ye

hath glorified his son Jesus; whom delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." The 4th chapter begins thus: "And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day; for it was now eventide." The next day they are brought before the High Priest and other authorities, and, being interrogated as to the healing of the lame man, Peter, in part of his answer, says: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." Here and in all other places the apostles represent themselves as acting by the authority of Jesus Christ. After this the apostles were sent aside, and the rulers, having conferred among themselves, commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them" (the narrative continues), they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people for all men

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glorified God for that which was done." In the 5th chapter we find the apostles seized and put in prison. They are described as having been delivered by an angel, and going and teaching the people in the temple; when they are again brought before the council, vv. 27-32: "And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the High Priest asked them, saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." By the wise advice of Gamaliel, the council are induced to adopt a milder course than they would have otherwise pursued. "And when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

Having traced thus far the proceedings of the apostles, and seeing that by preaching the gospel they exposed themselves to stripes and imprisonment; and had great reason to expect still more severe treatment,

from which they were only kept by the sober advice of a discreet and moderate man; I now ask, why did the apostles pursue this course? If we believe them, it was because their Lord and Master Jesus Christ had risen from the dead; had instructed them to promulgate his religion; and had promised them supernatural aid; and that they had been the recipients of powers from on high, in the gift of tongues and other spiritual endowments. If we reject their testimony, we must believe that twelve men agreed together to impose on the world by a tale of falsehood, and on that tale to found a new religion of a pure and holy character, such as the world had never known before, and the immeasurable superiority of which to all others is at the present day recognized in all the most civilized parts of the world. They must at the same time have been endeavouring to impose on the world a gross falsehood, and to inculcate lessons of the most exalted piety, the most expansive benevolence, of truth, justice, temperance, fortitude, and every virtue which adorns human nature. They must have persisted in the assertion of this falsehood, and in their plan of establishing a new religion, not only with no aid from without, but in direct opposition to the religious feelings of their own country, and to the professed religion of that mighty empire which had extended its dominion over all those nations of the earth which had reached the highest state of civilization. To the Jews they preached, that he who had been rejected by them, condemned by their rulers, and on their accusation, consigned by the Roman governor to a shameful and most painful death, was in truth no other than the Messiah, whose advent had been foretold by their

prophets. Unawed by the power of imperial Rome, they boldly denounced the idolatrous and polytheistic religion of the empire; taught that an idol is nothing in the world; and that the universe was formed and is, sustained by one God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. To believe that fraud and falsehood could have been thus combined with an attempt to set up a new religion so exalted, so pure, so admirable, that nothing that is truly excellent has been added to it in the long succession of ages which has passed away since its first establishment in the world, is to me impossible; and I cannot see that any one can adopt this opinion who has not previously. made up his mind to reject all evidence which can possibly be produced to prove a Divine revelation. I have therefore no hesitation in declaring my firm conviction that the Christian religion is what it professes to be a revelation from God; and I shall be relieved from the restraint which the nature of the inquiry we have been engaged in has hitherto imposed upon me of treating as doubtful, facts of the truth of which I entertain no doubt; and shall from henceforth, whenever I have occasion to mention Jesus Christ, unhesitatingly recognize him as what he always professed himself to be, the Son of God, the Mediator between God and man, the Saviour of the world.

It will be proper here to notice a plausible objection to the view which I have just taken of the subject in hand. It may be said, that all which I have stated goes only to prove the sincerity of the first preachers of Christianity, and that sincerity in religious profession is so far from being a proof of the truth of the professed creed, that it may be found

in the followers of every religion in the world, among Jews and Mahometans, Brahmins and Buddhists, and the followers of every known form of idolatrous worship; and that all these hold to their opinions with as much tenacity as any Christian professor; and that numbers are to be found among them who are ready to sacrifice their worldly interests, and to endure persecution for conscience sake. This is undoubtedly true; and it must be conceded, that sincerity in the belief of any particular religion affords no proof of its truth. It is not, however, sincerity in the profession of a mere belief or opinion that we are concerned with at present. Our business is to ascertain the evidence of a fact. The apostles, like other men, were no doubt liable to fall into error in matters of opinion, and in matters of faith, unless they were enlightened by Divine wisdom; but in the fact of having seen the Saviour after his resurrection they could not possibly be deceived; and I have endeavoured to show that there is no rational ground to think that they intended to deceive others. Unless, therefore, we are prepared to give up all reliance on human testimony, I do not perceive how we can refuse our assent to that of the apostles in proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I shall now proceed to produce other parts of the New Testament, to show that the apostles were not actuated by interest or ambition. That they could not have looked for riches or worldly honours or rank, is apparent from the whole of their history. If they were urged on by ambition, it must have been as leaders of the new religion; and the proof of this would be their arrogating to themselves powers and