real good; we cannot hesitate to acknowledge the perfect wisdom, manifested in this concealment.

2dly. Christ taught without Sophistry.

The integrity, displayed in the reasonings of our Saviour, is equally exact, and perfect, with that exhibited in his declarations of facts. In the age, in which he lived, both the Jewish and Heathen teachers were distinguished for false reasoning, as a species of art. The doctrines, which they taught, needed this defence. Accordingly, we find it employed by them on almost every occasion. Many specimens of the subtleties of the Sadducees and Pharisees are recited to us in the New Testament; particularly in the Gospels. Quibbles, paradoxes, and fetches, were the custom of the time; and were shamelessly employed to defend every favourite opinion, and attack every adversary. But false reasoning is as real a violation of integrity, as false declarations; is often as mischievous; and is always a proof of gross depravity, or gross inattention to our duty. Christ, therefore, the perfect pattern in this, as in all other, conduct, has alleged no argument but a real one; has given no argument any more force than it really possesses; and has expressed no more confidence in any argument than he really felt. The glorious contrast, which he exhibited in the exact simplicity and sincerity, with which he reasoned on every occasion, to the subtlety and sophistry, of all with whom he reasoned, and of a vast multitude of other teachers, is a pattern for all succeeding reasoners; which, if universally followed, would free the world from a great part of its doubts and errors, and the deplorable guilt and misery, by which they are followed.

3dly. Christ has authorised no Intolerance.

It is well known, that the Jews, who were distinguished for their spiritual pride and bigotry, and who regarded other nations with an almost absolute intolerance, were never more strongly marked by these characteristics, than at the time when our Saviour appeared. Even the Apostles were not exempted from a share of this character. Master, said John, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not; for he that is not against us is for us. Again, John and James, moved with in

dignation against the inhabitants of a Samaritan village, because they declined to receive their Master, said to him, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. So intolerant was the spirit even of the beloved disciple; and so benevolent, it ought to be added, was that of Christ.

In this nation, and at this period, was Christ born, and educated. But instead of imbibing, countenancing, or warranting, intolerance and bigotry, he taught, in all instances, their odiousness and guilt; and enjoined, with respect to every subject and person, the most absolute moderation, liberality, and candour; not, indeed, the fashionable liberality of licentious men in modern times; a professed indifference to truth and holiness; but a benevolent and catholic spirit towards every man, and a candid and just one towards every argument and opinion. Distinctions of nation, sect, or party, as such, were to him nothing; distinctions of truth and falsehood, right and wrong, were to him every thing. According to this scheme he framed both his instructions and his life.

4thly. Christ taught without Enthusiasm.

All the language, and all the sentiments, of our Saviour were the language and sentiments of a person, perfectly satisfied of the goodness of the cause, which he had espoused, immoveably attached to it, and earnestly engaged to promote it among mankind. Still, this earnestness, this fixedness of character, differed greatly from that of most persons, who have undertaken the reformation of their fellow-men. In our own as in all preceding ages, those, who have assumed the character of reformers, almost of course make a parade of their piety, and a merit of their peculiar devotion to the cause, in which they have embarked; and aim at gaining proselytes by a nice scrupulosity concerning things commonly esteemed innocent, animosity against those whose opinions they censure, and impassioned addresses to such as listen to their instructions. Christ was the opposite of all these. Little things, always, in his instructions appeared little. Harmless things he regarded as harmless. Great and impor

tant things, only, has he taught us to regard.as great and impor tant. In his life there was no ostentation of any thing. He came eating and drinking like other men; and in his human nature, and appearance, differed from them in nothing but superior wisdom and purity of character. In his discourses every thing is serious, solemn, and earnest; but every thing, at the same time, is uttered with moderation, without passion, without declamation.

No discourses in the world are more distant from fanatical declamation, and no character is more unlike that of an enthusiast, than the discourses and character of Christ. A spirit of serenity, of self-possession, of impassioned sweetness, of principled excellence, reigns throughout all his instructions, and throughout all his life, of which, elsewhere, there is no example.

5thly. Our Saviour sought in his instructions for no Applause. In this characteristic, also, he was equally singular and perfect. The love of applause is the most universal, and probably the most seductive, of all human passions; particularly, in minds, raised by intelligence above the common level. So seductive is it, that Cicero pronounced it to be true virtue. But of this passion not a single trace appears in the whole history of Christ. The good or ill opinion, the applause or censure, of his fellowmen, whether friends or enemies, seem as if they had not been thought of by him, and as if no capacity of being influenced by them had been an original attribute of his mind. With a magnetic constancy, his thoughts and discourses were pointed alway to truth and rectitude; and the world had no power of producing in them a momentary variation.

Such was the manner, in which Christ taught mankind: a manner all his own; copied from none who preceded him, and imperfectly imitated by the best and wisest of those who came after him; a manner perfectly suited to the supreme excellence of his character, to the divine commission, which he bore; to the illustrious system of truth, which he taught; to the glorious errand, on which he was sent; and to the perfect nature of that Being, whose representative he was to the children of men.

SERMON XLVII.

CHRIST A PROPHET.

CONSEQUENCES OF HIS PREACHING.

JOHN vii. 46.

And the Officers answered, saying, Never man spake like this Man.

In the three preceding discourses, I have considered the Prophetical character of Christ, under these three heads; 1st. The Necessity of his assuming the office of a Prophet; 2dly. The Things, which he taught; and, 3dly. The Manner, in which he taught them.

I shall now proceed to the consideration of the 4th head, originally proposed concerning this subject, viz. The Consequences of his preaching; and, after a brief examination of these, shall conclude my observations on the Personal Preaching of Christ with a few Remarks.

The preaching of Christ produced,

1st. A general astonishment in those who heard him.

And it came to pass, says St. Matthew, that when Jesus had ended all these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them, as one having authority, and not as the Scribes. Two things are here mentioned as causes of the astonishment, occasioned by Christ's Sermon on the Mount: The things which he taught, and the manner of teaching. The People were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them, as one having authority and not as the Scribes. It cannot be thought strange, that a scheme

of doctrine, so new; so solemn; so simple; so pure; so amply fraught with inherent evidence of its truth; and, in all these respects, so opposite to that, which they were accustomed to hear from their own teachers; should produce an unusual degree of wonder in the minds of this people. Nor is it any more strange, that such a manner of teaching, as that employed by Christ, should have its share in producing this effect, and enhance the surprise, occasioned by his instructions. We, who hear these instructions from the cradle, to whom they are presented weekly from the desk, and daily by the Bible, cannot easily conceive the degree, in which they could not fail to impress the minds of men, when they were first published in the world. They were then new, and strange; and, both in the matter and the manner, were in a great measure singular. They were employed on the most important of all subjects; the sin and holiness, the ruin and recovery, of mankind. They professed to contain, and communicate, the will of GoD concerning these subjects, and of course to be a message from heaven.

At the same time, they censured, both implicitly and explicitly, most of the doctrines, taught by the Pharisees and Sadducees, most of their precepts, and the general tenour of their lives. The doctrines they showed to be false; the precepts unsound, and immoral; and the conduct of those, who taught them, to be unworthy of the profession, which they made, and contrary to the Scriptures, which, in pretence at least, they believed. These men, either alternately or conjointly, had, for a long period, held an entire and commanding influence over the Jewish nation. Highly venerated for their wisdom, and in many instances for their apparent sanctity, their countrymen scarcely called in question their claims to this influence, or to the character, on which it was founded. But, when Christ entered on his ministry, he stripped off the mask, by which they had been so long concealed; and left both their folly and their wickedness naked to every eye. The system, which they had so long taught without opposition, he showed, irresistibly, to be a strange compound of truths derived from the Scriptures; of falsehood and weakness, of superstitious scrupulosity and fanatical zeal, professedly drawn from the traditions of the elders; and of gross immorality and