tude of weapons, he spake to the Sheriffs on this wise: Master Sheriffs, (said he,) I am no traitor, neither need you to have made such a business to bring me to the place where I must suffer; for if ye had willed me I would have gone alone to the stake, and have troubled none of you all.'

Afterwards, looking upon the multitude of people that were assembled, being by estimation to the number of seven thousand (for it was market-day, and many also came to see his behaviour towards death,) he spake unto those that were about him, saying, 'Alas! why be these people assembled and come together? Peradventure, they think to hear something of me now, as they have in times past, but, alas! speech is prohibited me. Notwithstanding, the cause of my death is well known unto them. When I was appointed here to be their pastor I preached unto them true and sincere doctrine, and that out of the word of God. Because I will not now account the same to be heresy and untruth this kind of death is prepared for me.'

So he went forward, led between the two Sheriffs (as it were a lamb to the slaughter,) in a gown of his host's, his hat upon his head, and a staff in his hand to stay himself withal. For the grief of the sciatica, which he had taken in prison, caused him somewhat to halt. All the way, being straitly charged not to speak, he could not be perceived once to open his mouth, but beholding the people all the way, which mourned bitterly for him, he would sometimes lift up his eyes toward heaven, and look very cheerfully upon such as he knew: and he was never known, during the time of his being amongst

them, to look with so cheerful and ruddy a countenance as he did at that present.

ANY man who feels the power of the Gospel upon his soul, and the suitableness of its gracious provisions for such a creature as he is, far gone from original righteousness,' and longing to be restored to the favour and likeness of his heavenly Father, wants no other argument to convince him of the truth of the Christian religion; "he has the witness in himself." "The secret of the Lord is with the righteous," and

that secret enables him to "know in whom he has believed," and to have "peace and joy in believing ;" -a peace with which the stranger doth not intermeddle, and which the world can neither give nor take away.

But of all the outward arguments which are usually brought forward to establish the truth of Christianity, -such arguments I mean as may tend to convince a man's reason and understanding, there is none, as it appears to me, which comes more home, and is more unanswerable, than "The wonderful manner in which the Apostles were preserved amid difficulties and dangers, and the success which they had, notwithstanding all the opposition of their enemies." How often did God make it appear that "No weapon formed against them could prosper!" How frequently did he "surround them with his lovingkindness as with a shield!" How frequently did he "make even their enemies to be at peace with them;" proving every where and in all things that his presence was with them, and that "his word in their mouth was

truth!"

If any enemy of Christianity were to ask you for a proof of its truth, you might at once point at those who first propagated it, and say, that if they were not teachers sent from God they never could have been supported as they were, or have made the progress, the wonderful progress, they did. Look at St. Paul, sometimes single-handed, sometimes with one or two companions, standing in the midst of those who were gathered together against him and ready to eat him up, and yet continually supported, and protected, and made the honoured instrument of planting,

in every place where the hand of providence led him, that glorious gospel which wicked men continually sought to destroy. Look at him boldly opening his mouth in every place, preaching "repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ;" "to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness ;"-doctrines offensive to the hearts of all carnal and worldly men-and yet drawing after him multitudes by the power of that very truth which they had opposed, and bringing them as willing captives to the feet of the Saviour! Oh, who can doubt, unless he be wilfully blinded, but that the Lord was with him, and that it was his cause that he had in hand? Well did he say in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, iv. 3, 4, "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine into them."

In such a country as this, where Christianity is the professed religion, we have no opportunity of seeing the gospel triumph in that striking and remarkable manner in which it did when it first set out on its journey of love and peace; though in point of fact whenever any one among ourselves who only "had a name to live and was dead" is quickened by the gospel's power, and made to "have a name and a place among the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty," the event is no less wonderful than when the heathen jailor asked, "What must I do to be saved," or when the sorcerers "brought their curious books and burnt them before all men." But in the accounts which are continually being sent home by

those devoted men, who have been called to go out as the messengers of God to the heathen, we are supplied with many instances which prove that it is God's cause which they have in hand, and that the gospel, "preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

It is really wonderful to see a little band of men, (though we must honour faith by bearing in mind, that they have the God of Jacob for their help, and that their hope is in the Lord their God,) making their way against every conceivable difficulty, and defended from every threatening danger! It is really wonderful to see the gospel triumphing over and conquering those fierce spirits who were seeking to destroy it! What other outward proof do we want to satisfy us that it is God's truth, and intended for "a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel?"

I would mention one instance. In a far distant land into which the gospel has not long been introduced, the Messengers of God had succeeded in getting around them a little band, whose hearts the Lord had touched. Of course it was a point with all those who had been brought to know the Lord, to entreat and persuade their benighted countrymen to throw their senseless idols to the moles and to the bats, and put their trust in that God who ought to be feared. Many idols had been destroyed, and in consequence of the progress which Christianity was evidently making, the superstitious fears of the unconverted nations began to be awakened: 'What shall we do,' said they, if they destroy all the gods?