to every other discourse addressed by the
Apostles to Jewish hearers.

The first Gentiles who were converted to Christianity were not
worshipers of a plurality of Gods; but men who from intercourse with
Jews, or from other opportunities of spiritual advancement, had attained
to the belief of One God, indivisible in his nature and unrivalled in
his supremacy. The same mode of teaching which sufficed for the Jews,
sufficed for them also, as far as the essential truth of Christianity
was concerned; and the same method was therefore adopted, as may be seen
in the discourse of Peter in the house of Cornelius.

The next converts were from the disciples of the Pagan theology of
Greece and Rome; with them a different method of instruction was
needed. Till they knew something of the Divine nature, it was useless to
open to them the Divine dispensations. The discourse of Paul at Athens
did not therefore begin with announcing the Saviour: if it had, his
inquisitive hearers would perhaps have inquired whether this messenger
was sent by Jupiter himself, or whether he was a deputy of some of the
inferior gods. The Apostle named not the name of Christ till he had
taught the fundamental doctrine--that Jehovah is not only supreme, but
sole; that all infinite attributes are centered in him; that all
dispensations proceed from him; not only those of nature, by which the
human race is created and preserved; but--the way being now prepared for
the annunciation--that of grace, by which the world is to be redeemed
through him whom God had ordained to be a Prince and a Saviour.

The heathen converts of the latter class had much more to learn, before
they could become confirmed Christians, than their more enlightened
brethren who had been prepared by intercourse with Jews. They were
equally ready in admitting the evidence of miracles, but not equally
clear as to the object for which those miracles were wrought. When Paul
and Barnabas restored the cripple at Lystra, the priests and people
could scarcely be restrained from offering sacrifice to them as gods,
even after the Apostles had explained to them the true nature of Deity.
Yet the true religion, being patiently and faithfully taught, was, at
length, fully understood and received; and the three classes of
converts, Jews, proselytes, and pagans, were made one in Christ;
holding, in undisturbed harmony of conviction, the essential doctrines
of the strict Unity of Jehovah, the divine authori