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task, and fidelity in executing it, the work itself and the concurring voice of all antiquity fully and satisfactorily avouch. Writing in Greece, and being better educated in that language, as well as more Conversant with the characters of history amongst foreign nations, than any of the other three elect writers, his narrative has always been regarded, so far as the human character of the work is considered, as the most finished and instructive of them all, though in various particulars not so full as the testimonies of either Matthew or John.

It has another excellence that gives it superior claims to our attention at this time. Besides its being together with the book of the Acts of the Apostles, a concise and perspicuous narrative of all the great facts and events of the first sixty-three years of the gospel history, it affords us the greatest variety of facts and documents from which to deduce the doctrine of Christ in the inductive manner, which is a capital object of the examination which we are now about to undertake. The spirit and tendency of the age is in favor of the inductive mode of communicating and acquiring knowledge on all subjects. In the Christian religion it has scarcely, if at all, been introduced. We purpose, then, making an effort to acquire the knowledge of the doctrine of Christ by a strictly inductive method of considering the voluminous facts, precepts, and promises of the sacred writings of this Book of Life.

We shall, for the time being, seem to ourselves, as far as possible, mere learners, ignorant of all that we already know, and as seeking to acquire for the first time in our lives an understanding of Christ's religion. In attempting this we shall use all the terms, and only the terms found in the Book, indicative of new facts, ideas, or institutions. A most minute analysis of the whole narrative may then be expected, and such allusions and references to the other memoirs of Jesus Christ and the Apostles as will make out in our minds a congruous, orderly, and comprehensive view of the whole matters of fact and of faith reported to us by the original witnesses and Apostles of Christ.

We shall endeavor to cultivate a very intimate acquaintance with every name of place or person however remotely introduced, or connected with the subject of these writings-of course always noting those of the most interest and importance to the clear intelligence of the doctrine of Christ's religion.

These things premised, we shall now farther hear you read, Thomas, the first 25 verses of the 1st chapter of Luke; and then we shall attend to the preamble.

[The verses being read, Olympas farther proceeded.] Tell me, William, of what does Luke propose to write?

William. "A declaration or narrative of the things most surely believed" among the Christians.

Olympas. From whom had he this information of the things most surely believed, Reuben?

Reuben. "From those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word."

Olympas. What, then, is the difference between the information received from Luke and the Apostles, Eliza?

Eliza. Luke did not first see and hear from the lips of the Messiah and others the things here reported, while the ear-witnesses and first ministers of the word did.

Olympas. In what attitude, Thomas, does this place Luke before us? Thomas. In the same attitude as that which Moses held in the book of Genesis. Moses reported what he had learned from indubitable authority. So does Luke.

Olympus. The Prophet, then, utters new and original ideas directly from inspiration; whereas the historian faithfully records what he has learned. The sacred historians are, however, said to be divinely as.. sisted in the matter of the fidelity of their work, as we shall hereafter enforce.

Thomas. We are at a loss to know who Theophilus was, to whom Luke addresses himself in this narrative.

Olympus. So have been our most learned expositors. Many have thought him to be a fictitious character, because the word literally indicates a friend of God. But others more rationally suppose him to have been a real person, because of the epithet of nobility accompanying the name-Kratiste, (Most Excellent,) being prefixed by Paul to the Roman Governor Felix on two occasions, and once to Festus, as Luke himself narrates, Acts, ch. xxiii. xxiv. & xxv. All disciples are theophiloi; and to attach "Most Excellent" to one of them as indicative of his profession, would be a solecism in the New Testament. Theophilus was, then, some dignified personage in Greece, most probably converted by Luke, to whom he addresses both this book and that of the Acts of the Apostles. What appears to have been the design of this historian in this narrative, William?

William. That Theophilus might know the certainty of those things in which he had been instructed.

Olympas. We may then expect a clear, full, and well documented narrative of the things believed so confidently by the first Christians. Where does the narrative commence, Eliza?

Eliza. In the 5th verse, with the reign of Herod.
Olympas. What Herod was this, Thomas?

Thomas. Herod the Great, as Josephus calls him; or Herod the King of Judea.

Olympas. How many Herods are mentioned in the New Testament history?

Thomas. I am not sure that I know them all; but in reading Josephus I observe several persons of the same designations with those mentioned in the New Testament. Herod the Great, a proselyte to the Jews' religion, but an Idumean by birth, obtained from the Roman people the government of Judea about 36 years before the birth of the Messiah. He is called Herod the Great by way of contrast with the other Herods. He was the father of Herod Philip, and Herod Antipas, who married his brother Philip's wife during his life-time. By his son Aristobulus he had the grand-son Herod Agrippa, the same who murdered the Apostle James, the brother of John. This Herod Agrippa was the father of that King Agrippa, brother ef Queen Bernice, before whom Paul made his defence, as written Acts xxvi.

Olympas. Can you, Eliza, enumerate all the Herods mentioned in the New Testament?

Eliza. I will try, sir. Herod the Great and his two sons; Herod Phil'p, and Herod Antipas, his grand-son Herod Agrippa, and his great-grand-son Herod Agrippa the King. In all, five.

Olympas. I once told you from Calmet, Josephus, and others, Reuben, the superlative vices of this family of Herods. Can you recite them?

Reuben. Herod the Great, you said, was a great monster. He married ten wives-murdered his oldest son Antipater-murdered his second wife, Ariamne, and her two sous, Alexander and Aristobulusmurdered the innocents at Bethlehem, for the sake of murdering the Messiah. His son Herod Antipas murdered John the Baptist. His grand-son Herod Agrippa murdered James the Apostle, and machinated the destruction of Peter, but fortunately died suddenly at Cesarea. Olympas. They were certainly a bloody race. How long did Herod the Great reign over Judea, and who succeeded him, William? William. He reigned seven and thirty years, and was succeeded by Archelaus his son, who reigned only nine years.

Olympas. After your introduction to the family of the Herods, we shall proceed to other matters in the passage, after a single remark on the prediction of Jacob-"The sceptre," said he, "was not to depart from Judah till Shiloh came." Herod the Idumean was the first prince of foreign blood that sat on the throne of David. Though a proselyte to the Jews' religion, he had nothing in common with the royal family of Judah. Still, under his reign, one year before its close, the

Shiloh appeared and verified the prediction of his father Jacob-"Unto Shiloh the gathering of the people has been." What other historical facts are related in the portion read, James, Susan, and William?

James. Zacharias was a Priest in the days of Herod, and Elizabeth his wife was also a Levite, of the daughters of Aaron. He was of Abijah.

William, But they had no child, and were both far advanced in years.

Susan. They were both righteous persons.

Thomas. According to this representation a "righteous man" is one that walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.

James. While ministering in the Priest's office it became his lot to burn incense, and he did it.

Susan. "And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing at the right side of the altar of incense."

William. His appearance, however, much disconcerted the good man. The angel perceiving this, bade him lay aside his fear, and intimated to him that he should have a son in his old days who was to be "great in the sight of the Lord."

Olympas. Notice, my dear children, this phrase, "great in the sight of the Lord." This is a very different sort of greatness from that which is called by that name in the common acceptation of mankind. Many men have been great in the sight of men, who have been exceedingly little in the sight of God.

William. He was to be to his parents a source of joy and gladness, and many were to rejoice at his birth, He was to be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. James. What is this Holy Spirit?

Olympas. It is called "the Spirit of God," "the Spirit of Holiness." It is the author of our holiness.

Susan. What is holiness?

Olympas. It is sanctification-separation to God-or piety. Any thing devoted or set apart to God, is, in scripture language, holy. God himself is holy; therefore his Spirit is the Spirit of Holiness.

William. I know not how any one could be filled with it. The infant John was filled with it. What does that mean?

Olympas. When a person is said to be full of life, full of love, full of joy, or joyful, he is known to be replete with the effects of life, love, joy, &c. Now where the Spirit of God is felt or is present, it is by such manifestations as these. His gracious effects are there. They

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are intelligence or light, love, joy, peace, holiness. The Holy Spirit thus replenished the infant Harbinger.

80?

Reuben. But was it not extraordinary that au infant child should be

Olympas. It was, indeed, extraordinary; and therefore John was an extraordinary person all his life.

Susan. Are any children now filled with the Holy Spirit?

Olympas. Not as John was. But all those children who believe in the Lord, and who obey him, do enjoy in their hearts the Spirit of God. And sometimes they may be said to be filled with the Holy Spirit, because they have peace with God, and the love of God is in them, and rejoice in his salvation. Then they sing, and pray, and rejoice in the Lord.

What proofs are given of John's inspiration and sanctification, William?

Willipm. I am not sure that I understand this word inspiration.

It

is indeed said of John that he should turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, and go before him in the spirit of Elias. Eliza. What means this spirit and power of Elias?

Olympas. What say you, Thomas?

Thomas. Elias, or Elijah, was a bold, zealous, and holy Prophet, who preached righteousness and reproved iniquity with great promptness and decision.

Olympas, When did he flourish?

Thomas. In the days of Ahab king of Israel, about 910 years before Christ. He reproved Ahab for his impiety and idolatry, and boldly opposed, and exterminated the false prophets of his day. He was finally translated to heaven, and was in this signal manner approved of God.

Olympas. The return of Elijah from heaven to earth was promised through Malachi to the Jewish people, and that prediction is verified in sending one of his spirit and power.

William. But did not Elijah literally visit Judea before the last end of that nation?

Olympas. Yes, he appeared on Mount Tabor, at the transfiguration, in company with Moses, when Peter, James, and John had a glimpse of these two greatest of men.

Susan. What means the word inspiration?

O'ympus. Adam was literally inspired by the breath of the Almighty. This is the origin of the term. Every one who received the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Revelation, was said to be inspired in the figurative sense of that word. But this is not said of any but the holy men of God, who spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

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