these writers says, vol. ii. p. 151: "If a man be wicked or unjust, his sacrifices are abominable, his rites profane, and his prayers blasphemous in the sight of God; and he obtains by them not the forgiveness, but the recollection of his sins. On the other hand, the sacrifice of a just and holy man ever remains effectual and undecayed, when the victim offered by him is consumed, or rather though he offers no victim at all. For what can be that sacrifice which is real and substantial in the sight of God, but the piety of a soul which loves God?" This in substance is the same with what our Saviour says: "The hour is coming, and is already arrived, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him." John iv. 23. Philo in another place writes thus: "It becomes a citizen of the world to present, with earnestness and without intermission, thanksgivings to the universal Father: and, converting himself into incense, to offer his soul and body as the incense most acceptable to God :" vol. ii. 501. The Apostle Paul speaks to the same purpose : I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to dedicate your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your rational service." In the first passage the language of Philo, like that of Jesus, is levelled against those who insisted on the efficacy of local and ritual worship; in the second, his words are not less forcible than those of the apostle in recommending spiritual Judaism, and inviting the advocates of rites and sacrifices to substitute a pure heart and holy life as a service more rational and acceptable to God. Philo, it is true, puts what must appear to us a fanciful interpretation on many parts of the law: but he uniformly considers its rites as symbols or figures to be laid aside, and the internal moral sense unfolded by him as alone worthy of acceptation.

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2. Peter, in a passage noticed above, speaks of the Gospel under the title of Logos personified, whom God

sent to Jesus Christ, and who through him announced peace and glad tidings to the human race. The object of this Logos or divine commission, was to purify men of their sius, and, as the same apostle elsewhere writes, to make them partakers of a divine nature. Our Saviour, as having revealed the will of God, and pre-eminently illustrated his power and goodness, is in his official capacity called also the Son or the Image, as well as the Logos, of God. Nor will it, I presume, be supposed that any other scheme for rescuing mankind from moral evil and restoring them to the image of their Maker, was in the age of Philo made known to the world, but that contained in the Gospel, and proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth. Hear, then, what this eloquent author says on the subject: "God, the author of divine virtue, decreed to send his Image from heaven to the earth, in compassion on our race, that he might wash away the impurities which fill this life with guilt and misery, and that he might thus secure to us a better inheritance." Philo, vol. ii. p. 669. Again, he says, in vol. ii. p. 155, “It becomes him, who devotes himself to the Father of the universe, to employ as his intercessor his own Son, who is most perfect in virtue, in order that he might obtain the forgiveness of his sins, and the supply of every good." Here a certain person is described as the Son of the universal Father, as perfect in virtue, as the comforter by whose mediation we may obtain the pardon of our sins and the hope of every good in a future state. Who can answer to this description but our Lord Jesus Christ?

3. Jesus commissioned his apostles to go and reform the nations of the world. Impracticable as this commission might appear to human view, the preachers succeeded in a wonderful manner. Multitudes in every country, hitherto devoted to vice and superstition, became, under the influence of the Gospel, bright examples of piety, benevolence and purity. Now Philo speaks of a society who in Judea, Egypt, and other places, en

gaged in the generous and arduous design of enlightening and reforming the world. Such was the character of its members, that, according to him, no powers of language, even in the most skilful writer, could adequately describe their wisdom and virtue. "These men," says he, "call themselves Therapeuta, healers or worshipers, and this with propriety, either as professing a medical art superior to that which is practised in the world; for the latter profess to heal only the bodies, while the former cure the souls of men, when seized by disorders fierce and scarcely remediable; when occupied by lusts and depraved indulgencies; by ignorance, iniquity, and an innumerable multitude of vices and bad passions; or they so designate themselves as having learnt from nature, and the holy laws of Moses, to worship that Great Reality who is supreme in goodness, and who is one, Original, and uncompounded in essence." vol. ii. 471.

4. Notwithstanding the extraordinary character and benevolent object of those men, a violent persecution broke out against them in Egypt, which Philo describes at large. Flaccus the præfect published several edicts to expel the Jews from Alexandria as strangers and intruders. The allusion which this author makes to those edicts, shows that the sufferers were sold as slaves to the highest bidder. "The writings," says he, "entitled 'the sale,' are beneath ridicule and contempt, and sink under the magnanimity of the men against whom they are published, like blank paper which age, or moth, or stain destroys." In a subsequent page he adds, "It is therefore meet that good men should say to him who is about to buy them, "Buy us, and we will teach thee sobriety of mind: to him who threatens to banish us to a foreign clime, The whole earth is our country to him who deprives us of our goods, We are content with little. Nor are we inferior to those who combat in the public games. They are not frightened with things like these; though they fight for a prize, which is but a shadow of our high

reward, and which gives them only firmness and strength of body; whereas the glory set before us arms us with strength of mind, and steels us against every sense of pain." p. 887.

5. Philo having given such a character of the votaries of the Gospel, as might appear to the world at large utterly incredible, puts the question in the mouth of the adversary, Whether any men then existed, or ever did exist, that in fact realized the picture that he was then drawing? He answers thus: "I may well reply, that in former times certain men flourished, who, having God for their guide, excelled all their contemporaries in virtue; and who, living conformably to the divine law, which is also the law of nature and reason, not only became themselves free, but filled all around them with the same manly freedom. And in our own days, there are men, who, as images of the same high original, have copied the fair and honourable conduct of those wise Patriarchs. For we are not to suppose that because the souls of our adversaries are themselves destitute of spiritual freedom, as being the slaves of folly and bad passions, all men are incapable of the same elevated virtue. If such persons do not appear collected in large numbers, it cannot be deemed strange; first, because they pursue truth in retirement, remote from vulgar eyes, wishing, if it be possible, to come forth and reform the world; for virtue, by its very nature, is disposed to benefit the community. But as they are not able to effect this laudable purpose, on account of the mad prejudices and vices that overspread society, and which have been deeply rooted in the public mind, they have retired, and in solitude sought shelter from the persecution, which, with the violence of a torrent, threatened to sweep them away. And we, if we have any zeal for reformation, should pursue them to their retreat, and supplicate them to return, that their presence might prove instrumental in healing the monstrous disorders, which like wild beasts overrun the com

munity, offering them peace and liberty, and other earthly blessings, instead of assailing them with war and slavery, and other innumerable evils." p. 874. vol. ii. 455.

6. Here we see the followers of Jesus placed in a very interesting point of light. The degree of virtue which they had attained appeared incredible to those who opposed and persecuted them. They were the reformers and benefactors of the world; they wished, if possible, to live in the midst of society, and diffuse over it by their example and instruction the blessings of peace, order and virtue. But the enemies of truth and virtue assailed them with war and slavery, and other innumerable evils, and they were obliged to seek shelter in solitude, lest they should be swept away by persecution as by an irresistible torrent. This is the flood which the author of the Revelation in figurative language represents the serpent as casting after the Christian church, when flying into the wilderness, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Philo well knew the debased state of the Heathen world, in regard to virtue and real knowledge, and especially that of the Egyptians, in the midst of whom he lived. He speaks of it as a savage state, overrun with monstrous disorders, as with wild beasts: and in another place he declares it impossible to reform men without the especial wisdom and assistance of God. He therefore supposes the holy men of whom he speaks to be possessed of this peculiar wisdom and assistance : and he earnestly prays for their return to society, that their presence might illumine and regenerate mankind. This is a glorious and delightful representation of the character of the primitive Christians; and powerfully concurs with a thousand other testimonies to set aside the account of Gibbon as false and calumnious, when he speaks of them as neither agreeable nor useful in this world, and represents their virtues as only a mean and