to Coutríbng _ u.' ld.ebernptEan. 42 oftheir Tormentors to be companions with them in Chapar. Martyrdom. 2. The fuddennefs and univerfality of theChange of feEted by the Gofpel, is a fignal evidence of the Divine Power that attended it. The .Apoflle declares the admi- table progrefs of it in all the world, duringhis time. In col. 1. 6. a few years with incredible fwiftnefs it pall through pidea, Samaria, Syria, Greece, and all the parts of the known habitable World. Tacitus acknowledges that in the eleventh year of Nero,great numbers ofChriflians were at. Rome, at a great diftance from the placewhere the Gofpel was firft preach'd. It appears from the Wri- tings of thePrimitiveChriftians, that in the Second Cen= turyafter theDeath ofChrift,the Roman Empire was fil- led with Chriflian Churches. The World was peopled with anewGeneration. Now,whatSecret Power pro- duced that fudden and univerfal Change ? How came it to pafs that the Gofpel, contrary to the order of new Things, ibould be fo readily receiv'd,and in thofe places where the molt infuperableobftacles oppos'd it? In Co- rinth the Seat ofLuxury and Voluptuoufnefs ; in Ephe- fits where Idolatry had its Throne ; in Rome it felfwhere Honours, Riches, Pleafures were ador'd. Mofes with all his great Miracles never conquer'd one Nation to the true God. The Pharifees compafl Sea and Land toMac. 23. make aProfelyte : But the Gofpel in a little time con- vertedmanyNations from their Opinions and Manners wherein they had been inftruéted and educated, to thofe that were not onlydifferent but contrary. The won- der inEfay was exceeded, That a Nation war born in a day: For the World was renewed as it were in a r ment. Such a quickening univerfal Efficacy was joyn'd with the Preachingof the Gofpel,that the Power orGod was never more vilibly manifefted. in any work. There- fore the .Apofile mentions it as one part of the great Iii Myftery
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