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ing. Let us turn to the Gospel of St. Matthew, and see what Christ has said on the same subject. I say unto you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. And wherefore this? What motive does he offer to lead us to obedience ?—that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. Now, my brethren, it is not my purpose to compare the mere precept of the Heathen with that of Jesus; to point out the wonderful superiority of the latter in force, in depth, in extent of application; not even to remind you how peculiarly Christian is that clause which bids us pray for them which despitefully use us-words which by no possibility could have come from Pagan lips-but only to call your attention to the difference in the motives by which the one and the other come recommended to us; to entreat you to contrast the dry and inefficacious axioms, which support the one, with the soul inspiring incentive, which is suggested by the other to contrast the Philosopher's laborious appeal to our reason and reflection with those burning expressions which pierce directly to the heart, which master the affections and take possession of the whole soul; and not only teach us our social relation to each other but also the origin of that relation whence it comes that we are thus bound to acts of brotherly piety-whose children we all are, if we

will only have Faith in God, and do the deeds which the Universal Father prescribes to us.

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Again, the voice of Philosophy informs us, with perfect calmness-that "Man is a thing familiar and friendly to man. Now you all remember the words of Christ-a new commandment I give you— that ye love one another. But have you equally well attended to those which follow? Even as I have loved you, that ye love one another. Here is the essential distinction-and herein consists the newness of the commandment of Christ-that the love which we owe to each other is not to be regarded as the re sult of earthly expediency, or mere natural affection; but to be viewed and felt in reference to our connexion with Him, who first loved us. And in the same manner on another occasion,-when He stretched forth his hand towards his disciples and said,-Behold my Mother, and my Brethren; he immediately added as a reason for so strong an expression of affectionFor whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Brother, and my Sister, and my Mother. From the comparison of these passages, which it would be easy to multiply, you will observe not only how much more intimate in degree was the connexion which Christ established among men, but also that it was peculiar in its character, and original in its motives; since he taught us that the whole

system of our moral duties and all the manifold obligations, by which men are bound to one another, converge to one and the same point, as from the same source they had proceeded, the will of our Father which is in Heaven.

I shall not weary your attention by pursuing this subject farther than to make short mention of two other peculiarities, by which the preaching of Christ was distinguished from that of all his heathen predecessors and contemporaries; and even from these remarks I should abstain, did I not purpose to draw some practical conclusions from them. The two points to which I allude are these-(1) that our Saviour addressed his Sermons to the feelings of men more than to their reason—and (2) that he preached his Gospel especially to the poor.

1. In the numerous discourses of Christ we should seek in vain for a single instance of acute logical inference or metaphysical subtlety-of those deep devices and stratagems of Reason, which fill the pages of the Moralists and form the pride of Philosophy. It was not thus that He achieved the Redemption of Man-not on these foundations that He placed his everlasting Kingdom. He did not stoop to handle the ingenious instruments of Man's cunning. He spake as the Son of God. He spake with the author

ity of God-his own authority, and that of the Father which had sent him. In the accomplishment of his Mission, he laid down laws for the regulation of our conduct, of our passions, of our inmost thoughts and feelings; he went up to the very fountains of morality and bade us cleanse and purify them; there is no duty that he left untaught-there is no sort of evil that he did not condemn-and all this he did without a single appeal to what is called the art of reasoniug. He spake indeed of the Kingdom of Heaven-of the resurrection of the dead-and the revelation of the righteous judgements of God. He spake too of the goodness and long-suffering of his Father, and of the love which he bears towards the sons of Men. He addressed Himself to the hopes, to the fears, to the affections of Mankind; but he never strove to move them by abstruse arguments, or nice conclusions. His was a loftier and a mightier office. He announced a character of more mysterious sublimity—a dominion unlimited by time or space-irresistible, irresponsible. "Many will say unto me in that day-Lord, Lord! have we not prophecied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works? and I will profess unto them-I never knew you,-depart from me ye that work iniquity!"

2. The wisdom of the Schools was addressed only to those whose station gave them means to learn,

and leisure to reflect.

It never enlightened the il

literate-it never exalted the humble-it never enriched the poor. It was an exclusive wisdom, into which men were initiated, as into any other mystery; and those were few in number, on whom even its faintest glimmerings were reflected. The very nature of the doctrine forbade that it should be otherwise. The truths declared were for the most part not practical; the reasons were abstruse and unfitted for vulgar understandings; the motives were indirect and distant; and there was no appeal to those common feelings, which animate equally every grade and portion of humanity. But Christ appeared in a very different character, even as a mere teacher of morality. He appeared especially, as the Friend, the Protector, the Instructor of the poor. It was to the Shepherds abiding in the field by night, that the revelation of his mercy was first announced-it was to the meek and lowly that his first consolations were addressed. To the Scribes and Pharisees he proclaimed woe and tribulation. To the rich he repeatedly declared, how hard it is for them to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. But to those who surrounded him and believed on him-men of the humblest origin without possessions, without education, without knowledge-he unfolded the glorious promises of his kingdom, and the life of the world to come.

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