him enter the house of a family where these miserable passions rage, or the territories of a prince, whose subjects, from a civil war, are endeavouring to kill and destroy each other; and, if he is a man of any candour or judgment, he must be convinced, from reflection, that the institution of this divine precept is contrived and calculated in the highest degree possible to accomplish those glad tidings, which the angels of God declared to the shepherds the Gospel of Jesus Christ was to communicate to the human race, namely, "Glory to "God in the highest, and on earth peace, good "will towards men."

The next peculiarity to be remarked in the doctrines of our Saviour is his condensing the whole duty of man, both moral and religious, in a very few words, and those words so easy of comprehension, that they are equally understood by the most illiterate, as by men of the highest erudition.

"But when the Pharisees had heard that he "had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together: then one of them, which "was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting

66

him, and saying, Master, which is the great "commandment in the law? Jesus said unto

him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with "all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with "all thy mind. This is the first and great com

"mandment. And the second is like unto it; "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On "these two commandments hang all the law and "the prophets."

There may be people who find nothing extraordinary in this, because, as Mr. Locke observes, nothing seems difficult to our understanding when once explained to it: but they may judge of the real difficulty, when Plato affirmed, that it was a physical impossibility to reveal the knowledge of God to the illiterate. and to give them any just ideas of a pure and rational religion; likewise from Varro's enumerating one hundred different opinions entertained by the ancients respecting the chief good of man: and those who are acquainted with their various and discordant ideas relative to moral and religious truth, and that they never did or could agree in what either consisted, will, I believe, think, that this condensity was superior to the powers of any mere human being*.

Another peculiarity to be remarked in the conduct of our blessed Saviour, and extremely characteristic of his divinity, is, that he informed his followers of the hardships they must incur if they would be his disciples; he concealed none of those disagreeable consequences which were to at

* Lord Bacon remarks, that the questions amongst the ancients respecting the sovereign good are now by Christianity discharged.

tend their mission. This conduct an impostor would never have observed; but, like Mahomet, he would have soothed and not alarmed their fears, and would have adapted his religion to their prejudices, and have promised them, as that impostor did, the gratification of sensual enjoyments. On the contrary, our Saviour.condemned and boldly reprobated vice of every kind, in all its forms and shapes; and particularly he reproved, in the severest and most direct manner, hypocrisy and spiritual pride, vices of which the Scribes, Pharisees, and Doctors of the Sanhedrim were so eminently guilty; and, instead of flattering his disciples with hopes of sensual enjoyments, he plainly told them they must prepare themselves to suffer every sort of worldly mortification; and that if they took up his cross, they must be ready to meet death in whatever shape it might be inflicted. Further, aş his doctrines were intended to improve the human character to its highest perfection, he particularly requires such qualifications to exist in the soul as are necessary to the accomplishment of this perfection; such as those of love to God, charity and universal benevolence to man. Accordingly, his doctrines do not in general dwell on the grosser crimes of mankind, such as murder, adultery, &c. as the turpitude of these could be sufficiently discerned by reason and conscience; but they every where reprobate that pride of heart which heathen

philosophy encouraged, and inculcate that humility which it despised, and considered as a proof of a weak and mean mind; they enjoin forgiveness of injuries, and condemn hypocrisy, censoriousness, unkindness, asperity of temper, and similar vices, which, though less obvious, and but little reprobated by heathen philosophy, are vices of so deep and uncharitable a nature, as utterly incapacitate the heart of man for that perfection our Saviour intended it should possess. And it is sufficiently evident to our instructed reason, that there can be no excellency in the moral or religious character of the man who allows of their predominant prevalence; for "without holiness "no man shall see God;" and if we do not love our neighbour, we cannot love God; the Scriptures declaring, "If a man say, I love God, and "hate his brother, he is a liar:" and we are expressly told, that if "we offend in one point, we "are guilty of all." Thus the economy of our duty is so excellently ordered, that a real obedience to its theory causes the practice of such actions as form holiness in the character of man; the result of which is the love of virtue in general, and the love of God and our neighbour in particular; and the glorious end of all is the enjoyment of habitual cheerfulness and the peace of God in this life, and, through the goodness of God, and the merits of his blessed Son, of ever

66

lasting bliss in the world to come.-Here, perhaps, the Sceptic may remark, that in this assertion a good deal too much is taken for granted, and a conclusion drawn, before the premises are admitted or established; "that since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from "the beginning of the creation;" that as to the peace of God, it is very difficult to know who does and who does not enjoy it; and as to the happiness of a future life, that is a matter still more problematical. St. Peter informs us in his 2d Epistle, that such scornful remarks would be made in derogation of the virtue and efficacy of the doctrines of the Gospel; but no man whatever ought to assume a right of passing any judg ment in disparagement of their efficacy, who has not made a fair and long trial of that efficacy; for truth in this important matter, in this matter which, more than all others in human life, decides the temporal and eternal happiness of man, is not to be ascertained and determined by speculative opinion, but by experiment and feeling; since we are expressly informed in Scripture, that "if any "man will do his will, he shall know of the doc"trine, whether it be of God." And here I may safely appeal to thousands and tens of thousands, both Laymen and Clergymen, who, having a firm faith in the doctrines of the Gospel, have formed their principles on them, and sincerely endeavoured