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home." Thus it was that this great character preserved, to the last, that mild virtue, and those good feelings, which his precepts taught, and all his previous actions confirmed; the spirit of heavenly charity triumphed over the grave; the disciple, whom he loved, and the mother, who bare him, were dear to him even upon the cross; and, while they are weeping at his feet, his last accents lighten their misery, and bind them for ever in that lasting friendship which flows from a common grief. Let us remember, in thinking of his dying charity, that he has commended to us not only son, and mother, and father, but all the children of the gospel to all time; that he requires of us to perform acts of charity, and kindness; to offer up those passions which are destructive of human happiness; and to learn, from his death, to be purer, and kinder, and better men.

Having thus performed the last offices which remained to be discharged; the world, and its cares, are no more to him; his earthly career is finished; he bowed his head, and, crying with a loud voice, gave

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up the ghost. Thus died that great being whose life was one uniform tenor of just doctrines, and compassionate actions; who laboured to soften, to unite, and to purify mankind; in whose existence there is not a word, nor a deed, which had not our happiness for its object, and its end. Truely, there is something in Christ's history which paints him to our eyes as the most venerable, the most simple, and the most holy, of beings. The keenest malice, and the sharpest inquisition, cannot fix upon him the shadow of error, or of crime; he preached doctrines for which he led a life of persecution; and died a death of pain. Did he not, then, believe in these doctrines himself? But he was an enthusiast! Never, then, was enthusiasm SO mild, so gentle, so moderate, and so intelligible;-do you unto others as you would they should do unto you; let all your words: be yea, and nay;-pray to God, not before men, but in secret; give alms of all thou hast to the poor; purify the inward heart; and expect reward of God, as you are good to your fellow creatures. If this is enthusiasm, what, then, is simple, what clear,

what practical, and what wise? Unquestionably, no one who has ever attempted to legislate for mankind has involved his doctrine less in florid description, and ambiguous sublimity; has calculated his precepts so directly for practice, or addressed himself so uniformly to the common feelings, and common sense, of his followers.-Nor did our Saviour seek, by the arts of insinuation, to lead before him a deluded multitude; he ministered to no man's passion; and he flattered no man's pride; he taught not like the Scribes, and Pharisees, but as one having authority;-his resistance to the ruling powers was as far removed from intemperate violence, as his demeanor, to the people, was from seductive artifice :to be brief, there is not in the character of Christ one trait of mortality; nothing which, for an instant, bespeaks him allied to the infirmities of man; no change, no guile, no conflict of passion, no wavering of heart, no pride of spirit; without thought for himself, without love of command, a man of sorrow, rejected, and despised; who bore in his bosom the rebukes of many people, and moved silently on in the paths of affliction;

healing, and comforting, mankind; and laying the foundations of that blessed religion, the voice of which has gone out into all lands, and called man from the alternate slumber, and fury of his savage life, to the sweets, and glories of industry and peace.

So lived Jesus, the Son of God; and how he was loved, and honored in his death, we all know: Every passer by smote his breast; the daughters of Jerusalem followed him weeping; Judas flung down the thirty pieces of silver; Pilate said, I am guiltless of his blood; the thief saw he was a God; the Centurion believed and trembled; the veil of the temple was rent; darkness was over the earth; the graves were open; and many sleeping bodies of the saints came up to the world:-these are the miracles which carried conviction to the hearts of his persecutors, and murderers, if we can study in vain the morals of his life, we must yield, at least, to the miracles of his death; and exclaim, with the trembling Centurion, "of a truth this was the son of God."

ON THE JUDGMENTS

WE FORM OF OTHERS.

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