Jam redif et Virrio^ redeunt Saturnia j'egna, [Now Asti'sea returu.s, and the Saturnian reign,]
be far too weak to express the mighty change ? [It I was in the reign of Saturn that the heathen poets fix- ed the Golden Age. At that period, according to them, Astraja (the goddess of justice), and manj' other dei- ties, lived on earth, but, being offended with the wick- edness of men, the}' successively fled to heaven. As- traea staid longest, but at last retired to her native seat, and was translated into the sign Virgo, next to Libra, who holds her balance.] Such is the tendency of Christianity. On immense numbers of individuals it has superinduced these moral changes ; all nations, where it has been fully and faithfully exhibited, bear, amidst their remaining vices, the impress of its hal- lowing and benevolent influence : it is now in active exertion in many of the darkest and worst parts of the earth, to convey the same blessings ; and he who would arrest its progress, were he able, would cjuench the only hope which remains to our world, and prove him- self an enemy not only to himself, but to all mankind. What, then, we ask, does all this prove, but that the Scriptures are worthy of God, and propose the very ends which rendered a revelation necessary? Of the whole system of practfcal religion which it contains we may say, as of that which is embodied in our Lord's sermon on the mount, in the words of one who, in a course of sermons on that divine composition, has en- tered most deeply into its spirit, and presented a most instructive delineation of the character which it was intended to form, ' Behold Christianity in its native form, as delivered by its great author. See a picture of God, as far as he is imitable by man, drawn by God's own hand. What beauty appears in the whole! How just a symmetry ! Wliat exact proportion in every part ! How desirable is the happiness here de- scribed ! How venerable, how lovely is the holiness!' 'If,' says Jeremy Taylor, 'wisdom, and mercy, and justice, and simplicity, and holiness, and purity, and meekness, and contentedness, and charity be images of God and rays of divinity, then that doctrine, in which all these shine so gloriously, and in which noth- ing else is iufzredient, nuist^ needs bo from God. If the holy Jesus had come into the world with less splen- dor of power and mighty demonstrations, yet the ex- cellenc}' of what he taught makes him alone fit to be the master of the world ;' and agreeable to all this has been its actual influence upon mankind. Although, says Bishop Pcrteus, Christianity has not always been so well understood or so honestly practised as it ought
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY 378 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY
to have been ; although its spirit has been often mis- taken and its precepts niisapi)liccl, yet under all these disadvantages it lias gradually produced a visible change in those points wliieh most materially concern the peace and quiet of the world. Its beneficent spir- it has spread itself through all the different relations and modifications of life, and communicated its kindly influence to almost every public and private concern of mankind. It lias insensibly worked itself into the inmost frame and constitution of civil states. It has given a tinge to the complexion of their governments, to the tsmpsr and administration of their laws. It has restrained the spirit of the prince and the madness of the people. It has softened the rij^ors of despotism and tamed the insolence of conque.:t It has, in some degree, taken away the edge of the sword, and thrown even over the horrors of war a veil of mercy. It has descended into families ; has diminished the pressure of private tyrannj' ; improved every domestic endear- ment ; given tenderness to the parent, humanitj' to the master, respect to superiors, to inferiors ease ; so that mankind are, upon the whole, even in a temporal view, under infinite obligations to the mild and pacific tem- per of tlie Gospel, and have reaped from it more sub- stantial worldly benefits than from any other institu- tion upon earth. As one proof of this among many others, consider only the shocking carnage made in the human species by the exposure of infants, the gla- diatorial shows, which sometimes cost Rome twenty or thirty lives in a month ; and the exceedingly cruel usage of slaves allowed and practised by the ancient pagans. These were not the accidental and tempo- rary excesses of a sudden fuiy, but were legal, and es- tablished, and constant methods of murdering and tor- menting mankind. Had Christianity done nothing more tlian brought into disuse, as it confessedly has done, the two former of these inhuman customs entire- ly, and the latter to a very great degree, it has justlj' merited the title of the benevolent religion. But this is far from being all. Throughout the more enlight- ened parts of Christendom there prevails a gentleness of manners widely different from the ferocity of the most civilized nations of antiquit}^ ; and that liberality with which every species of distress is relieved is a virtue peculiar to the Christian name. But we may ask farther. What success has it had on the mind of man as it respects his eternal welfare ? How many thousands liave felt its power, rejoiced in its benign in- fluence, and under its dictates been constrained to de- rote themselves to the glory and praise of God ! Bur- dened with guilt, incapable of finding relief from hu- man resources, the mind has here found peace unspeak- able in beholding that sacrifice which alone could atone for transgression. Here the hard and impenitent heart lias lieen softened, the impetuous passions restrained, the ferocious temper subdued, powerful prejudices con- quered, ignorance dispelled, and the obstacles to real happiness removed. Here the Christian, looking round on the glories and blandishments of this world, has been enabled, with a noble contempt, to despise all. Here death itself, the king of terrors, has lost all his sting; and the soul, with a hoi}' magnanimity, has borne up in the agonies of a dying houi-, and sweetly sung itself away to everlasting bliss. In respect to its future spread, we have reason to believe that all na- tions siiall feel its happy effects. The prophecies are l)regiiant with matter as to this belief. It seems that not only a nation or a country, but the whole habit- al)l(! glohe, shall Itecome the kingdom of our God and of his Christ"' (Watson, Dictionari/, s. v. Christianity). 3. The Collateral evidence treats of the marvellous diffusion of the Gospel, and of its actual effects upon mankind and upon the history of civilization, as proofs of its divine origin. "Of its early triumphs,- the his- i tory of the Acts of the Apostles is a splendid record ; and iu process of time it made a wonderful progress throu;:h Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the third cen- |