The apostle, then, wishes the Divine assistance, "the supply of the Spirit," to be imparted to all to whom he wrote; to make them happy, and to make them good; to "sanctify them wholly," and to keep them so. Now, what I want you to observe is, the vast extent of this wish; and I want you to learn from it, the unlimited resources of God, both as to knowledge and power; the confidence, therefore, with which you may apply to and depend upon him; and the necessity that there is for your doing this.

Observe, then, the vast extent of this wish; and for this purpose, think of such things as the following. The Christians in Judea, or say in Jerusalem, to whom this epistle is supposed to have been addressed, were very numerous. At one time "three thousand," at another "a great multitude," are spoken of as added to the church. Besides these public and remarkable conversions which are specified in the history, it is reasonable to suppose, that the work privately advanced, by the ordinary instructions of men who, either as apostles or otherwise,

were devoted to its promotion, and who, to secure its success, were "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." There would also be the influence of the converts themselves on their surrounding connexions; and this must have been great, from the novelty, and nearness, and lustre of the facts which operated upon them, and which, when once believed and felt, must have excited extraordinary activity and zeal. "The Word of God," indeed, it is said,

66

grew mightily and prevailed;" and it had done so, more or less, for several years at the time when this epistle was written; and, although much is to be admitted, by way of drawback from all this, on account of the gradual decay of zeal, and the necessary removal of the converted "strangers" from Jerusalem, and the desolating and dispersing effects of persecution; yet, as it is also to be recollected that there were seasons of "rest," when this and surrounding churches, "walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," were "multiplied," I still think, that we are fairly warranted in saying, that this wish had respect to a very great

number of persons. Then, the next thing to be observed is, that it would seem very likely, that this number included persons of almost every rank. It is true, the great body of the faithful consisted, most probably, of what we should term the lower or labouring classes; but it is also true, that the church did reckon among its members, even in Jerusalem, and in the age of the apostles, persons both of property and rank. Joseph and Nicodemus were such; Barnabas also was such, he had property in land; many besides him seem to have been in similar circumstances, but, selling their property, and throwing the produce into the common stock, they reduced themselves, as it were, to a level with the rest. This state of things, however, did not, probably, continue long; indeed, it was never a matter of obligation or duty for any one to part with his possessions, so that things would soon return to their natural course, and, by the time this letter was received, I dare say there were included in the church, persons of all degrees of property, and of all varieties of external circumstance. Besides, I might

have mentioned, that it is worthy of remark, that at one time "a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith," so that really, altogether, it seems a very legitimate inference that the wish respected, not only a vast number of persons, but persons of various ranks and classes of society. Again. There would be intellectual as well as civil and circumstantial differences among this multitude. There would be all possible varieties of mental character,-varieties resulting both from natural capacity and from the influence of education. There would be, I apprehend, all gradations, from the lowest extent of original endowment to very high forms of talent and genius. There would be, also, the ignorant and unlettered of the people, and there would be those who were familiar with the then prevalent literature; those who understood nothing but the barbarous dialect at that time spoken in Judea, and those who could consult Moses and the Prophets in the ancient Hebrew, and who, besides this, might be acquainted with the writings of illustrious foreigners. There were the acute, the specu

lative, the learned; this seems to be supported both by the character of the epistle, and by the well-known fact that several, who seem to have been persons of ability and leisure, went out from this church, and corrupted others by what we might term their philosophical Judaism; we do not suppose that all who possessed intelligence and talent acted thus, and therefore we believe that many remained; many who were not inferior in learning, but greater in faith, and who were included in the benevolent concern of the apostle. Add to all this, in the last place, that there would be among the persons contemplated by Paul, moral and spiritual, as well as intellectual, differences. There were those who had been "in Christ" long "before" others; who were "aged disciples," and were waiting the summons to depart. Of many of these there would be the children, who, like Timothy, had been taught from infancy the Holy Scriptures, and by them been made wise unto salvation. There would be persons, also, just converted,-converted, too, from different degrees of practical departure from God, and