Οὔτε γὰρ ἐγὼ, οὔτε ἄλλος ὅμοιος ἐμοὶ δύναται κατακολουθῆσαι τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ LONDON: PRINTED FOR HENRY WIX, 41, NEW BRIDGE STREET ; AND SOLD BY J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL; & T. STEVENSON, CAMBRIDGE. 1842. 1043. John Norris, Esq., the founder of the Divinity Professorship, by his will, bequeathed a premium of £12 per annum to the author of the best Prose Essay on a Sacred Subject, which is to be proposed by the Norrisian Professor. The successful candidate, on receiving the prize, gives a promissory note for the payment of £12 if he neglects to publish the essay within two calendar months. THE NORRISIAN ESSAY, &c. INTRODUCTION. THERE is perhaps no part of the history of God's Church on earth, the study of which is attended with more of interest and encouragement than that which concerns its foundation by the Apostles and their immediate successors. It is at this part of its history, that the promise of our blessed Lord, that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, appears to have been of inestimable value. The wondrous work of evangelizing the world, that instruments, in themselves so weak, had to undertake--and this in the face of opposition, which met them in each step of their progresswas indeed such as to require some well-grounded assurance that their exertions should neither be unaided, nor fruitless in their results. Hence, at the approach of our Lord's crucifixion was so frequently made the promise, that they should receive the aid of the Holy Spirit, who was to be their Comforter; and hence, at their Lord's last solemn farewell, when they were commissioned to "go, and teach all nations," the |