be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, but to have been more enlightened on one point than the other Apostles, by especial revelation from Christ himself. That point was the extension of the Gospel to the Gentiles. He thus speaks of it in his Epistle to the Galatians: "But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it; and profited in the Jews' religion above my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were Apos tles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus."

In his Epistle to the Ephesians he refers to the same subject in similar language: "For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward; how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same

body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel."

Now, no one can read this without feeling that Paul believed what he wrote, and that to him it was a solemn reality that he was an Apostle of Jesus Christ, or that he labored for about thirty years under a most astonishing hallucination.

Thus, the evidence of the New Testament is conclusive, that all the immediate disciples of Jesus, and afterwards his Apostles, had the deepest conviction of the divine mission and authority of their Master.

Thus the faith of the world draws its nourishment from the faith of the Apostles. It is a faith of sympathy as well as of conviction. Belief is generated in the mind, while the eyes take in the simple, earnest testimony of the original witnesses. There is such sincere conviction in their own hearts, that the thought scarcely occurs to us to doubt them, any more than to distrust the evidence of our senses.

DISCOURSE VIII.

PERFECT MORALITY OF THE GOSPEL.

THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW OR THE PROPHETS: I AM NOT COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFIL. FOR VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS, ONE JOT OR ONE TITTLE SHALL IN NO WISE PASS FROM THE LAW TILL ALL BE FULFILLED. WHOSOEVER, THEREFORE, SHALL BREAK ONE OF THESE LEAST COMMANDMENTS, AND SHALL TEACH MEN SO, HE SHALL BE CALLED THE LEAST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL DO AND TEACH THEM, THE SAME SHALL BE CALLED GREAT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. FOR I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT EXCEPT YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, YE SHALL IN NO CASE ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Matthew v. 17-20.

IT is a fact of no slight importance among the historical evidences of Christianity, that Jesus inculcated the most stringent, uncompromising, and exacting morality that was ever promulgated among men. It is both minute and comprehensive. It is practical, at the same time that it is spiritual. It is reasonable, at the same time that it appeals to the highest and purest motives that can be proposed to the human mind. It neglects every worldly and inferior motive, and refers to justice, to sympathy, and the will of God.

It passes over prudence and a worldly expediency, and points to the All-seeing Eye and the retributions of eternity. It will be the object of this discourse, first to call attention to this feature of the teaching of Jesus, and then to show its bearing on the great question, whether his doctrine was of God or whether he spoke of himself.

I shall first notice the fact of the stringent and uncompromising morality of the teaching of Jesus. To show this, it will not be necessary to go beyond the Sermon on the Mount. I appeal to every reader to say, if he is not struck with astonishment, and almost filled with despair, as he reads sentence after sentence of this most searching discourse. The field of human duty becomes exceeding broad, the sphere of conscience is extended to the minutest objects in it, and we rise from the perusal, exclaiming, Who then can be saved? He commences by declaring that they are in error who imagine that he is to relax the strictness of the Mosaic laws, or promulgate a system which demands a less degree of moral excellence. He who breaks one of the least of the Mosaic precepts, or teaches others to do so, shall have no claim to the name of a Christian.

But the Mosaic law had been corrupted and explained away. The Scribes and Pharisees, who were the chief religious teachers of the time, had weakened the force of the ancient commandments, imperfect as they were. They had given men pretences for the indulgence of their passions and appetites, retaining still a claim to the religious character. Righteousness they made to consist in a scrupulous performance of the ceremonial law. They

paid to religious purposes a tenth part of their garden herbs, but indulged in spiritual vices within the secret recesses of their own minds, and gave way to malice and all uncharitableness.

Jesus, in the very opening of his first discourse, cut up this Pharisaical morality by the roots, and placed the spiritual before the ceremonial. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." And from this he goes on to deduce the general principle of the worthlessness of all ceremonial performances in comparison with the spiritual virtues of the soul. "Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

With what utter discouragement must this have struck upon the ears of a Jew, who was accustomed to believe that the very act of sacrifice was an atonement for his moral delinquencies, and a substitute for a scrupulous obedience to the Divine law!

Next he proceeds to the government of the appetites, and promulgates a law so stringent, that the wisest of men have exclaimed against it as altogether too severe for human infirmity. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." But this doctrine, though severe, is after all only reason