enlightened and affectionate neighbors-you may behold men whose uniform kindness and sweetness of disposition have subdued the most bitter foes and obtained the protection of contending warriors-and all the principles which make these men truly great, all the virtues which adorn their lives, are united and sublimed in the person of the Lord our Righteousness.There was in him such a mingling of humility and dignified feeling; such an association of gentleness, vigor, benevolence and forgiveness; such a blending of devotion, virtue, truth and love; combined with such power of thought, such beauty of doctrine, such admirable illustration in the most winning manner of communication; and sealed by such heroic devotion to the welfare of the world; that Rosseau, skeptic as he was, described the character of Christ in the most charming thoughts and the highest tones of admiration; while the coarse but powerful mind of Paine praised him as a virtuous and amiable reformer. Indeed, so comprehensive is the character of Christ, that if the whole number of the precepts of the Bible be gathered together, the conduct of the Saviour forms the noblest, because practical, commentary upon them all. If we bring to view all the instances of devotion for country, all the instances of the purest benevolence, all the instances of gener

ous sacrifice, which the history of the world presents; the devotion, the benevolence and the sacrifice of Christ, are as much superior to them, as the sun is superior to the evening star. Of this fact we shall be touchingly convinced, by directing our thoughts to some of the traits of character which ennoble to "Son of Man."

He was ever obedient to, and mindful of his parents—with him it was, "honor thy father and thy mother." In his youth he was subject to their commands and ready to heed their words. And when the chain of his life had run out and his days were numbered-when his labors had ceased-then his filial love was manifested in its purity. For in that season when his integrity was impeached; when the doom of a malefactor was upon him; when the agony of the nails was felt, then he provided for the future protection of his mother. Hence we read, "when Jesus therefore saw his mother, and that disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, "woman, behold thy son!'--then saith he to the disciple, 'behold thy mother!'and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."* Could any fact be more touching, than that the Saviour, when he saw his mother, forgot his own terrible agonies, forgot the

*John xix: 26, 27.

horrors of his situation, forgot the jeers of his enemies, in his anxiety to provide a home for her before he died. Son; thou who hast neglected father and mother, and art bringing their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, by intemperance, debauchery and profanity; who hast forgotten their wants and left them to suffer in their declining years;-Daughter; thou whờ yieldest no respect to thy parents and meetest them with harsh and unkind words ;-repent; and as thou wishest the blessings of a peaceful conscience when thy parents sleep in the grave; come and kneel at the foot of the cross, and pray, "Saviour, fill me with thy filial love; and like thee, teach me ever to honor my father and my mother."

The integrity of the Saviour was unimpeachable. No wrong motive, however glittering and fascinating, ever influenced him. When the crown of Israel sparkled over his head; when, by assuming the tokens with which the Jews expected their temporal Messiah to appear, he might have ruled in Palestine; when the Jews actually came to make him a king; he was not for a moment swayed from his duty;he neither, like Napoleon, grasped the golden sceptre, nor with Alexander the Great, sat down and cried because there were no more worlds for him to conquer-but the crown was viewed

as bauble, the dominion was thrust aside, and animated by the holy duty of winning souls to truth and virtue, he enfolded himself with divine integrity, and said, "my kingdom is not of this world." And throughout the whole of the chequered scenes of his ministry, and in the midst of the most adverse circumstances, no act was marred with vice, nor was any practice identified with wrong. So pure was his life, so spotless his conduct, that when the Roman Centurion, himself a pagan and no believer in the Messiah, saw the Saviour on the day of his crucifixion and at the time of his death, in the greatness of his admiration he was compelled to exclaim, "truly this was the Son of God."

One of the most beautiful traits in the character of the Saviour, was his compassion, so intimately connected as it was with the most active benevolence. Distress found an answering voice in his heart-and wo enlisted all his feelings. How tender were his words to the sons and daughters of grief! How soothing the truths he held out to the sorrow-smitten! When he saw the obstinacy of the Jews, their heedlessness of the warnings that destruction was hovering over them, their determination to crucify the Son of God, and their blindness in rushing into the very jaws of fate-when he remembered the doom of the city of Jerusalem, the

famine and thirst which its people must endure to the obliteration of all the affections of the heart-when he remembered the heaps of slain which must encumber her streets and fill the valley of the son of Hinnom-the Son of God wept over the vicious but ill-fated city, and would have turned away its ruin. And after he had left the judgment-hall of Pilate, and was bearing his cross to Calvary, and saw that a great company of many women followed him with lamentations, he remembered the dreadful fate of those women when Palestine should be desolated by the Roman deluge.-Hence he said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."

Even his miracles, stupendous as they were, set forth his compassion and benevolence with the souls like the dews a power which falls upon of heaven, causing the better feelings of our natures to gush like the fresh and limped waters of the spring. So far as his mission was concerned, he might unquestionably have performed miracles by rending the mountains, by parting the waters of the lake, by tearing rocks from their foundations, and by making seed become stately trees in a few hours. But, no !~

* Luke xxiii: 28.