The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-10-08

be supported by the faith, and love, and
prayers of the church, and nothing will be
able to stand before it. It's triumphant
march is sure as the promise of God.
have already alluded to two periods, in
which the gospel was extensively preached
in its purity; and in both those cases, the
church rose from state of great apparent
weakness, to state of triumph and victory;
and the victory continued, as long as the
faithful preaching continued.
Had we been present in that upper cham
Der, to which the disciples resorted after the
crucifxion; had we seen how exceedingly
small was the number of the church, without
one name of power or influence among them ;
we should not surely have expected that
the preaching and influence of this little
company would so soon have spread the doc
trines of their crucifed Master thrOug ghout
the Roman empire. Who would have ex-
pected to see the temples of paganism tOtter
ing-its philosophers and orators confOund
ed and silenced- and, in the course of
few generations, the inviDcible legiOns of
Rome marching under the banners of the
cross?
Some may perhaps think that modern
preaching cannot be expected to be thus
successful, because primitive preaching was
accompanied by miracles. But it appears
to me that undue stress is laid on this cir
cumstantial difference. Miracles were ad-
dressed to the understanding; they were in
tended to attest the divine mission of Jesus
to prove that Christianity was from God;
and not to conuert sinners 1t is true, mir
acle was performed when Paul was convert
ed, but he was not converted by the miracle
The men who journeyed with Paul, saw the
great light from heaven; they were struck
to the ground; and heard, though indis
tinctly, the voice which spake to him. They
were no doubt confounded, and, for the time,
cured of the spirit of persecution; but the
history gives no intimation, that they were
ever converted. And Paul himself was not
converted by the miracle, but by the infu'
ence of divine grace on his heart.
tits then plain, that miracles were not in
tended to convert the heart, but to convince
the understanding, and to give to all sue
ceeding ages sufficient evidence of the truth
of Christianity. This evidence we have
now, with nearly as much clearness as they
had it in primitive times, and supported by
other sources of evidence, which they had
not. The truth is, the public mind, through |
out the most enlightened parts of the world,
is much more fully convinced at this time,
that the Christian religion is from God, than
it was in the days of the apostles; and we
have sufficient means and evidence in our
hands, to carry this conviction through all
th5 bei6ghte& nations. And there appears !
no reason to doubt, that if the gospel were
preached now, with as much purity and zeal,
and supported on the part of the church by
the same devotion as in primitive times, the
success would be similar. The promise,
"Lo l am with you always, even to the end
of the world, is as full of encouragement
to us, as it was to the primitive Christians.
The sovereignty of God accomplishes the pur
poses of the gospel; but it does this in co op-
Grafton with human agency; and | do not see
how we can understand the promises made to
prayer, and to the use of means, in any way
which will not throw the blame of the church's
failures, and her want of triumphant success,
entirely upon her own unfaithfulnesS.
TO BE CONTINUED