The life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, from His incarnation to His ascension into heaven

Front matter

Glass

Book

SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT

Preface

heart itself is prepared to embrace the history in its entire compass.

" An attentive perusal of the present volume will afford many illustrations of these remarks. Knowing that the substance of the narrative is drawn from sources of indisputable authority, the reader can have no anxiety respecting the truth of the facts recorded. He will, therefore, be able to resign himself altogether to the gracious influence which such a history is calculated to exercise on the mind. Brought to contemplate his Lord from the moment when it was announced, 'Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,' to that when he pronounced those awful words, 'It is finished,' he learns what it is to tremble and rejoice at the recital of the method employed for his salvation. Nor resting here, the narrative leads him on from the scene of conflict, where Christ triumphed over the grave, to those wonderful manifestations of the power which had wrought in his resurrection, and which exhibited itself, at last, in the fulness of its strength and splendor, when Jesus visibly ascended into heaven, leading captivity captive.

" The assistance which the reader will derive from a wellarranged narrative of these sublime events, will be found of importance, not only as exciting attention to facts, otherwise less noticed, but as habituating him, in perusing the divine originals, to arrange and classify the several portions of the history for himself. When this ability is acquired, the mind will have a readier command over the materials of reflection, and the several arguments on which the proof of heavenly truth is founded will be seen with greater distinctness, and appreciated with a more practical feeling of their strength and value."

A very few sentences in reference to the present edition of this work shall bring this preface to a close. When its publisher applied to me to select the copy from which he should print, and to give a general superintendence as it passed through the press, I readily undertook what I

Preface.

expected would prove a light task ; but as soon as I began to examine the several editions now in the market, I was Struck with the fact that even the most expensive, as well as those most largely circulated, were exceedingly imperfect I found paragraphs — whole pages — not unfrequently, indeed, several pages in succession, altogether omitted. Nor was it seldom the fact that these omissions, made solely to reduce the number of pages in the volume, were the most important to meet the objections of infidelity, and to silence the enemies of Christ. I found the publisher equally unwilling as myself to circulate a garbled and imperfect edition of so valuable and popular a work, and therefore, having obtained copies from England and Scotland, as well as those furnished by this country, I have carefully collated the whole, restored the omitted passages, and corrected the manifold mistakes which successive printers had introduced. TJie reader has now before him the most correct edition in existence of this important work. The introductory essays on the truth of the Bible, and the History of that most important of all nations — the Jews — are also new, and I will venture to assert, are almost infinitely more correct than any which have preceded them. The printing, engraving, paper, and binding of the volume need no remarks from me. May the whole happily tend to the edification of the reader.

J. B.

Philadelphia, August, 1855.

Contents

INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS.

ESSAY I. — The Truth of the Bible. By the Rev. Edward Usher, 13

ESSAY II. — The Jews — Their History, their Peculiarities, and the Prophecies relating to them, 45

Section Third — The Aspect of Prophecy on the condition of the Jews, 112 Prophecy in connection with the Past, 112

Prophecy in connection with the Present and the Future, 127

LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

CHAPTER I. — Presage of the Birth of Christ— Prediction of the Birth of John the Baptist — Salutation of the Blessed Virgin — The Angel — Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth — Birth of the Baptist, 141

CHAPTER II. — General Decree for Taxation issued — Birth of Christ — Declaration of the same to the Shepherds — Circumcision and Presentation of Christ in the Temple — The Wise Men of the East worship the holy Child — Flight of Joseph into Egypt — Massacre of the Infants at Bethlehem — Death of Herod — Return of Joseph out of Egypt, 151

CHAPTER III. — State of our Lord's Childhood and private Life — His Argument with the Jewish Doctors — Mission, character, and doctrine of the Baptist — Baptism of Christ, and visible descent of the Spirit on that solemnity — Poem, 162

CHAPTER IV. — Commencement of our Saviour's Ministry— His Temptations in the Wilderness — Deputation of the Sanhedrim- to John the Baptist — First Miracle wrought by the blessed Jesus, 172

CHAPTER V. — Expulsion of the profaners of the Temple — Jesus visits and disputes with Mcodemus — Baptizes in Judea— Instructs a poor Samaritan — Heals a sick person at Capernaum — Retires again to Nazareth— And is expelled thence by his impious countrymen, 182

CHAPTER VI. — Our Lord proceeds to Capernaum— Adds to the number of his followers — Proclaims the Gospel in Galilee — Preaches to a numerous audience — His Discourse on the Mount, 196

CHAPTER VII, — Our blessed Lord cures the Leprosy and Palsy — Casts out a Devil — Succors the mother-in-law of Peter — And pursues his Journey through the country of Galilee, , 213

CHAPTER VIII. — Jesus confirms his Mission by producing a miraculous draught of Fishes — Curing the Leprosy a second time — Appeasing the boisterous Waves — Casting Devils out of clivers persons grievously possessed, 220

CHAPTER IX. — Our Lord proceeds in acts of mercy and benevolence — Adds Matthew to the number of his Disciples — Casts out an evil spirit — Passes again through Galilee — Selects twelve from his Disciples as his constant Companions — And addresses the Multitude in an excellent Discourse, 229

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CHAPTER X. — Continuation of our Lord's doctrines, acts, and miracles, wrought in confirmation of the Divinity of his Mission, and extending his Kingdom, 242

CHAPTER XL — The character of John the Baptist justified by the blessed Jesus — He visits Simon the Pharisee — Display of our Lord's condescension, 246

CHAPTER XII. — Miraculous cure effected at the Pool of Bethesda — Reproof of the superstition of the Jews in condemning the performance of necessary works on the Sabbath day — After doing many acts of Mercy and Wonder, our blessed Lord is visited by his Mother and his Brethren, and makes a spiritual reflection on that incident, 255

CHAPTER XIII. — Our Lord delivers many remarkable Parables, and explains several of them — Returns to Nazareth, and commissions the twelve Apostles to preach the Gospel in divers places — Circumstances of the death of John the Baptist, 267

CHAPTER XIV. — Our Lord adds to the confirmation of his Mission by working a Miracle in the wilderness of Bethsaida — The People propose to raise him to the dignity of Ring — Peter, by means of his blessed Master, performs, a miracle in walking upon the Sea — Our Lord discourses in the Synagogue at Capernaum, 279

CHAPTER XY. — Pharisaical Superstition severely reprimanded — The great Redeemer continues to display his power and benevolence in the relief of Affliction — Guards his Disciples against the prevailing errors of the Scribes and Pharisees — Proceeds on the works of his heavenly Father, 294

CHAPTER XVI. — The blessed Jesus delegates a special power to Peter, one of his Disciples — Pronounces the final Judgment of the World, and is afterwards transfigured upon the Mount, 304

CHAPTER XVII. — Our Saviour relieves a youth tortured with a Dumb Spirit — Conforms cheerfully to the custom of the country by paying the Tribute — Reproves the Pride of his Disciples, and delivers some excellent Precepts, 313

CHAPTER XVIIL— Our blessed Lord attends, for the fourth time, the celebration of the Passover, at Jerusalem — Addresses the multitude at the Feast of Tabernacles — Exempts the woman taken in Adultery from the punishment annexed by the Jews to that crime — Escapes from the snares laid for him by the Scribes and Pharisees,... 324

CHAPTER XIX. — Our Lord continues to work Miracles in confirmation of his Mission and Doctrine — Calls forth and sends out Seventy Disciples — Preaches to the people of Judea, by way of Parable, 340

CHAPTER XX. — The humble Jesus resides with Martha and Mary, two obscure Women of Bethany — Improves a circumstance which occurs at the Feast of Dedication — Prescribes a mode of Prayer to his Disciples and future followers^ — Resists some of the Pharisaical tribe, , 357

CHAPTER XXI. — Explanation of the origin and opinions of the different sects amongst the Jews — Our Lord teaches the multitude by plain Discourse, as also by Parables, 371

CHAPTER XXII. — Our Lord reproves the ignorance of the People ill not understanding the signs which preceded his appearance — Pertinently replies to an ignorant question and inference concerning the Galileans — Teaches by Parable— Relieves a distressed Woman — And is warned to depart the country, in order to escape the resentment of Herod, 381

CHAPTER XXIII. — The blessed Jesus accepts the Pharisee's invitation a third time — Delivers divers Parables, representing the requisites for admittance into the kingdom of God ; the care of the Redeemer for every one of his people ; the reception of a penitent sinner; and the punishment of misusing the benefits of the Gospel,.... 3S6

CHAPTER XXIV. — Jesus rebukes the insolent derision of the Pharisees — Describes, by a Parable, the nature of future rewards and punishments ; and enforces the doctrine of mutual forbearance, 39S

CHAPTER XXV. — Our Lord is applied to on behalf of Lazarus — Cures ten persons of the Leprosy in Samaria; and restores Lazarus to Life, 403

CHAPTER XXVI.— The great Prophet of Israel foretells the ruin of the Jewish State, and enforces many important doctrines by Parable — Blesses the children, as emblems of the heavenly and Christian temper and disposition, 412

CHAPTER XXVII. — Our Lord departs from his Retirement — Declares the only way of Salvation — Shows the duty of improving the means of grace by the Parable of the Vineyard — Prediction of his Sufferings, and contention of the Disciples about precedence in his kingdom, 42C

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CHAPTER XXVIII. — The benevolent Saviour restores sight to the Blind — Kindly regards Zaecheus the Publican — Delivers the Parable of the Servants entrusted with their Lord's Money — Accepts the kind offices of Mary — Makes a public entry into Jerusalem, 427

CHAPTER XXIX. — Jesus pronounces a Curse upon the Eig-tree — Expels the profaners of the Temple — Asserts his divine Authority, and delivers two Parables, 436

CHAPTER XXX.— The blessed Jesus wisely retorts on the Pharisees and Herodians, who propound an intricate question to him — Settles the most important point of the Law — Enforces his Mission and Doctrine, and foretells the Judgment that would fall upon the Pharisaical tribe, 446

CHAPTER XXXI. — Our Saviour commends even the smallest act proceeding from a truly benevolent motive — Predicts the demolition of the magnificent Temple at Jerusalem — And delivers several instructive Parables, 460

CHAPTER XXXII. — Our blessed Lord is anointed by a poor, but pious woman — The perfidious Judas consents to betray his Master — The humble Jesus washes the feet of his Disciples — And foretells that Disciple who was to betray him into the hands of his enemies, 4S0

CHAPTER XXXIII. — Jesus institutes the Sacrament, in commemoration of his sufferings and death — Settles a dispute which arose among his Disciples — Predicts Peter's cowardice in denying his Master — Fortifies the Disciples against the approaching shock — Eoretells Peters cowardice again — Preaches to and prays with his Disciples for the last time — Passionate address of our Lord to his Eather in the garden, , r 493

CHAPTER XXXIY.— The blessed Redeemer is taken by a band of Soldiers, at the information of the traitor Judas — Heals a wound given the High Priest's servant by Simon Peter, T , 522

CHAPTER XXXV. — Fulfillment of our blessed Lord's prediction concerning Peter,... 52S

CHAPTER XXXTI. — The Saviour is arraigned at the bar of the Sanhedrim, and tried by the Jewish Council, 533

CHAPTER XXXVII. — Our blessed Saviour is carried before the Roman Governor — The traitor Judas becomes his own executioner — Pilate publicly acquits Jesus, and refers his case to the decision of Herod, 537

CHAPTER XXXVIII. — The Roman Governor, for want of evidence, proposes to acquit and release Jesus, three several times : but at length, at the pressing instigation of the inveterate Jews, he condemns and delivers him up to be Crucified, 543

CHAPTER XXXIX.— The immaculate Redeemer is led forth to Mount Calvary, and ignominiously crucified between two malefactors — Reviled by the spectators — A Phenomenon appears on the important occasion — Our Lord addresses his friends from the Cross, and gives up the ghost, 549

CHAPTER XL. — The blessed Jesus is treated with indignity after his Crucifixion — A pious person begs his body from Pilate for interment, 563

CHAPTER XLI. — Two pious women go to view the Sepulchre of their crucified Lord — An awful Phenomenon — A ministering Spirit descends — The Redeemer rises from the tomb, 567

CHAPTER XLII. — The Angel addresses the pious women — Two Disciples go to the Sepulchre — Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene — Afterwards to a company of Women — Peter meets his Lord and Master after his resurrection, 571

CHAPTER XLIII. — Jesus appears on divers occasions to different Disciples — Reproves and convinces Thomas of his unbelief — Shows himself to a great number of his followers in Galilee, , 579

CHAPTER XLIV. — Our Lord's Ascension — The Resurrection of Jesus vindicated against the objections of Unbelievers— Comparison between Moses and Christ — General Review of the Life and Doctrines of the great Redeemer, 587

CHAPTER XLV.— Remarks on the peculiar Nature of the Christian Religion, the Principles it inculcates, and its fitness to render men holy and humble here, and glorified hereafter,.., , 599

12 Contents,

LIVES OF THE APOSTLES AND EVANGELISTS.

Andrew, 668

James the Great, 673

John, 675

Philip, 679

Bartholomew, 681

Matthew, 683

Thomas, 685

James the Less, 687

Simon the Zealot, 689

Jude, 691

Matthias, 692

Mark, 693

Luke, 694

Barnabas, » 696

Stephen, 700

Timothy, 701

Titus, 703

ENGK AVINGS.

John Proclaiming the Messiah, , Frontispiece.

John the Baptist Preaching, , 177

Christ at the Well, 189

The Sermon on the Mount, 199

Christ Cleansing the Leper, 215

Christ Healing the sick Man, let down through the Roof, 227

Christ Teaching by the Sea-side, 231

The Woman Anointing the Saviour's Feet, 251

Cure of the Blind Man, 301

The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven...... 305

The Unmerciful Servant, s 321

The Pool of Siloam, . 343

Christ answering the Scribes, 353

Christ dining with the Pharisees, 367

The Return of the Prodigal Son...... 389

Christ blessing little Children, , 417

The Woman anointing the Saviour's Head, 481

The Last Supper, 495

Christ comforting his Disciples, 503

Judas betraying Christ, 523

Peter denying Christ, 529

The Crucifixion,.,, 551

The Angel proclaiming the Resurrection, 569

Christ sending out the Apostles,. 612

Christ calling Peter and Andrew, 669

INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS.

ESSAY I.

THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE.

BY THE REV. EDWARD USHER.

THERE IS A GOD.

HE word God is from the Saxon, and signifies good. It is used in our English tongue to express the self-existent and the infinitely glorious Being from whom we i derive our life, possessing every excellence l and absolute dominion. It is not neces- | sary to employ argument, to establish what f is so very axiomatic, namely, that there is I a God. For it is plain and obvious to every 9 man's sense and understanding, that there * must be some First Cause, some Eternal [? Being, otherwise nothing could ever have been. The existence of things, universally, certainly proves the being of God. For, can anything exist, or come to pass, without a cause? And if not, then, we are led up, through a chain of subordinate causes, to one First Cause. Lucretius, an eminent Latin poet and philosopher, truly said, " The world cannot be eternal, because there is nothing to be met with, in any credible story, among either the Grecians or Romans, about any persons that lived, or any action that was done, much before the

Introductory Essays.

Trojan wars." No chance could shake creation into its beautiful order. We might as well suppose, that the combinations of alphabetical chance would produce the Iliad of Homer. "I had rather," says Lord Bacon, "believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind." Contrivance incontestably proves a Contriver, prior to, and out of itself. " If every house is builded by some man," how much more must "he that built all things be God?"

" God hath a being, and that ye may see, In the fold of the flower, the leaf of the tree ; In the sun of the noonday, the star of the night, In the storm-cloud of darkness, the rainbow of light ; In the wave of the ocean, the furrow of land, In the mountain of granite, the atom of sand : Turn where ye may, from the sky to the sod, Where can ye gaze that ye see not a God?"

The meanest insect we can see, or the most contemptible weed we can tread upon, is sufficient to confound Atheism, and baffle all its pretensions. They must be infatuated, insane, and depraved indeed, who can say, " There is no God." For such a saying is contrary to the clearest light and reason ; and in direct opposition to the common sentiments of all the wiser and more sober part of mankind. On review of the whole, whatever Atheists may say, the necessary fact is a Deity — an eternal, self-existent, spiritual, and intelligent Being. The marks of design — from everything both within and without us — are too strong to be got over ; design must have had a designer ; that designer must have been a person ; that person is God. Galen, a celebrated physician, who was no great admirer of religion, in viewing the construction of the human body, could not but acknowledge the hand of a Deity. And the existence of God, is the basis of religion — the pillar and ground of all natural and moral truth.

GOD IS A BEING OF INFINITE PERFECTIONS.

Whatever exists is called a being ; infinite, is unlimited, unbounded, measureless ; and perfections, are several representations of that one perfection which is God. God is so one, that there is not, there cannot be another God. " The proof of this is," argues Paley, "the uniformity of plan observable in the universe." We see no counter working — no hand of more deities than one. God is a Spirit. By this is meant, that he is without a body ; that he is not material, or

The Truth of the Bible.

composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure, holy. And such a Being as God, must needs be a Being of infinite perfections. His perfections are usually considered as natural and moral. Hi3 natural perfections are absolute and incommunicable ; and his moral perfections are relative and communicable. The natural perfections of God are: — Eternity — excluding both beginning and ending; Immutability — not subject to any change; Omnipotence — ability to do whatever he pleases ; Omniscience — knowledge of all things ; and Omnipresence — filling all space, and absent from no place. And the moral perfections of the Divine Nature are : — Holiness — freedom from evil ; Justice — giving to every one his due ; Goodness — benignity or bounty ; Truth — speaking according to the real state of things : and Faithfulness — always fulfilling covenants and promises. Simonides, a celebrated poet and philosopher, being requested to describe God, he asked a week to think of it, after that a month, and then a year, — but being still unprepared, he declined the task, declaring that the more he thought of so great a Being, the less he was able to describe him. Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece, affirmed, that " God comprehends all things, and that he is of all things the most ancient, because he never had any beginning." And Cicero says, "It is impossible for us to conceive of God but as being eternal." Plato believed and declared, that " God was immutable." Homer plainly asserts, that " God is omnipotent." Thales said, <; That men should have this opinion of God, that he seeth all things." The Greeks expressed him by a word which signifies "to see." And the Egyptians represented him by an " eye upon the top of a sceptre ; implying that he is all eye." And touching the Divine Omnipresence, Virgil said, " No place can be imagined that is destitute of the presence of God." Plutarch called holiness "the beauty of the Divine Essence." Plato said, that " God is not in any wise unjust, but most just." Seneca says, " That the first thing in our worship, is to believe the being of God ; and then to ascribe unto him majesty and goodness, without which there can "be no majesty." And it was a saying of Porphyry, a celebrated Plotinian philosopher, " That truth is so great a perfection of the Divine Nature, that if God should render himself visible unto men, he would choose light for his body, and truth for his soul." It is only necessary to add, that the perfections of God clearly appear in all his works of creation and providence. His eternity, etc., arrested the attention, and called forth the observations, of the most celebrated Heathen writers ; and are they not inferrible from the frame and con-

Introductory Essays.

stitution of all things ? " That which may be known of God is manifest in them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead."

GOD COULD REVEAL HIS WILL TO MAN.

Reveal, from revelo, is to unveil or uncover. Revelation is now used for the discovery which God has made to the world by the mouths of his prophets, and other inspired men, of weighty points of faith and duty, which they could not learn from natural reason. That God could make such a revelation as is here defined, is a conclusion fairly deducible from the preceding propositions. For, if an infidel admit the existence of God, and that he is a Being of infinite perfections, he cannot rationally deny that that Being may reveal his will to the human race. Surely the Supreme Being who is infinitely powerful, wise, and intelligent, who has formed, and therefore can have access to every human mind, and who has given to us a power of communicating our ideas to each other, cannot, without contradiction, be supposed incapable of making a revelation ; "and unless it has been revealed to the infidel that a revelation is impossible, he cannot know that it is so. And hence, paradoxical as it may seem, he cannot warrantably deny the possibility of a divine revelation without admitting its actual existence.

A DIVINE REVELATION WAS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE, BUT PROBABLE AND NECESSARY.

The probability of a revelation may be drawn from the goodness of God — he is essentially, originally, immutably, perfectly, communicatively, infinitely, and incomprehensibly good or benevolent; — from his acquaintance with man's necessities — he knew the dark, bewildered, and erring condition of mortals; — from his competent resources — he had the power to speak, to inspire, and to make it apparent to his creatures that it was he who spake to them ; — and from the end of man's creation — man was made to know, love, imitate, and obey God, and enjoy him forever. Further proofs of the probability of a revelation may be drawn from the universality of religious observances— no nation or tribe, no matter how isolated, barbarous, or brutalized, has yet been discovered, who possessed no religious notions, and did not in some sense practice religious rites ; —from the extensive diffusion of traditions which coincide with the statements of the Bible — there is among heathen nations an universal

The Truth of the Bible.

tradition of the deluge ; and this, in their systems of mythology, is accompanied by traditions respecting the antediluvian race, the primeval condition or golden age of man, and the leading phenomena of the work of creation. Remarkable coincidences with' the commencement of the Bible history occur in the Phenician, the Chinese, the Hindoo, the Gothic, the Etruscan, the Greek, and the American cosmogonies; and from the heathen practices respecting oracles— all mythologies assume communications to men to have been made by the objects of worship. Now, how came the universality of religious observances ? Did men create the notion of a Deity ? Is the Bible, as it purposes to be, a revelation from God ; or is it one of many consentaneous streams which flow from a revelation more remote ? And was the practice of consulting oracles founded on the belief that an accredited revelation had been given, or that the Deity could make a revelation to inquiring mortals ? Corollary. — A divine revelation is a probable thing.

THE NECESSITY OF A REVELATION APPEARS FROM VARIOUS CONSIDERATIONS.

From the degenerate condition of mankind. How evidently fallen from their original high state ! The whole heathen world lay, and still lies, in wickedness. How bewildered in their religious notions and practices ! How ignorant respecting the existence and the attributes of God, the reality and the extent of providence, the nature and the immortality of the soul, the obligations and the rites of religious worship, and the sanctions, kinds, and relations of moral duties ! The description of the ancient heathens given by St. Paul, in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans, is supported by the evidence of their own historians and poets. The same may also be affirmed of modern pagans, as is evident from the statements of enlightened travelers, and christian missionaries. Nature's light has become darkness; through the grossness of their superstitions, men cannot even grope after God. The fact is, no person can have studied the philosophy of universal history, and the character of man, as delineated in its various annals, with proper attention, who is not convinced of the necessity of a revelation from heaven. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, seemed to have sighed after it. "Let their attainments be what they might, they never ascribed them to their own reason and sagacity — but always lamented the darkness of their intellect, the weakness of the human mind, the little satisfaction they met with in their most diligent search, and the want of a better 2 guide." This was their frequent language; and, in so far, they were honest and ingenuous : qualities in which our modern heathens are not very proficient. How necessary, considering the circumstances of mankind, was a revelation from God!

From the insufficiency of the light of nature. Our modern deists talk largely of the light of nature — talk of it as disclosing all that is necessary to be known of God. We envy neither the understanding, nor the felicity, of those who prefer the sombre moonshine to the glowing sun. It is true, that we may discover, by the light of nature, the existence of a Being who is possessed of all possible perfection. The works of God sufficiently display his goodness, wisdom, and power; but with respect to the application of these in any particular instance, they leave us entirely at a loss. Nature teaches nothing on the subject of man's recovery to the image of God — an image which he has lost. It exhibits no method of consistent mercy to the guilty. It is silent on the subjects of the resurrection of the body, and the immortality of the soul. It speaks not of another and a better world — the abode of peace and happiness. The canopy of heaven, spacious as it is, contains no records of salvation. Neither the earth, the sea, nor the air, — rich, and vocal, and flowing, and brilliant as they are — utters an accent of mercy, or breathes forth an intimation of heaven. Since the hour in which the spirit of evil first triumphed over our race, the unaided powers of man have been able to arrive at nothing more than a probable conjecture, faintly supported by reason and analogy, on these the highest and most interesting topics of human speculation. We know that a few scattered rays of truth, the relics of primeval and patriarchal tradition, long touched with a faint illumination the darkened understanding of man ; but neither the light of nature, nor the remains of traditionary revelation, sufficed to maintain a clear and unclouded belief in the doctrine of immortality. Certain it is, that all the knowledge of God, and of divine things, possessed by any and every portion of the human race, in every age and nation, is, in some way or other, the consequence of divine revelation. A revelation, in some form or other, has never been totally wanting; and we argue the necessity of a further revelation from the deficiency of the former. "That Pythagoras drew his knowledge from the Hebrew Fountains, is what all writers, sacred and profane, do testify and aver: that Socrates and Plato took from him the principal part of that knowledge, touching God, the soul's immortality, and the conduct of life and manners, has been doubted by no person of fair