---

I. THE GENERAL EXPECTATION OF THE PEOPLE WHEN CHRIST CAME, as witnessed by Josephus, Suetonious, and Tacitus

II. THE STATE OF THE WORLD AT THE PERIOD.

1. The Jews.

(1)  Their inordinate zeal for ceremonial.

(2)  Their moral depravity.

2. The Roman empire.

(1)  Its power and wealth.

(2)  Its effeminacy and corruption.

3. Its hopelessness. Polytheism and philosophy had failed, and had given place to atheism and sorcery.

III. THE RESULTS THAT FLOWED FROM THE ADVENT.

1. The abolition of Judaism.

2. The extirpation of every preexisting religion and philosophy.

3. The ultimate triumph of Christianity in its effects

—

(1)  On the individual whom it regenerated;

(2)  on the race which it unified into a brotherhood;

(3)  on the family which it purified and elevated

(4)  on woman to whom it gave power and a sphere;

(5)  on children whom it snatched from the murderer;

(6)  on legislation which it humanized;

(7)  on labour which it ennobled;

(8)  on education whose sphere it widened;

(9)  or, slavery and war whose horrors it mitigated and whose extinction it requires.

(G. Sexton, LL. D.)

---

---

KJV: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

WEB: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,