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of its privileges, is the mortification of sin, the sacrifice of every guilty propensity and desire.

This sacrifice however the great Founder of our religion did not require for nothing. He promised his followers a recompence infinitely beyond the indulgences they were to renounce; he promised them a place in his KINGDOM, a kingdom of which he was the sovereign; a kingdom of righteousness here, and of glory hereafter. Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand*.

He then proceeds to select and associate to himself a certain number of persons, who were to be his assistants and coadjutors in the establishment and the administration of his heavenly kingdom.

And here it was natural to expect, that in making his choice he should look to men of influence, authority, and weight; that, being himself destitute of all the advantages of rank, power, wealth, and learning, he should endeavour to compen

*Matt. iv. 17.

sate

sate for those defects in his own person by the contrary qualities of his associates, by connecting himself with some of the most powerful, most opulent, most learned, and most eloquent men of his time.

And this most undoubtedly would have been his mode of proceeding, had his object been to establish his religion by mere human means, by influence or by force, by the charms of eloquence, by the powers of reason, by the example, by the authority, by the fashion of the great. But these were not the instruments which Christ meant to make use of. He meant to show that he was above them all; that he had far other resources, far different auxiliaries, to call in to his support, in comparison of which all the wealth and magnificence, and power and wisdom of the world, were trivial and contemptible things. We find therefore that not the wise, not the mighty not the noble, were called* to co-operate with him; but men of the meanest birth,

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of the lowest occupations, of the humblest talents, and most uncultivated minds. "As he was walking by the sea of Galilee, St. Matthew tells us, he saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men; and they straightway left their nets (that is, in fact, all their subsistence, all the little property they had in the world) and followed him. And going from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them, and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him*" These were the men whom he selected for his companions and assistants. These fishermen of Galilee were to be, under him, the instruments of overthrowing the stupendous and magnificent system of paganism and idolatry throughout the world, and producing

*Matt. iv. 18-22.

producing the greatest change, the most general and most important revolution, in principles, in morals, and in religion, that ever took place on this globe. For this astonishing work, these simple, illiterate, humble men, were singled out by our Lord. He chose, as the apostle expresses it, "the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty*; that his religion might not be established by the enticing words of man's wisdom, but by demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Such were the associates chosen by him who was the delegate of heaven, and whose help was from above. We may expect therefore that an impostor, who meant to rely on human means for success, would take a directly contrary course. And this we find in fact to be the case. the companions and assistants selected by

Who were

the

* 1 Cor. i. 27.

+ 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5.

the grand impostor Mahomet? They were men of the most weight and authority, and rank and influence, among his countrymen. The reason is obvious; he wanted such supports; Christ did not; and hence the marked difference of their conduct in this instance. It is the natural difference between truth and imposture. That the power of God and not of man was the foundation on which our Lord meant to erect his new system, very soon appeared; for the next thing we hear of him is, that he "went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people*."

Here then began that DEMONSTRA

TION OF THE SPIRIT AND OF POWER,

which was to be the grand basis of his new kingdom, the great evidence of his heavenly mission. It is indeed probable, that the wisdom and the authority with which he spake, and the weight and importance

VOL. I.

* Matt. iv. 23.

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