on this fubject chiefly refpected the cafe of his immediate disciples, who in their mission to preach the Gospel might depend upon the extraordinary providence of God for the supply of all their real wants; but in fome degree the observations are applicable to the cafe of all perfons.

Some of the strongest language of this kind occurs in the discourse on the mount,

when he faid, (Matt. vi. 25) "Take no thought," or rather be not anxious, "what ye fhall eat, or what ye fhall drink, or wherewithal ye fhall be clothed. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment Behold the fowls of the air, for they fow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much. better than they? And why take ye thought for raiment? Confider the lilies of the

field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they fpin, and yet I fay unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of thefe. Wherefore, if God fo clothe the grafs of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast inta

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into the oven, fhall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, faying what fhall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But feek ye firft the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these Take things fhall be added unto you, therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow fhall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof."

In the fame discourse Jefus bade his difciples afk with confidence for whatever they wanted, affuring them that it would be given to them. (Matt. vii. 7) " Afk, and it shall be given you; feek, and ye fhall find; knock, and it fhall be opened unto you;" obferving that even an earthly parent will not mock a child with giving him hurtful things for ufeful ones. "If ye, then," fays he, being evil, give good gifts unto your children, how much more fhall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that afk him." In his inftruftions to

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the Twelve before their miffion, he difcourfed much in the fame ftrain; bidding them make no provifion for their journey, (Matt. x. 9) or even think beforehand what they should say when they should be brought before kings and governors; that nothing I could befal them without the will of their heavenly Father, and that the very hairs of

their heads were numbered.

The true spirit of piety is inculcated by Jefus in the parable of the fervant waiting upon his master, even after returning from the most laborious works in the field, before he fat down to eat himfelf; which he concluded with faying, (Luke xvii. 10) " So likewife ye, when ye have done all the things that shall be commanded you, fay, We are unprofitable fervants, we have done only that which it was our duty to do." We are in no cafe to lay claim to any merit with our Maker, but to acknowledge every thing, both the action and the difpofition, to be the gift of God.

The liberality of the Divine Being in bountifully rewarding the fervices that he requires of us, Jefus teaches us in the para

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ble of the householder, who hired labourers for his vineyard, at different hours of the day; when, having agreed with them for a certain fum, he paid them all alike, though fome of them had worked only one hour, and others the whole day; at the fame time that he reproved the envious difpofition of the latter, on account of the feeming inequality in the diftribution of the divine bounty. For when one of these complained that, though they had borne the burden and heat of the day, they received no more than those who had worked only one hour, their employer answered, (Matt. xx. 13) "Friend, I do thee no wrong. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?" It is to be obferved that thofe labourers who had worked the least had stood all day to be hired, though nobody had engaged them, and they went as foon as they were called; fo that they had fhewn a perfectly good difpofition, a willingness to labour, which is all that God looks to.

Laftly, Jefus inculcated a reverence for God by reproving the practice of light and profane

profane swearing in common conversation, faying, in his difcourfe on the mount, (Matt. v. 33) "Ye have heard that it has been faid by them of old time, Thou shalt not forfwear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thy oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footftool; neither by Jerufalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou fwear by thine head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." It is evident from the language here used, and the oaths here mentioned, that the direction only relates to oaths in common converfation. Jefus himself anfwered upon oath, when he was adjured by the living God, to say whether he was the Meffiah or not,

8. No perfon ever taught the duty of benevolence to fo great an extent as Jefus; fo that he was far from making any duty that we owe to God to fuperfede that which is due to man. He rather made the one the evidence