P qualities themselves are to be collected from incidents; inasmuch as the terms are never used of Christ in the Gospels, nor is any formal character of him drawn in any part of the New Testament. Thus we see the devoutness of his mind, in his frequent retirement to solitary prayer*; in his habitual giving of thanks†; in his reference of the beauties and operations of nature to the bounty of Provi dence in his earnest addresses to his Father, more particularly that short but solemn one before the raising of Lazarus from the dead; and in the deep piety of his behaviour in the garden, on the last evening of his life; his humility, in his constant reproof of contentions for superiority¶; the benignity and affectionateness of his temper, in his kindness to children** in the tears which he shed * Matt. xiv. 23. Luke, ix. 28. Matt. xxvi. 36. + Matt. xi. 25. Mark, viii. 6. John, vi. 23. Luke, xxii. 17. Matt. vi. 26-28. Matt. xxvi. 36-47. **Mark, x. 16. § John, xi. 41. ¶ Mark, ix. 33. over his falling country*, *. and upon the death of his friend†; in his noticing of the widow's mite‡; in his parables of the good Samaritan, of the ungrateful servant, and of the Pharisee and publican, of which parables no one but a man of humanity could have been the author: the mildness and lenity of his character is discovered, in his rebuke of the forward zeal of his disciples at the Samaritan village§; in his expostu lation with Pilate; in his prayer for his enemies at the moment of his suffering¶, which, though it has been since very properly and frequently imitated, was then, I apprehend, new. His prudence is discerned, where prudence is most wanted, in his conduct on trying occasions, and in answers to artful questions. Of these, the following are examples-His withdrawing, in va rious instances, from the first symptoms of tumult** and with the express care, as appears from Saint Matthew, of carrying on his ministry in quietness: his declining of every species of interference with the civil affairs of the country, which disposition is manifested by his behaviour in the case of the woman caught in adultery*, and in his repulse of the application which was made to him, to interpose his decision about a disputed inheritance: his judicious, yet, as it should seem, unprepared answers, will be confessed in the case of the Roman tribute in the difficulty concerning the interfering relations of a future state, as proposed to him in the instance 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 propounding a question to them, situated between the very difficulties into which they were insidiously endeavouring to draw him. Our Saviour's lessons, beside what has already been remarked in them, touch, and * John, vin. 1: § Ib. 28. + Luke, xii. 14. Matt. xxii. 19. Matt. xxi. 23, et seq. that oftentimes by very affecting representations, upon some of the most interesting topics, of human duty, and of human meditation: upon the principles, by which the decisions of the last day will be regulated* ; upon the superior, or rather the supreme importance of religion: upon penitence, by the most pressing calls and the most encouraging invitations ‡; upon self-denial §, watchfulness ||, placability ¶, confidence in God **, the value of spiritual, that is, of mental worship, the necessity of moral obedience, and the directing of that obedience to the spirit and principle of the law, instead of seeking for evasions in a technical construction of its terms. If we extend our argument to other parts of the New Testament, we may offer, as * Matt. xxv. 31, et seq. + Mark, viii. 35. Matt. vi. 51-33. Luke, xii. 4, 5. 16-21. Luke, xv. § Matt. v. 29. Mark, xiii. 37. ¶ Luke, xvii, 4. Matt. xxiv. 42.-xxv. 13. ** Matt. vi. 25-30. tt John, iv. 23, 24. ‡‡ Matt. v. 21. amongst the best and shortest rules of life, or, which is the same thing, descriptions of virtue, that have ever been delivered, the following passages: "Pure religion, and undefiled, before God, and the Father, is this; to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world* ” "Now the end of the commandment is, charity, out of a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.” "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Enumerations of virtues and vices, and those sufficiently accurate, and unquestionably just, are given by Saint Paul to his converts in three several epistles §. * James, i. 27. 1 Tim. i. 5. Tit. ii. 11, 12. § Gal. v. 19. Col. iii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. |