gospel ; * without some delineation of which, this part of my labors would be too imperfect and unsatisfactory. But how shall I acquit myself on this part of the subject? Not by attempting to do it justice; for this would be impossible. Who can, with safety, attempt to portray the moral character of the Saviour of mankind? As never man spake, so never man acted, like this man. What may not be done fully, however, may be done imperfectly; and, if a vivid picture cannot be drawn, a faint one at least may be furnished. The imperfections may well be attributed to the writer. The greatest of the Roman orators and moralists, and the most eloquent and valuable writer of all antiquity, (Cicero,) has left us a delineation of a great and good character, in the drawing of which, he may well be presumed to have exhausted his utmost skill. The chief excellences combined in the character of the great and good man delineated by him, are, a low estimate (contempt) of riches, power, honor, and the other gifts of fortune, a willingness to undertake arduous labors, incur dangers, and even expose life itself in a good cause, — independence of mind,— the pursuit of nothing but what is honorable and praiseworthy, and that complete self-control, which raises a man above the influence of all passion and agitation of mind, and puts it beyond the power of external circumstances to discompose or otherwise disturb him.‡ And it must be admitted, that these * Paley's Evidences of Christianity, p. 252. ↑ John vii. 46. I subjoin the entire passage, of which the above is a summary. —"All true greatness of mind," says he, "is especially seen in two things; - the first is a generous contempt or disregard of all the goods of fortune, proceeding from an opinion, that it is unworthy of a man, to admire or wish for or endeavour after any thing, unless it be honorable and becoming; to submit himself to the will of any one; to be a slave to his own irregular passions; or, in any way, to be affected by the caprices of fortune. When he has acquired such a temper of mind as I have been describing, - then the second thing is, that he perform such actions as are glorious and beneficial, but withal very full of labors and difficulties, and extremely hazardous to life itself, as well as to those things which pertain to life, and on which the value of life very much depends. Now all the lustre and dignity of these two things, nay, I add, all their usefulness too, consists in the latter; but the principle, as it were, and effective cause of all true greatness, consists in the former. For, in that," continues he, “are contained those noble aspirations, which exalt men's minds, and raise them above are severe and searching tests by which to try greatness and excellence of character. But we may subject the character of the Saviour of mankind to tests vastly, nay, infinitely more severe, searching, and comprehensive, than those put forth by the rich and cultivated imagination of this greatest master of all antiquity, and it will not be found wanting. .* 1. We may reflect on the moral sublimity of THE DESIGN OF HIS COMING; which was to bring life and immortality to light; to overthrow the dominion of Satan, sin, and misery; and to establish an empire of peace, knowledge, and righteousness, which should embrace all the nations of the earth within its ample bounds. 2. We may reflect on THE NATURE OF THE MEANS WHICH HE EMPLOYED TO ACCOMPLISH HIS SUBLIME AND BENEFICENT DESIGN; which were, the exclusive devotion of himself to every labor of benevolence; to the working of miracles, which were to be, in every country and in all succeeding time, the standing and overwhelming proofs of the divinity of his mission; to the instruction of all men without discrimination of rank, as occasion was given him, and of a select band of disciples in particular, to whom was to be intrusted a portion of his miraculous power; the instructing of all mankind in his religion, and the organization of a society (the church),† designed to be a universal commonwealth of peace, intelligence, and holiness; and, to crown all, the voluntary sacrifice of himself on the cross, to make an atonement by which the pardon of sin might be rendered possible, and repentance might become effectual to salvation. all earthly things. The first particular, too, is itself made up of two parts,— 1. An opinion, that nothing is truly and really good, but what is honorable, 2. Freedom from every kind and degree of passion or disturbance of mind. For, what can more discover a man of a brave and heroic spirit, than to make no account of those things which seem so glorious and dazzling to the generality of mankind, but entirely to disregard them; not from any vain caprice and humor, but from solid and firm principles of reason and judgment. Or what can more show strength of mind and unshaken constancy, than to bear those heavy and numerous calamities, which are incident to mankind in this life, with such firmness and consistency of temper, and fixedness of soul, as never to transgress against nature and right reason, or do any thing unworthy of the dignity and character of a wise man."- De Officiis, Lib. I. c. 20. * 2 Tim. i. 10. + See Bishop Butler's Works, p. 159. London, 1828. 3. Again, we may reflect on THE PERSONAL QUALITIES DISPLAYED BY THE SAVIOUR, in prosecuting a design thus fraught with the choicest hopes and prospects of mankind; his patience and endurance, equally inexhaustible by labor, by suffering, and by provocation; his uncompromising denunciations of iniquity, in places however high, and under circumstances however hazardous; his mildness and benevolence, as seen in his kindness to children, † in his weeping upon the death of his friend Lazarus and over the approaching ruin of his country, § in his notice of the widow's mite, || in his parables of the ungrateful servant, of the pharisee and publican, and of the good Samaritan, and in his prayer for his enemies in the midst of his sufferings, which seems then to have been new, though it has since been frequently imitated; his humility, as seen in his commending moderate desires after the goods of fortune,¶ and in his constant reproof of contentions for superiority; his piety and devoutness of mind, as seen in his frequent retirement for solitary prayer,** in his habitual giving of thanks, †† in his reference of the laws and beauties of nature to a Divine Providence, in his earnest addresses to his Father, more particularly the brief but solemn prayer before calling Lazarus from the tomb, in the profound piety of his behaviour in the garden on the last evening of his life; §§ his prudence, where prudence is most wanted, that is, on trying occasions, and in giving answers to artful and ensnaring questions. Particular and striking instances of these are seen in his withdrawing, at various times, from the first symptoms of tumult, with the wish of prosecuting his ministry in quietness; in his declining every kind and degree of interference with the civil affairs of the country; in his judicious answer to the ensnaring question respecting the payment of tribute to Cæsar; ¶¶ in his solution of the difficulty concerning the interfering relations of a future state, as proposed * Matt. xi. 20-24; xxiii. 13-38, &c. § Luke xix. 41 - 44. ¶ Luke xii. 15-34. + Mark x. 16. John xi. 35. || Mark xii. 42. **Matt. xiv. 23; Luke ix. 28. tt Matt. xi. 25; Mark viii. 6; John vi. 23; Luke xxii. 17. Matt. vi. 26-28. §§ John xi. 41; Matt. xxvi. 36-47. Matt. xiv. 22; Luke v. 15, 16; John v. 13; vi. 15. to him in the case of a woman who had married seven brethren; * and, more especially, in his reply to those who demanded from him an explanation of the authority by which he acted, which reply consisted in proposing a question to them, situated between the very difficulties into which they were insidiously endeavouring to draw him. † 4. Finally, we may reflect on THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY CHRISTIANITY EVEN THUS FAR, as seen in its superseding the Mosaic dispensation, which was but "the shadow of good things to come"; in its gradual undermining, successful assault, and final overthrow of the great system of Roman superstition, "which," as Gibbon says, "was interwoven with every circumstance of business or pleasure, of public or private life, with all the offices and amusements of society; "§ in the civilization, public order, general cultivation and refinement, which it communicated to the barbarians who destroyed the Roman empire, and, penetrating the forests and mountains from whence they issued, brought at length these countries themselves within its civilizing, enlightening, elevating, and purifying power; in the increasing knowledge, and advancement in art and science, in private and public morals, in social and political institutions, which have always accompanied its progress everywhere; especially in its accompanying the origin and advances of European colonization on this immense continent, in Africa, in the islands of the great Pacific and Indian oceans, and in the vast dominions of British India; in its diminishing the frequency, softening the fierceness, and mitigating the calamities of war; in its putting an end to the crime of infanticide; in its restoring the wife from a condition of humiliation and servitude, to be the companion, the associate, the confidential adviser and friend of her husband; in providing a home for the poor, the outcast, and the forsaken; and in exterminating the combats of gladiators, the impurities of superstitious rites, and unnatural vices not to be named and scarcely to be referred to in the presence of a Christian assembly,|| and known * Matt. xxii. 28. + Matt. xxi. 23, &c. See Paley's Evid. pp. 252–257. Col. ii. 17; Heb. viii. 5; x. 1. § Quoted by Dr. Paley, Evidences, p. 19. || Exod. xxii. 19; Levit. xviii. 23; Deut. xxvii. 21; Rom. i. 24, 26, 27. even by name only to antiquaries; in the advancing cause of Christianity, which promises in the fulness of time to bring all nations within its benign pale ;-I say, when we thus reflect ON THE DESIGN OF THE SAVIOUR, THE MEANS USED BY HIM TO ACCOMPLISH HIS DESIGN, THE PERSONAL VIRTUES DISPLAYED BY HIM, AND THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY WHICH HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AND WHICH WE MAY ANTICIPATE, we cannot fail to be satisfied of the immeasurable superiority of our Saviour's moral character, not only over all the real personages who have adorned the annals of mankind, but over the imaginary model drawn after the rich and fruitful imagination of the greatest of the Roman writers, orators, and moralists. Such, to wit, the law of the land, the estimate of consequences, and above all the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, including our Saviour's moral character, presented as it is for our imitation, are the chief sources by which the consciences of men are to be enlightened and guided. It seems proper, in this connexion, to anticipate and dispose of a plausible objection, which has sometimes been urged against the science of moral philosophy. It has been supposed by many good men, whose opinions are entitled to much respect, that as the New Testament must comprise a complete system of Christian morals, there can be no place for moral philosophy; and, consequently, that this science has been so superseded as to be useless. To this objection it may be replied, 1. That the New Testament is rather the basis of a system of Christian morals than the system itself. It contains the root from which the system must grow up; it is the mine, which, although full of the richest ore, still needs working. 2. The morals of the New Testament are taught, for the most part, incidentally; its precepts are thrown out occasionally as they were suggested by circumstances and occasions. It is the province of moral philosophy to collect those which relate to the same subject, to classify, illustrate, and apply them. This |