SERMON VII.

ON THE EVIDENCE WHICH ARISES FROM THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL.

ACTS xii. 24.

"But the word of God grew and multiplied."

In obedience to the feelings and duties of this season of devotion, (and in the anxious hope of leading the minds of my younger brethren to some adequate notions of the majesty of that service in which they are employed when they commemorate the birth of the Saviour of the world,) I have proposed to devote it to the suggestion of some general views with regard to the nature and character of the religion of the Gospel, which may lead them to conclude, that it must necessarily derive its origin from a higher source than human wisdom; and that, therefore, He who brought it to the world, "was "truly the son of God."

With this view, when we were last assembled, I pointed out to them some general heads by which it might be compared with the religions either of ancient or modern times. I reminded them, that it was the only religion which has been ever presented to man, which was adequate to all the wants and desires of the human mind;-that it was the only religion which was adequate to the social character

of man ;-that it embraced the whole race of man in its contemplation;-that it contained the principles of universal prosperity;-and that all the attainments of social wisdom, were yet far below the happiness and perfection to which its precepts and its spirit virtually lead.-In the last place, I reminded them, that it was the only religion which was adequate to all the future hopes and expectations of the human soul;-that the discoveries which it made, mighty and undeserved as they were, yet fell in with all our instinctive principles of belief; and that, while it realized all the greatest wishes which the human heart can form, it prescribed, at the same time, the simple precepts by which the lowest and most obscure of its true and faithful disciples might attain to all it promised. After this comparison, I entreated them to reflect, in what age, and in what circumstances, this magnificent system of religion arose ;-to consider whether it has any resemblance to any thing the world has ever presented of human wisdom, of human foresight, or of human benevolence?-And then to ask themselves, whether there be any other reasonable or satisfactory account that can be given of its origin, than that it proceeded immediately from the providence and inspiration of God?

From this first and fundamental consideration of the nature of the religion of the Gospel, I am, in the present hour, to solicit your attention to a second consideration:-to the view of its Progress,-to the circumstances which, in this respect also, distinguish

it from all the usual appearances of human nature, -and to the conclusions which naturally follow from these appearances.

If we look at the history of human opinions, we shall find, that the principles of religious belief are those, in every age, which have been the least changed, and which are the least susceptible of change. They are incorporated with the earliest feelings of youth,-they are sanctioned by impressions of awe which belong to no other subject;they are maintained by the dread of impiety, and guarded by the terrours of apostasy. If we look accordingly over the actual condition of the world, in the many regions where the Gospel is yet unknown, we shall find their religions coeval with the history of the countries which gave them birth; the present generations adhering blindly to the superstitions of their remotest ancestors; and all the improvements of time, and all the progress of society, incapable of subduing the tenacity with which the human mind adheres to its first impressions of religious faith. We shall find, still farther, that the only method in which new religions have ever been propagated among mankind, has been by the force of conquest, and chiefly by that conquest of enthusiasm, which, exterminating the race it had subdued, paused not till it had planted the banners of its own faith upon the ruins of all former opinion. Such has been in all ages the history of human nature. I am now to entreat you to

remember what has been the history of the progress of the Gospel.

1. It began (as you well know, and at this season must well remember) in the deepest obscurity;-in a country despised by all the rest of mankind, and among the lowest people of that country. The author of it appeared to expire as a traitor and a malefactor, and his opinions seemed, and were designed, to be buried in his grave. What remained of them was confided to the care of a few simple and ignorant men; so very ignorant indeed, that, from their own artless avowal, they knew nothing of the great designs which they were to execute, until they were directed by a wisdom above their own.

The country which had conducted their Master to the cross, naturally rejected and persecuted his disciples. The countries by which they were surrounded, were at the height of their civilization and improvement, and had long looked down upon what they considered the superstitions of Judea, with indignation and contempt. In both these countries, however, the apostles of the Gospel sought for converts; and in both these countries they found them. Called to carry upon "the glad tidings" which they had received, to every race and nation of mankind, they met every where some who welcomed them. In their own age, and before they had sealed their faith with their blood, they saw the religion of the Gospel dawning among every surrounding people. Amid all its humility and all its dangers, there was something in it which, car

ried conviction to the souls of men; which dissolved the tenacity with which they were accustomed to adhere to the opinions of their forefathers; and which made the old fabrick of superstition fall, as if by enchantment, before the humble preaching of" the fishermen of Galilee."

When the first age expired; when the miraculous assistance which was given to the first, apostles ceased with themselves, the progress of the religion of the Gospel became still more extraordinary, because it was assisted by less powerful aid, and met by more powerful obstacles. It was derided by the wise; it was despised by the great; it met the opposition of the priesthood of all the established faiths; and it met, still more, from its silent progress among the lowest orders of the people, the jealousy and the revenge of Imperial suspicion. For some centuries the history of its progress is that only of persecution and martyrdom. All the wise, all the privileged, all the established orders of society were ranged against it; and yet, during all these various oppositions, it was, by some inherent power of its own, slowly, but surely, gaining its way. Beginning with the lowest conditions of society, with the lowly and the poor, it exemplified that divine wisdom which made the preaching of the Gospel, in its final consequences, a more stupendous miracle than that of "raising the dead," or of "giving sight to "the blind." From this humble level, from these unnoticed portions of ancient society, it spread slowly, but steadily, its influence upwards. Every age