words, as if he was wont to express himself covertly on like occasions. There is often a mixture of benevolence and authority in our Lord's form of address. When a paralytic was let down through the roof of a house, where Jesus was instructing and healing many, he thus removed all fear of impropriety and intrusion, "Take courage, SON; Mat. ix. 2. thy sins are forgiven thee." He used the same appellation to his disciples, "SoNs, how hard is it for those Mar. x. 24. who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" When the woman who had an issue of blood, incurable by natural means, came behind Jesus in the press, touched his garment, and immediately perceived that she was healed, Jesus "looked round about to see her who had done this thing." And when the woman, fearing and trembling through uncertainty what construction might be put on her conduct, told him the whole truth, he thus graciously dispelled her fears: "Take courage, DAUGHTERK; thy faith has restored thee to health go in peace, and be healed of thy disease1." And probably on many occasions, though two only are recorded, our Lord used a language which St. John in his venerable old age seems to have imitated, calling on his disciples by the endearing name of CHILDREN". How open our Lord was to the kind affections, appears from his sensations towards the young man who had kept the commandments from his youth: "Jesus Ver. 21. beheld him and loved him." Observe how he acted when "some brought to him little children, that he might lay his hands on them k Matt. ix. 22, and parallel places. 1 Gr. scourge. m John xiii. 33; xxi. 5; 1 John ii. 1, 12, 18, 28, &c. Grotius's note on John xiii. 33 is, “Christus in morte sua illud reperiebat tris- 39. 46. and pray"." "The disciples rebuked those who brought them," as if such objects were unworthy of his attention. "But when Jesus saw it, he had indignation, called them to him," exhorted men to imitate their amiable qualities, "took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." Every heart must be warmed by the plain recital of such a conduct, and every tongue must praise it. His precepts of benevolence afford a striking picture Mat. xxii. of his benevolent mind. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," is the commandment to which he asMat. v. 44, signed the second rank. Nay, he enjoined the love of our enemies; and declared that the love of those who love us is thankless and unrewardable. We are to Jo. ́xiii. 34, make mutual love our distinguishing mark as Christians; and his new commandment is, that we love one another according to that eminent degree of love with which he loved us. 35. Thus did he strive to prevent the train of evils accidentally occasioned by religion, which inflames men's passions in proportion to its importance. And he directly condemned persecution in those memorable Luk. ix. 55, words, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; 56. for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, Mat. xiii. 24 but to save them :" and again in the parable, where, -30, 36-43. under the character of an husbandman who sowed good seed in his field, he forbad gathering together the tares, or destroying the sons of the evil one who gave offence by pernicious doctrines or by unrighteous lives, lest at the same time the wheat should be rooted up with them: lest good men, whose interests were interwoven with them, should partake of their sufferings; lest the principle supposed to justify the extermination of such should sometimes involve the good; and lest the inn Matt. xix. 13-15, and parallel places. terest of the gospel itself should be impaired, when its professors, like wild beasts, worried and devoured each other. In the time of harvest, at the last day, our Lord will say to his reapers, the angels, "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn. them; but gather the wheat into my garner." And if men extirpate each other for speculative errors in religion, or for such iniquitous practices as do not endanger society, they boldly invade his province who alone can infallibly discern truth from falsehood, and know the various aggravations or alleviations of wrong conduct. The compulsion which should be used by Christ's followers is reason and argument; as he himself compelled the Gentiles to receive his gospel by enduing the preachers of it with wisdom and power from on high : he laid them under a moral necessity of believing, by furnishing the fullest means of conviction. The manner in which our Lord prepared the apostles for his departure, and the consolation which he administered to them, were in the highest degree affectionate. He often foretold his death, and called their attention to it in the strongest terms: "Let these words sink down into your ears: for the Son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after he is killed, he shall rise again the third day P." And on the evening before his death he calmed their minds with the utmost delicacy of address, and with the greatest enlargement of affection towards them: "Let not your heart be troubled: Jo. xiv. 1, 2. • See Luke xiv. 23 compared with Matt. xxii. 9. That ȧvayκάζω, ἀνάγκη, and παραβιάζομαι are used for cogent persuasion and argument, see Matt. xiv. Mark vi. 45; Luke xiv. 18; xxiv. 29; Acts xvi. 15; 2 Cor. xii. 11; 22; Gal. ii. 3, 14; vi. 12; Jude 3 ; places. ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions:...I go to prepare a place for Jo. xiv. 16. you." "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Advocate, that he may abide with you always." Ver. 27. 66 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not Jo. xvii. 24. your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.” Jo. xiii. 21. Such was the sensibility of his disposition, and his benevolent horror at Judas's ingratitude and guilt, that he could not mention his traitorous design at the paschal supper without great emotion: "he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." His ignominious and painful death was the greatest Jo. xv. 13. act of benevolence to the whole world. "Greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for Rom. v. 8, his friends." "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, and enemies, Christ died for us." 10. After our Lord's resurrection, his benevolence shone with the same degree of mild lustre. We have remarkable proofs of it in his conduct to St. Peter. One of the angels who appeared to the women at his sepulchre thus addressed them, and, no doubt, in conformity Mar. xvi. 7. to our Lord's command: "Depart, say to his disciples and to PETER, He goeth before you into Galilee." And two of the sacred writers have recorded his separate appearance to this apostle on the day of his resurrection 9. He appeared not apart to St. John, his beloved 9 Luke xxiv. 34; 1 Cor. xv. 5. This circumstance, so honourable to St. Peter, is mentioned only by St. Paul, and by St. Luke, whose Gospel is said to have been written under the direction of St. Paul. disciple; but to him who had thrice denied him, who had bitterly bewailed his crime, and whose mind stood in need of healing": and with the same kind attention our Lord afterwards afforded Peter an occasion of expiating, as it were, his three denials of him by thrice Jo. xxi. declaring his love. With an admirable consistency, our gracious Saviour ended as he began. He was taken up to heaven in the Luk. xxiv. very act of lifting up his hands on his disciples and blessing them. 51. 34; Heb. Jo. xvii. 2. Nor must we stop here. He is now our intercessor Rom. viii. at God's right hand, and will hereafter be the dispenser vii. 25. of eternal life to the righteous: and he has taught us Rom.vi. 23; to anticipate his conduct on that day; when he will Mat. xxv. allot so high a rank to the virtue of benevolence as to place actions arising from it among our leading and essential duties, and will show so intimate a concern and affection for his disciples as to regard acts of humanity done to the meanest of them as done to himself. SECT. III. Of our Lord's compassion. In those dispositions which are eminently benevolent we may justly expect to find the most lively sensibility and compassion: for compassion is a benevolent sensation towards the miserable; it is that humane uneasiness which is excited by the evils of human life, in proportion to their degree and to the merit of the sufferer. Our Lord has expressly enjoined this virtues, We have therefore another proof, besides 2 Pet. iii. 15, that no jealousy subsisted between these two great apostles after their variance. Gal. ii. II. r The remark is Chrysostom's. See his comment on I Cor. xv. 8. Beausobre refers to it, and in ex plaining it beautifully adds; "Jesus s Aristotle calls it an affection |