CHAPTER V.

FURTHER PROOFS OF THE TRUTH AND INSPIRATION OF THE GOSPEL, DRAWN FROM THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF OUR BLESSED LORD.

We have shewn, in the preceding chapter, that the holiness and the excellency of the doctrines taught by our Saviour Christ and his Apostles in the Gospel, are at once sufficient and conclusive proofs of its Divine origin. We will however still further confirm the authenticity of its sacred truth, by displaying to the view of the reader the perfect life of its Founder.

It is, in the first place, an object well worth our attention, that the disciples of Jesus Christ never, in any of their writings, make the slightest attempt to partake with their Master in the glory of contributing to the salvation of mankind; but that, on the contrary, during the whole of their ministry they teach the way of eternal life as only attainable through the Redeemer himself. St. Paul, we find, even severely reproves the Corinthian converts for calling themselves by his name:

"Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name *.”

In the disciples of Christ thus giving their beloved Master all the honour due to his name in the fullest extent, at a period so long after his death, we have one of the most powerful demonstrations of the Divine truth of the Gospel. Had they been impostors they would have attributed some glory to themselves: had they been imagining a history, they would at least have shared the triumph of some of the wonderful acts of their hero. We must remember that the Gospel was not preached at all till after the death and resurrection of our Lord: therefore the perfect conformity, which we find in every part of the New Testament, was not the effect of his presence, but it was produced by the power of that Holy Spirit, which he had promised should lead them into all truth.

The Evangelists explained clearly what their Divine Master had spoken in parables. They published and proclaimed that Christian liberty,

• 1 Cor.i. 12-15.

which Jesus had taught them; and they carried that Gospel into all countries, the preaching of which had been at first confined to Judea. They performed many miracles in the name of their glorified Master; they suffered much affliction; and finally they sealed their mission with their blood. In the whole of their proceedings they claimed no praise for themselves; they gave all the glory to that great Leader whose humble followers they professed to be; and they constantly assured those who listened to their doctrine, that their teaching was of Him, and of Him alone, who died on the cross for the salvation of men.

Again; why and from what motive did these faithful disciples apply themselves to write a history of Jesus Christ, and yet not one of them have instructed us concerning their own works; not one individual among them has related to us his sufferings; not one has told us of the effect of his own preaching? The only record, which we have that approaches to any thing of the kind, is the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, as it is called, which was clearly written for the purpose of making known the first progress of Christianity, and the calling of the Gentile world to the knowledge of the true God, conformably to the prophecies, and not to give a history of the works of the disciples of Jesus as regarded themselves. Thus the account of the illustrious convert St. Paul, the

great Apostle to the Gentiles, goes no further than his first imprisonment,without instructing us concerning any of the circumstances of his after-life or death.

This extraordinary silence of the Apostles, both with regard to themselves and to each other, as to their lives, their sufferings, and their martyrdom, must be allowed to be a singular sacrifice of selflove and vain-glory; such as we do not discover any where but in holy writ, and is, among the many others, to be reckoned as a strong proof of the Divine inspiration of the sacred writers. No human being, untaught of the Spirit of God, would have been so totally divested of self. We know what selfish beings we all are; how anxious about a vain reputation. Then what but the Holy Ghost could have produced this singleness of heart in these men? While these faithful disciples were so silent about themselves, so indifferent about their own fame, we find them most exact in their relations respecting their Divine Master, his doctrines, his sufferings, his miracles, his agony, and cruel death; his blessed resurrection, and glorious ascension into heaven.

In this history of our Lord there are yet two other things to be kept in view; namely, the excellency of the subject, and the qualifications of the writers; and these two things, properly considered, are among the strongest of the proofs in favour of the Gospel.

The Evangelists fully sustain their subject throughout the whole of the history. The incarnation and the humiliation of our Lord; the excellency of his person; the fulness of his wisdom, his knowledge, his goodness, his mercy, and and power, are all admirably represented. In the whole account we behold the majesty of the Deity shining through the veil of human flesh, which encompassed him. In their descriptions we view the blessed Son of God suffering, in his human nature, the penalty incurred by our misdeeds, but entirely free from the slightest taint of guilt himself. We see him, in whom was no sin, submitting to the imputation of all our sins. We see him, who commands the issues of life, groaning under the weight of death,—of death the most ignominious, which his enemies could inflict; and we behold him triumphing over that death, bursting the bands of the tomb, and rising gloriously in the sight of his disciples to his dwelling in the heavens,—carrying with his Divine nature his human body, as an earnest to us that in our flesh we shall see God. We find the whole of this account so simply told, and so admirably sustained, that it carries with it the force of truth by the very nature of its relation. We view in the whole such a beautiful consistency that it binds it up together, and fastens upon it the power of Divine inspiration, without the assistance of any further proof. Let us next