DISC. II.] EXAMINED AND ESTABLISHED. 153 ercising these powers, nor could he deceive others by pretending to them, -nor could he appeal to men who enjoyed them, if he had notreceived them and bestowed them. , He appeals, in his public 'epistles to the Corin- thians and Romans, two large assemblies in two noted cities ; Rom. xv. 18. Cor. xii. 11. These letters were to be read by the chtirches, and they published his vin- dication. And let itbe observed too, that several among the Corinthians were his professed adversaries, and had set themselves up against him, and endeavoured to deny his apostleship.. 1 Cor.: ix. 1, 2. IfI be not an apostle to others I amunto you; for ye are the seal, or proof, ofmy apostleship,- by receiving divine gifts from me. 4. -Upon closer examination of the bible, St. Paul found, .that Christ's rising from the dead was agreeable to the revelations, that God had made to mankind in former ages, agreeable to the prophecies of the prophets his predecessors, and particularly agreeable to the expli- cations of those scriptures by his forefathers, and the pre- mises contained in his own native religion, and in the books which teach it ; Acts xiii 30-37. and eminently in that great type and figure of him, Jonah the' prophet,' who lived again after he had lain three days and nights in the belly of the whale, in the heart of the sea ; Mat. xii. 39, 46. Which was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ. 5. By 'conferring with others of his own nation, and his own religion, who were well acquainted with Jesus. Christ in his life-time, he found the same truth confirm- ed by them ; for they had seen Jesus Christ, and eat and drank with him after he had rose from the: dead :. So Peter and James, as Gal. i. 18, 19. And they con - firmed the same doctrine by their testimony to him, and by gifts and miracles, as well as by their ewn personal -knowledge. . 6. Ile saw the blessed and amazing effects of the resurrection of Christ among the Gentiles, who were once grossly ignorant idolaters, devoted to gross super- stitions, slaves to every lust, and given up to all abomi- nations; as they 'are described. Rom. i. 18,.&c. Gal. iv. 8. Eph. iv. 1.7. ,1 Cor. vi:,:J1., But they were changed by this gospel, and made new creatures. Before I proceed any further, I would make two or three Remarks.
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