give a more powerful effect to his instructions, than that habitual condescension and kindness, which were manifested in his whole demeanour towards them. We can conceive of an inflexible justice more austere than amiable, of sincere attachment too distant and reserved to command an adequate return of love; but these virtues were so prominent and perfect, and so blended in the character of Christ, and came, if I may thus speak, so directly home to the business and bosoms of the persons engaged in his service, that they were less overawed by his supernatural character, than charmed by the purity and perfection of the

man.

In all his concerns with his followers, there was every thing to secure their confidence. They were never afraid to propose to him their cases of conscience, and to inquire into the design of any thing peculiar in his religion. It was this nearness to his disciples, this uniform condescension, which made him at all times accessible, that gave a very peculiar and distinctive character to his religion. It was hence that his personal instructions breathe such a spirit of love and tenderness; instructions which we can so easily comprehend, and which give such a value to charity, above mere intellectual superiority.

When we examine the conduct of our Saviour as a teacher, in relation to those who were as yet opposed to this new religion, and consequently enemies to its author, we must see not only whether the means were innocent, but whether they were adapted to the end. Incredulity must in some cases be overcome by the direct interpositions of miraculous power, appealing to the senses; the obdurate heart, if it cannot be softened by pity, and won by persuasion, must first be impressed by fear; the profligacy of vice must be met by adequate denunciations of punishment; and that numerous class of men, who seem to be governed (as it were) by accident, and are often subjected to the will of the more adventurous or cunning, must be plucked from their seducers by seizing upon their curiosity, and retained by giving them more just conceptions of the value of their souls, by presenting the objects of faith in their most attractive forms, and by encouraging their hopes in the final rewards of fidelity.

Now it seems to me, that every one who examines the history of our Saviour's personal ministry will perceive that it was distinguished by a strict adaptation of means to the several circumstances and conditions of men, to whom he ministered. I shall only remark therefore, in general, that while he never temporised (in the bad sense of the word) with the proud, the rich, or the powerful-he always paid such regard to distinctions in society, and the prejudices founded in the different gradations of rank, as

not unnecessarily to court persecution, or to excite those worldly feelings, which he would rather correct and subdue by the humble spirit of his religion.

We see then the constant efforts of our Saviour to cultivate a temper of love among his followers, and the undeviating correspondence between his verbal instructions, and his teaching by example. If he watched over his erring disciples, and gently led them back into the path of duty, it was never meant that his followers in any age of the church, or in any portion of christendom, should bite and devour one another. The love which he taught and exemplified, is that which distinguishes between the offender and the offence. Never do we find any countenance for giving up a wandering brother to the waywardness of a perverted mind, or for driving him farther from the right path by the arm of violence. If he go astray, we are to leave the ninety and nine which have not gone astray, and search for him, and if possible, recover him. If he be prodigal, and lay waste the fair inheritance of virtue which he might have possessed, and despise the chastened pleasures of religion, choosing rather the mad intoxication of sensual riot and excess,-yet, if the returning light of reason and religion should burst upon him, and he should thus see the real deformity of his character, we are to receive the penitent, not with repulsive distrust, but with marked expressions of joy.

6

The tender concern which our Saviour felt for his disciples, and still feels for all who acknowledge him as their master and teacher, demands on our part a corresponding love. But how is the sincerity of our love to be tried? We shall all acknowledge that strong professions are of themselves of little value; and, though we should ever avoid indulging unreasonable suspicions, yet we sometimes find the most clamorous pretensions proceeding from the most hollow hearts. We are to judge none except by that least deceptive test, which our Saviour himself furnishes: By their fruits ye shall know them.' That man, therefore, in whom we find professions of love to Christ, united with genuine love to his neighbour, and those individual, domestic and social virtues which endear him to his family and associates; who repairs to the moral instructions of his divine teacher for rules which he is to apply to his various relations in life, and does every thing from deep convictions of duty, settling all his cases of conscience, as far as practicable, by the example and the maxims of Christ,-although his devotions may never kindle into rapture, and his expressions of love to the Saviour may never glow with that fervour, with which they do from the lips of some good men, yet gives the best evidence of his sincerity," New Series-Vol. V.

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that with our ignorance of the human heart, we can ever obtain. But he, on the contrary, whose ardour in professions of love to Christ seems limited only by the limited power of language to express them; who deems all devotions cold, unless they are couched in words that burn ;'-if, at the same time, he does not love his brother whom he hath seen; if he is not alive to those tender charities which bind us to each other; if his selfishness is visible in all those offices which he performs, under pretence of personal kindness or extended philanthropy,—has not a genuine love for Christ; and I am not casuist enough to exculpate him from some share in the earnest expostulations of our Saviour with the scribes and pharisees.

But I would not be understood to invite, or even to justify any unnecessary decisions on the characters of those about us; and the best use which can be made of such rules and illustrations as 1 have just briefly brought together in contrast, is to bring us to a close self-examination, rather than to make us too curious and obtrusive in our inquiries into the professions and conduct of others.

I have said that the love of our Saviour to his disciples demands a corresponding love. It is lamentably true, that we are prone to be very deficient in the exercise of this affection. Though the shocking expressions which we sometimes hear uttered by those, who have undergone a sudden change in their religious views and feelings, and who are strongly excited by looking back on their past indifference and neglect, are the result of a diseased frame of mind, (often produced by artful exaggeration,) thus mistaking coldness for hatred by the force of contrast, when ecstacy has taken place of indifference,-yet, if we examine our own hearts, we shall often find too much of that coldness, and want of lively gratitude to our Saviour, which they may choose to call hatred. Thus, at the same time, we perceive there is a fault existing, the opposite to that of coldness, and though by no means so common, yet far more obtrusive, and perhaps more mischievous in its consequences. I mean that extravagant rhapsody of address and invocation, which is sometimes directed to the Saviour, and those familiar terms of endearment, which are alike offensive, and irreverent, when their object is no less than the son of God. These extravagances are commonly the result of the most exaggerated conceptions of the malignant nature of the human heart, and of the awful vengeance of God, contrasted with the clemency of Christ, which interposes between the anger of God and the demerit of man. And here it is to be apprehended, that the extraordinary supposition prevailing among so large a portion of christians, of two distinct and oppo

site natures in Christ, has had no small influence in countenancing those irrational ecstacies and absurd, if not impious raptures, which so often flow from the lips of enthusiasts. Add to this, their overwhelming views of sin, which are founded not always so much in wicked purposes indulged, as in certain disordered fancies of a natural alienation from God, and enmity to his government, and that very worst contradiction of all common sense and common sensibility,-of a natural hatred of all his moral perfections, and their belief too that there is no mercy, no residue of the spirit to pardon and restore them, and why should we wonder, that, with phrenzied delight, they throw themselves into the arms of a compassionate Saviour, and exhaust their vocabulary of terms to express their joy, and hope, and longing desires; and that under this false and unnatural excitement, they sometimes forget all that is reverent and becoming towards the author of salvation. Far be it from me to provoke any thing like ridicule against any sincere christians, who have passed through trials like these, and have not sunk under the weight of their awful convictions of guilt, which consists, perhaps, in nothing more than the common infirmities of human nature. But it is deplorable, (and it is no fiction, for such cases have been witnessed) to see an amiable fellow being who has caught a contagion like this, and having neither strength of mind nor vigour of constitution to bear up under this factitious but oppressive burden, is racked by tortures, which hurry him off in a phrenzy of delirium, or bear him down by their constant pressure to the depths of despair; and there, lingering through the slow gradations of uninterrupted and increasing melancholy, he is at last delivered from the depths of wo only by the kind messenger of death.

It belongs to all who profess and call themselves christians, while they avoid whatever seems unbecoming in the mode of shewing their love to Christ, to use their best endeavours to fall behind none in the sincerity of their affection. It is certain we shall not be such as he would have us to be, if we do not bring into exercise our best efforts to acquire and cherish that temper of love, which will become a habit, only by the constancy with which it is maintained. The christian's life is called a warfare; but it is now a warfare, not so much against external enemies, as against our own passions and prejudices. If these are kept in check, all the auxiliary foes, which are nothing more than the various temptations which would keep us in bondage to the world, are disarmed of all their power. Encouragement to active goodness is every where given us, as well by the example of Christ, as by the hopes and promises of that religion which he

revealed. The favour of God is withheld from none, who do not abandon themselves; and, after sincere faith which cannot fail to be an operative principle, all virtue seems to consist in acting up to the spirit of that exalted being whom we acknowledge for our teacher and by whom we hope to be saved. While therefore we should guard against that sloth, which would make us satisfied with small advances in the christian life, and would prompt us to ascribe our deficiencies and sins to the imperfection of human nature, we must not, on the contrary, too readily despair under the pressure of trials, remembering that we have a high-priest who was tried like ourselves, and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

WORTH OF THE UNDISPUTED TRUTHS OF CHRISTIANITY.

In the multitude of doctrines which Christians profess to derive from their religion, there are a few which enter into the composition of every system of opinion and faith. They are those which teach the existence, providence and moral government of a perfect Being, and the certainty of a future life. Although these truths are common to every set of religious opinions, they are by no means valued alike by every religious denomination. By the great body of christians they are hardly allowed to belong in a peculiar manner to revelation. They are not perhaps positively disowned as coming from that source, but as christian truths they certainly receive no due regard from the minds of those, who, divided into distinct and opposing sects, fasten all their attention upon those points and opinions which constitute the respective differences of religious faith. To value them aright, to estimate the importance of a revelation of God's moral character and man's future existence, requires a severe effort of mind, even from those who believe these truths to be the essential truths of christianity. For to have any thing like a just conception of their immense value, we must bring ourselves to comprehend fully what must have been the state of men's minds without the knowledge of them. But, as habitual believers in Revelation, we have become so accustomed to look upon the present state of things in reference to, and as inseparably connected with a future state, that we forget how entirely and exclusively this future state is a matter of revelation. It is the delightful employment of religious feeling to consider all the ap pearances of nature as intimating those glorious and benevolent designs which the gospel has disclosed. The first common