VIII. A great number of the Jews, struck with CENT. I. PART 1. The success those illustrious marks of a divine authority and power, that shone forth in the ministry and actions of Christ, regarded him as the Son of God, the true Messiah. The rulers of the people, and of Christ's more especially the chief priests and Pharisees, ministry. whose licentiousness and hypocrisy he censured with a noble and generous freedom, laboured with success, by the help of their passions, to extinguish in their breasts the conviction of his celestial mission; or, at least, to suppress the effects it was adapted to produce upon their conduct. Fearing also lest the ministry of Christ should tend to diminish their credit, and to deprive them of the advantages they derived from the impious abuse of their authority in religious matters; they laid snares for his life, which, for a considerable time, were without effect. They succeeded, at length, by the infernal treason of an apostate disciple, by the treachery of Judas, who discovered the retreat which his divine Master had chosen for the purposes of meditation and repose, and thus delivered him into the merciless hands of a brutal soldiery. Christ. IX. In consequence of this, Jesus was first Death of brought before the Jewish high priest and sanhedrim, before whom he was accused of having violated the law, and blasphemed the majesty of God. Dragged from thence to the tribunal of Pilate the Roman prætor, he.was there charged with seditious enterprises, and with treason against Cæsar. Both these accusations were so evidently false, and destitute even of every appearance of truth, that they must have been rejected by any judge, who acted upon the principles of common equity. But the clamours of an enraged populace, set on by the impious instigations of their priests and rulers, intimidated Pilate, and engaged him, though with the utmost reluctance, PART L CENT. and in opposition to the dictates of his conscience, I. to pronounce a capital sentence against Christ. The divine Saviour behaved with inexpressible dignity under this heavy trial. As the end of his mission was to make expiation for the sins of men, so when all things were ready, and when he had finished the work of his glorious ministry, he pla eidly submitted to the death of the cross, and, with a serene and voluntary resignation, committed his spirit into the hands of the Father. His resur X. After Jesus had remained three days in rection. the sepulchre, he resumed that life which he had voluntarily laid down; and, rising from the dead, declared to the universe, by that triumphant act, that the divine justice was satisfied, and the paths of salvation and immortality rendered accessible to the human race, He conversed with his disciples during forty days after his resurrection, and employed that time in instructing them more fully concerning the nature of his kingdom. Many wise and important reasons prevented his showing himself publicly at Jerusalem, to confound the malignity and unbelief of his enemies. He contented himself with manifesting the certainty of his glorious resurrection to a sufficient number of faithful and credible witnesses; foreseeing, perhaps, that if he appeared in public, those malicious unbelievers, who had formerly attributed his miracles to the power of magic, would now represent his resurrection as a phantom, vision, produced by the influence of infernal powers, After having remained upon earth during the space of time abovementioned, and given to his disciples a divine commission to preach the glad tidings of salvation and immortality to the human race, he ascended into hea, ven, in their presence, and resumed the enjoyment of that glory which he was possessed of before the worlds were created, or CHAPTER IV. Concerning the prosperous Events that happened to the Church during this Century. 1. PART I. The apos Holy 1. JESUS, being ascended into heaven, soon CENT. showed his afflicted disciples, that, though invisible to mortal eyes, he was still their omnipotent protector, and their benevolent guide. About fifty days after his departure from them, he gave tles filled them the first proof of that majesty and power to with the which he was exalted, by the effusion of the Holy Ghost. Ghost upon them according to his promise [p]. The consequences of this grand event were surprising and glorious, infinitely honourable to the Christian religion, and the divine mission of its triumphant author. For no sooner had the apostles received this precious gift, this celestial guide, than their ignorance was turned into light, their doubts into certainty, their fears into a firm and invincible fortitude, and their former backwardness into an ardent and inextinguishable zeal, which led them to undertake their sacred office with the utmost intrepidity and alacrity of mind. This marvellous event was attended with a variety of gifts; particularly the gift of tongues, so indispensably necessary to qualify the apostles to preach the gospel to the different nations. These holy apostles were also filled with a perfect persuasion, founded on Christ's express promise, that the divine presence would perpetually accompany them, and show itself by miraculous interpositions, as often as the success of their ministry should render this necessary. II. Relying upon these celestial succours, the Preach the apostles began their glorious ministry, by preach-gospel first ing the gospel, according to Christ's positive and Sa [p] Acts ii. 1, &c. Jews maritans. PART I. CENT. command, first to the Jews, and by endeavouring I. to bring that deluded people to the knowledge of the truth [9]. Nor were their labours unsuccessful, since, in a very short time, many thousands were converted, by the influence of their ministry, to the Christian faith [r]. From the Jews they passed to the Samaritans, to whom they preached with such efficacy, that great numbers of that nation acknowledged the Messiah [s]. And, after that they had exercised their ministry during several years at Jerusalem, and brought to a sufficient degree of consistence and maturity the Christian churches which were founded in Palestine and the adjacent countries, they extended their views further, carried the divine lamp of the gospel to all the nations of the world, and saw their labours crowned, almost everywhere, with the most abundant fruits. The elec tion of a newapostle. III. No sooner was Christ exalted on high, than the apostles determined to render their number complete, as it had been fixed by their divine Master, and accordingly to choose, in the place of Judas, who had desperately perished by his own hands, a man endowed with such degrees of sanctity and wisdom as were necessary in a station of such vast importance. Having therefore gathered together the small assembly of Christians which had then been formed at Jerusalem, two men, remarkable for their piety and faith, were proposed as the most worthy to stand candidates for this sacred office. These men were Matthias and Barnabas, the former of whom was, either by lot (which is the most general opinion), or by a plurality of voices of the assembly there present, chosen to the dignity of an apostle [t]. [9] Luke xxiv. 47. Acts i. 8. xiii. 46. [r] Acts ii. 41. iv. 4. [s] Acts i. 8. vii. 14. [] Acts i. 26. I. PART I to be an IV. All these apostles were men without edu- CENT. cation, and absolutely ignorant of letters and philosophy; and yet, in the infancy of the Christian church, it was necessary that there should be, at least, some one defender of the gospel, who, versed Paul called in the learned arts, might be able to combat the apostle. Jewish doctors and the pagan philosophers with their own arms. For this For this purpose, Jesus himself, by an extraordinary voice from heaven, called to his service a thirteenth apostle, whose name was Saul (afterwards Paul), and whose acquaintance both with Jewish and Grecian learning was very considerable [u]. This extraordinary man, who had been one of the most virulent enemies of the Christians, became their most glorious and triumphant defender. Independent of the miraculous gifts with which he was enriched, he was naturally possessed of an invincible courage, an amazing force of genius, and a spirit of patience which no fatigue could overcome, and which no sufferings or trials could exhaust. To these the cause of the gospel, under the divine appointment, owed a considerable part of its rapid progress and surprising success, as the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles of St. Paul, abundantly testify. lem, tuted. V. The first Christian church, founded by the The church apostles, was that of Jerusalem, which was the of Jerusamodel of all those that were afterwards erected during this first century. This church was, how-how constiever, governed by the apostles themselves, to whom both the elders, and those who were entrusted with the care of the poor, even the deacons, were subject. The people, though they had not abandoned the Jewish worship, held, however, separate assemblies, in which they were instructed by the apostles and elders, prayed together, celebrated the holy Supper in remembrance of Christ, [u] Acts ix. 1. |