that of all other men whatsoever: for, whereas, they have selfish passions deeply rooted in their breasts, and are influenced by them in almost every thing they do, Jesus was so entirely free from them, that the most severe scrutiny cannot furnish one single action in the whole course of his life, wherein he consulted his own interest only. No, he was influenced by very different motives; the present happiness and eternal welfare of sinners, regulated his conduct; and while others followed their respective occupations, Jesus had no other business than that of promoting the happiness of the sons of men, nor did he wait till he was solicited to extend his benevolent hand to the distressed : "he went about doing good, (and always accounted it) more blessed to give than to receive;" resembling God rather than man. He went about doing good; benevolence was the very life of his soul; he not only did good to objects presented to him for relief, but he industriously sought them out, in order to extend his compassionate assist this glorious enterprize, which he unweariedly pursued even till he had finished it by his death. The generality of mankind are prone to retaliate injuries received, and all seem to take a satisfaction in complaining of the cruelties of those who oppress them; whereas the whole of Christ's labeurs breathed nothing but meekness, patience, and forgiveness, even to his bitterest enemies, and in the midst of the most excruciating torments. The words, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," uttered by him when his enemies were nailing him to the cross, fitly express the temper which he maintained through the whole course of his life, even when assaulted by the heaviest provocations. He was destined to sufferings here below, in order that he might raise his people to honour, glory, and immortality, in the realms of bliss above; and therefore patiently, yea joyfully, submitted to all that the malice of earth and hell could inflict. He was vilified, that we might be honoured ; he died, that we might live for ever and ever. To conclude the greatest and best men have discovered the degeneracy and corruption of human nature, and shewn them to have been nothing more than men but it was otherwise with Jesus. He was superior to all the men that ever lived, both with regard to the purity of his manners, and the perfection of his virtue. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Whether we consider him as a teacher, or asa man," he did nosin, neither was guile found in his mouth." His whole life was perfectly free from spot or weakness; at the same time it was remarkable for the greatest and most extensive exercises of virtue. But never to have committed the least sin, in word or in deed; never to have uttered any sentiment that could be censured, upon the various topics of religion and morality, 3 z which were the daily subjects of his discourses; and that through the course of a life filled with action, and led under the observation of many enemies, who had always access to converse with him, and who often came to find fault, is a pitch of perfection evidently above the reach of human nature; and, consequently, he who possessed it must have been divine. ambition. His Gospel teaches us that we are made for eternity; and that our present life is to our future existence, as infancy is to manhood. But, as in the former, many things are to be learned, many hardships to be endured, many habits to be acquired, and that by a course of exercises, which in themselves though painful, and possibly useless to the child, yet are necessary to fit manhood: So while we remain in this inhim for the business and enjoyments of fancy of human life, things are to be learned, hardships to be endured, and habits to be acquired, by a laborious discipline, which, however painful, must be undergone, bements and pleasures of our riper existence cause necessary to fit us for the employin the realms above; always remembering that whatever our trials may be in this world, if we ask for God's assistance, he has promised to give it. Enflamed, therefore, with the love of immortality and its joys, let us submit ourselves to our heavenly teacher, and learn of him those graces, which alone can render life pleasant, death desir Such was the person who is the subject of the evangelical history. If the reader, by reviewing his life, doctrine, and miracles, as they are here represented to him, united into one series, has a clearer idea of these things than before, or observes a beauty in his actions, thus linked together, which taken separately do not appear so fully; if he feels himself touched by the character of Jesus in general, or with any of his sermons and actions in particular, thus simply delineated in writing, whose principal charms are the beauties of truth: above all, if his dying so generously for men strikes him with admiration, or fills him with joy in the prospect of that pardonable, and fill eternity with extatic joys. which is thereby purchased for the world: let him seriously consider with himself, what improvement he ought to make of the divine goodness. Jesus, by his death, hath set open the gates of immortality to the sons of men; and by his word, spirit, and example, graciously offers to make them meet for the glorious rewards in the kingdom of the heavenly Canaan, and to conduct them into the inheritance of the saints of light. Let us, therefore, remember, that being born under the dispensation of his gospel, we have from our earliest years, enjoyed the best means of securing to ourselves an interest in that favour of God, which is life; and that loving-kindness, which is better than life. We have been called to aspire after an exaltation to the nature and felicity of the Almighty, exhibited to mortal eyes in the man Christ Jesus, to fire us with the noblest CHAP. XLV. Remarks on the peculiar Nature of the Christian Religion, the Principles it inculcates, and its fitness to render Men holy and humble here, and happily glorified hereafter. E cannot close this delightful scene of the Life of our dear Lord and Saviour more comfortably, than by considering the benefits resulting from a due attendance to his doctrines to all, who shall by faith, receive and embrace the same. Probably none have been greater enemies to the progress of religion than those who delineate it in a gloomy and terrifying form; nor any guilty of a more injurious calumny against the gospel, than those who represent its precepts as rigorous impositions, and unnecessary restraints. True religion is the perfection of human nature, and the foundation of uniform exalted pleasure; of public order and private happiness. Christianity is the most excellent, and the most useful institution, having the "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." It is the voice of reason; it is also the language of scripture, "the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace ;" and our blessed Saviour himself assures us, that his precepts are easy, and the burthen of his religion light. The christian religion is a rational service, a worship in spirit and truth, a worship worthy of the majesty of the almighty to receive, and of the nature of man to pay. It comprehends all we ought to believe, and all we ought to practise; its positive rights are few, in plain and easy significancy, and manifestly adapted to establish a sense of our obligation to God and Christ. The gospel places religion not in abstruse religion not in abstruse speculation and metaphysical subtilties; not in outward shew, and tedious ceremony; not in superstitious austerities and enthusiastic visions, but in purity of heart, and holiness of life. The sum of our duty, according to our great Master himself, consists in the love of God, and of our neighbour; according to St. Paul, in denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and in living soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world; and according to St. James, in visiting the fatherless and widows in affliction, and in keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. This is the constant stream and tenor of the gospel. This it inculcates most earnestly, and on this it lays the greatest stress. But is the christian system only a republication of the law of nature, or merely a refined system of morality? No, certainly; it is a great deal more. It is an act of grace, a stupendous plan of Providence, designed for the recovery of mankind from a state of degradation and ruin, to the favour of the Almighty, and to the hopes of a happy immortality through a Mediator. Under this dispensation, true religion consists in a repentance towards God, and in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the person appointed by the supreme authority of heaven and earth, to reconcile apostate man to his offended Creator; as a sacrifice for sin; our vital head and governing Lord. This is religion, as we are christians. And what hardship, what exaction is there in all this? Surely none. Nay, the practice of religion is much easier than the servitude of sin. Our rational powers, all will readily agree, are impaired, and the soul weakened, by sin. The animal passions are strong, and apt to oppose the dictates of the Spirit of God: objects of sense make powerful impressions on the mind. We are, in every situation, surrounded with many snares and temptations. In such a disordered state of things, to maintain an undeviated path of duty, cannot be effected by poor weak man. There are, however, generous aids afforded us, to persevere in the ways of the Lord. The gracious Author of nature has planted in the human breast a quick sense of good and evil: a faculty which strongly dictates right and wrong and though by the strength of appetite and warmth of passion, men are often burried into immoral practices, yet in the beginning, especially when there has been the advantage of a good education, it is usually with reluctance and opposition of mind. What inward struggles precede! What bitter pangs attend their sinful excesses! What guilty blushes and uneasy fears! What frightful prospects and pale reviews! "Terrors are upon them, and a fire not blown consumeth them." To make a mock at sin, and to commit iniquity without remorse, is an attainment that requires length of time, and much painful labour; more labour than is requisite to attain that habitual goodness which is the glory of the man, the ornament of the christian, and the chief of his happiness. The soul can no more be reconciled to acts of wickedness and injustice, than the body to excess, but by suffering many bitter pains, and cruel attacks. The mouth of conscience may, indeed, be stopped for a while, by false principles: its secret whispers may be drowned by the noise of company, and stifled by entertainments of sense; but this principle of conscience is so deeply rooted in human nature, and, at the same time, her voice is so clear and strong, that the sinner's arts will be unable to lull her into a lasting security. When the hour of calamity arrives; when sickness seizeth, and death approacheth the sinner, conscience then constrains him to listen to her accusations, and will not suffer the temples of his head to take any rest. "There is no peace to the wicked:" the foundations of peace are subverted, they are at utter enmity with their reason, with their conscience, and with their God. Not so is the case of true religion. For when religion, pure and genuine, forms the temper, and governs the life, conscience applauds, and peace takes her residence in the breast. The soul is in its proper state. There is order and regularity both in the faculties and actions. Conscious of its own integrity, and secure of the divine approbation, the soul enjoys a calmness not to be described. But why do I call this happy frame calmness only? It is far more than mere calmness. The air may be calm, and the day overcast with thick mists and dark clouds. The pious and virtuous mind resembles a serene day, enlightened and enlivened with the brightest rays of the sun. Though all without may be clouds and darkness, there is light in the heart of a pious man. "He is satisfied from himself, and is filled with peace and joy in believing." In the concluding scene, the awful moment of dissolution, all is peaceful and serene. The immortal part quits its tenement of clay, with the well-grounded hopes of ascending to happiness and glory. Nor does the gospel enjoin any duty but what is fit and reasonable. It calls upon all its professors to practise reverence, submission, and gratitude to God: justice, truth, and universal benevolence to men; and to maintain the government of our own minds. And what has any one to object against this? From the least to the greatest commandment of our dear Redeemer, there is not one which impartial reason can find fault with. "His law is perfect; his precepts are true and righteous, altogether." Not even those excepted which require "us to love our enemies, to deny ourselves, and to take up our cross.” To forgive an injury is more generous and manly than to revenge it; to controul a licentious appetite, than to indulge it; to suffer poverty, reproach, and even death itself, in the sacred cause of truth and integrity, is much wiser and better, than, by base compliances, to make "shipwreck of faith and a good conscience." Thus in a storm at sea, or a conflagration on the land, a man with pleasure abandons his lumber to secure his jewels. Piety and virtue are the wisest and most reasonable things in the world :-vice and wickedness the most irrational and absurd. The all-wise Author of our being hath so framed our natures, and placed us in such relations, that there is nothing vicious, but what is injurious; nothing virtuous, but what is advantageous to our present interest, both with respect to body and mind. Meekness and bumility, patience and universal charity, and grace, give a joy "unknown to transgressors." The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only bands of friendship, the only supports of society. Temperance and sobriety are the best preservatives of health and strength; but sin and debauchery impair the body, consume the substance, reduce to poverty, and form the direct path to an immature and untimely death. Now this is the chief excellency of all laws; and what will always render their burden pleasant and delightful is, that they enjoin nothing unbecoming or injurious. Besides, to render our duty easy, we have the example, as well as the commands, of the blessed Jesus. The masters of morality among the heathens gave excellent rules for the regulation of men's manners; but they wanted either the honesty, or the courage, to try their own arguments upon themselves. It was a strong presumption that the yoke of the Scribes and Pharisees was grievous, when they laid "heavy burdens upon men's shoulders," which they themselves refused to touch with one of their fingers. Not thus our great lawgiver, Jesus Christ, the righteous. His behaviour was, in all respects, conformable to his doctrine. His devotion towards God, how sublime and ardent! Benevolent towards men, how great and diffusive! He was in his life an exact pattern of innocence; for he" did no sin; neither was guile found in his mouth." In the Son of God incarnate, is exhibited the brightest, the fairest resemblance of the Father, that earth or heaven ever beheld, an example peculiarly persuasive, calculated to inspire resolution, and to animate us to use our utmost endeavours to imitate the divine pattern, the example of "the author and finisher of our faith, of him who loved us and gave himself for us." Our profession and character, as christians, obliges us to make this example the model of our lives. Every motive of decency, gratitude, and interest, constrain us to tread the paths he trod before us. We should also remember that our burden is easy; because God, who knoweth whereof we are made, who considereth that we are but dust," is ever ready to assist us. The heathen sages themselves had some notion of this assistance, though guided only by the glimmering lamp of reason. But what they looked upon as probable, the gospel clearly and strongly asserts. We there hear the apostle exhorting, "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." We there bear the blessed Jesus himself arguing in this convincing manner: "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" I would not here be understood to mean, that the agency of the spirit is irresistible, and lays a necessitating bias on all the faculties and affections. Were this the case, precepts and prohibitions, promises and threatenings, would signify nothing; and duty and obligation would be words without a meaning. The spirit assisteth in a manner agreeably to the frame of human nature; not controling the free use of reason, but by assisting the understanding, influencing the will, and moderating the affections. But though we may not be able to explain the mode of his operations, the scriptures warrant us to assert, that, when men are renewed and prepared for heaven, it is "through sanctification of the spirit, and belief of the truth." How enlivening the thought! how encouraging the motive! We are not left to struggle alone with the difficulties which attend the practice of virtue, in the present imperfect state. The merciful Father of our spirits is ever near to help our infirmities, to enlighten the understanding, to strengthen good resolutions, and, in concurrence with our own endeavours, tɔ make us conquerors over all opposition. Faithful is he to his promises, and will not suffer the sincere and well-disposed to be tempted above what they are able to bear. What can be desired more than this? To 4 A |