were excessively corrupted by the idolatrous customs of the pagan nations.y CENT. I. PART I. the Jews out XVIII. The Jews multiplied so prodigiously, that The state of the narrow bounds of Palestine were no longer suf- of Palestine. ficient to contain them. They poured, therefore, their increasing numbers into the neighbouring countries, and that with such rapidity, that, at the time of Christ's birth, there was scarcely a province in the empire, where they were not found carrying on commerce, and exercising other lucrative arts. They were maintained in foreign countries, against injurious treatment and violence, by the special edicts and protection of the magistrates; and this, indeed, was absolutely necessary, since in most places, the remarkable difference of their religion and manners, from those of the other nations, exposed them to the hatred and indignation of the ignorant and bigotted multitude. All this appears to have been most singularly and wisely directed by the adorable hand of an interposing Providence, to the end that this people, which was the sole depositary of the true religion, and of the knowledge of one Supreme God, being spread abroad through the whole earth, might be every where, by their example, a reproach to superstition, contribute in some measure to check it, and thus prepare the way for that yet fuller discovery of divine truth, which was to shine upon the world from the ministry and gospel of the Son of God. y Those who desire an exact account of the principal authors that have written concerning the Samaritans, will find it in the learned work of Jo. Gottlob Carpzovius, entitled, Critica, S. Vet. Testam. part ii. cap. iv. p. 595. See the account published at Leyden 1712, by James Gronovius, of the Roman and Asiatic edicts in favour of the Jews, allowing them the free and secure exercise of their religion, throughout all the cities of the Lesser Asia. CHAPTER III. CONCERNING THE LIFE AND ACTIONS OF JESUS CHRIST. CENT. 1. Christ. I. THE errors and disorders that we have now PARTI been considering, required something far above The birth of human wisdom and power to dispel and remove them, and to deliver mankind from the miserable :state to which they were reduced by them. Therefore, toward the conclusion of the reign of Herod the Great, the Son of God descended upon earth, and, taking upon him the human nature, appeared to men under the sublime characters of an infalli ble teacher, an all sufficient mediator, and a spiritual and immortal king. The place of his birth was Bethlehem, in the land of Palestine. The year in which it happened, has not hitherto been fixed with certainty, notwithstanding the deep and laborious researches of the learned on that matter. There is nothing surprising in this, when we consider that the first christians laboured under the same difficulties, and were divided in their opinions, concerning the time of Christ's birth. That which appears most probable, is, that it happened about a year and six months before the death of Herod, in the year of Rome 748 or 749.b uncertainty, however, of this point is of no sort of consequence. We know that the Sun of Righteousness has shone upon the world. And, though we cannot fix the precise period in which he arose, this will not hinder us from enjoying the direction and influence of his vital and salutary beams. The The learned John Albert Fabricius has collected all the opinions of the learned, concerning the year of Christ's birth, in his Bibliograph. Antiquar. cap. vii. § ix. p. 187. Matt. iii. 2, &c. John i. 22, &c. T C PART 1. during his in I. Four inspired writers, who have transmitted CENT.L to us an account of the life and actions of Jesus Christ, mention particularly his birth, his lineage, he account his family, and his parents; but they say very fancy and little concerning his infancy and his earlier youth. youth. Not long after his birth, he was conducted by his parents into Egypt, that he might be there out of the reach of Herod's cruelty. When he was but twelve years old, he disputed, in the temple, with the most learned of the Jewish doctors, concerning the sublime truths of religion. And the rest of his life, until the thirtieth year of his age, was spent in the obscurity of a private condition, and consecrated to the duties of filial obedience. This is all that the wisdom of God has permitted us to know, with certainty, of Christ, before he entered upon his public ministry; nor is the story of his having followed the trade of his adopted father Joseph built upon any sure foundation. There have been, indeed, several writers, who either through the levity of a wanton imagination, or with a design to attract the admiration of the multitude, have invented a series of the most extravagant and ridiculous fables, in order to give an account of this obscure part of the Saviour's life. runner of the I. Jesus began his public ministry in the thirti- John, the foreeth year of his age; and to render it more solemn Messiah. and affecting to the Jews, a man, whose name was John, the son of a Jewish priest, a person of great gravity also, and much respected on account of the austere dignity of his life and manners, was commanded by God to proclaim to the people the coming of the Messiah, that had been promised to their fathers. This extraordinary man called him < Matt. ii. 13. a Luke ii. 51, 52. See the account, which the above mentioned Albert Fabricius has given of these romantic triflers, in his Codex Apocryphus, N. T. tom. i. PART I. CENT.I. self the forerunner of the Messiah. Filled with a holy zeal and a divine fervour, he cried aloud to the Jewish nation to depart from their transgressions, and to purify their hearts, that they might thus partake of the blessings, which the Son of God was now come to offer to the world. The exhor.. tations of this respectable messenger were not without effect; and those, who, moved by his solemn admonitions, had formed the resolution of correcting their evil dispositions and amending their lives, were initiated into the kingdom of the Redeemer by the ceremony of immersion, or baptism. Christ himself, before he began his ministry, desired to be solemnly baptized by John in the waters of Jordan, that he might not, in any point, neglect to answer the demands of the Jewish law. The life of Iv. It is not necessary to enter here into a particular detail of the life and actions of Jesus Christ. All christians must be perfectly well acquainted with them. They must know, that, during the space of three years, and amidst the deepest trials of affliction and distress, he instructed the Jewish nation in the will and counsels of the Most High, and omitted nothing, in the course of his ministry, that could contribute either to gain the multitude, or to charm the wise. Every one knows, that his life was a continued scene of the most perfect sanctity, and the purest and most active virtue; not only without spot, but also beyond the reach of suspicion. And it is also well known, that by miracles of the most stupendous kind, and not more stupendous than salutary and beneficent, he displayed to the universe the truth of that religion which he brought with him from above, and demonstrated the reality of his divine commission in the most illustrious manner. f Matt. iii. 6. John i. 22. PART I. The election disciples. v. As this divine religion was to be propagated CENT.L to the utmost ends of the earth, it was necessary that Christ should choose a certain number of persons, of the apostles, to accompany him constantly through the whole and of the Ixx. course of his ministry; that thus they might be faithful and respectable witnesses of the sanctity of his life, and the grandeur of his miracles, to the remotest nations; and also transmit to the latest posterity a genuine account of his sublime doctrines, and of the nature and end of the gospel dispensation. Therefore Jesus chose, out of the multitude that attended his discourses, twelve persons, whom he separated from the rest by the name of Apostles. These men were illiterate, poor, and of mean extraction, and such alone were truly proper to answer the views of the divine Saviour. He avoided making use of the ministry of persons endowed with the advantages of fortune and birth, or enriched with the treasures of eloquence and learning, lest the fruits of this embassy, and the progress of the gospel, should be attributed to human and natural causes. These apostles were sent but once to preach to the Jews during the life of Christ. He chose to keep them about his own person, that they might be thoroughly instructed in the affairs of his kingdom. That the multitude, however, might not be destitute of teachers to enlighten them with the knowledge of the truth, Christ appointed LXX disciples to preach the glad tidings of life eternal throughout the whole province of Judea. ber of the fixed to xii, VI. The researches of the learned have been em- Why the num ployed to find out the reason of Christ's fixing apostles was the number of the apostles to twelve, and that of and that of the disciples to seventy; and various conjectures to lxs. have been applied to the solution of this question. But since it is manifest, from the words of our # 1 Cor. i. 21. VOL. I. h Matt. x. 7. 8 + Luke x. 1. the disciples |