Now, the apostolical histories fully confirm the fact that this course--the only one consistent with truth, philosophy, and the nature of man--was the course pursued by the primitive preachers. The first movement, after they were endowed with the gift of tongues and filled with the Holy Ghost, was the sermon by Peter, on the day of Pentecost, in which he directly charged the Jews with the murder of the Messiah, and produced in thousands of minds convictions of the most pungent and overwhelming description. At Athens, Paul, in preaching to the Gentiles, pursued a different course. He exposed the folly of their idolatry, by appealing to their reason and their own acknowledged authorities. He spoke to them of the guilt which they would incur if they refused, under the light of the Gospel, to forsake the errors which God, on account of past ignorance, had overlooked. He then closed by turning their attention to the righteous retributions of the eternal world, and to the appointed day when man would be judged by Jesus Christ, according to his gospel. The manner in which the apostles presented Christ crucified to the penitent and convicted sinner, as the object of faith, and the means of pardon, and the hope of glory, is abundantly exhibited in the Acts of the Apostles, and in their several epistles to the Churches. Thus did God, by the appointment of the living preacher as a means of spreading the Gospel, adapt himself to the constitution of his creatures; and the apostles, moved by Divine guidance, likewise adapted the truth which they preached to the peculiar necessities and circumstances of men. CHAPTER XVIII. THE AGENCY OF GOD IN CARRYING ON THE WORK OF REDEMPTION, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THAT AGENCY IS EXERTED. God having thus devised the plan, and manifested the truth, and instituted the means of redemption, the inquiry naturally presents itself: In what way would he put the plan into operation, and give efficiency to the means of grace? We cannot suppose that God would put his own institution beyond his power, or that he would leave it to be managed by the imperfect wisdom and the limited power of human instruments. God would not prepare the material, devise the plan, adapt the parts to each other, furnish the instruments for building, and then neglect to supervise and complete the structure. God has put none of his works beyond his power; and especially in a plan of which he is the Author and Architect, reason suggests that he would guide it to its accomplishment. The inquiry is--By what agency, and in what way, would the power of God be exerted in carrying into efficient operation upon the souls of men the system of saving mercy?