SERMON spirits find it the most difficult to bear. But

III.

though Christ had to deal with a most untoward and stubborn generation, whom no evidence could convince, and no goodness could mollify; though of all the great numbers who had been objects of his beneficence, we read of few who thankfully acknowledged his kindness, fewer who became his followers, and none who rose up to assert his cause when borne down by unjust persecution; yet, seeking to do good only for its own sake, he persevered to the last in unwearied beneficence. He overcame evil with good: it had been his principle, and, it would appear, a noted saying of his, which his disciples remembered and quoted after his death; it is more blessed to give, than to receive*.

II. We ought to propose for imitation that humanity of manners, that gentleness and affability which appeared in the whole of our Lord's behaviour. This relates to the manner of conferring benefits, which is often as material as the benefits themselves are. These are sometimes conferred so ungraciously, as to carry the air of insults * Acts, xx. 35.

rather

III.

rather than benefits; whereas, when they SERMON bear the marks of proceeding from real kindness, their value is heightened, and they are received with double pleasure. There are numberless occasions, when the discovery of a humane temper, and the lesser offices of obliging and courteous behaviour, contribute essentially to the happiness of others, and supply the place of greater benefits, which may not be in our power to bestow. For this amiable spirit our Lord was remarkably distinguished. He was open and affable to all, and easier of access than his own disciples. On different occasions we find him checking his disciples, when they restrained the forwardness of the mul titude who pressed upon him, seeking relief. Nay, he rebuked them for forbidding little children to come to him, whom the fondness of the parents sought to introduce to his presence. He took the children into his arms and blessed them, and propounded them to his disciples as emblems of that innocence and simplicity which are requişite for our entering into the kingdom of heaven*. He conversed familiarly with

III.

the questions they put to him. He had nothing of that haughty and distant reserve which we so often see maintained by men of the world, and which prevents them from holding intercourse with any whom they consider as their inferiours in reputation or in rank. On the contrary, as our Lord was ready to do good to all, so he disdained not to receive kindness from others; complying cheerfully with the desire of those who invited him to their houses, and accepting in good part the proffered tokens of their well-intended respect. For such instances of courtesy he was reproached by the Jews as one who wanted that external severity of manners which they imagined to belong to a professed reformer of the world. But He, who knew what was in the heart of man, saw that gentleness and condescension were more effectual methods of gaining men over to goodness, than harshness and austerity; and therefore did not decline all conversation with men of doubtful or blemished lives, as long as there was any hope of making them better. It was indeed

true

III.

true that he was, as they reproached him, SERMON a friend to publicans and sinners; for he was a friend to every one to whom he could do good. At the same time, it is of importance to remark, that this benignity of our Lord's manners never betrayed him into the opposite extreme, never degenerated into that easiness of good nature, which too often leads men to slide into the manners. and habits of those with whom they converse, though they cannot approve of them. Wherever the interests of virtue were concerned, Our Saviour was inflexibly firm. He boldly lifted up his voice, and testified against vice and corruption whereever he beheld them. He freely reproved the greatest men of the nation for their hypocritical and assumed shows of sanctity; and the civility, with which he was entertained in the house of a Pharisee, did not prevent him from inveighing severely against the vices of that sect in their own presence*.

III. WE are to consider our Lord in the light of a faithful and affectionate friend,

SERMON and his example as the pattern of all the III. offices that belong to virtuous friendship,

The Apostles whom he chose for his intimate companions and friends, were men of honest and candid minds, and of great plainness and simplicity of character; men who, from real esteem, and from conviction. of the truth of his mission, had become his followers, and who, notwithstanding the disadvantages of his fortune in the world, continued to follow him to the last, At the same time, together with those essential principles of worth, they had also great defects. They were most of them of timid and fearful disposition, of slow understanding, backward to apprehend spiritual things, and still prepossessed with the favourite prejudice of their nation, that the promised Messiah was to be a great conqueror, who was to rescue their country from foreign subjection, and raise it to empire and grandeur. Among these men our Lord passed all the hours of his private life, acting every part of an affectionate and faithful friend, commending, advising, and reproying, with great sincerity, and at the same time, with great tenderness. In his manner

of