them, chiefly by the Jews; and consequently one of the strongest arguments for the truth of their testimony would have been wanting: whereas by their having been persecuted to death for their preaching the resurrection of their great Master, they fully demonstrated how sincerely they believed the great fact which they preached in continual jeopardy of their lives, notwithstanding the virulent malice and restless persecution of their enemies. We have thus endeavoured to answer, in the plainest and most satisfactory manner, the principal objection made by the Deist against the truth of our blessed Saviour's resurrection; and shall conclude this chapter with a few reflections on the life of the blessed JESUS; a life the greatest and best that was ever led by man, or was ever the subject of any history since the universe was called from it's original chaos, by the powerful word of the Almighty, which spoke it into being. As the human character of the blessed Jesus results from the accounts given of him by the evangelists (for they have not formally drawn it up) so it is entirely different from that of all other men whatsoever; for whereas they have selfish passions deeply rooted in their breasts, and are influenced by them in almost every thing they do, Jesus was so entirely free from them, that the inost severe scrutiny cannot furnish one single action in the whole course of his life wherein he consulted his own interest only: no, he was influenced by very different motives; the present happiness and eternal welfare of sinners regulated his conduct; and while others followed their respective occupations, Jesus had no other business than that of promoting the happiness of the sons of men; nor did he, wait till he was solicited to extend his benevolent hand to the distressed; he went about doing good, and always accounted it more blessed to give than to receive; resembling God rather than man, in every act of his life. Persons of the most exalted faculties are apt to be elated with success and applause, or dejected by censure and disappointments: but the blessed JESUS was never elevated by the one, nor depressed by the other; he was never more courageous than when he met with the greatest opposition and cruel treatment, nor more humble than when the sons of men worshipped at his feet. He came into the world inspired with the greatest purpose that ever was formed, that of saving from eternal perdition, not a single nation but the whole world; and in the execution of it, went through the longest and heaviest train of labours that ever was sustained, with a constancy and resolution, on which no disadvantageous impression could be made by any accident whatever: calumly, threatenings, bad success, with many other evils constantly attending him, served only to quicken his endeavours in this glorious enterprise which he unweariedly pursued, even till he finished it by his death on the cross. Mankind are prone to retaliate injuries received, and seem to take satisfaction in complaining of the cruelties of those who oppress them; whereas, the whole of CHRIST's labours breathed nothing but meekness, patience, and forgiveness, even to his bitterest enemies, and in the midst of the most excruciating torments. The words "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," uttered by him when his enemies were nailing him to the cross, fitly express the temper which he maintained through the whole course of his life, even when assaulted by the heaviest provocations. The truth is, he never signified, on any occasion, the least resentment, by speech or action, nor indeed any emotion of mind whatever, except such as flowed from piety and charity; consequently such only as expressed the deepest concern for the welfare of mankind, to which his glorious life and suffering effectually opened the way. The greatest and best men have had their failings, which tarnish the lustre of their virtues, and shew them to have been nothing more than men. This was the case with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, David, Paul, and other heroes celebrated in history; but it was otherwise with Jesus; he was superior to all the men that ever lived, both with regard to the purity of his manners, and the perfection of his virtues: he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners. Whether we consider him as a teacher, or as a man, "he did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." 1 Pet. ii. 22. His whole life was perfectly free from spot or weakness, at the same time it was remarkable for the greatest and most extensive exercises of virtue: but never to have committed the least sin in word or indeed, never to have uttered any sentiment that could be censured, upon the various topics of religion and morality, which were the daily subjects of his discourses, and that through the course of a life filled with the action, and led under the observation of many enemies, who had always access to converse with him, and who often came to find fault, is a pitch of perfection evidently above the reach of human nature; and, consequently, he who possessed it, must have been divine and a most perfect Being. This adorable Person is the subject of the evangelical history. If the reader, by reviewing his life, doctrine, and miracles, as they are here represented to him united in one series, has a clearer idea of these things than before, or observes a beauty in his actions thus likened together, which taken separately do not appear so fully; if he feels himself touched by the character of Jesus in general, or with any of his sermons and actions in particular, thus simply delineated in writing, whose principal charms are the beauties of truth; above all, if his dying so generously for men, strikes him with admiration, or fills him with joy, in the prospect of that pardon which is thereby purchased for the world; let him seriously consider with himself, what improvement he ought to make of the divine goodness, and what returns of praise and gratitude is due from him. The Saviour of mankind, by his death, hath set open the gates of immortality to all the posterity of Adam; and by his word, spirit and example, graciously offers to make them meet for the glorious rewards in the kingdom of the heavenly Canaan, and to conduct them into the inheritance of the saints in light: let us, therefore, remember, that, being born under the dispensation of his gospel, we have, from our earliest years, enjoyed the best means of acquiring wisdom, virtue and happiness, the lineaments of the image of God. We have been called to aspire after an exaltation to the nature and felicity of the Almighty exhibited to mortal eves in the man CHRIST JESUS, to fire us with the noblest ambition. His gospel teaches us, that we are made for eternity; and that our present life is to our future existance, as infancy is to manhood: but as in the former many things are to be learned, many hardships to be endured, many habits to be acquired, and that by a tedious course of exercises, which in themselves though painful, and possibly useless to the child, yet are necessary to fit him for the business and enjoyments of manhood; so while we remain in this infancy of human life, things are to be learned hardships to be endured and habits to be acquired by a laborious course of discipline, which however painful must be undergone, because necessary to fit us for the employments nents and pleasures of our riper existance in the realms above. Enflamed, therefore, with love of immortality and it's joys, let us submit ourselves to our heaveny Teacher, and learn of him those graces which alone can render life pleasant, death desirable, fill eternity with ecstatic joys, and the tongues and hearts of the blesse with a song of triumph in honour of their Deliverer. CHAPTER XLIV. Observations on the Doctrine of our blessed Lord and Saviour: The Excellency of the Religion he enforced and inculcated: And the Redsonableness of, and Pleasure resulting from, a Christian Life. シ WE cannot more properly conclude our history of the life of the blessed Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, nor place the great doctrines taught by the benevolent Son of the Most High, in a more conspicuous light, than by removing a few prejudices which some, we fear too many, have formed against the religion of the holy JESUS, and shew that his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. There have not, perhaps, been greater enemies to the progress of religion, than those who delineate it in a gloomy and terrifying form; nor any guilty of a more injurious calumny against the gospel, than those who represent it's precepts as rigorous impositions and unnecessary restraints. True religion, is the perfection of human nature, and the foundation of untform exalted pleasure, of public order and private happiness. Christianity is the most excellent and the most useful institution, having the promise of the life that now is, & that which is to come; it is the voice of reason; it is the language of the Scriptures; "the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Prov. iii. 17. And our blessed Savfour himself assures us, that his precepts are easy, and the burden of his religion light and pleasant. The religion which CHRIST came into this lower world to establish, is a rational service, a worship in spirit and truth; a worship worthy the ma jesty of the Almighty to receive, and of the nature of man to pay. One of it's important branches is natural religion, reinforced by additional motives and new discoveries: it's positive rights are few, of plain and easy significancy, and manifestly adopted to establish a sense of moral obligations. The gospel places religion not in abstruse speculation and metapysical subtleties; not in outward shew and tegious ceremony; not in superstitions austerities and enthusiastic visions, but in purity of heart, and holiness of life. The sum of our duty, according to our great Master himself, consists in the love of God, and of our neighbours; according to St. Paul, in "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts;" and in "living soberly, right eously, and godly in this present world" according to St. James, in vis iting the fatherless and widows in affliction," and in keeping ourselves unspotted, from the world." This is the constant strain and tenor of the gospel; this it inculcates most earnestly, and on this it lays the greatest stress, as a most conducive to true and substantial happiness. If it be asked, whether the Christian system is only a republication of the law of nature, or merely a refined system of morality? We reply, No certainly; it is a great deal more. It is an act of grace, a stupendous plan of Providence, designed for the recovery of mankind from a state of de gradation and ruin, to the favour of the Almighty, and to the hopes of a happy immortality through a mediator. Under this dispensation, true re ligion consists in a repentance towards God, and in faith in the Lord JESUS CHRIST, as the person appointed by the supreme authority of heaven and earth, to reconcile apostate man to his offended Creator, as a sacrifice for sin; our vital head, and governing Lord. This is the religion of Christians; and what hardships, what exertion is there in all this? Surely none: nay, the practice of religion is much easier than the servitude of sin, which at best is the vilest drudgery, and yields the worst kind of wages. All will readily agree that our rational powers are impaired, and the soul weakened by sin; the animal passions are strong and apt to oppose the dictates of reason; objects of sense make powerful impressions on the mind; we are in every situation surrounded with many snares and tempt ations: in such a disordered state of things, to maintain a course of strict piety and uncorrupted virtue, is a work of great difficulty. There are, therefore, many tender propensities and generous instincts interwoven with our very being, as restraints from vice, and incitements to virtue. The gracious author of nature has planted in the human breast, a quick sense of good and evil; a faculty which strongly dictates right and wrong; and though by the strength of appetite, and warmth of passion, men are often hurried into immoral practices; yet in the beginning, especially when there has been the advantage of a good education it is usually with reluctance and opposition of mind. What inward struggles precede, what bitter pangs attend their usual excesses! What guilty blushes and uneasy fears! What frightful prospects and pale reviews! " Terrors are upon them, and a fire not blown consumeth them." To make a mock at sin, and to commit iniquity without remorse, is an attainment that requires length of time, and much painful labour; more labour than is requisite to attain that habitual goodness which is the glory of the man, the ornament of the Christian, his preparation for heaven, and the chief source of his happiness there.--The soul can no more be reconciled to flagrant acts of wickedness and injustice, than the body to excess, without suffering many bitter pains and cruel attacks, attacks attended with much anguish and vexation of spirit, Conscience may indeed be stopped and put to silence for a while by false principles, it's secret whispers may be drowned by the noise of company, and stifled by entertainments inments of sense; but this principle of conscience is so deeply rooted in human nature, and at the same time, her voice is so clear and strong, that all the sinner's arts will be unable to lull her into a lasting security. When the hour of calamity arrives, when sickness seizeth, and death approacheth the sinner, conscience constrains him to listen to her accusations, and will not suffer the temples of his head to take any rest: There is no peace to the wicked;" the foundations of peace are subverted, they are at utter enmity with their reason, with their conscience, and with the God of their mercies. 7 The case is far otherwise with true religion; conscience is on her side; reason pleads for her, and interest joins in the recommendation. When religion pure and genuine forms the temper, and governs the life, conscience. applauds, and peace takes her residence in the breast: the soul is in it's proper state, there is order and regularity both in the faculties and actions. Conscious of it's own integrity, and secure of the divine approbation, the soul enjoys a calmness not to be described: but why do 1 call this happy frame calmness only? It is far more than mere calmness; the air may be calm, and the day overcast with thick mists and dark clouds: the pious and virtuous mind resembles a serene day, enlightened and enlivened with the brightest rays of the sun; though all without may be clouds and darkness, there is light in the heart of a pious man; he is satisfied with himself, and is filled with peace and joy in believing; in the concluding scene, the awful moment of dissolution, all is peaceful and serene. The immortal part quits it's tenement of clay with the well-grounded hopes of ascending to happiness and glory, without mixture, and without end. The gospel enjoins no duty but what is fit and reasonable; it calls upon all it's professors to practice reverence, submission and gratitude to God; justice, truth, and universal benevolence to men; and to maintain the government of our minds: and what has any one to object against this? From the least to the greatest commandment of our dear Redeemer, there is not one which impartial reason can find fault with; his law is perfect, his precepts are true, and righteous altogether. Not even those excepted, which require us to love our enemies, to deny ourselves and take up our cross.To forgive an injury is more generous and manly than to revenge it; to controul a licentious appetite than to indulge it: to suffer poverty re proach, and even death itself, in the sacred cause of truth and integrity, is much wiser and better, than, by base compliances, to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. Thus in a storm at sea, or a conflagration on the land, a man with pleasure abandons his lumber to secure his jewels: piety and virtue are the wisest and most reasonable things in the world, vice and wickedness the most irrational, absurd, and pernicious. The infinitely wise author of our being hath so framed our natures, and placed us in such relations, that there is nothing vicious but what is inju rious; nothing virtuous but what is advantageous to our present interest, both with respect to body and mind. Meekness and humility, patience and universal charity, are graces which give a joy unknown to transgressors. The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only bands of friendship, the only support of society. Temperance and sobriety are the best preservatives of health and strength; but sin and debauchery impair the body, consume the substance, reduce to poverty, and form the direct path to an immature and untimely death. Now this is the chief excellency of all laws; and what will always render their burden pleasant and delightful is, that they enjoin nothing unbecoming or injurious; but on the contrary, what is profitable and of a salutary nature. Besides, to render our duty easy, we have the example as well as the commands of the blessed JESUS. The masters of morality amongst the Heathens gave excellent rules for the regulations of men's manners; but they wanted either the honesty or courage to try their own arguments upon themselves. It was a strong presumption that the yoke of the Scribes and Pharisees was grievous, when they laid heavy burdens upon men's shoulders, which they themselves refused to touch with one of their fingers. Not thus our great law-giver, JESUS CHRIST the righteous; his behaviour was, in all respects, conformable to his doctrine; his devotion towards God, how sublime and ardent! benevolence towards men, how great & diffusive! He was in his life an exact pattern of innocence: for he "did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth." In the Son of God incarnate is exhibited the brightest, the fairest resemblance of the Father, that earth or heaven ever beheld: an example peculiarly persuasive, calculated to inspire resolution, and to animate us to use our utmost endeavours to imitate the divine pattern, the example of the author and finisher of our faith, of him who loved us, and gave himself for us. Our profession and character as Christians obliges us to make this example the model of our lives. Every motive of decency, gratitude and interest, constrain us to tread the paths he trod before us, more especially when we reflect that it was marked out to us by Unerring Wisdom. Let us also remember that our burden is easy; because God, who know eth whereof we are made, who considereth that we are but dust, is ever ready to assist us. The Heathen sages themselves had had some notions of this assistance, though guided only by a glimmering lamp of reason: but what they looked upon as probable, the gospel clearly and strongly asserts. We there hear the appostle exhorting, "Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 16- We there here the blessed JESUS himself arguing in this convincing manner, " If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke ix. 13. We would not here be understood to mean, that the agency of the spirit is irresistible, and lays a necessitating bias on all the faculties and affections. Were this the case, precepts and prohibitions, promises and threatenings, would signify nothing; and duty and obligation would be words without a meaning. The spirit assisteth in a manner agreeable to the frame of human nature; not controlling the free use of reason, but by: sisting the understanding, influencing the will, and moderating the af |