceptable, Accepted. To accept is not only to receive, but to receive with pleasure and kindness. Gen. xxxii. 20. It stands opposed to reject, which is a direct mode of refusal, and implies a posi¬ tive sentiment of disapprobation. Jer. vi. 30, vii. 29. To receive, says Crabbe, is an act of right, — we receive what is our own ; to accept, is an act of courtesy, — we accept what is offered by another. Hence, “ an ac¬ ceptable time,” or “ accepted time ” (Psal. lxix. 13 ; 2 Cor. vi. 2), signifies a favourable opportunity, a time when acceptance is granted, and favours are bestowed. ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. A very import* ant point of Christian doctrine. It is to be observed, then, that the sole ground of a sinner’s acceptance with God is not to be found in any good works, whether viewed as wrought in him or by him, but in the infinitely meritorious and ac¬ cepted work of the Redeemer. That the original mode of acceptance was by man’s personal obedience to the law cannot be denied ; so that even now, “ if there had been a law which could have given righte¬ ousness, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But no such law any longer exists. Insecure, however, and inevitably ruinous though the law must now prove, as a ground of hope towards God, it is remarkable with what tenacity man cleaves to the original and now obsolete mode of acceptance. This partiality in favour of salvation by the law was not more conspicuous among the Jews of old, than it is among professing Christians of every age. The very prevalence of such an error, however much to be lamented, shows that its foundation is deeply laid in the principles of the human constitution. And yet the declarations of Scripture are sufficiently explicit as to the mode of acceptance. The law hath exhausted its demands upon Christ, our Surety, and therefore it no longer possesses the power of communicating life or death to the believer. They who are in Christ are no longer under the law, as a covenant promising life or threatening death ; but they are one with Him who hath fulfilled the whole law, that they might be accepted as righteous in the sight of God. The righ- | teousness of the law is fulfilled in them, and, consis¬ tently with the principles of the Divine government, no further claims can be urged against them. They are complete in Christ, — their persons are accepted, and their natures renewed. They are, therefore, no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God. ACCENSORII, or Lighters, a name given' to the ancient Acolouthi, because they lighted the candles in the churches. ACCESS, the privilege of approaching a superior with freedom. It is thus distinguished by Crabbe from admittance: — “We have admittance where we enter ; we have access to him whom we address. There can be no access where there is no admittance ; but there may be admittance without access. Servants or officers may grant us admittance into the palaces of princes ; the favourites of princes only have access to their persons.” In Scripture this important word occurs but three times, and always in connection with our reconcilia¬ tion to God through Christ. In Rom. v. 2, where it first occurs, it signifies our introduction into a state of settled friendship with God ; a state in which we are permitted to enjoy the freest intercourse and communion with him, and can rejoice in hope of his eternal glory, through his Son as our Mediator : “In whom,” says the apostle, in that exquisite passage, Eph. iii. 12, “ we have boldness and access with CONFIDENCE BY THE FAITH OF HlM.” Under the law, the high priest alone had access to the Divine presence within the mysterious veil of the holy of holies ; but when, at the death of Christ, the veil of the temple was rent in twain, it was declared that a new and living way of access was laid open to j every true worshipper. By his death, also, the middle i wall of partition was broken down, and God became equally accessible to Gentile and to Jew; whereas before, the Gentiles had no nearer access in the ; temple worship than to the gate of the court of Is- rael. Thus the grace and privileges of the Gospel are alike bestowed on true believers of all nations. The Apostle Paul, in one short but comprehensive verse, not only explains this most fully, but at the same time shows how, in the economy of redemption, each glorious person of the Godhead executes a har¬ monious part in this most sweet and gracious trans¬ action : “For through Him (the Son of God) we (Jewish and Gentile believers) both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Eph. ii. 18. Here we see, in the clearest manner, how fundamental to the Christian faith is the view which it reveals to us of the Sacred Trinity ; since it is only by the guid¬ ance of the Holy Spirit, through the mediation of the Son, that we are enabled to approach the Father, seated on the throne of grace. And it behoves us further to remark the blessedness of this access to God ; for we are not simply introduced by Christ, but beheld and accepted also in Christ. He is our peace, — the author both of our access and acceptance ; for, to the praise of the glory of his grace, God hath made us “ accepted in the Beloved.” Eph. i. 6 ; 1 Pet. iii. 18. And those words of our Lord cannot be too well remembered : “ I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John xiv. 6. ACCHO, a seaport of Palestine (Judges i. 31), called afterwards Ptolemais (Acts xxi. 7), from the ACCLAMATIONS— ACCOMMODATION. 17 first of the Ptolemies, who enlarged and beautified it. By the Arabs it is still called Akko. Its site enjoys, says Dr Wells, all possible advantage by sea and land. It is situated on the coast of the Medi¬ terranean sea, about twenty-seven miles south of Tyre, on the north angle of a hay to which it gives its name, and which extends in a semicircle of three leagues, as far as the point of mount Carmel. The town was originally surrounded by triple walls, and a fosse, or ditch. On the north and east was a spa¬ cious and fertile plain ; on the south and west sides it was washed by the sea ; and Pococke thinks that the river Belus, which flows from Carmel into the Mediterranean, was brought through the fosse, which ran along the ramparts on the north, — thus making the city an island. In the first partition of the Holy Land under Joshua, Accho belonged to the tribe of Asher ; but it proved to be one of the places out of which the Israelites could not drive the primitive inhabitants. Accho, and all beyond it northwards, was considered as the heathen laud of the Jews. When Syria wTas subjected by the Romans, it was made a colony by the emperor Claudius. Mr Taylor has collected several medals of Accho, or Ptolemais. Those bearing its Phenician name, Ok, or Akko, have dates of the era of Alexander ; whence it may be inferred that it received favours from that prince, — probably at the time he was de¬ tained in Syria by the siege of Tyre. From others, it appears that the city assumed the privilege of asy¬ lum and of sanctity, and that it possessed a temple of Diana. Establishments for the purposes of com¬ merce seem also to have been formed here by mer¬ chants from Antioch ; not unlike the English factories in Smyrna, and other cities of the East, at the pre¬ sent. There was also a bath of Venus here, of great antiquity. Such was Ptolemais in the days of the apostles. Christianity was planted here at an early period, and here Paul visited the saints in his way to Jerusalem. Acts xxi. 7. This city, now called Acre, which, from the con¬ venience of its port, is one of the most considerable on the Syrian coast, was during almost three centuries (a.d. 1000 to a.d. 1290) the principal theatre of the holy wars, and the frequent scene of the perfidies and treacheries of the crusaders. By them it was named Acre, or St John of Acre, from a magnificent church which was built within its walls, and dedicated to St John. It was the last fortified place wrested from them by the Turks ; who, exasperated by the length of the siege, wreaked a dreadful vengeance in its desolation and ruin. From this fatal overthrow it has never, under the government of the Turks, been able fully to recover; though, since the time of its memorable siege by Buonaparte, in 1799, it has been considerably im¬ proved and strengthened, and, until recently, was considered the strongest place in Palestine. Vast ruins of churches, palaces, monasteries, forts, &e., might be seen extending more than half a mile in length ; in all which, says Dr Wells, you may dis¬ cern such marks of strength, as if every building in the city had been contrived for war and defence. This fine city, however, containing about ten thou¬ sand inhabitants, has been nearly reduced to ruins by the British, under Commodore Napier, in the late war in Syria. The troops of Ibrahim having en¬ trenched themselves in Acre, as, in their opinion, an impregnable fortress, they were defeated, and the city almost entirely destroyed. ACCLAMATIONS (Ecclesiastical) were shouts of joy by which the people in ancient times expressed their approbation of their preachers. Contrary to the quietness and order which decency demands in a Christian assembly, it would appear that in the fourth century it became an extensive custom for hearers, in imitation of the pagan theatre, to show their ap¬ proval of the preacher by tumultuous applauses, such as stamping of feet, clapping of hands, waving of handkerchiefs, and loud acclamations. Thus the hearers of Cyril cried out in the midst of the sermon, “ Orthodox Cyril ! ” And Chrysostom’s in another case exclaimed, “ Thou art the thirteenth apostle!” These applauses were in many cases mere matter of form, and were uttered without any intelligent appre¬ hension of what the preacher had delivered. Thus, in one instance, Augustine reproved his hearers for inter¬ rupting him in the commencement of his sermon with their loud acclamations, when he had scarcely ut tered a single sentiment. But many preachers encouraged these disorders from motives of vainglory. It is well that in modern times audible acclamations are no longer resorted to in our Churches. The best mode of appreciating the discourses of a faithful ministei is, by receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls. ACCOMMODATION ; the application of one thing to another by analogy, in consequence of a resem¬ blance real or supposed between them. In the in¬ terpretation of Scripture this principle has been often resorted to, when a more direct method of investi¬ gation is found to be impracticable. Thus it forms the groundwork of the indirect fulfilment of pro¬ phecy, as when passages that originally referred to one event, are quoted as if they referred to another, to which some resemblance may be traced. This mode of interpreting Scripture requires the greatest caution and judgment in its exercise. It is liable to much abuse ; and in the hands of some of the German divines has been attended with the most dangerous consequences. There is a sense in which it may be admitted, that the New Testament writers have ac¬ commodated passages from the Jewish Scriptures to a meaning somewhat different from that which was primarily attached to them. In these cases, however, they are used simply as the words of the person who quotes them, not as arguments in support of doctrines, or in proof of the fulfilment of a prophecy. Thus, in Rom. x. 18, we find the Apostle Paul quoting from the 19th Psalm, an expression which, though obviously used by David as applied to the works of creation, is accommodated by the apostle to the truths of God’s revealed Word, — “their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” Here the words are simply quoted by way of convenience, to express a truth which, while it applied to the works of creation, was equally applicable to the written Revelation. It must never for a moment be imagined, that when quotations from the Old Testament are brought forward by the New Testament writers in proof of a doctrine, they are simply accommodations. This were to shake our confidence in the inspiration of the evangelists and apostles. It would imply either that they were ignorant of the primary meaning of the passages which they quoted, or that they wilfully perverted them to serve a purpose. Neither suppo- j sition is in the slightest degree warranted by an exa- I mination of the quotations referred to. Occasionally B ACCORD— ACCUSE. 18 they are merely Old Testament expressions, adopted by the writer to express his own thoughts. But wherever they are introduced with such a formula as, “ Thus was fulfilled,” or, “ This was done that it might be fulfilled,” or even without any such formal introduction, if they are adduced as arguments in proof of some doctrine, the very circumstance of their being so quoted fixes the real meaning of the passage adduced. In the writings of some theological authors, pas¬ sages of Scripture are accommodated to suit the pur¬ poses of the writer, and thus the reader is in danger of being deceived by the delusive idea that opinions are countenanced by the Word of God, which are opposed to the whole spirit and genius of the Bible. This is remarkably the case with the writings of many heretics, and more especially of Dr Taylor of Norwich, who, by a display of quotations from Scripture, gives an appearance of truth to the most false and perverted opinions. ACCORD, the consent of different parts to one re¬ sult. The word is borrowed from music, and literally denotes the tuning together of the strings of an in¬ strument, to produce a “ concord of sweet sounds.” Thus, when all the desires and emotions of the soul harmonize in one purpose, without foreign induce¬ ments, a man is said to act of his own accord. 2 Cor. viii. 17. Whatever moves without the application of external or visible force, is hence said to move of its own accord. Acts xii. 10. The Christian Church at Jerusalem is said to have been “ of one accord ;” that is, the different members, amidst all the variety of age, sex, endowments, &c., were actuated by the same spirit, and brought into a most perfect and de¬ lightful harmony of judgment, views, aims, and affec¬ tions. Acts i. 14, ii. 46, v. 12. ACCOUNTABILITY, the obligation under which every man lies of giving an account of himself to God, in order to future retribution. Rom. xiv. 12 ; 2 Cor. v. 10. See Responsibility. ACCUBATION, or reclining, which was the usual posture at table among the Orientals. This custom seems to have prevailed in Persia at a very remote period. As practised in the time of our Lord, it is thus explained by Professor Paxton, in his ‘ Illustra¬ tions of Scripture:’ — “Each guest inclined the supe¬ rior part of his body upon his left arm, the lower part being stretched out at length, or a little bent ; his head was raised up, and his back sometimes sup¬ ported with pillows. If several persons lay upon the same bed, then the first lay on the uppermost part, with his legs stretched out behind the second per¬ son’s back ; the second person’s head lay below the bosom of the former, his feet being placed behind the third person’s back; and the rest in like manner: for though it was accounted mean or sordid at Rome to place more than three or four upon one bed, yet, as we are informed by Cicero, the Greeks used to crowd five, and often a greater number, into the same couch. Persons beloved commonly lay in the bosoms of those Jhat loved them. And for the same reason, accord¬ ing to the well-known custom, the beloved disciple lay in the bosom of his Lord, at the celebration of the passover. The head of the second being oppo¬ site to the bosom of the first, if he wanted to speak to him, especially if the thing was to be secret, he was obliged to lean upon his bosom : thus the Apostle John, wishing to speak secretly to his Lord, leaned from necessity upon his bosom. In conversation, those who spoke raised themselves almost upright, supported by cushions. Wben they ate, they raised themselves on their elbow, and made use ot the right hand ; which is the reason our Lord mentions the hand of Judas in the singular number: — ‘He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.’” ACCURSED ; the word in Hebrew is Cherem, in Greek Anathema, and always denotes, in Scripture, something decoted : but generally, things devoted to destruction. “Among the ancients,” says Jones, “ whatever was idolatrous was a Cherem, that is, it was ‘ devoted to destruction.’ Not only were idols themselves an abomination to the Lord, but whatever had been employed in idolatrous worship became so detestable to the Divine Majesty, that he would not have it converted to any ordinary or common use ; even the silver and the gold which had belonged to idols, the Jews were not permitted to bring into their houses, or convert to any private purpose. It was to beregarded as a cursed thing, Deut. vii. 26, which no person might meddle with, ch. xiii. 17; it he did, he himself became a cursed thing, that is, he became devoted to destruction. This was exemplified in the case of Achan, who took a wedge of gold, and a Babylonish garment, to his own private use, when it had been made accursed ( cherem ) by express Divine command ; on which account he was stoned to death. Compare Josh. vi. 17, 18, with ch. vii. 21-26. The cities of king Arad, the seven nations of Canaan, and the sacrifices of idols, were accursed. Num. xxi. 2, 3 ; Deut. vii. 2, 26. This sufficiently explains the general acceptation of the term. There is, however, an exception to it, which must be noticed. The Hebrew word cherem is sometimes used to de¬ note any sacred gift, wdiich was devoted to God or to holy purposes, as in Lev. xxvii. 28: ‘No devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed : every devoted thing ( cherem ) is most holy unto the Lord.’ Again, we find that although the city of Jericho was a cherem (devoted to destruction), Josh. vi. 17, yet the metals in it were a cherem, that is, sacred to the Lord, and set apart to holy purposes. Let it be re¬ membered, however, that this use of the word is very rare, and forms an exception to its general signifi¬ cation.” The cherem formed in later times, according to the rabbinical writers, the second degree of excommuni¬ cation among the Jews, — that by which the excom¬ municated party was delivered over to Satan, devoting him by a solemn curse. It is to this that the Apostle Paul is supposed to allude, when he wishes that he were accursed for his brethren’s sake ; that is, he would rather be excommunicated, laden with curses, and suffer all the miseries consequent on the inflic¬ tion of this punishment, if it could have been of any service to his brethren, the Jews. The word cherem signifies to cut off, and therefore refers, in all proba¬ bility, to that separation from the body of believers which excommunication implied, and which went so far as to prohibit from eating with the party against