supervision, then are we at liberty to adopt the philosophy of chance; but otherwise we are bound to reject it.

"The laws of chance, applicable to the case, may be briefly stated as follows: When circumstances seem to determine an event equally, in two different ways, the chances are said to be equal; and the expectation of either result is expressed, with evident truth, by the fraction 1-2. But when the determining circumstances are unequally divided, so that any proportion, more or less than half of the whole number, operates in favour of a particular result, the chance of that result is expressed by the corresponding fraction. If a ball, for example, is to be drawn from a bag containing equal numbers of white and black, the probability of a white one being drawn is expressed numerically by 1-2; but if there be only one fifth of the whole number white, the ratio of expectation will be 1-5, and so for any other proportion: and this is the general law of simple probability.

"The probability of a joint occurrence, when two independent events are expected, is determined by the product of their simple ratios; for there must evidently be, in this case, a whole range of possible results, as regards one event, corresponding to each possible result of the other; and by a parity of reasoning, the same truth is made evident for any number of events jointly considered. If balls, for example, are to be drawn concurrently from two or more bags, containing different proportions of black and white, the probability of the whole result being white will be found in the compound ratio of all those proportions: thus, if one contains 1-2 white, another 1-5th, another 1-8th, and another 1-10th, there will be one chance in 800 that, in drawing one ball from each, the whole four will be white; and this is the general law of compound probability.

"With these premises let us open the book of prophecy, and select an example from among the various remarkable events there predicted. We choose one of so extraordinary a character as to place it among the most improbable events (humanly speaking) of any age or nation; but to be quite sure that we do not over-estimate it, we suppose it to have an equal chance of general fulfilment; expressed, as we have said, by the fraction 1-2. This does not, however, include the particularities of time and place, both of which are comprehended in the terms of the prediction. With regard to time, we observe, that as there is no natural circumstance to determine the event spoken of to one age or period more than another, the probability of exact fulfilment in this respect must be inversely as the whole number of ages in which it might have taken place. This, if we allow forty years for the average duration of an age, is about sixty; and the fraction 1-60th, therefore, expresses the contingency of time in the case supposed. With regard to place, the probability of exact fulfilment is evidently determined by the relation of the locality named to the whole world. This, in the case referred to, is not greater than that of one to 100,000; and the fraction 1-100,000, therefore, is the numerical factor for this element of probability. Combining these three ratios, we obtain an aggregate of no less than twelve millions of chances against the fulfilment of the

assumed event at the time and place designated; and this event is the personal appearance of Jesus Christ upon earth as the Saviour of the world.

'Remarkably associated with this appearance in many ancient predictions, was the continuance of the Jewish dominion, and of the temple at Jerusalem; the joint contingency of which, according to the principles explained, cannot be rated at less than 1-340th. A multitude of predictions are found, also, in various parts of scripture, relative to extraordinary particulars in the life, character, and death, of our Saviour, as well as with reference to the political and social aspect of the times in which he appeared. Many of them are so nearly miraculous in their nature, or so minute and circumstantial in their details, as almost to preclude the idea of chance in any sense. And we are very sure, therefore, that we do not assume too much in assigning to twenty of them an average equal chance of non-occurrence. Proceeding upon this ground, we find the probability of their joint occurrence opposed by a disparity of more than a million of chances to one; and it results from the combination of all the ratios thus found, that the advent of our Saviour, in all its characteristic circumstances and relations, could not have been calculated upon as a matter of fortuitous occurrence, with more than one in four thousand millions of millions of chances. The term probability can scarcely be applied with propriety to a case so very remote; but the argument does not stop here.

"Our Saviour, at a time when all the calculations of human forethought were diametrically opposed to him, predicted the general dissemination of his gospel, and the consummation of prophecy with regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, in the short space of a single generation: and so it turned out. By the laws of probability, neither event had, at the utmost, more than one chance in ninety of occurring at that particular time; and there was, therefore, only one in 8,100 of their joint occurrence.

"The predictions relative to the siege of Jerusalem, the subjugation of Judea, and the dispersion and subsequent condition of the Jews, present many particulars equally remarkable in character and fulfilment. We select twenty four, which have severally a degree of probability not greater than 1-2, and the result is an aggregate of nearly seventeen millions of chances opposed to their joint occurrence.

"The predictions of the Old and New Testament relative to the state and condition of the church in various ages, and its influence upon the moral and political welfare of mankind, furnish another class of particulars which have been singularly verified. The individual probability of most of them would be much less than 1-2; but we concede this, and limit ourselves to twelve points, the aggregate contingency of which is about 1-4000th.

"Finally, the prophecies of the Old Testament relative to the Gentile nations around Judea, and the great empires Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, &c., present about fifty particulars worthy of notice in this calculation. To avoid, however, all possibility of error, we consider only half that number, from which we deduce the expectation of their united fulfilmert in about the ratio of one to thirty-three millions.

"There remains still a vast number of correlative and circumstantial details, not reducible to any of the foregoing heads, which are found scattered through the pages of scripture, and furnish a "thick array" of corroborative evidence for the affirmative view of the subject; but we need not fear to waive the use of them in the present calculation. The composition of the ratios already determined gives an aggregate which it requires nearly forty places of figures to enumerate, and which the utmost powers of the human mind may vainly attempt to appreciate. If we should even assume a single grain of sand for the numerator of the fraction, the whole globe of the earth, repeated many millions of times, would scarcely suffice for its denominator; and such is the extreme improbability of any consistent fulfilment of the scriptural prophecies on the principles of chance.

"It will not be objected to this calculation that it regards the different subjects of prophecy as parts of one and the same system; for although they were in fact uttered by different prophets and in diffierent ages of the world, they are all united by a common subject; and that with a degree of consistency and harmony scarcely less wonderful than the fulfilment itself."

THE

LECTURE IX.

PROPAGATION

OF

CHRISTIANITY.

THERE is a peculiarity in the argument for the divine authority of christianity, which we cannot but notice in the commencement of this lecture. While the several parts unite with the utmost harmony and prodigious strength in the construction of one grand system of evidence; each is a perfect argument in itself, and capable of furnishing, had we nothing else on which to depend, an ample support for the whole fabric of christianity. We speak of the several parts composing that general division to which these lectures are restricted the external evidence-such as the miracles; the prophecies; and that on which we are now about to enter, the propagation of christianity. The two former have been discussed. We praise the subject, not the lecturer, in saying that we have not only established on solid ground the genuineness of the miracles of the gospel, and the prophetic attestation to the divine mission of our Lord; but that, in having done thus, we have twice finished the proof of christianity, as a divine revelation. It was complete when we had shown that Jesus and his apostles were attended by the credentials of genuine miracles. It was commenced again and completed a second time, and by a course of argument entirely different, when we had shown that Jesus was a prophet, as well as the great subject of prophecy. We are now to begin anew, hoping to prove a third time, and by a course of evidence entirely different from either of the preceding, that the Gospel of Christ is none other than "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God." Our argument will be drawn from the rapid propagation of the gospel, in contrast with the difficulties it had to overcome.

It was only forty days after the resurrection of Christ, that he delivered to his little band of apostles the parting charge: "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." "Go, teach (or disciple) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." In other words; Go, carry the war of the truth into the midst of its enemies; think not your work completed till you have planted the cross upon the high places of the heathen, and have gathered together my elect “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Such was the work intrusted to those few, unlearned, despised disciples, who formed almost the whole strength of the christian church in the day when their beloved Master was received out of their sight, and ascended into heaven. let us consider in the first division of this lecture:

Now

I. THE DIFFICULTIES they had to surmount in executing this command. Be it remarked,

1st. In the first place, that the idea of propagating a new religion, to the exclusion of every other, was at that time a perfect novelty to all mankind, with the exception of, perhaps, a few individuals of the Jews, specially enlightened in the prophetic declarations of the Old Testament scriptures. The Jewish religion was, indeed, sufficiently exclusive; but in its external organization it was neither designed nor adapted for extensive promulgation. Nothing could have been more perfectly foreign to all the reigning opinions, prejudices, and dispositions of that insulated nation, in the days of the apostles, than the thought of attempting to convert even asingle city of the Gentiles to their unsocial system of religion. Their zeal was indeed extremely energetic in behalf of whatever involved the security and honour of their faith; but, in regard to other nations, it was the zeal of jealousy to keep them at a great distance, rather than of invitation to bring them to a participation in their superior privileges.

The charge of the Saviour to his apostles was, if possible, still more novel to the Gentiles than the Jews. Heathenism