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spake the word. Twice it is said of him, that he expounded to his disciples, and once St. Mark says, that one of the Scribes had heard him reasoning with the Sadducees3. On the other hand, considering the unpretending style of the sacred historians, the variety of terms employed to describe the preaching of the apostles, presents a remarkable contrast to their simplicity, when speaking of their Master. Apollos convinced-Peter testified and exhorted-Paul disputed persuaded- confirmed and exhortedcomforted— reasoned out of the Scriptures warned and showed all things-expounded and testified, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. Here there is an alternate appeal to the affections and the judgement, to the reason and to the sympathies of their hearers, which showed that the time was come for enlisting in

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• Mark, iv. 34. Luke, xxiv. 27. In the Greek the word in the first passage is ἐπέλυε, in the second διηρμήνυεν. Our translators have used the word, expounded, in both verses. 3 Mark, xii. 28.

4 Acts, ii. 40. ix. 29. xiii. 43. xiv. 22. xvi. 40. xvii. 2, 17. xviii. 4, 5, 19, 28. xix. 8, 9. xx. 31, 35. xxiv. 25. xxviii. 23, 31.

the cause of Christ all the faculties of the human mind, and that his ministers were not to omit, on the one hand, any argument which could reach and soften the heart, or which could enlighten the understanding and convince the head, on the other.

But it is not by its immediate results that the effect of Christ's preaching can be properly estimated. Ages were to roll away before the spark which was then lighted should be kindled into a great fire, and make its influence to be felt wherever there are hearts to be melted into love, or delivered from error. For the real and glorious triumphs of our Saviour's ministry, we must look to the silent progress of his doctrines, gradually spreading through a wider circle, and transforming by their vital efficacy those who were by nature children of wrath, into sons of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.

That the change in the world which dates its origin from the preaching of Christ, was a change from a state of great corruption to a

state of much comparative good, will scarcely be considered questionable. Every succeeding age saw a multitude of individuals, animated by new desires, and guided by new principles, whose wills and inclinations were progressively brought into subjection to a law purer and more spiritual than had ever been known before-their views enlarged, their philosophy enlightened and elevated--their pursuits directed from an unsatisfying search after present good to the attainment of everlasting happiness-their selfish feelings subdued, and a spirit of real philanthropy infused in their stead. That this process should have been carried on in individuals, without affecting the general character and welfare of nations at large, would be no less contrary to the natural order of things, than to the testimony of experience. Contrast a Christian community with an heathen community, or even with the Jewish people before our Lord's advent, and there will be no difficulty in recognizing the uniform tendency of the doctrines of the Gospel to ameliorate the condition of all classes of mankind. Their operation on society, like

their operation on the personal character, is often so defective as to disappoint our hopes, for among nations, as among individuals, the triumph of the principles of Christianity is very gradual. But wherever they have been received, there has been a sensible improvement-an improvement which, however imperfect in degree and in extent, may still be marked and felt - and which prepares the mind to conceive the happiness of that latter day, when the tree, springing from the smallest of all seeds, shall have shot forth its branches, and overspread the whole earth, so that all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.

1. But, however slow and partial the effect of Christ's ministry has been, the enemies of the Gospel have never been able to draw any inference from this fact, which could be unfavourable to the pretensions of its author. On the contrary, by predicting the little success which would at first attend his doctrines,-a step

which no other teacher of a new religious system has ever ventured to take-Christ confirmed the authenticity of his own mission by the very circumstance which would have been fatal to the claims of an impostor. He did not deceive himself, or impose on others, by leading them to entertain hopes which the course of events would not finally justify. He told them without disguise, that narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it, and that many were called, but few chosen.

It is true he promised his disciples that they should do greater works than he had done; but lest they should be elated by this assurance, he qualifies it by an open declaration that their doctrines would not be welcomed or obeyed. 'Remember the word that I said unto you; the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.' And again he warns

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