a history of the life, actions, death, resurrection, ascension,
and doctrine of Jesus Christ. The word is Saxon, and of the same import
with the Latin term _evangelium_, or the Greek εὐαγγέλιον, which
signifies “glad tidings,” or “good news;” the history of our Saviour
being the best history ever published to mankind. This history is
contained in the writings of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St.
John, who from thence are called evangelists. The Christian church never
acknowledged any more than these four Gospels as canonical:
notwithstanding which, several apocryphal gospels are handed down to us,
and others are entirely lost. The four Gospels contain each of them the
history of our Saviour’s life and ministry; but we must remember, that
no one of the evangelists undertook to give an account of all the
miracles which Christ performed, or of all the instructions which he
delivered. They are written with different degrees of conciseness; but
every one of them is sufficiently full to prove that Jesus was the
promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world, who had been predicted by a
long succession of prophets, and whose advent was expected at the time
of his appearance, both by Jews and Gentiles.
2. That all the books which convey to us the history of events under the
New Testament were written and immediately published by persons
contemporary with the events, is most fully proved by the testimony of
an unbroken series of authors, reaching from the days of the evangelists
to the present times; by the concurrent belief of Christians of all
denominations; and by the unreserved confession of avowed enemies to the
Gospel. In this point of view the writings of the ancient fathers of the
Christian church are invaluable. They contain not only frequent
references and allusions to the books of the New Testament, but also
such numerous professed quotations from them, that it is demonstratively
certain that these books existed in their present state a few years
after the conclusion of Christ’s ministry upon earth. No unbeliever in
the apostolic age, in the age immediately subsequent to it, or, indeed,
in any age whatever, was ever able to disprove the facts recorded in
these books; and it does not appear that in the early times any such
attempt was made. The facts, therefore, related in the New Testament
must be admitted to have really happened. But if all the circumstances
of the history of Jesus, that is, his miraculous conception in the womb
of the virgin, the time at which he was born, the place where he was
born, the family from which he was descended, the nature of the
doctrines which he preached, the meanness of his condition, his
rejection, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, with many other
minute particulars; if all these various circumstances in the history of
Jesus exactly accord with the predictions of the Old Testament relative
to the promised Messiah, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be
blessed, it follows that Jesus was that Messiah. And again: if Jesus
really performed the miracles as related in the Gospels, and was
perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and designs of men, his divine
mission cannot be doubted. Lastly: if he really foretold his own death
and resurrection, the descent of the Holy Ghost, its miraculous effects,
the sufferings of the Apostles, the call of the Gentiles, and the
destruction of Jerusalem, it necessarily follows that he spake by the
authority of God himself. These, and many other arguments, founded in
the more than human character of Jesus, in the rapid propagation of the
Gospel, in the excellence of its precepts and doctrines, and in the
constancy, intrepidity, and fortitude of its early professors,
incontrovertibly establish the truth and divine origin of the Christian
religion, and afford to us, who live in these latter times, the most
positive confirmation of the promise of our Lord, that “the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.”
3. The Gospels recount those wonderful and important events with which
the Christian religion and its divine Author were introduced into the
world, and which have produced so great a change in the principles, the
manners, the morals, and the temporal as well as spiritual condition of
mankind. They relate the first appearance of Christ upon earth, his
extraordinary and miraculous birth, the testimony borne to him by his
forerunner, John the Baptist, the temptation in the wilderness, the
opening of his divine commission, the pure, the perfect, and sublime
morality which he taught, especially in his inimitable sermon on the
mount, the infinite superiority which he showed to every other moral
teacher, both in the matter and manner of his discourses, more
particularly by crushing vice in its very cradle, in the first risings
of wicked desires and propensities in the heart, by giving a decided
preference to the mild, gentle, passive, conciliating virtues, before
that violent, vindictive, high-spirited, unforgiving temper, which has
been always too much the favourite character of the world; by requiring
us to forgive our very enemies, and to do good to them that hate us; by
excluding from our devotions, our alms, and all our virtues, all regard
to fame, reputation, and applause; by laying down two great general
principles of morality, love to God, and love to mankind, and deducing
from thence every other human duty; by conveying his instructions under
the easy, familiar, and impressive form of parables; by expressing
himself in a tone of dignity and authority unknown before; by
exemplifying every virtue that he taught in his own unblemished and
perfect life and conversation; and, above all, by adding those awful
sanctions, which he alone, of all moral instructers, had the power to
hold out, eternal rewards to the virtuous, and eternal punishments to
the wicked. The sacred narratives then represent to us the high
character that he assumed; the claim he made to a divine original; the
wonderful miracles he wrought in proof of his divinity; the various
prophecies which plainly marked him out as the Messiah, the great
Deliverer of the Jews; the declarations he made that he came to offer
himself a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind; the cruel indignities,
sufferings, and persecutions to which, in consequence of this great
design, he was exposed; the accomplishment of it, by the painful and
ignominious death to which he submitted, by his resurrection after three
days from the grave, by his ascension into heaven, by his sitting there
at the right hand of God, and performing the office of a Mediator and
Intercessor for the sinful sons of men, till he shall come a second time
in his glory to sit in judgment on all mankind, and decide their final
doom of happiness or misery for ever. These are the momentous, the
interesting, truths on which the Gospels principally dwell.
4. We find in the ancient records a twofold order, in which the
evangelists are arranged. They stand either thus, Matthew, John, Luke,
Mark; or thus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The first is made with
reference to the character and the rank of the persons, according to
which the Apostles precede their assistants and attendants (ἀκολουθοις,
_comitibus_.) It is observed in the oldest Latin translations and in the
Gothic; sometimes also in the works of Latin teachers; but among all the
Greek MSS. only in that at Cambridge. But the other, namely, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, is, in all the old translations of Asia and
Africa, in all catalogues of the canonical books, and in Greek MSS. in
general, the customary and established one as it regarded not personal
circumstances, but as it had respect to chronological; which is to us a
plain indication what accounts concerning the succession of the
evangelists, the Asiatic, and Greek churches, and also those of Africa,
had before them, when the Christian books were arranged in collections.
It is a considerable advantage, says Michaëlis, that a history of such
importance as that of Jesus Christ has been recorded by the pens of
separate and independent writers, who, from the variations which are
visible in these accounts, have incontestably proved that they did not
unite with a view of imposing a fabulous narrative on mankind. That St.
Matthew had never seen the Gospel of St. Luke, nor St. Luke the Gospel
of St. Matthew, is evident from a comparison of their writings. The
Gospel of St. Mark, which was written later, must likewise have been
unknown to St. Luke; and that St. Mark had ever read the Gospel of St.
Luke, is at least improbable, because their Gospels so frequently
differ. It is a generally received opinion, that St. Mark made use of
St. Matthew’s Gospel in the composition of his own; but this is an
unfounded hypothesis. The Gospel of St. John, being written after the
other three, supplies what they had omitted. Thus have we four distinct
and independent writers of one and the same history; and, though
trifling variations may seem to exist in their narratives, yet these
admit of easy solutions; and in all matters of consequence, whether
doctrinal or historical, there is such a manifest agreement between them
as is to be found in no other writings whatever. Though we have only
four original writers of the life of Jesus, the evidence of the history
does not rest on the testimony of four men. Christianity had been
propagated in a great part of the world before any of them had written,
on the testimony of thousands and tens of thousands, who had been
witnesses of the great facts which they have recorded; so that the
writing of these particular books is not to be considered as the cause,
but rather the effect, of the belief of Christianity; nor could those
books have been written and received as they were, namely, as authentic
histories, of the subject of which all persons of that age were judges,
if the facts they have recorded had not been well known to be true.
5. The term Gospel is often used in Scripture to signify the whole
Christian doctrine: hence, “preaching the Gospel” is declaring all the
truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of Christianity. This is
termed, “the Gospel of the grace of God,” because it flows from God’s
free love and goodness, Acts xx, 24; and when truly and faithfully
preached, is accompanied with the influences of the divine Spirit. It is
called, “the Gospel of the kingdom,” because it treats of the kingdom of
grace, and shows the way to the kingdom of glory. It is styled, “the
Gospel of Christ,” because he is the Author and great subject of it,
Romans i, 16; and “the Gospel of peace and salvation,” because it
publishes peace with God to the penitent and believing, gives, to such,
peace of conscience and tranquillity of mind, and is the means of their
salvation, present and eternal. As it displays the glory of God and of
Christ, and ensures to his true followers eternal glory, it is entitled,
“the glorious Gospel,” and, “the everlasting Gospel,” because it
commenced from the fall of man, is permanent throughout all time, and
produces effects which are everlasting.
and doctrine of Jesus Christ. The word is Saxon, and of the same import
with the Latin term _evangelium_, or the Greek εὐαγγέλιον, which
signifies “glad tidings,” or “good news;” the history of our Saviour
being the best history ever published to mankind. This history is
contained in the writings of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St.
John, who from thence are called evangelists. The Christian church never
acknowledged any more than these four Gospels as canonical:
notwithstanding which, several apocryphal gospels are handed down to us,
and others are entirely lost. The four Gospels contain each of them the
history of our Saviour’s life and ministry; but we must remember, that
no one of the evangelists undertook to give an account of all the
miracles which Christ performed, or of all the instructions which he
delivered. They are written with different degrees of conciseness; but
every one of them is sufficiently full to prove that Jesus was the
promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world, who had been predicted by a
long succession of prophets, and whose advent was expected at the time
of his appearance, both by Jews and Gentiles.
2. That all the books which convey to us the history of events under the
New Testament were written and immediately published by persons
contemporary with the events, is most fully proved by the testimony of
an unbroken series of authors, reaching from the days of the evangelists
to the present times; by the concurrent belief of Christians of all
denominations; and by the unreserved confession of avowed enemies to the
Gospel. In this point of view the writings of the ancient fathers of the
Christian church are invaluable. They contain not only frequent
references and allusions to the books of the New Testament, but also
such numerous professed quotations from them, that it is demonstratively
certain that these books existed in their present state a few years
after the conclusion of Christ’s ministry upon earth. No unbeliever in
the apostolic age, in the age immediately subsequent to it, or, indeed,
in any age whatever, was ever able to disprove the facts recorded in
these books; and it does not appear that in the early times any such
attempt was made. The facts, therefore, related in the New Testament
must be admitted to have really happened. But if all the circumstances
of the history of Jesus, that is, his miraculous conception in the womb
of the virgin, the time at which he was born, the place where he was
born, the family from which he was descended, the nature of the
doctrines which he preached, the meanness of his condition, his
rejection, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, with many other
minute particulars; if all these various circumstances in the history of
Jesus exactly accord with the predictions of the Old Testament relative
to the promised Messiah, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be
blessed, it follows that Jesus was that Messiah. And again: if Jesus
really performed the miracles as related in the Gospels, and was
perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and designs of men, his divine
mission cannot be doubted. Lastly: if he really foretold his own death
and resurrection, the descent of the Holy Ghost, its miraculous effects,
the sufferings of the Apostles, the call of the Gentiles, and the
destruction of Jerusalem, it necessarily follows that he spake by the
authority of God himself. These, and many other arguments, founded in
the more than human character of Jesus, in the rapid propagation of the
Gospel, in the excellence of its precepts and doctrines, and in the
constancy, intrepidity, and fortitude of its early professors,
incontrovertibly establish the truth and divine origin of the Christian
religion, and afford to us, who live in these latter times, the most
positive confirmation of the promise of our Lord, that “the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.”
3. The Gospels recount those wonderful and important events with which
the Christian religion and its divine Author were introduced into the
world, and which have produced so great a change in the principles, the
manners, the morals, and the temporal as well as spiritual condition of
mankind. They relate the first appearance of Christ upon earth, his
extraordinary and miraculous birth, the testimony borne to him by his
forerunner, John the Baptist, the temptation in the wilderness, the
opening of his divine commission, the pure, the perfect, and sublime
morality which he taught, especially in his inimitable sermon on the
mount, the infinite superiority which he showed to every other moral
teacher, both in the matter and manner of his discourses, more
particularly by crushing vice in its very cradle, in the first risings
of wicked desires and propensities in the heart, by giving a decided
preference to the mild, gentle, passive, conciliating virtues, before
that violent, vindictive, high-spirited, unforgiving temper, which has
been always too much the favourite character of the world; by requiring
us to forgive our very enemies, and to do good to them that hate us; by
excluding from our devotions, our alms, and all our virtues, all regard
to fame, reputation, and applause; by laying down two great general
principles of morality, love to God, and love to mankind, and deducing
from thence every other human duty; by conveying his instructions under
the easy, familiar, and impressive form of parables; by expressing
himself in a tone of dignity and authority unknown before; by
exemplifying every virtue that he taught in his own unblemished and
perfect life and conversation; and, above all, by adding those awful
sanctions, which he alone, of all moral instructers, had the power to
hold out, eternal rewards to the virtuous, and eternal punishments to
the wicked. The sacred narratives then represent to us the high
character that he assumed; the claim he made to a divine original; the
wonderful miracles he wrought in proof of his divinity; the various
prophecies which plainly marked him out as the Messiah, the great
Deliverer of the Jews; the declarations he made that he came to offer
himself a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind; the cruel indignities,
sufferings, and persecutions to which, in consequence of this great
design, he was exposed; the accomplishment of it, by the painful and
ignominious death to which he submitted, by his resurrection after three
days from the grave, by his ascension into heaven, by his sitting there
at the right hand of God, and performing the office of a Mediator and
Intercessor for the sinful sons of men, till he shall come a second time
in his glory to sit in judgment on all mankind, and decide their final
doom of happiness or misery for ever. These are the momentous, the
interesting, truths on which the Gospels principally dwell.
4. We find in the ancient records a twofold order, in which the
evangelists are arranged. They stand either thus, Matthew, John, Luke,
Mark; or thus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The first is made with
reference to the character and the rank of the persons, according to
which the Apostles precede their assistants and attendants (ἀκολουθοις,
_comitibus_.) It is observed in the oldest Latin translations and in the
Gothic; sometimes also in the works of Latin teachers; but among all the
Greek MSS. only in that at Cambridge. But the other, namely, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, is, in all the old translations of Asia and
Africa, in all catalogues of the canonical books, and in Greek MSS. in
general, the customary and established one as it regarded not personal
circumstances, but as it had respect to chronological; which is to us a
plain indication what accounts concerning the succession of the
evangelists, the Asiatic, and Greek churches, and also those of Africa,
had before them, when the Christian books were arranged in collections.
It is a considerable advantage, says Michaëlis, that a history of such
importance as that of Jesus Christ has been recorded by the pens of
separate and independent writers, who, from the variations which are
visible in these accounts, have incontestably proved that they did not
unite with a view of imposing a fabulous narrative on mankind. That St.
Matthew had never seen the Gospel of St. Luke, nor St. Luke the Gospel
of St. Matthew, is evident from a comparison of their writings. The
Gospel of St. Mark, which was written later, must likewise have been
unknown to St. Luke; and that St. Mark had ever read the Gospel of St.
Luke, is at least improbable, because their Gospels so frequently
differ. It is a generally received opinion, that St. Mark made use of
St. Matthew’s Gospel in the composition of his own; but this is an
unfounded hypothesis. The Gospel of St. John, being written after the
other three, supplies what they had omitted. Thus have we four distinct
and independent writers of one and the same history; and, though
trifling variations may seem to exist in their narratives, yet these
admit of easy solutions; and in all matters of consequence, whether
doctrinal or historical, there is such a manifest agreement between them
as is to be found in no other writings whatever. Though we have only
four original writers of the life of Jesus, the evidence of the history
does not rest on the testimony of four men. Christianity had been
propagated in a great part of the world before any of them had written,
on the testimony of thousands and tens of thousands, who had been
witnesses of the great facts which they have recorded; so that the
writing of these particular books is not to be considered as the cause,
but rather the effect, of the belief of Christianity; nor could those
books have been written and received as they were, namely, as authentic
histories, of the subject of which all persons of that age were judges,
if the facts they have recorded had not been well known to be true.
5. The term Gospel is often used in Scripture to signify the whole
Christian doctrine: hence, “preaching the Gospel” is declaring all the
truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of Christianity. This is
termed, “the Gospel of the grace of God,” because it flows from God’s
free love and goodness, Acts xx, 24; and when truly and faithfully
preached, is accompanied with the influences of the divine Spirit. It is
called, “the Gospel of the kingdom,” because it treats of the kingdom of
grace, and shows the way to the kingdom of glory. It is styled, “the
Gospel of Christ,” because he is the Author and great subject of it,
Romans i, 16; and “the Gospel of peace and salvation,” because it
publishes peace with God to the penitent and believing, gives, to such,
peace of conscience and tranquillity of mind, and is the means of their
salvation, present and eternal. As it displays the glory of God and of
Christ, and ensures to his true followers eternal glory, it is entitled,
“the glorious Gospel,” and, “the everlasting Gospel,” because it
commenced from the fall of man, is permanent throughout all time, and
produces effects which are everlasting.