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gospel in tlie course even of twenty years after the resurrection of the founder , is abundantly attested in the took of the Acts and the Epistles of Paul . About the very time in which the Apostle was beginning to write his Epistles to the several churches
established by him , Pbilo was writing his defence of the Christians in Judea and in Egypt , and in this very work he bears the following * complete testimony to the success of their doctrine : " This society now prevails throughout the habitable globe , the members of it thinking it their duty to share with Greeks and Barbarians the
consummate blessing which they themselves enjoy . " 5 . Christ recosnmei ^ ded the mild influence of his gospel on the hearts and lives of those who already
professed it , as the means of disarming their enemies and spreading it to the world at large . " Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works , and ' glorify your Father which is in heaven . '
Justin Martyr recommends Christianity to the people of Rome for the same glorious influence ,, and thus adds , € < After having received the Christian doctrine , we have abandoned the Pagan gods , and through his Son worship him who is the only uncreated God .
Those of us , therefore , who before delighted in impurities , now rejoice in chastity ; those who practised the magical arts , now devote themselves to the benevolent and eternal Father j those who sought to acquire wealth
above all things , now make their possessions in common , and give to every one that has need ; those who hated and slaughtered each other , as being of different tribes , now , after the appearance of Christ , live together in the same communion , praying for their enemies , and endeavouring to
convert those who unjustly hate them that having lived agreeably to the fair precepts of Christ , they may have the well-grounded hope of obtaining from God , the sovereign of all , the same glorious reward with themselves /' Apol . I . p . 20 , ed . Thirlby . In p . 14 lie also says , ' * Christ hath admonished us not to imitate the wicked , S ) ut to
lead them by patience and meekness from whatever is base and evil in cqvfduct and we can point out many instances among us of men , who ceased
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150 Dr . Jones ' s Summary of-the Evidence of Philo being a Christian *
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to be violent and immoral , being over * , come by the sobriety of neighbours , or b y the unexampled patience of injured sojourners , or by the tried integrity of merchants , that were Christians /*
Philo , in defending those whom he describes as reformers of the world , represents them as pure and exalted in virtue beyond all conception . While he liolds forth their doctrine as wonderfully efficacious , he does not say what it wag , or what were its sanctions ;
but only intimates that it was grounded on the knowledge and worship of one God . This supposes that this doctrine itself , being already known to all men , did not need to be stated or explained . He , however , in other parts of his works , bears splendid testimony to its happy effects as the
means of disseminating it over the world . Thus he writes , p . 592 , or Vol . I . p . 647 : " The children of wisdom resemble the sand > because the sand is uncircumscribed in number , and because , as the sand which lines the shore , repels the incursion of the sea , so the divine word of instruction
does the sins of men . This word , according to the promises of God , spreads to every corner of the universe , arid renders him who receives it the heir of all things , extending in every way to the East , and to the West , and to
the North , and to the South . For it is written , It shall expand to the sea , to the South , to the North and to the £ ast < Gen . xxviii . 14 . A good man is not a blessing only to himself , but the common benefit of all other men ,
as he readily communicates to all others the advantages which he himself enjoys . For as the sun is a light to all those who have eyes , so the divinely wise are the light of all rational beings . For in thee , says the Scripture , shall all the tribes of men be
blessed . If any one , therefore , in a house , or a city , or a country , or a nation , is become enamoured of wisdom , those who live in that house , or city , or country , or nation , must learn from him to mend their lives . For as
the aromatic spices , which , exhaling , spread on the breeze , fill with their fewcet odour those who are near ; in the same manner the friends and acquaintances of a good man derive , from the breath of virtue which emanates far and wide from his character , a
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1825, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2534/page/22/
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