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told of the jealoufy of aged and profeffional men. doctor in the temple but would have felt and refented the mortifying fuperiority of a child, had that fuperiority been oftentatiously displayed; but his whole deportment excited only admiration and love; his understanding was equalled only by his affability and condefcenfion; he at once inftru&ts his teachers and gains their good will; "all that heard him were aftonished at his underftanding and anfwers.'

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If ftrangers were thus moved by a mild difplay of early, unaffected wisdom, what muft a parent have felt, whofe heart but a moment before was throbbing with anguifh unutterable? How happy is he to acknowledge fuch a fen, the delight of every eye, the theme of every tongue. But even Mary, the mother of Jefus, is weak and imperfect, fhe speaks unadvifedly with her lips, the prefumes to mingle upbraiding and reproach with expreffions of endearment and exultation; fhe has forgotten from whence the received him, the character given him of the angel before he was conceived in the womb, the facred names which he bore, the teftimony which God had fo repeatedly given to his beloved Son; fhe addreffes him, all-wonderful as he was, as if he had been merely an ordinary child, who had thoughtlessly and wantonly rambled away from his parents, and had given them unneceffary trouble and pain, He whofe every word, every action had an important meaning and defign. "Son," fays fhe," why haft thou thus dealt with us? Fehold thy Father and I have fought thee forrowing." And now the answer of Chrift to this queftion unfolds the great end which he had in view, throughthe whole tranfaction. It was time for him to affert his divine original; and the meekeft and most fubmiffive of all children ftands invefted with divine majefty, "how is it that ye fought me? Wift ye not that I must be about my Father's bufinels ?" or, as it might perhaps with greater propriety have been rendered," in my Father's houfe."

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What a leffon is conveyed to the world in this reply ? Sacred is the authority of a mother over a fon of twelve years of age, but there is an authority fill more facred, of which a child even of that age may be fenfible. When the honour of God is concerned, the voice of nature must be fuppreffed. When the voice of heaven calls, the decencies and civilities of life muft give place, and all fecondary obligations and confiderations must be fwallowed up of the firft. He filently endured the reproach of being called the carpenter's fon by Arangers, but his own mother muft denominate him what he

is, and what the knew him to be. But reproof of a parent must be infinuated, not brought directly forward; and here again the pattern is perfect; delicacy and firmnefs unite to ipare the mother, yet reprove the offence; and whatever were the other queftions and answers of this celebrated conference, thofe which are on record will remain an everlasting monument of the perfect union of wildom and harmleffnefs, which diftinguifhed the Son of God from every other.

The Sun, having fhone forth in this temporary effulgence, again hid its face in clouds, and fubmitted to an eclipfe of eighteen years longer; He divefted himself of all authority; He fought not glory from man; He became of no reputation, He took on him the form of a fervant. "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was fubject unto them;" and by this voluntary humiliation of himself, by this retreat into the fhade, more than by ten thousand precepts and argu ments, He has inculcated the practice of humility on his difciples. A few fhort words contain the hiftory of many years, even fo, holy Father, for fo it feemed good in thy fight; Jefus increased in wifdom and ftature, and in favor with God and man." Let us not prefume to draw afide the veil which infinite wisdom has spread, nor seek to be wife above what is written, thefe things the angels defire to look into, and fome of these things, though now they are hidden from us, we may be permitted to know hereafter.

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About the period of this paffover, when Chrift was fhewing himself in the temple, after this extraordinary manner, as the Son of God, Auguftus Cefar, the emperor of Rome, dies, and is fucceeded in the throne by Tiberius. About fix years after, Jofephus, called Caiaphas, was made high priest of the Jews, through the partial favour of Valerius Gratus, the Roman governor. Towards the end of the twelfth year from that period, Pontius Pilate was fent into Palestine as procurator of Judea, in the room of Valerius Gratus, and John Baptift entered on the exercife of his public ministry. Thofe names are now ftripped of all their glory; those stations are now fallen into disuse, thofe events are now ftripped of all their importance, fave what they derive from the relation which they bear to yonder babe in the ftable, that child in the midst of the doctors, that gentle, ob. fcure, unaffuming youth of Nazareth of Galilee. So differently do objects weigh when examined by the fcale of the world, and tried by the balance of the fanctuary. In the next Lecture we will proceed, if God permit, to the history of Chrift's baptifm, and of the illuftrious teftimony then given

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from the most excellent glory to Jefus Chrift, as God's wellbeloved Son.

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Let us with Mary keep all thefe, fayings in our heart." Let us, from, the example of this pious pair, regularly attend the worship of God's houfe," not forfaking the affembling of ourselves as the manner of fome is :" and thus fhall we from flrength to ftrength" till we appear before God in Zion. Let us carefully attend to the proper mode of treatment of children, fuited to age, to capacity, to temper and disposition. The difcipline adapted to childhood is by no means fuited to a more advanced ftate; and when the youth has become a man, and put away childish things," he must be treated as a man. It is of importance to know when the ftimulus, when the bridle is to be employed. What would overwhelm the timid, may prove hardly a curb to the headstrong; the flow of fpeech and understanding must not be urged into the fpeed of the acute and impetuous. Parents rejoice in a forward display of faculties in their children; they encourage it, and they not feldom repent it. The oppofite error is not common, and is therefore lefs an object of caution. The difficulties which daily prefent themselves, in managing the progrefs of the human mind, are frequently infurmountable by the ordinary powers of man, which therefore ftand in need of the illumination of "wildom from above;"" it any of you," then, "lack wif dom, let him afk of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it fhall be given him."

Let the young be inftructed how to rife into eminence and diftinction. Covet not, pursue not premature honour and applaufe. Extorted praife is gratifying neither to the giver nor the receiver; a free-will offering of approbation is "twice bleft; it bleffeth him that gives, and him that takes." Meditate on the familiar image, which, no doubt, has frequently been fuggefted to you; honour, like the fhadow, purfues the flyer, and flies from the pursuer. Demand less than your due, and men will be disposed to give you the more. My young friends," be not children in understanding: howbeit, in mal ice be ye children, but in underftanding be men."

LECTURE

LECTURE IX.

LUKE, III, 31-23.

Now, when all the people were baptifed, it came to pass, that Jefus alfo being baptifed, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghoft defcended in a bodily fhape, like a dove, apon him, and a voice came from heaven, which faid, thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleafed. And Jefus nimielf began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was fuppofed) the fon of Jofeph, which was the Jon of Heli.

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'HE declared purpose of our Evangelift, in undertaking to write this hiftory, is that his moft excellent friend Theophilus, and with him every lover of God and truth, "might know the certainty of thofe things wherein he had been inftruc ted." This "certainty" is demonftrable from the spirit which Christianity breathes, and from the external evidence by which its divine original was confirmed. The religion of Jefus Chrift proves that it came down from heaven, from the Father of lights, by the character of the great Author and Finisher of our Faith, by the example of all righteoufnefs which he fet, by the purity and heavenly-mindedness which he displayed and recommend. ed, by the labours of mercy and love which he performed, by the fufferings which he patiently underwent, and by the glory that followed." To thefe Providence was pleafed to fuperadd proofs that reach the understanding through the medium of fenfe; namely fignal, fupernatural and frequently-repeated tef timonies, exhibited in the presence of a cloud of witnesses, who produced a clear, concurring, consistent mass of evidence, refpecting facts which fell under the perfonal obfervation of their own eyes and ears, and which were never contradicted nor even called in question.

At this distance of time and place, the last mentioned species of evidence, that of external circumftances, muft of neceffity be tranfmitted to us through the channel of hiftory, and its validity muft reft on the veracity of the hiftorian. The other fort of evidence is the fame yefterday, and to day, and forever. This counsel approves itfelf to be of God, to the conviction of every one who ferioufly examines it, at whatever diftance of time and place, from its indelible characters, from the univer

ture.

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fality of the field which it embraces, and from the glorious and godlike end at which it aims: in a word, from its congeniality to the feelings, to the wishes, and to the wants of human naHad no predi&ion taught the world to expect a Deliv erer; had no miracle declared Him the great Lord of the Uni. verfe; had no voice from Heaven proclaimed Him the belov ed Son of God, He must have flood confeffed, the predicted Emanuel. God with us, in his compaffion to the miferable, ir his patience with the froward, in his forbearance toward the evil and unthankful, in his clemency to the guilty. The Gofpel breathes peace on earth and good will to men;" its unbounded liberality diffufes its influence over the whole world of mankind; its profeffed aim and end are to confer all poffibly attainable happiness on every human being, in the life which now is, and perfect and everlafting felicity in that which is to come. The object which Chriftianity proposes to itself is to reform, to purify, to exalt our fallen nature, by making us partakers of a divine nature; it is to rear the fabric of present and everlasting bleffedness on the folid foundation of wisdom, truth and virtue. It penetrates and pervades every principle of our nature, and enters completely into the detail of human life and conduct: it informs the understanding, melts the heart, overawes the confcience, and brings the trembling, guilty, helpless, defponding creature unto God. If these are not the characters of a Revelation from the God and Father of all men, What characters are fufficient to produce belief? If the fpirit and tendency of the Gospel work not conviction, the defcent of an angel from heaven, or the return of one from the re gions of the dead would be equally inefficacious.

In this "doctrine according to godlinefs," Men and Brethren, we behold genuine philofophy, not carelessly flumbering over fancied plans of improvement, not coldly fuggesting ideas of reform, not bewildering herself in the peradventures of doubtful difputation, but philofophy alive, awake and in action; philofophy doing good and diffufing happiness: the divine philofophy which brings God down to dwell with men upon earth, and which raifes men from earth to heaven. In its great Author we behold not the fullen, fupercilious reclufe, looking with affected contempt on the weakness and ignorance of mankind, talking and arguing fagely, and effecting nothing, but the beneficent friend of man, mixing with fociety, looking with complacency on harmlefs enjoyment, ftretching forth the hand to relieve diftrefs, with patience and condefcenfion inftructing the ignorant, outrunning the expectations and even the defires of the humble, and overcoming evil with good. At

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