but very slow for nine years after this, till he began to make use of force; and then his victorious arms, not his arguments, carried his religion triumphantly over almost all the eastern world.

It appears, therefore, that without the assistance either of miracles or of the sword, no religion can be propagated with such rapidity, and to such an extent, as the Christian was, both during our Saviour's lifetime and after his death. For there is, I believe, no instance in the history of mankind of such an effect being produced, without either the one or the other. Now of force we know that Jesus never did make use; the unavoidable consequence is, that the miracles ascribed to him were actually wrought by him.

4. These miracles being wrought, not in the midst of friends, who were disposed to favour them, but of most bitter and determined enemies, whose passions and whose prejudices were all up in arms, all vigorous and active against them and their author; we may rest assured, that no false pretence to a supernatural power, no frauds, no collusions, no impositions, would be suffered to pass undetected and unexposed. that every single miracle would be most critically and most rigorously sifted and inquired into, and no art left unemployed to destroy their credit and counteract their effect. And this in fact we find to be the case. Look into the ninth chapter of St. John, and you will see with what extreme care and diligence, with what anxiety and solicitude, the Pharisees examined and re-examined the blind man that was restored to sight by our Saviour, and what pains they took to persuade him, and to make him say, that he was not restored to sight by Jesus.

"They brought," says St. John, "to the Pharisees, him that aforetime was blind; and the Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight. And he said unto them, Jesus put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed and did see. A plain, and simple, and honest relation of the fact. But the Jews, not content with this, called for his parents, and asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see? His parents, afraid of bringing themselves into danger, very discreetly answered, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now seeth, we know not, or who hath opened his eyes we know not: he is of age, ask him, he shall speak

for himself. They then called the man again, and said to him, Give God the praise; we know that this man (meaning Jesus) is a sinner. The man's answer is admirable: Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not; but this I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. Since the world began was it not known that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. And they answered him and said, thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out." A very effectual way, it must be confessed, of confuting a miracle!

The whole of this narrative (from which I have only selected a few of the most striking passages) is highly curious and instructive, and would furnish ample matter for a variety of very important remarks. But the only use I mean to make of it at present is to observe, that it proves, in the clearest manner, how very much awake and alive the Jews were to every part of our Saviour's conduct. It shows, that his miracles were presented, not to persons prepossessed and prejudiced in his favour, not to inattentive, or negligent, or credulous spectators, but to acute, and inquisitive, and hostile observers; to men disposed and able to detect imposture wherever it could be found. And it is utterly impossible, that the miracles of Christ could have passed the fiery ordeal of so much shrewdness, and sagacity, and authority, and malignity, united, if they had not been carried through it by the irresistible force of truth, and of that divine power, which nothing could resist.

5. The miracles of our Lord were not mere transient acts, beheld at the moment with astonishment, but forgot as soon as over, and productive of no important consequences. They gave birth to a new religion, to a new mode of worship, to several new and singular institutions, such as the rite of Baptism, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the appropriation of the first day of the week to sacred purposes, the establishment of a distinct order of men for the celebration of divine offices, and other things of the same nature. Now this religion and these institutions subsist to this day. And as the books of the New Testament affirm, that this religion and these institutions were first established, and afterward made their way by the power of miracles, they are standing testimonies to the truth and the reality of

those miracles, without which they could never have taken such firm and deep root at the first, and continued unshaken through so many ages to the present time. The magnitude and permanency of the superstructure prove that it could not have had a less solid, a less substantial foundation.

6. And, lastly, when we consider the great sacrifices made by the first converts to Christianity, particularly by the apostles and primitive teachers of it; how many deep-rooted prejudices and favourite opinions they gave up to it; what a total change it produced in their disposition, their temper, their manners, their principles, their habits, and the whole complexion of their lives; what infinite pains they took to propagate it; how cheerfully they relinquished for this purpose all the ease, the comfort, the conveniencies, the pleasures, and the advantages of life; and instead of them embraced labours, hardships, sufferings, persecutions, torments, and death itself; we cannot rationally suppose, that such patience, resignation, fortitude, magnanimity, and perseverance, could possibly be produced by any less powerful cause than those evidences of divine power exhibited in the miracles of Christ; which demonstrably proved, that he and his religion had a divine original, and that therefore the sufferings they underwent for his sake in the present life would be amply repaid by the glorious rewards reserved for them hereafter.

When, therefore, we put together all these considerations, they can leave no doubt on any unprejudiced mind, that the account given in this chapter of the first commencement of our Saviour's ministry, and the reasons of his astonishing success, are perfectly accurate and true: namely, "that he went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people." And our conclusion from this must necessarily be the same with that of the great Jewish ruler, who, with a laudable anxiety to know the truth, came to Jesus by night, and addressed him in these words: " Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles, that thou doest, except God be with him*.”

* John iii, 2.

LECTURE VI.

MATTHEW V.

OUR blessed Lord, having by his miracles established his divine authority, and acquired of course a right to the attention of his hearers, and a powerful influence over their minds, proceeds in the next place to explain to them in some degree the nature of his religion, the duties it enjoins, and the dispositions it requires. This he does in what is commonly called his Sermon on the Mount; which is a discourse of considerable length, being extended through this and the two following chapters; and we may venture to say it contains a greater variety of new, important, and excellent moral precepts, than is anywhere to be found in the same compass. At the same time, it does not pretend to give a regular, complete, and perfect system of ethics, or to lay down rules for the regulation of our conduct in every possible instance that can arise. This would have been an endless task, and would have multiplied precepts to a degree that would, in a great measure, have defeated their utility and destroyed their effect*. Our Lord took the wiser and more impressive method of tracing out to us only the great outlines of our duty, of giving us general principles and comprehensive rules, which we may ourselves apply to particular cases, and the various situations in which we may be placed.

He begins with describing those dispositions and virtues which mark the Christian character, in which the Gospel peculiarly delights, but which the world despises and rejects.

"Blessed," says he," are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

* Vide John xxi, 25.

"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven*."

It is evident, that our Lord here meant, at the very outset of his public instructions, to mark at once, in the strongest and most decided terms, the peculiar temper, spirit, and character of his religion; and to show to his disciples how completely opposite they were to all those splendid and popular qualities, which were the great objects of admiration and applause to the heathen world; and are still too much so, even to the Christian world. "There are," as a very able advocate for Christianity well observes "two opposite characters, under which mankind may generally be classed. The one possesses vigour, firmness, resolution, is daring and active, quick in its sensibilities, jealous of its fame, eager in its attachments, inflexible in its purposes, violent in its resentments.

"The other, meek, yielding, complying, forgiving: not prompt to act, but willing to suffer; silent and gentle under rudeness and insult; suing for reconciliation where others would demand satisfaction; giving way to the pushes of impudence; conceding and indulgent to the prejudices, the wrongheadedness, the intractability of those with whom he has to deal."

The former of these characters is and ever has been the favourite of the world; and though it is too stern to conciliate affection, yet it has an appearance of dignity in it which too commonly commands respect.

The latter is, as our Lord describes it, humble, meek,

* Matt. v, 3-12.

Dr. Paley, vol. ii, p. 30.