tianity. And it is very much to the purpofe repeatedly to take notice, that whatever conftruction they have put upon the words of the Prophecies, they have never raised any doubt, or brought any arguments to invalidate their authenticity.

As the divine miffion of Chrift received fuch fupport from the Prophecies, of which he was the fubject; so it is very strongly confirmed by those events, which he forefaw and foretold. He clearly defcribed the manner of his own death, with many particular circumstances—the place where it was ordained to happen the treacherous method by which he was to be betrayed into the hands of the Jewish governors, and given up to the Roman power-the cruel and unbecoming treatment he was to fuffer, and the exact period of time that should elapfe from his death to his refurrection. Such was precifely the train of events, as they are related at large by the Evangelifts, and as thofe events were attefted by the full acknowledgment and confeffion of the firft martyrs, who fealed their belief with their blood. The Saviour of mankind fpeaks of future events without hefitation, not as things merely probable, but abfolutely certain. Ile does not fhadow them out in vague and ambiguous terms; but marks them in their rife, progrefs, and effects, in the clearest and moft circumftantial defcriptions. His penetrating eye pierces the veil of futurity, and the diftant allufions of the Prophet are, as it were, converted into the profpect of the fpectator. Even at the time when Judea was in complete fubjection

to

to the Roman power, when a ftrong garrifon kept its capital in awe, and a rebellion against their conquerors, who had at that time the command of the world, appeared as improbable as it was fruitlefs; he deplored the fall of the holy city, and pointed out the advance of the Roman ftandard, as the token of defolation, and the fignal for his followers to fave themselves by flight, from captivity and deftruction. At the time too when the temple of Jerufalem was held in the highest veneration by all foreigners, as well as Jews, what were the immediate obfervations of our Lord, when his difciples directed his attention, in terms of wonder and astonishment, to the vaft and folid materials, of which that magnificent edifice was built? He lamented its approaching fall, and declared in the plaineft words, that so complete should be its demolition, that not one ftone fhould be left upon another. At a time likewife when the number of his followers was limited to a few fishermen of Galilee, and when he feemed deftitute of every means to accomplish his purpose, he predicted the wide diffufion of the faith, and exprefsly proclaimed, that before the threatened calamities overwhelmed the Jews, and fubverted their empire, this gospel of the kingdom Jhall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then fhall the end come.

See History the Interpreter of Prophecy," 5th Edit. for the illuftration of this subject at large; a work to which I refer with the lefs referve, as the public have received it with approbation.

The

The events, which happened about thirty years after the afcenfion of our Lord, completely verified thefe Prophecies. From the books of the New Teftament, and particularly from the Acts of the Apostles, may be collected the fulleft inftances of the diligence and zeal, with which the new religion was in a fhort time diffeminated, and extended.

But Chriftians can appeal to an independent train of witneffes-to Jewish and to prophane authors, for circumftantial accounts of the fulfilment of our Lord's predictions. The hiftorian Flavius Jofephus, defcended from the family, which bore the facred office of High Prieft, a distinguished general in the early part of the last Jewish war, has given a particular and exact confirmation of every circumftance. With fingular care he has avoided to mention the name of Chrift, and yet with fingular precifion he has illuftrated his predictions relative to the deftruction of Jerufalem. The important fervice he has thus rendered to Christianity is wholly unintentional. What he relates is drawn from him by the power of irresistible truth, and is a testimony far ftronger, and more unexceptionable, than an explicit mention of the name of Chrift, or a laboured encomium on his words and actions would have been.

The curious details of Jofephus, in his History of the Wars of the Jews, are confirmed by Tacitus, Philoftratus,

Philoftratus, and Dion Caffius. It is probable they were all unacquainted with the works of the Jewish Historian; and yet they corroborate his account, and all unite to illuftrate the Prophecies of our Lord.

IV. The Miracles of our Lord.

The most illuftrious evidence of the divine origin of Christianity, and that evidence to which its great Author moft confidently appealed, when called upon to prove the authority of his miffion, confifted in the exercife of miraculous powers. The miracles of Chrift were fo frequent, that they could not be the effects of chance; fo public, that they could not be the contrivance of fraud and impofture; fo inftantaneous, that they could not refult from any preconcerted fcheme; and fo beneficial in their immediate confequences, and fo conducive to propagate the falutary truths he taught, that they could not proceed from the agency of evil fpirits. They must therefore have been effected by the interpofition of that divine power, to which Chrift himself attributed them. Our Lord did not come according to the expectation of many of the Jews, as the conqueror of their enemies, to difplay his policy in council, and his courage in the field: but he was invefted with powers, that enabled him to triumph over the works of darkness, and fufpend the laws of nature. The frequent and public exercife of thofe powers was effential to his character as a teacher fent from

from God, fo that miracles were the fulleft and moft fatisfactory credentials of his divine miffion'.

This divine Perfonage, whofe manifeftation to the world was preceded by fuch a regular train of prophecies; who inftantaneoufly cured inveterate difeafes, and at whofe word even the dead arofe; whofe mind was adorned with confummate wifdom, and whofe conduct was diftinguished by every virtue; defcended from heaven to deliver a perfect rule of faith and practice, and taught those important and indifpenfable leffons of duty, which are effentially neceffary to the prefent and future happinefs of mankind.

V. Chriftian Ethics,

Or the Precepts of our Lord.

The precepts of Chriftianity form the most complete, most intelligible, and most useful system of Ethics, or moral philofophy. The ftandard of duty, which is fet up in the Gofpel, is agreeable to our natural notions of the Supreme Being, and is calculated to correct our errors, exalt our affections, purify our hearts, and enlighten our understand

"The evidence of our Saviour's miffion from heaven is fo great, in the multitude of miracles he did, before all forts of people, (which the divine providence and wisdom has fo ordered, that they never were, nor could be denied by any of the enemies and oppofers of Chriftianity) that what he delivered cannot but be received as the oracles of God." Locke,