proselytes, and to Samaritans. And I can not forbear from setting down in this place, an observation of Mr. Bryant, which appears to me to be perfectly well founded;

"The Jews still remain; but how seldom is it that we can make a single proselyte! There is reason to think, that there were more converted by the apostles in one day, than have since been won over in the last thousand years*."

It was not yet known to the apostles, that they were at liberty to propose the religion to mankind at large. That "mystery," as Saint Paul calls it, and as it then was, was revealed to Peter by an especial miracle. It appears to have been about seven years after Christ's ascension, that the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles of Cesarea. A year after this, a great multitude of Gentiles were converted at Antioch in Syria. The expressions employed by the historian are these:—“A great number believed, and turned to the Lord;"

* Bryant on the Truth of the Christian Religion, p. 112.
+ Eph. iii. 3-6.
Benson, book i. p. 236.

66

66

"much people was added unto the Lord;" the apostles Barnabas and Paul taught much people *." Upon Herod's death, which happened in the next year, it is observed, that "the word of God grew and multiplied." Three years from this time, upon the preaching of Paul at Iconium, the metropolis of Lycaonia," a great multitude both of Jews and Greeks believed §:" and afterwards, in the course of this very progress, he is represented as making many disciples" at Derbe, a principal city in the same district. Three years || after this, which brings us to sixteen after the ascension, the apostles wrote a public letter from Jerusalem to the Gentile converts in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, with which letter Paul travelled through these countries, and found the churches" established in the faith, and increasing in number daily." From Asia, the apostle proceeded into Greece, where, soon after his arrival in Macedonia, we find him at Thessalo

* Acts xi. 21. 24. 26. Acts xii. 24.

+ Benson, book ii. p. 289.
§ Ibid. xiv. 1.

Benson's History of Christ, book iii. p. 50.
Acts xvi. 5.

nica; in which city, "some of the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude" We meet also here with an accidental hint of the general progress of the Christian mission, in the exclamation of the tumultuous Jews of Thessalonica, "that they, who had turned the world upside down, were come thither also +." At Berea, the next city at which Saint Paul arrives, the historian, who was present, informs us that "many of the Jews believed‡." The next year and a half of Saint Paul's ministry was spent at Corinth. Of his success in that city, we receive the following intimations; "that many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized;" and " that it was revealed to the apostle by Christ, that he had much people in that city§.” Within ́ less than a year after his departure from Corinth, and twenty-five years after the ascension, Saint Paul fixed his station at

Ephesus, for the space of two years

and

in that city and neighbourhood drew from the historian a reflection, how "mightily grew the word of God and prevailed*." And at the conclusion of this period, we find Demetrius at the head of a party, who were alarmed by the progress of the religion, complaining, that "not only at Ephesus, but also throughout all Asia (i. e. the, province of Lydia, and the country adjoining to Ephesus), this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people." Beside these accounts, there occurs, incidentally, mention of converts at Rome, Alexandria, Athens, Cyprus, Cyrene, Macedonia, Philippi.

This is the third period in thepropagation of Christianity, setting off in the seventh year after the Ascension, and ending at the twenty-eighth. Now, lay these three periods together, and observe how the progress of the religion by these accounts is represented. The institution, which properly began only after its Author's removal from the world, before the end of thirty

Acts xix. 20.

VOL. II.

+ Ib. ver. 26.

P

years had spread itself through Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, almost all the numerous districts of the Lesser Asia, through Greece, and the islands of the Ægean Sea, the seacoast of Africa, and had extended itself to Rome, and into Italy. At Antioch in Syria, at Joppa, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Berea, Iconium, Derbe, Antioch in Pisidia, at Lydda, Saron, the number of converts is intimated by the expressions, " a great number," "great multitudes," "much people." Converts are mentioned, without any de signation of their number*, at Tyre, Cesarea, Troas, Athens, Philippi, Lystra, Damascus. During all this time, Jerusalem continued not only the centre of the mission, but a principal seat of the religion:

* Considering the extreme conciseness of many parts of the history, the silence about the numbers of converts is no proof of their paucity; for at Philippi, no mention whatever is made of the number, yet Saint Paul addressed an epistle to that church. The churches of Galatia, and the affairs of those churches, were considerable enough to be the subject of another letter, and of much of Saint Paul's solicitude; yet no account is preserved in the history of his success, or even of his preaching in that country, except the slight notice which these words convey :-" When they had gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia-they es sayed to go into Bithynia." Acts xvi. 6.