SERMON XXIII.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

Our Saviour's Example recommended to our Imi

tation.

For unto this you have been called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps. 1 Peter ii. 21.

SUCH is the constitution of the human mind, that it loves to contemplate things grand and sublime, in whatever parts of nature or in the works of art they are to be found. This is more especially the case with respect to the characters of mankind, the contemplation of which forms one of the most interesting and useful branches of study in which we can engage. In the inquiry our curiosity is excited and satisfied, our desire kept constantly awake by the secret thought, that we may equal the greatness of the character we admire, or at least endeavour to imitate it. Our blessed Lord, whose example is recommended to our imitation in the words of my text, came into the world to live, as well as to die for us;

and, not only by the effusion of his sacred blood, to offer an expiatory sacrifice for our sins, but also to go before us as our guide and conductor in the paths of virtue, and to exhibit in his own manners a complete pattern of unerring rectitude of life.

In his whole deportment he exemplified his doctrine: herein he claims an unrivalled supe-: riority above the most eminent prophets, philosophers, or lawgivers, the sanctity of whose lives never equalled the purity of their precepts. They were indeed, many of them, exemplary in their manners, but not faultless; instructive, but not unerring guides. His is the only faultless, finished character, that ever appeared in human form, a complete and perfect model of universal goodness. He had all the moral virtues of our nature, without any of its sinful frailties. In him there is no spot, no blemish, no infirmity, no defect, to shade and obscure his other excellencies. In this sun of righteousness the virtues all centre, and shine with such superior lustre, that all other characters, like lesser lights, lose their brightness, and disappear before it. In this discourse I shall consider the influence our Lord's example should have on our conduct with regard to the principal duties we owe to God, to ourselves, and to mankind. May the Lord Jesus accompany his own word with that blessing which alone can render it effectual for your salvation. May you adore his righteousness, and ever fervently implore the assistance of his grace, that you may be his faithful imitators.

I shall begin with first observing the example of his piety; both because it is the first and great commandment, the supreme obligation incumbent on all moral beings, and because it ap peared with superior distinction in his whole

life, and seemed to be the ruling principle of his conduct: for he not only retired from the notice of the world that he might indulge religious contemplation, and offer up his supplications to him "who seeth in secret," sometimes continuing whole nights in prayer, but was equally_observant of public as of private devotion. Even before he assumed his ministerial character, though the sacred historians are silent as to other particulars of his conduct, yet they inform us that it was his custom to attend at the synagogue on the Sabbath-day.

From this example we may learn, not only the propriety of private supplications to the throne of grace, but also the obligation of assembling and assisting at the public solemnities in the house of God. And however some may consider piety as an unnecessary ingredient in their character, provided they are just, honest, and friendly in their dispositions and actions, yet certainly no truth can be more evident than the obligation of the duties of piety, both from our Saviour's example, and from the reason of the thing. For what are the duties of piety, but expressions of reverence and gratitude to the supreme Being? And surely his perfections justly demand the one, and his blessings, daily conferred on us, give him an unquestionable right to the other. Whatever other virtues may enter into the brightest character, yet without piety it will be defective in the most essential duty of a reasonable and dependant being. It is on this account St. Peter so strongly inculcates the necessity of this virtue, and enumerates it among those that should adorn a follower of Christ. "And you giving all diligence, join with your faith, virtue, and with virtue, knowledge, and with knowledge, abstinence, and with abstinence,

patience, and with patience, piety, and with piety, brotherly love, and with brotherly love, charity: for if these things be with you and abound, they will make you to be neither empty, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."*

Humility is another virtue which distinguishes itself in every part of our Saviour's life and character, to teach those of the highest rank to be humble and assisting to their inferiors, and also to give to the lower classes a lesson of complacency and contentment. The sight of any stupendous edifice naturally fills our minds with high ideas of his capacity, by whose contrivance and exertion it was planned and erected. How do we shrink within ourselves, and blush for our own littleness, in contemplating that superior and commanding genius, which still seems to preside, with awful supremacy, in the vestiges of antient art. Shall not we then, vile worms of the earth, become humble, when we behold him, at whose very word the womb of nothing teems with myriads of material worlds, choosing a condition, destitute of the common provisions of life, and exposed to the hunger and thirst, the pains and distresses, which he relieved in others? When we behold him, who spake at once into being and form this earth, with all its numerous appendages of fields and forests, and hills and dales, and mountains and rivers, and seas; him, at whose voice the heavens instantaneously disclosed a magnificent assemblage of sparkling stars, and blazing suns, and rolling worlds; him, "at whose presence the mountains melt like wax,"+ "who but touches the mountains and they smoke;" him, of whom the highest heaven is the throne, the earth his footstool, the thunder his voice,

2 Peter i. 5, 6, 7, 8. + Psalm xcvi. ↑ Psalm cxliii.

"not having where to lay his head." In this, as in all other instances, his manners correspond with his doctrine, which instructs us not to set our affections on the world. Every thing was at his beck; nature avowed him to be her Lord, and all the elements stood ruled at his bidding! He needed but have spoke the word, and the sea must have surrendered her stores, the earth her product, and the mountains their mines at his feet. His whole life and manners evince how improperly these are made the substitutes of true worth. He treated them from first to last not with an invidious sneer, but with a calm, majestic disdain. In short, he would not be dis tinguished by them, that we might be convinced of their insignificance, and that his glorious example might continue a standing memorial, to the end of time, of excellence without ostentation, greatness without grandeur, and dignity without the pomp or pride of wealth. And the spirit of his religion is a lively transcript of that life which should be the pattern of ours, and breathes nothing but the purity, simplicity, and sublimity, which reigned in his own heart.

In short, the capital design of our Saviour's ministry and religion on earth, was to establish and exemplify this great idea, that there is no solid enjoyment, but in the habit and practice of real virtue and this is what : who are young you, especially, would do well to consider thoroughly. You are not sent into the world merely to gain a name, or make a fortune, but to be happy yourselves, and to make others eternally happy. Now, your sentiments and habits of thinking and acting are only forming, and on the formation of these your all depends. Take care what objects you prefer, what purposes you pursue, what dispositions you discover, what pas