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SERMON İ.

An INTRODUCTORY SERMON on the EVIDENCES of the GOSPEL.

ACTS xxvi, 16, 17.

I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of those things which thou hast seen, and of those in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee;

PAUL, in the preceding versés, declares before Agrippa the time and manner of his conversion to the faith of Christ, and the extraordinary circumstances which attended it. And, in the words now read, he subjoins an account of the commission, which he received from Christ, to preach his gospel among the Jews, and especially among the Gentiles.

The singular method, which Jesus took to convince Paul of the truth of the gospel, was not out of partial favor to him, for surely he had done nothing to recom. VOL. III.

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his prediction, return from the grave, ascend into heaven, and shed down on his disciples the promised gifts of his spirit-especially they who felt themselves partakers of those wonderful gifts, could not doubt, but that he was, what he declared himself to be, the Son of God and the Saviour of men, and that his relig ion was a heavenly institution.

The disciples of Jesus, (allowing that there were such persons) were credible witnesses of these facts; for they related them as matters which fell under their own observation. That which they saw and heard, they declared to the world. Whether they really saw the dead arise, the sick and lame restored to health and soundness, thousands fed with a few small loaves; whether they themselves were able to work miracles and speak with divers tongues; whether Jesus, who was crucified, actually arose and appeared to them; whether they conversed with him, saw his wounds and heard his instructions; were facts in which they could not be deceived. If, then, their relation was not true, they must have intended to deceive mankind.

But it is not conceivable, that they should have such a dishonest intention: For by their testimony to the miracles and resurrection of Christ, they exposed themselves to poverty, reproach, misery and death. And it cannot be imagined, that a number of men should deliberately associate to sacrifice every thing that is dear in life, and even life itself, for the sake of imposing on the world a falsehood, which never would do mankind or themselves any good-that they should persevere in this design after they began to feel its conse quences-that they should persist in it until death that never a single man should desert the cause and discover the fraud. This would surpass all miracles.

If their design had been a fraud, it might, in the time of it, have been easily detected and suppressed.

The facts, which they relate, they declared, were done publicly and recently, and that they were known

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and remembered, by many then living. If there had. been no such person as Jesus Christ, or if he had performed no such miracles as are ascribed to him; no credit would have been given to their report.

The disciples of Jesus had enemies who wished to confound them. The Jewish rulers spared no pains to suppress the Christian cause. Their enmity to it would have excited them to convict the witnesses of false. hood, if they had not known that the facts asserted were indisputable. If they had discovered any fraud, they would immediately have made it public. As they never denied the facts, but only studied to evade the conclusion drawn from them, they must have been convinced, that the facts themselves were undeniable.

These witnesses have left a written testimony, which has come down to us with every desirable circumstance of credibility.

There are four men who have professedly written distinct histories of the life, ministry and works of Je. sus Christ. Two of them, Matthew and John, were his attendant disciples from the beginning to the end of his public life. The other two, Mark and Luke, were eontemporary and conversant with his disciples. Four others, Peter, James, Jude and Paul, have written epistles to particular societies of Christians, or to Christians in general. In these epistles, they recognize the character, assert, or allude to the miracles, and teach the doctrines of Jesus, in substance, as they are related by the before mentioned historians. Three of these letter writers were Christ's disciples. The last was a contemporary Jew, a man of uncommon zeal, learning and ability; much conversant in public affairs; for a while an enemy to Christianity, but afterward converted to the belief of it. So that the Christian history stands on the credit of eight different persons, most of them disciples, and all of them contemporaries of Christ. They wrote separately, on different occasions, without any appearance of concert; and yet they all substantially

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