1. His preaching of the Gospel to the Thessalonians is described as a proclamation that Jesus was the Christ or Messiah. In one of the Epistles to this Church he speaks of them as having been so powerfully influenced that in consequence of it “they had turned to God _from idols_ to serve the living and true God,” and “as having become _followers of him and of the Lord_.” Among persons thus utterly ignorant of Christianity, as they were when he first preached to them, it would have been impossible to make an announcement of this kind, or to set forth the Messianic claims of Jesus, without laying before them a great many of the details of His human life. The expression above quoted, implies clearly that he had put his converts in possession of such an account of the life of Christ as to enable them to become “followers of the Lord.” 2. These Epistles contain many definite assertions as to the duty of imitating Christ. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ;” “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ;” “Let every one of us please his brother for his good unto edification, for even so Christ pleased not himself;” “The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus;” “I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ;” “Ye have not so learned Christ;” “Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ.” Many other similar expressions might be cited, but these are sufficient. First: I observe that the exhortation to put on the character of another is meaningless, unless the persons so exhorted were known to have been thoroughly acquainted with the life and actions of him whom they are urged to imitate. The same observation is true when we are deliberately recommended to make another person our example. Again, the exhortation to lay ourselves out in efforts to please others for their good to edification, on the ground that Christ pleased not himself, would be without meaning, unless the writer felt assured that those whom he addressed were in possession of facts in the life of Christ, which exhibited Him in the character of a sacrificer of self. So again, the exhortation to patience, after the example of Christ, is founded on the assumption that those whom the Apostle was addressing were acquainted with details which exhibited him as a model of patience. The same remark is true with respect to the entreaty addressed to the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. They must have been acquainted with actions of His which exhibited Him as supremely meek and gentle. These and other indirect references form an indisputable proof that the churches to whom St. Paul wrote must have been in possession of a very considerable number of details of the human life of Jesus, in which a large portion of the instruction given to those Churches consisted. This imparts to them a far higher value than if they had been direct. It is the mode universally