this transaction, the first preaching of Christianity to the public at large, to those, I mean, who had not professed themselves the followers of Christ during his lifetime, was after the descent of the Holy Ghost, upon the day of Pentecost. Upon this occasion, in the presence of a great multitude who had then resorted to Jerusalem from all quarters of the world, whom the noise of this miracle had gathered together, St Peter, with the rest of the apostles standing about him, delivered a discourse, of which the sum and substance was briefly this 'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.' The same thing may be observed of two discourses held at Jerusalem by St Peter a short time afterwards; one upon curing the lame man at the gate of the Temple, the other upon his miraculous deliverance from prison. Christ's resurrection from the dead, and the solemn attestation of the fact, was the theme and subject of both discourses. Follow the apostles to any new place in which their discourses are recorded, and you will find this same thing the stress and constant burthen of their preaching. When Peter was called, in so remarkable a manner, to open the knowledge of the gospel to Cornelius and his friends, the intelligence with which he gratified the eager expectation of his audience was this brief but surprising history; Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.' When Paul and Barnabas, a short time afterwards, had been solemnly appointed to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, and for that purpose had set out upon a progress through the Lesser Asia, the most populous and frequented country of the East, the first public address which St Paul is recorded to have delivered, was at Antioch in Pisidia, of which this was the message; 'We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again.'

After much journeying from place to place, for the purpose of diffusing wherever he went the christian faith, we find his travels at length brought him to Athens, at that time the metropolis, in some measure, of science and learning. We cannot help being curious to know what the apostle would say there; how he would first unfold his extraordinary message to an audience of philosophers. Accordingly his speech upon this remarkable occasion is preserved; in which he first reminds them of the great topics of natural religion, which we at this

day call the unity, omniscience, omnipotence, and infinity or ubiquity of God, all which their own researches might have taught them, and then proceeds to disclose that which was the proper business of his preaching, the great revelation which he was going about the world to communicate; 'God now commandeth all men every where to repent, because he hath appointed him a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he raised him from the dead.'

Whenever a set speech of the apostle's at a new place is recorded, that is, whenever he first opens the great affair of Christianity to strangers, and not where he is addressing those who have been before instructed, the great argument of his discourse is the resurrection; and therefore we are authorized to conclude in those other places where his speeches are not particularly given, that to preach the gospel, to preach Jesus, to preach the word, which they are said to have done wherever they came, meant the advancing of the great fact of Christ's resurrection from the dead, and the decisive proof which they considered it as affording of a general resurrection at the last day. It was in perfect conformity, therefore, with St Paul's practice, as well as with that of the rest of the apostles, that he reminds the Corinthians of his having declared to them this doctrine first of all. His ministry amongst them began with it, as not only the most important, but the corner stone and foundation of all the rest.

But secondly, the apostle tells the Corinthians that he had delivered to them what he himself had received. St Paul's knowledge of the gospel came to him in a manner perfectly peculiar. 'I neither,' says he, in his epistle to the Galatians, received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.'

It does not, I think, appear that St Paul, like the other apostles, knew Christ during his lifetime, or that he had ever seen him. The necessary information concerning this great transaction was imparted to him by inspiration, at the time probably that he was miraculously converted. He was assured that it was not an illusion which played upon his fancy, because he was assured of a real public external miracle, which accompanied the reception of this knowledge.

But whatever certainty a divine communication might convey to himself, he was very sensible that it was not the most direct and satisfactory proof to others of a matter of fact, which was

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capable of being attested by the evidence of men's senses. He therefore does not rest the point upon the communication which he had received, but appeals to what was less questionable by others, the testimony of those who had conversed with Jesus after his resurrection, in the ordinary and natural way of human perception. His account of the matter is very full and circumstantial; 'He was seen of Cephas,' which was the name, you remember, that Christ had given to Peter, then of the twelve; after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles.' These words are very memorable. A fairer, a more public, or candid appeal to the evidence of a fact was never made. Not content with saying in general terms, that he was seen of many, that he was seen of his disciples, he gives the names of two eminent brethren who saw him, men both perfectly well known by reputation, at least, and to many, it is probable, personally known in the several churches of Christians; and not only so, but inen living at the time. He names Peter, to whose history and character they could be no strangers. He mentions James, at that time presiding over the church in Jerusalem. He names the twelve, all well known, by fame, at least, and report, to every christian convert; and then he refers to above five hundred brethren who saw him at one time, of whom the greater part remain unto this present;' that is, were upon the spot, being witnesses of the fact, at the time the epistle was written. He proceeds, in the last place, with great humility to state his own personal assurance of the same fact, by telling them, that, not then, indeed, but some time afterwards, Christ was seen of him also. He alludes, no doubt, to Christ's appearing to him at his conversion, upon his road to Damascus. Accounting, as he well might, the ocular manifestation of Christ raised from the dead as one of the greatest favors that could be vouchsafed, he observes, that whilst all the other apostles were indulged with this satisfaction during Christ's abode upon earth, it was not granted to him until some considerable time afterwards.

This difference, he acknowledges, was no more than just and due; inasmuch as he had rendered himself unworthy of the name and character of an apostle, not simply by being an unbeliever in Christ's word, but by going about with a furious and mistaken zeal to persecute all who called upon his name; 'last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due

time, who am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.'

What is necessary to remark concerning the separate clauses of the text is in a little compass. St Paul says that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. The scriptures here meant were the prophecies of the Old Testament, which describe the future history of Christ. One of these, amongst many which are more indirect, speaks the circumstance of Christ dying for our sins so plainly, that St Paul probably had it now in his thoughts; ' He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.' This you read in the fiftythird chapter of Isaiah, written seven hundred years before Christ appeared.

Our apostle proceeds; and that he was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.' The circumstance of his burial is particularly noticed in the same prophecy; which gave occasion probably to St Paul's mention of it in this place. 'He made,' saith Isaiah, his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.' The more important fact of his resurrection, is both set forth by necessary implication in Isaiah's prophecy, for he says of Christ, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,' and was also understood by the apostles to be represented by those words of the sixteenth Psalm, in which David, speaking as they interpreted it, in the person of the Messiah, says, 'Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.'

The apostle then, in order to establish the reality of Christ's resurrection, enumerates several of his appearances after it. And in comparing this account with the other accounts of Christ's appearance given in the gospels, we are carefully to remember that none of them undertook or intended to describe all the occasions or all the instances in which Christ was seen. Christ appeared on various occasions; and one history relates what passed upon one occasion, and another what passed upon a different occasion. This produces, as might be expected, considerable variation in the accounts, yet without contradiction or inconsistency. He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.' This exactly agrees with Luke's narrative; Then the eleven were gathered together, saying the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.' After this, St Paul tells us,' he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.' This number is not specified in any of the gospels; nevertheless, there is noth

ing to hinder us from supposing this number might be present at some of the appearances recorded in these gospels. It is generally supposed to have been at his solemn predicted appearance upon the mountain in Galilee. One circumstance is common to all the different accounts of the resurrection; namely, that he appeared to none but his disciples; and however the unbelieving Jews might cavil at this circumstance at the time, I think the fair and explicit mention of it, is to us at this day, a strong confirmation of the truth of the history. It manifests the candor and exactness of the historians. Had they thought themselves at liberty to carve and mould the account, so as to make it pass most plausible and current with the public; had they not conceived of themselves as relating the truth, they could as easily have stated of Christ that he was seen indiscriminately by all, as have confessed, which they have done, that his appearance was confined to his own followers. We may not at this time know the exact reasons which determined our blessed Lord to make the distinction. It is enough to know that Peter and James, and the eleven apostles, and the Galilean women, and the five hundred brethren, were abundantly sufficient to testify a fact in which they could not be mistaken.

Having observed thus much upon the terms in which St Paul delivers his testimony to the resurrection of Christ, it remains in the next place to consider the authority and weight of the testimony itself. Here then, we see a man of learning and education; amongst the first of his countrymen in activity, eloquence, and ability; hardly equalled by any other, as appears, not by any commendations bestowed upon him by those of his own persuasion, but from his writings, which are now in our hands; we have this man, after being distinguished in the early part of his life by his fierce and eager persecution of the christian name, now spending his whole time in travelling from country to country, from city to city throughout the most civilized and populous region of the world, to announce, wherever he came, this important intelligence; that Jesus Christ, a man sent by God into the world for the instruction and salvation of mankind, after having been executed by the Jews as a malefactor, was publicly raised from the dead; that he himself had seen him after his resurrection; that many others whom he names, to whom he appeals, and with whom he conversed and associated, had done the same; that in consequence of this stupendous event, they were each one to look for his own resurrection at the last day; that they were to conduct and prepare themselves accordingly. See this man in the prosecution