sought that we should trust in his goodness, account him our nourisher, father, teacher, counsellor, physician, wisdom, light, honour, glory, strength, and life, and not be anxious concerning food and raiment.”

But the gospel, while it makes provision for the forgiveness of all past sin, provides equally for the recovery of inward holiness. The same Lord, who is revealed as the Lamb of God, or an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, is also revealed as the True Vine, the Living Bread, or the source of inward and spiritual nourishment and healing to the souls of men. Strengthened by his grace, the fishermen of Galilee have become examples of holiness, and teachers of wisdom, beyond all the great and mighty of the world, while blaspheming persecutors have been changed into preachers of righteousness and patterns of self-sacrificing love. The same Spirit, who wrought these triumphs in their hearts and lives, through the name of Christ, is promised to every one who believes the gospel, in all ages and countries of the world. And every age, and almost every country, has borne repeated witness to the truth of the promise. From the first centuries to the present hour, from the tropical regions to the snows of Greenland, the trophies of the doctrine of the cross have been the same.

The wretch that once sang wildly, danced and laughed,
And sucked in dizzy madness with his draught,

Has wept a silent flood, reversed his ways,

Is sober, meek, benevolent, and prays;

Feeds sparingly, communicates his store,
Abhors the craft he boasted of before;

And he that stole hath learned to steal no more.

The history of modern missions is hardly less fertile than that of the first rise of the church, in these blessed and delightful proofs of the efficacy of the gospel, the reality of the Spirit's presence with the word, and the transforming power of the doctrine of Christ. And how exquisite is the description, which the word of God itself supplies, to show the nature of this change, and to illustrate the moral causes which co-operate in producing it, wherever the love of Christ is made known! "We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Lastly, it is the crowning excellence of the Christian revelation, that it discloses the prospect, to those who receive and

T

obey it, of a blessed immortality of love and holiness in the world to come. Not the bare certainty of a future state, which alone would be miserable comfort to the depraved and guilty-a living death; rather than life and immortality-but eternal life, including in that one word, peace, happiness, purity, light, love, and endless joy. And this is not a bare promise, but confirmed by a present earnest of its truth and certain fulfilment. For the same word which announces this blessed hope, declares also that eternal life is begun already in the heart of every believer in Christ, and appeals for the fact to their own present experience. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." The seeds of a perennial and undying happiness are already sown in the heart, when sin is forgiven, the desires renewed, the affections purified, and the slave of sensual pleasures filled with the love of Christ and of holiness. But while the truth of the promise is thus assured by a present and real earnest, that foretaste on earth, we are equally assured, furnishes no adequate measure of the greatness of the future blessing. For " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

Such are the main features of that revelation which the gospel supplies, and of which we find the record in those writings which it has been the object of these pages to examine, and prove historically faithful. It discovers the fallen and guilty state of mankind, but proclaims a sufficient and a glorious remedy, procured by the incarnation, the obedience, the example, the death and resurrection, of the everlasting Son of God. It brings deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who were bound with the double chain of sin and misery. It provides for those who embrace it, pardon through the atoning blood of Christ, holiness through the power of the Spirit of God, and the intercession of the Redeemer in glory, with an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away," confirmed by the promise and oath of God to all them that believe in his word, and obey his revealed will. May the writer, and every reader of these pages, embrace this free mercy of the God of heaven! May the blood of Christ be our only hope for the forgiveness of all our guilt, the grace of the Holy Spirit our only dependence for power to walk in the

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way of peace and holiness, the kingdom of Christ the goal of all our desires, the blessed prize to which we continually are seeking to attain! The perusal of these pages will then only be a true and lasting benefit, if it serves to deepen our faith in the word of God, and to confirm in us a holy resolution to embrace for ourselves the salvation of Christ, and to tread in the footsteps of the holy apostles, until faith shall be exchanged for sight, and the cavils and doubts of unbelieving hearts in a world of sin, for the vision of Christ, in all the fulness of his majesty, and in all the beauty of his infinite love!

CHRONOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF ACTS AND OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.

The details of the following Table are, of course, in some degree conjectural. Those cases in which the dates, in the judgment of the compiler, are most clearly established are in small capitals; and the others, it is believed, are either correct, or within one year of the true time. Italics are used, to render the succession of the epistles clearer to the eye. Their relative order, though not always their precise date, may be viewed as demonstratively ascertained.

A.D. 30. April

May

36. June

37. April

(April, A.D. 33, Scaliger, Usher. March or April, A.D. 29, Ideler, Clinton, Browne, Benson.)

Pentecost

40. Pentecost

September

41. Pentecost

42. February

Pentecost

43. Passover

44. PASSOVER

May
Pentecost

The first Pentecost.
The death of Stephen.
The conversion of Saul.

First preaching of Saul.

St. Paul's first visit to Jerusalem.

Conversion of Cornelius.

St. Peter at Joppa.

Barnabas at Antioch.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF ACTS, ETC.

412

May
July

St. Paul leaves Philippi.

St. Paul at Athens.

St. Paul at Corinth.

FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONICA.

Second Epistle to Thessalonica.

Epistle to the Galatians.

Gallio, deputy of Achaia.

St. Paul sails from Corinth.
Fourth visit to Jerusalem.
Second circuit of Galatia.

St. Paul arrives at Ephesus.
Separation of the disciples.
FIRST EPISTLE TO CORINTH.
Departure from Ephesus.
Second Epistle to Corinth.
ARRIVAL AT CORINTH.
Epistle to the Romans.
ST. PAUL AT PHILIPPI.

FIFTH VISIT TO JERUSALEM.

Recall of Felix.

Voyage to Rome begins.
Shipwreck at Malta.

Arrival at Rome.

Epistle to the Ephesians.
Epistle to the Colossians.
Epistle to Philemon.
Epistle to the Philippians.
Epistle to the Hebrews.

St. Paul in Crete.

St. Paul at Colosse.

St. Paul in Macedonia.

St. Paul at Corinth.

First Epistle to Timothy.

Epistle to Titus.

St. Paul at Nicopolis.

St. Paul in Dalmatia and at Troas.

Apprehension in Asia.

St. Paul a prisoner at Rome.

Second Epistle to Timothy.
St. Paul martyred at Rome.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

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BIBLICAL WORKS.

A HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, in the Authorised Version; following the Harmony of the Gospels in Greek, by EDWARD ROBINSON, D.D., LL.D., Author of "Biblical Researches in Palestine," etc., with Explanatory Notes and References to Parallel and Illustrative Passages. 38. boards.

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POCKET PARAGRAPH BIBLE.-The HOLY

BIBLE, containing the Old and New Testaments according to the Authorised Version. Arranged in PARAGRAPHS and PARALLELISMS, with an entirely new selection of copious References to Parallel and Illustrative Passages, Prefaces to the several Books, and Notes, with Maps. 48. cloth boards; 5s. roan gilt; 68. French grained morocco; 78. Turkey morocco, best style.

By dividing the sacred Book into paragraphs and sections, this edition of the Bible presents them in a form nearly resembling that in which they were written; and greatly facilitates the right understanding of their inspired contents. The reader is also aided in ascertaining the true sense of the POETICAL BOOKS, as well as in appreciating their beauty and force, by their being printed in parallelisms. The marginal references are an entirely new selection.

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