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credible, than all the miracles of the gospel, and at the same time utterly useless and absurdly anomalous; and he who chooses this side of the alternative, knows not what he doth, nor whereof he affirmeth.

What we have said on these four points, the unexpectedness, originality, sublimity and consistency of the delineation, is enough, we hope, to satisfy any man, who will meditate on the subject, that this is a real picture; and if Jesus Christ really existed, as the evangelists have drawn him, I leave you to judge of the truth of that declaration at the commencement of his ministry, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

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What remains then, but to exhort you to some practical use of these meditations.

I hope you are among those advanced christians, who, after having satisfied yourselves of the historical truth of the facts in christianity, because you thought it a duty which you owed to truth, are now able to repose on your original conviction; and that in this state your faith is continually strengthening itself, not merely by time and habit, but by those secret and irresistible influences, which flow from the frequent and diligent reading of that wonderful collection of documents relating to Jesus Christ, the New Testament. To dwell upon the character of Jesus, must be the delight of every christian who has any desire to grow in virtue; and surely he is no christian who makes no progress.

We have said, that the kind of character which Jesus exhibited as the Messiah, was entirely unexpected to his nation. Instead of using his miraculous power to place himself at the head of his nation, as their deliverer and the conqueror of the world, the Son of God chose rather to appear as the son of peace and consolation. The heart of man was the only realm which he aspired to rule; and it was as

grateful to him to convert the publicans and sinners, as it would have been to receive the proud submission of a prefect or an emperour, of Herod or Tiberius. He went about doing good, when the impatient Jews were tempting him to aspire to the throne of David. What a lesson of humility is this; and what can more clearly show the unambitious and holy spirit of the christian religion, than this character of Christ in these circumstances.

Again, what an original character was that of Jesus Christ. How little was it modified by the national character of the Jews, and how perfectly free was it from any of the debilitating and corrupting influence of general example. The Son of God, christians, did not fear the charge of singularity. He did not seek favour by accommodating himself to the manners and principles of the times in which he lived. He did not choose to conciliate hypocrites, nor did he attempt to secure the ruling authorities in aid of his designs by falling in with their purposes. He dared to neglect superstitions which he thought vain, and men whom he thought base, and to honour those whom the wicked priests and elders neglected or disdained. He felt that freedom from the common thraldom of prejudice, love of popularity, and inveterate custom, which the consciousness of pure views, of fervent and rational piety, and the continual anticipation of a better world will give you, my friends, even the most humble of you, if you will make the trial.

But is there any thing to be learned, you will say, from the sublimity of the character, which is so much a subject of taste? Yes, learn from it this, that there is nothing truly great but what is simple and unaffected. Sublimity is completely destroyed by vanity and ostentation. Learn, that the moral grandeur of independent integrity is the sublimest thing in nature, before which the pomp of eastern magni

ficence and the splendour of conquest are odious as well as perishable.

Again, from the consistency of the Saviour's character, learn, that the character of every christian must be a consistent, a uniform one. The heavenly spirit which pervades him discovers itself in all his visible actions. The true-bred pupil of Jesus Christ is the same in prosperity and adversity, in ignominy and in honour, in weal or wo, in the circle of admirers and friends and under the calumnies of enemies, in public and in his closet, in the full flow of his health and spirits and in the cold embraces of death.

To conclude-have you caught, my hearers, any glimpses of Jesus? If you believe in him as he was, if you love what you know of him, and imitate what you love, and study to know more and more of his character, you will see that he was in the Father, and the Father in him; for the more like God, the perfection of all excellence, you become, the more will you feel all that is godlike in his Son.

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Yet this wondrous image of excellence was mutilated by men, and Jesus died by the hands of those whom he would have saved. My hearers, it was to bring us to that state of light and privilege which we now enjoy-nay more, it was to effect our recovery and pardon, and exalt us yet higher in the scale of being that this divine character was bumbled even unto the ignominy of crucifixion. Let it not be our accusation, that we have been insensible to this wonderful scene of majesty and infamy, of compassion and cruelty. Enough, enough, that we have ever wavered. Thee will we follow, blessed Jesus; and though all should be offended in thee, yet will we never be offended.

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SERMON III

PSALM CXIX. 71.

IT IS GOOD FOR ME, THAT I HAVE BEEN AFFLICTED.

THIS acknowledgment is from the pen of David, the monarch of Israel, whose life was chequered with all the varieties of prosperous and adverse fortune; and happy should we pronounce any man, whose sufferings, though less various and severe, have enabled him to repeat with equal sincerity, "it is good for me, that I have been afflicted."

Little did I imagine, my christian friends-when I last stood in this desk of sacred instruction, listening to the solemn counsels of those, who were convened to sanction our mutual relation, and joyfully accepting the proffered fellowship and tender congratulations of my elder brethren-little did I imagine, that the cold hand of disease would so soon chill the ardour of my expectations, and cripple the vigour with which I hoped to enter on the duties, in which I should need so much aid from Heaven and so much indulgence from you. But our times are in God's hand. The course of Providence cannot be hastened by our precipitancy; nor the decrees of • Heaven explored by our curiosity, or accommodated to our wishes. But the religion we profess, my friends, forbids us to suffer disappointment to damp

the liveliness of our confidence in our Father who is in Heaven, or to awaken even a sentiment, much less to call forth an expression, of fretfulness, impatience, or distrust; and though it is not in the power of human nature to look at the beginning and the end of affliction with equal pleasure, and to feel the approach and the departure of pain with equal gratitude, still we can at least believe, and believing we shall confess, that the hand of God is guided in both by equal goodness: we can at least avoid despising the chastening, or fainting under the rebuke.

But this is not the place to talk of ourselves, or of our sufferings. Permit me only to observe, that I have been induced to defer to some future day the appropriate discourses, which are usually expected from a pastor newly inducted, that I may direct your present attention to a subject, which you will easily perceive my late confinement has suggested to my thoughts. And if, by seizing the moments when my own reflections are most copious and warm, and my own recollections most vivid, I should be able, by the blessing of God, to impress on the mind of a single hearer the benefits of pain or sickness, or teach him to endure with fortitude and advantage the chastisements of Heaven, I shall bless the present occasion, and say with additional pleasure, it is good for you also, that I have been afflicted.

The discipline of Providence is as various, as are the characters and circumstances of men. Every thing which occurs to us in this life is probationary. Calamities, though they may wear the guise of punishments, are never administered solely for the sake of punishment, but of correction; and what we call indiscriminately fortunate events, and thoughtlessly imagine to be blessings, are never dispensed merely as the recompense, but rather as the trials of our obedience.

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