THE L. S. Ives from Bp. Hobart & NEW TESTAMENT, 1830 ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL ORDER. WITH COPIOUS NOTES ON THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS IN THEOLOGY. THE GOSPELS ON THE BASIS OF THE HARMONIES OF LIGHTFOOT, DODDRIDGE, AND CRANFIELD: THE EPISTLES ARE INSERTED IN THE APOSTLES' ARGUMENTS. BY THE REV. GEORGE TOWNSEND, M.A. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE BISHOP OF DURHAM. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. London: PRINTED FOR C. & J. RIVINGTON, st. Paul's church-YARD, and WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL. THE NEW TESTAMENT. CHAPTER IX. From the Ascension of Christ to the termination of the SECTION I. After the Ascension of Christ the Apostles return to Jeru salem. ACTS i. ver. 1-S. and 12-14. 1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of Jerusalem. all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 1 Having thus far proceeded through the magnificent temple of the Christian religion, till we have arrived at that holy altar on which the great sacrifice was offered, we are about to contemplate the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit which the now glorified victim sent down from the Holy of Holies. We will pause, however, at the threshold of the rising Church, and appeal to all who have hitherto refused to enter in and worship, if they have been able to discover any God so worthy of their homage, as the God of Christianity; or any temple so firmly established as this beautiful fabric of eternal truth. The Christian challenges the world to produce another system which is at all comparable to Christianity, in the evidences of its truth, the purity of its precepts, the philosophy of its discoveries, both concerning God and man; or in all the other essential qualities which the speculations, the fancy, or the sober reason of the reflecting or the learned in all ages have considered essential to any proposed scheme of religion. The Christian world has hitherto been, for the most part, too patient under the repeated attacks of their antagonists. They have been contented with defence, and with maintaining the walls of their fortress; in replying to, rather than assailing the enemies of their sublime and holy faith. It is true that one considerable advantage has accrued to the cause of truth from this plan of action. Every argument which sophistry has been able to invent, and ignorance or vice to advance, has been fully and fairly met, discussed, and refuted. The external and internal evidence of Christianity has been so amply displayed-the facts on which the whole system rests have been so ably and repeatedly enumerated, that no possible danger can be apprehended, if the Church of God continues its vigilance, from any future efforts of the great adversary of mankind. The danger to which alone it is exposed, is the offence which arises from the B (RECAP 5179 1825 |