ganism being entirely suited to the carnal mind, it possessed many charms in the eyes of the people at large. The idolatrous sacrifices were attended with feasting to excess, and all kinds of sensual indulgence.* With the greatest indignation, then, would the mass of Pagan idolaters view the introduction of the pure and spiritual Christian worship, which at once went to overthrow their religion, and to annihilate their favourite revels and sports.

The pride of the higher classes among Polytheists, on the appearance of Christianity, must also have been alarmed. An exclusive religion, which required unqualified submission, stood directly opposed to their general habits, while the humility it inculcated would be held by them in utter abhorrence. The man of the world, who "cared for none of these things," would be enraged at this intrusion, and at the disturbance which the new principles of this religion could not fail to excite. The sensualist, intent on his pleasures, would detest a system which made no composition with his lusts; but, on the contrary, threatened the severest punishment on account of actions to which he had never heard the slightest blame attached. The magistrate, who employed the established religion as an engine for governing the people, would naturally

* It was not without strong temptation that the Israelites were so prone to forsake the pure worship of Jehovah, and to mix with their heathen neighbours in their idolatries. Many who, ignorant of their own hearts, express surprise at the frequent apostasies of the people of Israel, are not aware of the powerful incentives they had to join in such revels. When they had set up the golden calf in the wilderness, and sacrificed to it, "the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."

apprehend that if it were subverted, his authority would be undermined. The most decided opposition might also with certainty be anticipated from the whole body of the Pagan priesthood, whose office, and credit, and influence, and revenues, were all at stake. The philosophers, too, however they might disagree among themselves, would firmly unite against a religion, which, besides pouring contempt on their vain speculations, went to cut up all their systems, root and branch; pointedly declared, of the boasted leaders of Greek and Roman science, that professing themselves to be wise, they had become fools; exposed their vanity and selfishness, and depicted their immorality, in common with that of all the rest of the Pagan world, in colours of the deepest dye. In addition to all this, the teachers of this new doctrine were Jews, who were abhorred and despised by the other nations. The violent and determined opposition, then, which the Christian religion must necessarily encounter from the whole united body of the heathen world, independently of the natural enmity of the carnal mind against God, is sufficiently manifest.

If this must be its reception from the Gentile nations, what must it experience from the Jews? The Jews were in possession of the oracles of God: theirs was the true religion, confirmed by the most indubitable proofs, so that the conviction of its divine origin was riveted on their minds. But veiled under an outward form of ceremonies, instituted as a barrier against idolatry, and intended to shadow forth a more spiritual dispensation, that religion was misunderstood by the body of that people who clung to the form, and rejected the substance, so that except " a small remnant" of

the true worshippers of God, they were as carnal in their hearts as their heathen neighbours.

But, however grossly the Jews misunderstood the object of the Mosaic dispensation, as was proved when the Messiah appeared, still all of them had a firm persuasion that it was of divine appointment. They could trace its origin from the days of Abraham, through a period of 2000 years, and were possessed of a distinct written record of the revelations which had been made from that period, and of all the privileges which their forefathers had enjoyed. In the strongest manner, too, they cherished the flattering idea, that, being chosen as the depositaries of the oracles of God, their nation was to continue in the exclusive possession of so distinguished a trust. They were plainly told, indeed, that it was not on account of their superior goodness or worth, in any respect, that they had been thus singled out from among the nations; and their own Scriptures, from their commencement, contained intimation, that the blessing which God in mercy intended for all was to flow through them to the other nations, who were consequently at length to participate in the same advantages. Of this, the most express information was from time to time communicated by their prophets; yet the whole was disregarded by them, and against every idea of the kind they entertained the most inveterate prejudice.

A priesthood, besides consisting of a whole tribe, had been appointed from the time of their leaving Egypt, (a period of about 1500 years,) which possessed much power, and enjoyed many valuable privileges. In the Jewish theocracy, there was no separation between what is called church and state. The civil and religious parts of their constitution were not merely in

union one with another, they were actually identified. The civil authority, then, of the magistrates, and the religious preeminence of the priesthood, were inseparable. The one could not exist for a moment without the other. But the appearance of the Messiah was at once to bear testimony to the divine mission of Moses, and to terminate that dispensation. This would, of course, abolish the priesthood, change the government, and put an end to the exclusive privileges of the Jewish nation. The reception, then, which the doctrine of Jesus Christ, when he appeared among them, would experience from the Jews, might be easily anticipated. Accordingly, when he came to his own, his own received him not. Of this rejection by the Jews of the Messiah, their prophets had given many and faithful warnings. "Who hath believed our report ?-When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men." And except that "small remnant who were looking for the consolation of Israel," without whom they would have "been as Sodom, and made like unto Gomorrah," the expectation and the hopes of all the rest were fixed on the appearance of an earthly conqueror.

If, then, on the grounds before described, the opposition of the Pagan world to the religion of Jesus Christ was likely to be great, that of the Jewish people must have been tenfold. And so in effect it proved, both in its violence and in its continuance, as is manifest down even to the present hour. No sooner did Jesus Christ appear among them, designated as the Messiah by the enquiries of the strangers from the East, and by the time and place of his birth, than Herod the king" was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him ;" and, speaking after the manner of men, it

was only by flight that his life was saved. After he came forward in his public character, the rulers immediately combined against him; and, in proportion as he more clearly advanced his claim as the King of Israel, the more decided and avowed did their opposition become. Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, the most opposite and hostile sects, were at once reconciled and united against him; even Herod and Pontius Pilate were made friends. The heathen raged, the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against his Messiah.

But is it not recorded, that "the common people heard him gladly?" Did he not himself say, "Blessed are ye poor?" It was, indeed, a distinguishing characteristic of the reign of the Messiah, (in this, as in every other respect, entirely dissimilar to the maxims and practice of the heathen philosophers,) that to the poor the gospel was preached. To them, throughout the whole of the Scriptures, peculiar attention is manifested. They, too, have fewer external hinderances than the rich, to prevent them from listening to the word of life. In this respect, the circumstances of persons in the higher classes of society are generally very disadvantageous. From a greater degree of the fostered pride of understanding, from the entanglement of connexions by which they are more fettered, and from punctilious forms to which they are so much enslaved, the hinderances to the reception of the word of life are among them greatly increased. Jesus Christ himself taught, that certain situations in society have a greater tendency than others to harden, to blind, and to seduce the human heart. But the natural enmity of the mind of man against God is not affected by cir