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follow me." I doubt whether any who heard these words, fully understood their purport at the time. And yet when we consider the circumstances under which they were said, we see that they must have made a startling and ineffaceable impression. A crowd was following Jesus, intensely excited by the hope that he would prove to be the Messiah-the glorious leader and king so long and ardently looked for. Taking advantage of this state of feeling, Jesus declared in substance, “If you would indeed follow me, you must take up your crosses, you must consider yourselves as condemned to death." Again turn to the account of the raising of Lazarus. When Jesus had cried aloud, “Lazarus, come forth,' he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and with a cloth about his face. And Jesus said,Loose him and let him go." At first view we cannot help feeling that there is an abrupt falling off here in the narrative, a sudden descent to a trifling particular-to an observation apparently and comparatively insignificant. We instantly ask how came Jesus to give this trifling direction? Or, if he did give it, how happened the narrator to recollect it and to think it worth while to put it on record? These queries are silenced the instant we recur to the probable circumstances. If the dead man actually appeared, into what consternation must the bystanders have been thrown! Some shrieked, some fainted, and all, transfixed and bereft of their composure, and doubting whether they beheld an apparition or real flesh and blood, left Lazarus to struggle and stagger in the grave

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clothes in which he was wrapt 'hand and foot.' It is impossible that any one present could have failed to be most deeply impressed with that sublime self-possession which Jesus alone preserved, and with which he quietly bade them go and loose the grave-clothes, and set Lazarus at liberty. That simple sentence-“ And Jesus said, ‘Loose him, and let him go,'"-thus considered, in connexion with the circumstances, how full is it of truth and nature! To my mind, it furnishes evidence the most decisive, because entirely incidental, of the reality of the restoration of Lazarus. It is a slight circumstance in itself, but in its perfect naturalness there is an indelible stamp of truth. Ex pede Herculem.

So by numerous instances it might be shown, that oftentimes the slightest remark of Jesus must have sunk deeply into the minds of those around him, in association with the particular circumstances, and under the pressure of the peculiar occasions on which it was uttered.

The remarks which I have made upon the character of Jesus as a teacher, have been confined to the form and style of his teaching. I have not touched upon his characteristic views and doctrines. Nor shall I attempt a discussion of them. To give a complete and discriminating account of the truths he taught, lies not within my ability. Under this head, I might deal easily and largely in general assertions, but a true and distinct portraiture of the moral and religious doctrines of Christ is quite another matter. To be well and wisely done, it would require, if I mistake

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not, a thorough appreciation of the various systems of religion and philosophy by which Christianity was preceded, and of the true philosophy of mind and morals. Without a profound acquaintance with these, it is hardly possible to estimate the author of Christianity justly. We may think and speak extravagantly of him, and with a brief sentence, place him immeasurably above all other teachers. But it is another thing to think of him justly, and with discrimination.

There is however one characteristic of his religion, as it was taught by himself, to which I would ask a moment's attention. It is the entire absence of all that is vulgarly termed speculation-theory. Every sentiment uttered by Jesus, admits of being understood as the expression of a fact-an eternal and essential truth. His religion, as a revelation, is a revelation of things true from all eternity. The great topics of his teaching were not the fancies, the creations of his own mind. They existed in the nature of things. When he declares, for instance, that 'unto him who hath shall be given, and from him who hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath,' who does not see that this is only the assertion of a truth, wrought into our very nature and condition and corroborated by all our observation of life. He who improves acquires more power; he who does not improve loses the power which he originally possessed. Again read over the beatitudes and you will find that they all express natural truths. "Happy are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Is not

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inward purity the sense, the eye whereby we discern the Pure Spirit, the indwelling God of the Universe? "Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” In the possession of a merciful temper, have we not a gift of Divine Love-a token of Divine mercy? Even in that startling declaration Whoso liveth and believeth in me, shall never die,' we have an indisputable fact. Is it not inevitably and unchangeably true, that death ceases to be death to him whose feelings and views accord with the spirit of this great Teacher? When he spoke of his coming in power and great glory, he asserted a glorious fact of which we are the witnesses. He is coming in the influence of his Religion, more gloriously, with a deeper and more searching power, than if he had appeared in person amidst the clouds of Heaven accompanied by angelic hosts. Examine his language on all occasions with this view, and you will be struck with its truth. We call the principles which he inculcated by his name, but not because he originated them, for they are older than the creation. But he did originate a new manifestation of them. He not only asserted them with an unprecedented clearness, he gave them a new and living force in his own being. He realized them in all their beauty and fulness in his life. In his doings and sufferings, the true sacred writing-the characters and symbols by which the Divine mind expresses itself, the great facts and principles of the moral world were revealed anew. If we cannot always discern the whole of the truths he uttered in nature and life, we can at least discover some intima

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tions, some germs of them there. Affecting no peculiarity of language, he freely expressed himself in the popular religious phraseology of the day, but interpreted, as the language of every man should be, by the general tone of his life, we see that it was used by him metaphorically. Who, for instance, can for a moment suppose that when he talked of his kingdom and his glory, he had any idea of an outward kingdom, a visible glory, when his whole life shows so eloquently that it was the glory of an entire self-sacrifice, which won and inspired his whole soul. Recollect his sublime declaration to Pilate, "Yes, I am a king." How does he define his regal character? For this end was I born,' he adds, and for this cause came I into the world to bear witness to the truth. Every true man is my subject.' How perfect his definition of real power-of true greatness! Let him who would be the greatest be the servant of all!' To the beautiful correctness of this definition, what evidence has been afforded in the history of the world! Even the sublime doctrine of a future life, which is so frequently represented as a peculiar doctrine of Christianity, is nowhere formally asserted by Jesus. It is rather taken for granted-treated as if it were a plain and indisputable fact. And if theologians were not so anxious to exalt the Gospel at the expense of reason and nature, it might be perceived that the immortality of man, like all the other truths of the New Testament, is written in our very nature, and that in all his allusions to it, Jesus regarded it as a natural truth.

So much now may I venture to say, that with respect