the body which render man obnoxious to temptation, but in which the two principles of piety to God, and good-. will to man, maintained such an ascendancy over all the rest, that they might seem by themselves to make the whole. This character, in which piety and benevolence, upon all occasions, and in all circumstances, overpowered all the inferior passions, is more incomprehensible to the natural reason of the carnal man than the deepest mys-teries, more improbable than the greatest miracles,--of all the particulars of the gospel history, the most trying to the evil heart of unbelief,-the very last thing, I am persuaded, that a ripened faith receives; but of all things. the most important and the most necessary to be well understood and firmly believed,---the most efficacious for the softening of the sinner's heart, for quelling the pride of human wisdom, and for bringing every thought and imagination of the soul into subjection to the righteousness of God. "Let this mind," says the apostle, "be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;"-that mind which incited him, when he considered the holiness of God, and the guilt and corruption of fallen man, to say, "I come to do thy will, O God!"---that is, according to the same apostle's interpretation, to do that will by which we are sanctified, to make the satisfaction for the sinful race which divine justice demanded. Being in the form of God, he made himself of no reputation; he divested himself of that external form of glory in which he had been accustomed to appear to the patriarchs in the first ages, in which he appeared to Moses in the bush, and to his chosen servants in later periods of the Jewish history,-that form of glory in which his presence was manifested between the cherubim in the Jewish sanctuary. He made himself of no reputation, and, uniting himself to the holy fruit of Mary's womb, he took upon him the form of a slave of that fallen creature who had sold himself into the bondage of Satan, sin, and death; and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,-he submitted to the condition

K

of a man in its most humiliating circumstances, and carried his obedience unto death-the death even of the cross

the painful, ignominious death of a malefactor, by a public execution. He who shall one day judge the world, suffered himself to be produced as a criminal at Pilate's tribunal; he submitted to the sentence which the dastardly judge who pronounced it confessed to be unjust: the Lord of glory suffered himself to be made the jest of Herod and his captains: he who could have summoned twelve legions of angels to form a flaming guard around his person, or have called down fire from heaven on the guilty city of Jerusalem, on his false accusers, his unrighteous judge, the executioners, and the insulting rabble,-made no resistance when his body was fastened to the cross by the Roman soldiers,-endured the reproaches of the chief priests and rulers-the taunts and revilings of the Jewish populace; and this not from any consternation arising from his bodily sufferings, which might be supposed for the moment to deprive him of the knowledge of himself. He possessed himself to the last. In the height of his agonies, with a magnanimity not less extraordinary than his patient endurance of pain and contumely, he accepted the homage, which, in that situation, was offered to him as the king of Israel, and in the highest tone of confident authority, promised to conduct the penitent companion of his sufferings that very day to Paradise. What, then, was the motives which restrained the Lord of might and glory, that he put not forth his power for the deliverance of himself and the destruction of his enemies?-Evidently that which he avows upon his coming first into the world; "I come to do thy will, O God!" and, by doing of that will, to rescue man from wrath and punishment. Such is the example of resignation to God's will-of indifference to things temporal-of humility, and of love, we are called upon to imitate.

The sense of our inability to attain to the perfection of Christ's example, is a reason for much humility, and for

much mutual forbearance, but no excuse for the wilful neglect of his command. It may seem that it is of little consequence to inculcate virtues which can be but seldom practised; and a general and active benevolence, embracing all mankind, and embracing persecution and death, may appear to come under this description: it may seem a virtue proportioned to the abilities of few, and inculcated on mankind in general to little purpose. But, though it may be given to few to make themselves conspicuous as benefactors of mankind, by such actions as are usually called great, because the effect of them on the welfare of various descriptions of the human race is immediate and notorious, the principle of religious philanthropy, influencing the whole conduct of a private man, in the lowest situations of life, is of much more universal benefit than is at first perceived. The terror of the laws may restrain men from flagrant crimes, but it is this principle alone that can make any man a useful member of society. This restrains him, not only from those violent invasions of another's right which are punished by human laws, but it overrules the passions from which those enormities proceed; and the secret effects of it, were it but once universal, would be more beneficial to human life than the most brilliant actions of those have ever been to whom blind superstition has erected statues and devoted altars. As this principle is that which makes a man the most useful to others, so it is that alone which makes the character of the individual amiable in itself,-amiable, not only in the judgment of man, but in the sight of God, and in the truth of things; for God himself is love, and the perfections of God are the standard of all perfection.

17.4.55

SERMON XII.

Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.MATT. xvi. 28.

THESE remarkable words stand in the conclusion of a certain discourse, with the subject of which, as they have been generally understood, they seem to be but little connected. It must therefore be my business to establish what I take to be their true meaning, before I attempt to enlarge upon the momentous doctrine which I conceive to be contained in them.

The marks of horror and aversion with which our Lord's disciples received the first intimations of his sufferings, gave occasion to a seasonable lecture upon the necessity of self-denial, as the means appointed by Providence for the attainment of future happiness and glory. "If any one," says our Lord, "would come after me,"-if any one pretends to be my disciple, "let him take up his cross and follow me." To enforce this precept, as prescribing a conduct, which, afflictive as it may seem for the present, is yet no other than it is every man's truest interest to pursue, he reminds his hearers of the infinite disproportion between time and eternity;-he assures them of the certainty of a day of retribution; and to that assurance he subjoins the declaration of the text, as a weighty truth, in which they were deeply interested,-for so much the earnestness with which it seems to have been delivered speaks. "Verily, I say unto you," these are words bespeaking a most serious attention,-"Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

Here, then, is an assertion concerning some persons who were present at this discourse of our Lord's, that they

should not taste of death" before a certain time, which time is described as that when "the Son of man should be seen coming in his kingdom." Observe, it is not simply the time when the Son of man should come, but the time when he should come in his kingdom, and when he should be seen so coming. In order to ascertain the meaning of this assertion, the first point must be, to determine, if possible, what may be the particular time which is thus described. From the resolution of this question, it will probably appear in what sense, figurative or literal, it might be affirmed of any who were present at this discourse, that they should not taste of death before that time; also, who they might be at whom the words "some standing here" may be supposed to have been pointed. And when we shall have discovered who they were of whom our Lord spake, and what it was he spake concerning them, it is likely we shall then discern for what purpose of general edification the particular destiny of those persons was thus publicly declared.

Many expositors, both ancient and modern, by "the coming of the Son of man," in this text, have understood the transfiguration. This notion probably takes its rise from the manner in which St. Peter mentions that memorable transaction, in the first chapter of his second catholic epistle; where, speaking of himself as present upon that occasion in the holy mountain, he says that he was then an eye-witness of the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, perhaps, the hint was taken, that the transfiguration might be considered as the first manifestation of our Lord in glory to the sons of men, and that the apostles, who were permitted to be present, might be said to have seen the Son of man at that time coming in his kingdom; and it must be confessed, that no violence is done to the phrase of "the coming of the Son of man," considered by itself, in this interpretation. But, if it be admitted, if the time described as that when the Son of man should be scen coming in his kingdom, be understood to have been the