and became kind, tender hearted, forgiving one another, knowing that God for Christ's sake had forgiven them. They brought forth the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. They abounded in every good word and work, and were, for the purity of their lives and the peacefulness of their tempers, "living epistles, read and known of all men." In short, so entire and complete was the moral change which the gospel produced upon them, that the apostle could address them in reference to it, saying, "Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

I shall now pass on from this cloud of witnesses to notice two individual characters, viz. Stephen and Paul, in whom the admirable influence of gospel principles was remarkably exemplified. Christ has commanded his people to pray for the welfare of their enemies-and this he did himself; for when dying by the hands of wicked men, he prayed that divine mercy might be extended to them. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke xxiii. 34.) Now to approve of the precept which Christ has given in this respect is easy, but to imitate his example is difficult, because such a line of conduct is contrary to the depraved feelings of the human heart, which naturally incline men to anger, resentment, and revenge. We have, however, in the account of Stephen, which is recorded in the Acts, (chap. vi. vii.) an instance of divine grace triumphing over these depraved dispositions. The enemies of Stephen, because he endeavoured to convince them of their errors, and to instruct them in the principles of Christianity, were so enraged, that they stoned him to death; and the last words which he uttered, before he expired, were a prayer for their forgiveness. (Acts vii. 69.) "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; and when he had said this, he fell asleep."

The apostle Paul, before his conversion to Christianity, was, according to his own confession, (1 Tim. i. 13.) a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious: but afterwards he spent a life of unwearied exertions, which was also attended with unparalleled privations and sufferings, in his endeavours to do good, and to benefit the condition of his fellow creatures. The account of the labours and sufferings which he underwent in this career of philanthropy are fully stated in the following passages.

1 Cor. iv. 9. I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. 2 Cor. xi. 24. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils amongst false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

2 Cor. vi. 4. In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings.

It is scarcely possible for any man to read this long list of afflictions which the apostle underwent, without feeling his heart melted into the tenderest sympathy; and yet numerous and great as the trials which he has here recorded appear, it is more than probable, that they are by no means the whole of what he underwent in this sacred cause of truth and benevolence. And whilst we survey these afflictions, the spirit in which he sustained them also demands our attention. A person unacquainted with his character, may be ready to suppose that he was influenced by a spirit of self-righteousness-seeking after imaginary merit, or desirous of obtaining human applause. On acquaintance, however, with his history, we find that it was quite the reverse. Instead of being influenced by any inferior motives of this kind, we find him, in the midst of all his accumulated labours, characterized by a spirit of genuine humility, and renouncing every pretension to personal merit. Speaking in reference to his former conduct, he acknowledges himself to be " the chief of sinners ;" and in reference to his Christian attainments, to be "less than the least of all saints:" and though he was in reality the greatest, most useful, and most laborious of all the apostles, yet so deep was his humility, and the sense which he had of his unworthiness, that he professes himself unfit to be numbered amongst such exalted characters. "Iam," he writes, 1 Cor. xv. 9. "the least of all the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." In short, his humility consisted not in a mere empty expression, but amounted to a total renunciation of personal claim; that is, he placed no dependance upon his labours or sufferings as the ground of his acceptance in the sight of God. Instead of looking upon himself as possessed of any merit, which he might plead before God on account of them, as a guilty sinner he cast himself entirely at the feet of Christ, for pardon and salvation.

The following passages, selected from his epistles, contain a statement of his views and feelings on this subject.

Gal. vi. 14. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Phil. iii. 7. What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

There is also, in addition to what I have already brought forward, another trait peculiar to the character of this zealous apostle, which is, that whilst he placed no dependance upon the multitude and utility of his labours, he at the same time, although his attainments were of the highest order, was never satisfied with them-he was perpetually aiming after increasing holiness, and increasing devotedness to the service of God-constantly erecting a higher and a higher standard, and exhorting those to whom he wrote, to be perfect, to press on, to grow up in him (i. e. Christ) in all things: and these exhortations were enforced by his own example, of which, with the views and feelings which he had on this subject, we have a full account in the following verses.

Phil. iii. 12. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:

and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

SECTION 2.

The Hindoo Religion produces no beneficial Effect on the moral Character.

In the foregoing section, I have endeavoured to shew, that the Bible is designed to form a perfect characterthat it contains a perfect code of moral precepts—that it presents to view a perfect example-and that, as far as men live under the genuine influence of its important truths, so far will they approximate towards that perfection which it requires. Having, therefore, stated and illustrated the various points here specified, I shall now, by contrasting it with the Shasters of the Hindoos, endeavour to shew its superiority to these Shasters in the several particulars here specified. I have given the reader an account of the wonderful change effected upon the moral character of the inhabitants of several cities in Greece by their reception of the gospel: and were it requisite to add weight to my argument, I might greatly enlarge this account by shewing, that this was not a singular, a solitary instance of the moral change which the gospel can produce, but that such are its uniform effects, and the legitimate consequence which arises from its reception in sincerity and truth; and that this effect of its reception has been exemplified in thousands of instances, from the period of its first establishment in the world unto the present day. Men who have been cruel, covetous, worldly minded, drunkards, thieves, liars, adulterers, and addicted to every vice which can disgrace human nature, have, immediately on their being brought under its influence, renounced their beloved sin-been distinguished in their future life by the spirit of meekness, benevolence, and piety—have exchanged their vices for every virtue which can adorn the character-and, influenced by love to God and compassion to man, have spent the resi