of men, could be brought about by common and ordinary instruments? Would it not require agents of a very superior order, of considerable influence from their birth and wealth and situation in life, men of the profoundest erudition, of the brightest talents, of the most consummate knowledge of the world and the human heart, of the most insinuating manners, of the most commanding and fascinating eloquence? Were then the apostles of this description? Quite the contrary.They were plain, humble, unpretending men, of low birth and low occupations, without learning, without education, without any extraordinary endowments, natural or acquired, without any thing in short to recommend them but their simplicity, integrity, and purity of manners. With what hopes of success could men such as these set about the most difficult of all enterprizes, the reformation of a corrupt world, and the conversion of it to a new faith? Yet we all know that they actually did accomplish these two most arduous things, and that on the foundations they laid the whole superstructure of the Christian church has been raised, and the divine truths of the Gospel spread through all parts of the civilized world. How then is this to be accounted for? It is utterly impossible to account for it in any way but that which Christ himself points out, in this very charge to his apostles: "Heal the sick," says he to them in the 8th verse, "cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." Here is the explanation of the whole mystery. It was the powers with which they were invested, the miracles they were enabled to perform, which procured such multitudes of converts The people saw that God was with them, and that, therefore, every thing they taught must be true.

Here is at once a sufficient cause assigned for the effect produced by agents, apparently so unequal to the production of it. We challenge all the infidels in the world to assign any other adequate cause. They have never yet done it; and we assert with confidence that they never can.

17

These then were the powers the apostles carried along with them; and where shall we find the sovereign that could ever furnish his ambassadors with such qualifications as these? If they were asked with what authority they were invested, and what proofs they could give that they were actually commissioned to instruct mankind in the principles of true religion, by that great personage the Son of God, whose servants and ministers they pretended to be, their answer was short and decisive; bring us your sick, and we will heal them; shew us your lepers. aud we will cleanse them; produce your dead, and we will restore them to life. It would not be very easy to dispute the authenticity of such credentials as these.

It is further to be observed on this head, that the circumstance of our Saviour not only working miracles himself, but also enabling others to perform them, is an instance of divine power, to which no other prophet or teacher before him, true or false, ever pretended. In this,, as in many other respects, he stands unrivalled and alone.

After this follow some directions, no less singular and new. "Provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey. neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves.”*

That is, they were to take a long journey without making any other provision for it than the staff in their hand, and the clothes they had on, for, says Jesus, the workman is worthy of his meat; an intimation that the providence of God would watch over and supply their wants. This required some confidence in their Master; and unless they had good grounds for thinking that it was in his power to engage Providence on their side for in other words, that he was actually the Son of God) they would scarce have run the risk of so unpromising an expedition. But this conclusion grows stronger when we come to the declaration in the next, and following verses. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore, wise as

Matth. x. 9-1Q.

serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men ; for they will deliver you up to the councils; and they will scourge you in the synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my name's sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles; and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death; and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."*

What now shall we say to this extraordinary and unexampled declaration ?

When a sovereign sends his ambassadors to a foreign country, he makes an ample provision for their journey, he assigns them a liberal allowance for their support, and generally holds out at the same time the prospect of a future reward for their labours and their services to their country on their return from their embassy. And without this few men would be disposed to undertake the commission.

But here every thing is the reverse; instead of support, they were to meet with persecution; instead of an honourable reception, they were to experience universal hatred and detestation; instead of reward, they were to be exposed to certain ruin and destruction, and to be let loose like so many sheep among wolves.

Can we now conceive it possible that any men in their senses should, without some very powerful and extraordinary motive, voluntarily undertake such a commission as this, in which their only recompence was to be affliction, misery, pain, and death; in which all the natural affections of the human heart were to be extinguished or inverted, and their nearest relations, their parents, children, or brethren, were to be their persecutors and executioners? Is it usual for human beings wantonly and needlessly to expose themselves to such evils as these, without the least prospect of any advantage to themselves or their families? You may say perhaps that simple, ignorant, uneducated men,

* Matth. x. 16, 17, 18, 21, 22.

like the apostles, might easily be deluded by an artful leader, and betrayed into very dreadful calamities, and that we see multitudes thus deceived and ruined every day. It is true; but where in this case is the art of the leader, or the delusion of his followers? In the cases alluded to, men are induced to embark in perilous undertakings, and to run headlong into destruction, by fair promises and tempting offers, by promises of liberty, of wealth, of honour, of popularity, of glory. But here, instead of employing any art, or making any attempt to deceive his followers, our Saviour plainly tells them they are to expect nothing but what is most dread, ful to human nature. Whatever they suffered, therefore, they suffered with their eyes open, and with their own free choice and consent, It is true, they were plain ignorant men; but they could feel pain, and they could have no more fondness for misery and death than other people. Yet this they did actually and cheerful, ly undergo at the command of their Lord. How is this to be explained and accounted for? Is there any instance upon record before this in the annals of the world, where twelve grave sober men, without any reason, and without being misled by any artifice or delusion whatever, voluntarily exposed themselves at the desire of another person to persecution, torment, and destruction? There must have been some cogent rea, son for such a conduct as this; and that reason could be nothing less than a full and perfect conviction, arising from the miracles which they saw with their own eyes, and which they themselves were enabled to perform, that Christ was what he pretended to be, the Son of God; that all power was given to him in heaven and on earth; and that he was able to fulfil the promises he had made them of a recompence in a future life, infinitely surpassing in magnitude and in duration all the sufferings they could experience in the present world.

This is the only rational account to be given of their conduct, and it presents to us in a short compass a strong convincing evidence of the truth of the Christian revelation,

In order to fortify the minds of his disciples against the severe trials they were to undergo, our blessed Lord, in the 28th verse, adds the following exhortation: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

This passage contains a decisive proof of two very important doctrines, the existence of a soul distinct from the body, and the continuance of that soul after death (both of which, in direct opposition to this and many other passages of scripture, some late writers have dared to controvert;) and it plainly refers the apostles to the consideration of a future life, in which all their views, their hopes and fears, were to center, and by which their conduct in this world was entirely to be regulated. The worst their enemies could do to them in this life was to kill the body, which must some time or other be destroyed by age or disease. But God was able to kill the soul, which was formed for immortality, to annihilate it at once, or to condemn it to everlasting punishment. It was, therefore, of infinitely more consequence to avoid his displeasure, and to secure his approbation by performing their duty, than by shamefully deserting it to escape the infliction of the bitterest evils that their fellow creatures could bring upon them.

In conformity to this advice he tells them, "that he that endureth to the end shall be saved: And that he who loses his life for his sake in this world, shall find it in a far more exalted sense in the next."*

This was solid comfort and substantial support. But unless our Lord had given them irresistible miraculous evidence of the reality of this future reward, unless they had absolute demonstration of its certainty, it was utterly impossible that they could be so mad as to sacrifice to this expectation every thing most valuable in this life, and even life itself.

As a still further support under the terrifying prospect which our blessed Lord had held up to the apos

Matth. x. 22-39.