be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Whosoever shall strike against it in a hostile manner, will prove a ' vain and defeated assailant: the gospel will prevail against all opposition, with damage or destruction to its opposers: but on whomsoever this stone shall fall, it shall crush him to powder: against whomsoever the vengeance of the Messiah shall be exerted, he shall per. ish exemplarily.

There is an elegant antithesis in the address to Simon the Pharisee: "Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house; thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet, Mine head with oil didst thou not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment."

The similitudes with which the discourse on the mount is concluded please the imagination by the justness and strength of the colouring. "" Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

⚫ Offendet solido. Hor. Luke vii. 44, 5, 6. Blackwall, Sacred Classics, mentions the beauty of this passage, of Matt. p. 6. and of Luke vi. 38,

"Matt. vii. 24-7.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

A " writer of very superior taste has this remark: "Where is there so just and so elegant a reproof of eagerness and anxiety in worldly pursuits, closed with so forcible an exhortation to confidence in the goodness of our Creator, as in these words? "* Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: are not ye much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider how the lilies of the field grow they toi! not, neither do they spin and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Our Lord's discourses are occasionally raised and animated by short comparisons, Speaking of the final judgment he says, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." "Before the Son of man shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd separateth his sheep from the

γ. Ως δὲ λέων ἐπόρεσεν, εικών εςι.

* Matt.

w Soame Jenyns's Internal View, &c. p. 33. ed. Dubl. vi. 26-30. Χρήσιμον δὲ ἡ οικον καὶ ἐν λόγῳ ολιγάκις δέ· ποιητικὸν γάρ. "He as a lion rushed," is an image. And the image is useful in prose also: but it must be sparingly used for it is poetical. Arist. rhet. iii. c. 4. §1, 2. ? Matt. xüi.

goats." He shews by an apt image that the day of God's vengeance on the Jews would be sudden and unexpected: "As a snare, shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole land." And their general and swift destruction is thus described by him: "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." He thus strongly illus trates the specious hypocrisy and inward pollution of the Scribes and Pharisees: "Ye are as graves that appear not and the men that walk over them are not aware of them."

"Ye fare like unto & whited

sepulchres; which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." When he had privately explained many parables to his disciples, so that they understood them, he adds: "Every scribe, who is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like an householder who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." And speaking of the sanctity which the Apostles would derive from his doctrine,

Matt. xxiv. 27. 4 Luke xi. 44.

e

b Luke xxi. 35. * Legal pollution was contracted by touching a grave. Numb. xix. 16. f Matt. xxiii. 27. The most curious things in these burying grounds are some little square pavillions, about fifteen feet high, topt with a little dome, or with a very flat cap. The whole is white washed, &c. Each Cassini's voyage to Sal

of these pavillions is the tomb of some saint. lee. Lond. 1778. Dilly. But the reader may prefer Dr. Pocock's interpretation in Hammond, that the Jewish sepulchres were washed over with white lime, that they might be discerned and avoided. Matt. xiii. 52. i The eastern custom of collecting furniture and vestments, for grandeur and for presents, was also in use among the Romans. See Hor. ep. i. vi. 434: and the beautiful comparison in Cic. de oratore i. 35.

and of the power with which they would be invested by the Spirit, he uses the following natural similitude: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine; no more can ye, unless ye abide in me."

The secular employments of men before the flood, while the divine vengeance impended over them, are thus vividly represented, and, as it were, multiplied. "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage." And, when the days of Lot are spoken of, the conjunctive particles are omitted in the same rapid manner : They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded." The same lively and dramatic figure occurs in the parable of the covetous rich man: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: thine case, eat, drink, be merry."

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The most august scene which imagination can conceive is represented with a mixture of simplicity and pathos in our Lord's largest description of the proceedings at the last day. The glory and majes ty of the Judge and King are contrasted by his humility and benevolence. The righteouso resume his words in the most natural manner; and, by resum

1 Luke xvii. 27.

m Luke xvii. 28.

* John xv. 4. nib. xii. 19. The Latins call this figure dissolutio, and dissoluta oratio ; from the Greek terms λύσις and διαλελυμένη λέξις. And it is placed by Tully among the orationis lumina, et quoddammodo insignia. Orator. $39. See also Quinct. inst. ix. 3. Longinus § xix. Demetrius Phal. Glasg $197. See Virg Georg. iv. 538–553. Hom. Il. ii. 11— 15: 27-31. So Exod. vii. after . 18. the speech contained in v. 16, 17, 18. is repeated in the Samaritan. See also ib. 29. c. viii. 19. c. ix. 5, 19. c. x. 3. c. xi. 4. Polygl. Walt. or Bibl. Kennicott.

In

ing them, seem to inculcate anew the duties of humanity, never elsewhere so forcibly recommended. like manner, when the wicked recapitulate the omissions with which they are charged, we seem a second time warned against the guilt of such crimes. "But when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd separateth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I hungered, and ye gave me meat; I thirsted, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I thirsted, and

P Matt. xxv. 31-46.