us agree with him in pronouncing that age and nation the most corrupt and sinful that ever cumbered the earth.

The records of Greek philosophy are open to us. We know the varieties of opinion into which the wise men of Greece were divided, and what great uncertainty hung over all their speculations. We know how imperfect were all their teachings upon the subjects of morality and religion, and how utterly impotent were they to produce a moral regeneration of society, or even to persuade men to lead a discreet and well-ordered life. And the vices of the period of the first Roman Emperors have left a dark shadow on the history of the world.

Oriental theosophy, or the mythology of the East, presents to the sober mind of the present day nothing but a shadowy region of dreams, in which reason wanders in vain to find an object which bears even a remote resemblance to any known reality.

To say, then, that the religion of Jesus was merely the culmination of the thought of the time, that Jesus was simply the man of his age, the organ by which was made articulate the truth which had been evolved by the wisdom and experience of preceding ages, is making an assertion not only erroneous, but extravagantly false. No! Christianity was not the convergency of rays of light already in the world, it was new light from above, shining upon the world through the mind of Jesus of Nazareth. It was not a reform indicated by the wants of the time, and precipitated by a simultaneous movement of independent minds. It was an impulse from heaven, which was felt first in the soul of Christ, was her

alded by the voice in the wilderness, was inaugurated by the baptism in the Jordan, and was authenticated by miraculous powers, from the marriage of Cana to the sepulchre and the Mount of Ascension. Nothing else can adequately account to my mind for the origin of that revolution in human affairs which then and there commenced. The son of a carpenter, brought up in an obscure village of a despised nation, without education, without wealth, and without friends, could have no more accomplished it, without divine and superhuman aid, than he could have created the world.

DISCOURSE II.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

AND IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN, THEN IS OUR PREACHING VAIN, AND YOUR FAITH IS ALSO VAIN. YEA, AND WE ARE FOUND FALSE WITNESSES OF GOD; BECAUSE WE HAVE TESTIFIED OF GOD THAT HE RAISED UP CHRIST: WHOM HE RAISED NOT UP, IF SO BE THAT THE DEAD RISE NOT. - 1 Corinthians xv. 14, 15.

CHRISTIANITY is founded on historical facts, Historical facts are its first and fundamental element. Take away these, and the whole superstructure falls to the ground. Such was the opinion of Paul, after having preached the Gospel for twenty years. Among those fundamental facts he places the resurrection of Christ as the chief corner-stone. He makes it in fact to be the Gospel itself, the glad news which the Apostles were commissioned to announce to the world. Of this event the Apostles were the chief witnesses, and the fact of having seen and conversed with him alive after his resurrection was a necessary qualification to make a person eligible as an Apostle. When the eleven were about to fill the place of Judas Iscariot, it was made a requisite in the candidate that he should have been an eyewitness to the min

istry of Christ, and especially of his having risen from the dead. Peter, in his speech upon the occasion, holds the following language: "Wherefore, of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection."

Writing to the Corinthians, four-and-twenty years after the event, Paul makes use of the following remarkable language: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom a greater part remain unto this day, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James; then of all the Apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." In this same Epistle, in another place, he makes the fact of having seen Christ after his resurrection a necessary qualification for apostleship. "Am not I an Apostle? have not I

seen Jesus Christ our Lord?"

The historical basis of Christianity, and the primary importance of the resurrection, are testified by Peter, in his speech to Cornelius and his companions.

What is called by the Apostle Paul "the Gospel" which he preached, is called by Peter "the word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ; (he is Lord of all ;) that word ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the devil: for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses, chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained to be Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."

The fundamental importance of the fact of the resurrection is declared often, and in many different ways, in the New Testament. When Paul came to Athens, and addressed the multitude on Mars' Hill, the burden of his discourse was understood to be "Jesus and the resurrection." His commission, as the Lawgiver and Judge of mankind, according to that speech, was sealed by that event: "Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he