which had never before been heard of, it could not have been adopted by a whole people. They would naturally have inquired, How came we never to hear of this before? If this event occurred, and if it was the express appointment of God that it should be commemorated by a particular rite, why did not our fathers mention it, or even allude to it? Now, in the Christian Church, the Supper of the Lord has been observed from the very first, in remembrance of the Saviour's death, and as an expression of the appropriation of His sacrifice for spiritual life and strength. We trace back the history of Christianity from the present day to the time of the Apostles, and we find this institution distinguishing the system, and setting forth the death of Jesus as its greatest and most momentous fact. From the very first, too, the Christian Church has observed the first day of the week as the day of the Saviour's triumph over death. From age to age the Lord's Day has been the standing memorial of the resurrection. Here, then, we have two institutions,-institutions referred to in all the intimations of history, and all the writings of the Christian Church from the beginning until now; and these institutions concur with the evangelical records in setting forth the death and resurrection of Jesus as the prominent facts of Christianity.

Here, then, we rest with confidence. If Jesus died and rose again, Christianity is of God. His resurrection affixes the seal of Divine authority to His mission, His doctrines, His precepts, His personal claims. It proves Him to be what He affirmed Himself to be, the long-expected Messiah, the Son of God Incarnate, the great sacrificial offering for the sins of the world, and the only and almighty Saviour of perishing men.

CHAPTER V.

THE CREDENTIALS OF CHRISTIANITY-CHRISTIANITY ATTESTED

BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST.

WHILE the Christian system rests securely on the great

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facts of the Saviour's history, and especially on His death and resurrection, its claims are also established by the living energy of the Spirit of God which, in every age, applies the message of Christ to the conscience, and which, when that message is embraced, effects even a new creation in the heart of man.

It is impossible carefully to read the Christian records without perceiving how distinctly and firmly this truth was held by the Apostles. When St. Peter addressed the Sanhedrim, in answer to the charge that he and his fellow-apostles continued, notwithstanding their prohibition, to publish the doctrine and claims of the Lord Jesus, he boldly affirmed the resurrection of his Master, and His exaltation by God to be a Prince and a Saviour; and then he added, 'And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him' (Acts v. 32). In his first Epistle, after speaking of the testimony borne by the ancient prophets, under the immediate guidance of the Spirit, to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them,' he adds, "To whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the Gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven: which things angels desire to look into' (1 Peter i. 11, 12). So, also, St. Paul writes

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to the Thessalonians, Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance' (1 Thess. i. 5).

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But this is not all. In their addresses to believers, the Apostles appeal to them as having experienced, through coming to Christ, a decided spiritual change. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new' (2 Cor. v. 17). They speak of God as newly moulding the soul that receives the Lord Jesus, so as to give a new character to all its habits and tendencies, and one that will develop itself in the practice of all that is morally beautiful and good. Thus St. Paul writes, 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them' (Ephes. ii. 10). In another place, after adverting to the consummated glory that awaits believers, he adds, 'Now He that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit' (2 Cor. v. 5). The sentiment expressed in the last words is one on which he repeatedly dwells,-that the Holy Spirit, by His immediate working in the souls of believers, imparts to them the very beginning of the peace, and purity, and joy, which distinguish the heavenly state. In whom,' he writes to the Ephesians, 'ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the Gospel of your salvation,-in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of His glory' (Ephes. i. 13, 14). And in another Epistle he thus represents the rich communications of grace which God bestows on His believing people: 'Now He that stablisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts' (2 Cor. i. 21, 22).

Now this is a feature of Christianity, as preached by the Apostles of our Lord, which well merits attention. They proclaimed a religion of living power. They went forth relying on the aid of the Spirit whom their Master had promised to

them as their Succourer and Comforter; and they were assured that His unseen energy would apply their message to the hearts and consciences of men. It was their settled conviction, that while they delivered Christ's truth, and announced the offer of life in Him, they should actually 'minister the Spirit' to men. They promised, indeed, to all who should cherish their gracious impressions, and come in penitence and faith to the Lord Jesus, such a communication of the Holy Ghost as would give them inward peace, and purity, and strength. They held forth the promise of the Spirit as meeting the deepest wants of humanity, as effecting that within the breast which all the power of philosophy could not effect, and as imparting to men, in their own consciousness, the earnest' of eternal life.

They stood pledged to this; and had no changes followed, -had not the putting forth of a self-renouncing faith in Jesus led to any communication of purity and holy power,-their preaching would have been falsified. But it was not so. In hundreds, yea, thousands of instances, an entire transformation of moral character was effected. The proud became humble; the votaries of sensual pleasure turned away from every forbidden gratification, and delighted in that which is pure and spiritual; the selfish became benevolent; and the timid were enabled to confess Christ at the hazard of their worldly interests. Such changes were wrought on men of different nations,-of different natural temperaments, and of different habits of thought and feeling. There was a power from above which immediately gave to all who embraced the Saviour a new character, and caused them to aspire to new and spiritual joys.

On the power of the Holy Ghost, accompanying the Christian message, when proclaimed in its simplicity, and in prayerful dependence on His promised aid, we still rely; and we appeal to His saving and purifying operation on the mind that accepts Christ as one of the strongest credentials of our faith,—one, too, which each of us may realise in the depth of his own consciousness. The painful dread of the Divine displeasure is removed as, the contrite spirit rests on the Lord Jesus; and the

Holy Ghost becomes to us 'the Spirit of adoption,' prompting and sustaining the cry, Abba, Father.' The conflict between an enlightened judgment and conscience and the impulses of sinful passion, which so often issued in the triumph of unholy tendencies, now assumes a different character; for the power of sin is broken, and 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and of death.' This is an evidence of the Divine authority of Christianity which is to last from age to age. The figurative language of Isaiah beautifully sets forth the spiritual changes which should follow the reception of the Christian message, and impressively marks these changes as the permanent sign which should attest the working of a Divine power. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off' (Isa. lv. 12, 13).