be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." This assertion was very ill received by the generality; and that it would be so, he was well aware, and often spoke to this purport: "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me."2

On another occasion, Jesus is made to assert, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. My sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and none shall pluck them out of my hand." Now, is this a pretension which Jesus was likely to assume, from a desire of gaining reputation, or converting proselytes? We have seen that there was nothing in the state of the public mind, either among Jews or heathens, which could have led to his taking upon himself the character of Mediator between the world and God. He had not the advantage of coming to the world, as one who preached his religion in these latter times came to an Hindoo suffering under the .torment of some self-inflicted penance, and pointed out the uselessness of such voluntary martyrdom, since God had "laid on one the iniquity of us all;" and "the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." He found none ready to exclaim, "This is what I 3 John viii. 51; x. 27.

1 John viii. 31.

2 Matt. xi. 6.

want," as the Hindoo replied, and threw away the instruments of his torture. Before men could be persuaded to trust in him as their Mediator, they must be first convinced of a future state; then, of a future judgment; and then, of their incompetency to meet that judgment; their liability to the divine wrath. We know this, from what we know of their previous sentiments; we perceive it from the general strain of his declarations; which aim at proving the value of the soul; its imminent risk; the certainty and strictness of the divine tribunal; the misery of punishment; the blessedness of Heaven. We collect the same from the few addresses of the apostles to the heathen which are recorded. Before the court of Areopagus, Paul makes it his first object to prove the existence of the Creator, and the resurrection of the dead.1 And to the Roman governor, Felix, he began by "reasoning of temperance, and righteousness, and judgment to come."2 Till he had laid this foundation, there was nothing for the Gospel to stand

upon.

There would be no justice, therefore, in comparing the impression made by the doctrines of the Christian teachers with that of any modern impostor or enthusiast, who easily persuades the ignorant to receive his pretensions. He takes advantage of the belief already existing, and supported on other

1 Acts xvii. 24, &c.

2 Ibid. xxiv. 25.

grounds, and on that he founds and establishes his claim to attention. All that he needs to prove is this, that he is an interpreter of the Bible, which his hearers, on widely different evidence, already believe to be the word of God. Jesus, on the contrary, came, not to interpret a revelation, but to make one; to make one in open contradiction to the natural opinions and popular belief of all who heard it.

And the little probability which existed of such a revelation as this being believed, or invented in order to its being believed, is sufficiently plain from what we ourselves know, and feel, and have constant opportunity of observing. The doctrines in question, that Jesus came to make atonement for the sins of men'; for that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and that "eternal life is the gift of God through him," or for his sake: how are these statements usually received? Are they the first or the last doctrines which mankind are willing to acquiesce in? Are there not multitudes who do not dispute or doubt the evidence which confirms the authority of the Scriptures, and yet refuse their assent to this leading tenet? Is it not generally understood to be so contrary to the prepossessions of mankind, that it is often kept out of sight, and has been seldom insisted on as the main object of the Gospel, in treatises which were intended to give a popular view of the evidences of Christi

anity? Notwithstanding the clearness with which it is laid down, and the various proofs which can be alleged to show that divine revelation, from the beginning, has hinged upon this as its principal point; we know that a considerable body, even among those who do not neglect religion, labour to exclude this article from the Gospel, on the express plea that it is contrary to the suggestions of our • reason, and, therefore, cannot be admitted by those who profess themselves "rational Christians."

The proposition which they maintain is, that "God freely forgives the sins of men, upon repentance; and that there can be no occasion, properly speaking, for anything further being done, to avert the punishment with which they have been threatened." On this ground, the sacrifice which Jesus declared that he came to make, and which his apostles affirmed that he had made upon the cross, is explained away. His death is sometimes said to

have confirmed the truth of his mission. Others treat it as an "illustrious example, showing us the most perfect obedience to God, and the most generous goodness and love to man, recommended to our imitation by all possible endearments and engaging considerations." And they object against the doctrine of atonement, "as having greatly debased the truth of the natural placability of the

1 Priestley, Hist. of the Corruptions of Christianity. Jowett on the Epistles, p. 469, &c. &c.

Divine Being, and our ideas of the equity of his government." So they consider Jesus as a man commissioned by God to make a fuller communication of his will, and teach a purer morality than the world had known before; by his life, to set an example of perfect obedience; by his death, to manifest his sincerity; and by his resurrection, to convince us of the great truth which he had been commissioned to teach, our rising again to future life.2 .

If those who do not discard the authority of Scripture, nay, who profess to revere it, can be thus induced to bend and distort its plain declarations, in order to bring them to the level of their previous opinions we have a striking argument to prove what I began this chapter by alleging, namely, that the purpose which Jesus assigns for his appearance in the world was very little likely to have been fabricated in order to deceive; and if invented, either by fraud or enthusiasm, very little likely to have obtained attention and credit, without overpowering evidence.

III. The peculiar death of Christ opposed an additional barrier to the reception of his religion. "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have

1 Taylor's Key to Apostol. Writings. For the whole subject, see Archbishop Magee on the Atonement, passim.

2 Magee, i. 12.