name is given which shall absorb every other. Would to God that this name alone had remained in the church! What is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas? What is Luther or Calvin, Erasmus or Melancthon? What is Arminius, Pelagius, or Socinus, when compared with the glorious name given to the disciples at Antioch? The remainder of the chapter contains the prophecy of a famine, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar, with a determination among the disciples to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea; which they put into execution, and "sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." We have now, my friends, completed this series of Lectures, designed to illustrate the first planting of Christianity. Had I the abilities of the learned prelate of this diocese, I might have rendered them as interesting as the Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew. For the candour you have shown, accept my warmest thanks. Permit me now to review the steps we have trodden. We first viewed the conduct of the Apostles and early Christians, from the period of the resurrection of their Lord, to the day of Pentecost; we listened to the promise of the ascending Saviour, that he would impart to them the gift of the Spirit, which was fulfilled at the appointed time, on which occasion three thousand converts were added to the church. Our second Lecture was devoted to the consideration of the discourses of the Apostles, Peter and John; the miracles they performed, whether benevolent or awful, with their imprisonment and liberation. We next discoursed on the character and situation of Stephen, the first martyr to the christian cause; and viewed, with admiration, his fortitude and constancy, with the consequent dispersion of the disciples, and the spread of the gospel through Samaria. In our last Lecture we beheld a still greater extension of the tidings of salvation; we considered the conversion of two persons, the one a Jew by profession, the other by descent; and this day we have crowned the whole, by viewing the grace of God manifested to the Heathen world; in the calling, first, of a religious family; and, lastly, of idolatrous Gentiles into the bosom of the christian church. We have thus traced the hand of Providence in the gradual establishment of Christianity. Let those who have leisure read some sermons, written a few years ago by a Professor at Oxford, comparing Mahometanism with Christianity; where Mahomet is contrasted with Christ; the Koran with the New Testament; and the spread of Mahometanism with the propagation of Christianity. The divine inspiration of the latter is there fully proved. That, which power, united with threatening, failed to effect, was performed by a few fishermen, without friends, without authority; and, if it had not been for Heaven, without help. Yet, with all these checks, we behold them advancing with success in their great work, and establishing the religion they taught, first throughout Judea, and afterwards in the remoter parts, among the Heathen. Let us now take a slight survey of the events which have since taken place in the christian church. Not many years after the period we have been considering, Jerusalem was trodden down by the Roman armies, and the murderers of Jesus scattered over the whole earth; and they have never since been permitted to sit in any legislative assembly. St. Peter was crucified; St. Paul was beheaded; and St. John, alone, of all the Apostles, lived to the close of the first century. Under the reign of Domitian, this venerable Apostle was banished to the Isle of Patmos; where, under the immediate influence of divine revelation, he wrote the book which closes the canon of Scripture. From this period to the commencement of the fourth century, there were ten different persecutions of the christians. At the commencement of the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine himself, becoming a christian, established Christianity throughout the western empire. I wish we could say that he merited the applause of posterity for his conduct; but, alas, the christians, when in power, showed as little moderation as their former persecutors. The name pagan was never heard of till the reign of Constantine; and the very name reflects eternal disgrace on his memory. It is derived from a Greek word, which signifies "a village;" thither were the poor persecuted Heathen driven from the towns and cities; and thence derived the appellation. In process of time the western empire was overrun by the Goths and Vandals; and in those times of darkness and ignorance arose the papal power, by gradual steps, till it arrived at the enormous mass of errors which occasioned its overthrow. Small circumstances concurred to raise it to so great a heighth. When good men died, their friends and relations sometimes went to their tombs, and there offered up petitions to the Almighty; hence arose prayers for the dead. Christianity had long been veiled in obscurity; now it was to be supported with every decoration which magnificence could invent, or luxury supply; hence arose all the pomp and splendour which is attendant on every ceremony of the Church of Rome. The taking that figurative expression, used by our Saviour, "This is my body," in a literal sense, produced the doctrine of transsubstantiation; which is, doubtless, one of the grossest and most palpable absurdities which ever disgraced human reason. But, (to borrow an idea from the medical art,) when a fever is at the height, it will sometimes cure itself. The purchasing of pardons and indulgences, carried to a great length, occasioned Luther, at first, to oppose this doctrine; and afterwards to examine and confute other tenets of the church. In the progress of time, the Reformation became general, and popery received a final blow but the spirit of persecution did not cease; protestants as well as papists sought to lord it over the consciences of their brethren; as the many persecutions that have since arisen but too fully prove. Let us be thankful that we live in times of religious toleration; that we can meet to worship God in that form which appears to us the best, without fear of molestation; but |