Should we be vifited with fickness, or overtaken by any calamity, the confolation which Plato offers is, that fuch difpenfations coincide with the univerfal plan of divine government., Virgil will tell us, for our relief, that afflictive vifitations are, more or lefs, the unavoidable lot of all men. Another moralift whispers in the dejected fufferer's ear, Impatience adds to the load; whereas a calm fubmiffion renders it more fupportable.” Does the word of revelation difpenfe fuch fpiritlefs and fugitive cordials? No: thofe facred pages inform us, that tribulations are fatherly chaftifements; tokens of our Maker's love, and fruits of his care; that they are intended to work in us the peaceable fruits of righteoufnefs, and to work out for us an eternal weight of glory *.

Should we, under the fummons of death, have recourse to the most celebrated comforters in the Heathen world; they would increafe our apprehenfions, rather than mitigate our dread. Death is reprefented, by the great master of their schools, as "the most formidable of all evils." They were not able pofitively to determine, whether the foul furvived; and never so much as dreamed of the refurrection of the body. Whereas, the book of God ftrips the monster of his horrors, or turns him into a meffenger of peace; gives him an angel's face, and a deliverer's hand; afcertaining to the fouls of the righteous, an immediate tranflation into the regions of blifs; and ensuring to their bodies a most advantageous revival, at the restoration of all things.

Inestimable book! It heals the maladies of life, and

2 Cor. iv. 17. What are all the confolatory expedients prefcribed in all the volumes of Heathen morality, compared with this one recipe of revelation? They are, in point of cheering efficacy, fomewhat like the froth on the conflux of a thousand rapid ftreams, compared with a fingle draught of Homer's Nepenthe; which, he tells us, was

Temper'd with drugs of fov'reign use t' affuage
The boiling bofom of tumultuous rage:

To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,

And dry the tearful fluices of despair.

Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind
All fenfe of woe delivers to the wind.

Odyf. iv

fubdues the fear of death. It strikes a lightfome vifta, through the gloom of the grave; and opens a charming, a glorious profpect of immortality in the heavens.

*

Thefe, with many other excellencies peculiar to the fcriptures, one would imagine more than fufficient to engage every fenfible heart in their favour, and introduce them, with the highest efteem, into every improved converfation. They had such an effect upon the finest ge.. nius, and moft accomplished perfon, that former or latter ages can boaft Infomuch that he made, while living, this public declaration; and left it, when he died, upon everlasting record: How feet are thy words unto my tafle! yea, fweeter than honey unto my mouth. Pfal. cxix. 103. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Ver. 97. Mine eyes pre.... vent the night watches, that I may be occupied in thy precepts; and I will speak of thy testimmies even before kings. Ver. 46. If David tafted fo much sweetness in a small, and that the least valuable, part of the divine word, how much richer is the feaft to us? fince the gofpel is added.

* If we confider David, in the great variety of his fine quali fications; the ornaments of his perfon, and the far more illuftrious endowments of his mind; the furprising revolutions in his fortune; fometimes reduced to the lowest ebb of adverfity; fometimes riding upon the higheft tide of profperity; his fingular dexterity in extricating himfelf from difficulties, and peculiar felicityin accommodating himself to all circumstances; the prizes he won, as a youthful champion; and the victories he gained, as an experienced general; his masterly hand upon the harp, and his inimitable talent for poetry; the admirable regulations of his royal government, and the incomparable usefulness of his public writings; the depth of his repentance, and the height of his devotion; the vigour of his faith in the divine promises, and the ardour of his love to the divine majefty: If we confider thefe, with feveral other remarks of honour and grace, which enoble the history of his life; we fhall fee fuch an affemblage of fhining qualities, as perhaps were never united in any other merely hu man character.

This obfervation was expunged. But, upon maturer thoughts,, it is offered to the public, in order to convince a polite reader, that the love of the fcriptures, and the exercise of devotion, are by no means the low peculiarities of a vulgar mind.

to the law, and the canon of fcripture completed! fince (to borrow the words of a prophet) the Lord God has fealed up the fum; has put the laft hand to his work; and rendered it full of wifdom, and perfect in beauty. Ezek. xxviii. 12.

Ther. Another very diftinguishing peculiarity of the facred writings, juft occurs to my mind. The method of communicating advice, or adminiftering reproof, by parables. A method which levels itself to the lowest apprehenfion, without giving offence to the moft fupercilious temper; yet is as much fuperior to plain unornamented precept, as the enlivened fcenes of a well-wrought tragedy, are more impreffive and affecting than a fimple narration of the plot.

Our Lord was afked by a ftudent of the Jewish law, Who is my neighbour? which implied another queftion, How is he to be loved? The inquirer was conceited of himfelf, yet ignorant of the truth, and deficient in his duty. Had the wife Inftructor of mankind abruptly declared, You neither know the former, nor fulfil the lat ter; probably the querift would have reddened with indignation, and departed in a rage. Therefore, to teach, and not difguft; to convince the man of his error, and not exafperate his mind; the bleffed Jefus frames a re ply, as amiable in the manner, as it was pertinent to the purpose.

A certain perfon going down from Jerufalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, Luke x. 30, &c. Not content to rob him of his treafure, they trip him of his garments; wound him with great barbarity; and leave him half dead.Soon after this calamitous accident, a traveller happens to come along that very road. And what renders him more likely to adminifter relief, he is one of the facred order: one who taught others the lovely leffons of humanity and charity; and was, therefore, under the strongest obligations to exemplify them in his own practice. He juft glances an eye upon the deplorable object; fees him ftretched on the cold ground, and weltering in his blood; but takes no farther notice, nay, to avoid the trouble of an enquiry, paffes by on the

other fide. Scarce was he departed, when a Levite approaches. This man comes nearer, and looks on the miferable fpectacle; takes a leifurely and attentive furvey * of the cafe. And though every gafh in the bleeding flesh cried and pleaded for compaffion; this minifter of the fanctuary neither speaks a word to comfort, nor moves a hand to help. Laft comes a Samaritan +; one of the abhorred nation, whom the Jew hated with the moft implacable malignity. Though the Levite had neglected

* This seems to be the import of sewv s dwv, Luke x. 32. This diverfifies the idea, and heightens the defcription of Jewifh inhumanity.

+ If this was a parable, we cannot but admire the accuracy of our Lord, both in laying the scene, and felecting the circumftances. It is the maxim of a great critic,

"Ficta voluptatis caufa fint proxima veris." And how very apparent is the air of probability in this facred apologue! The way from Jerufalem to Jericho, lying through a defart, was much infefted by thieves, and too commodious for their purposes of violence. What could be more likely to happen, than the paffage of a priest and Levite along that road? fince Jericho was a city appropriated to the Levitical order, and contained no lefs than twelve thoufand attendants on the service of the temple.

How judicioufly is the principal figure circumftanced! Had the calamity befallen a Samaritan, it would have made but feeble impreffions of pity, and thofe perhaps, immediately effaced by ftronger emotions of hate. But, when it was a Jew that lay bleeding to death, the reprefentation was fure to intereft the hearer in the diftrefs, and awaken a tender concern. Had the relief been administered by a Jew, the benevolence would have fhone, but in a much fainter light. Whereas, when it came from the hands of a Samaritan, whom all the Jews had agreed to execrate, and rank with the very fiends of hell, how brighthow charmingly and irrefiftibly bright-was the luftre of fuch charity!

Let the reader confider the temper expreffed in that rancorous reflection: Thou art a Samaritan, and baft a devil, John viii. 48. -Let him compare that inveterate malevolence, with the benign and compaffionate spirit of our amiable traveller. Then let him fay, whether he ever beheld a finer or a bolder contrast? whether, upon the whole, he ever faw the ordonnance of defcriptive painting, more justly defigned, or more happily executed?

gected an expiring brother; though the priest had withheld his pity from one of the Lord's peculiar people, the very moment this Samaritan fees the unhappy fufferer, he melts into commiferation. He forgets the embittered foe, and confiders only the diftreffed fellowcreature. He fprings from his horfe, and refolves to intermit his journey. The oil and wine, intended for his own refreshment, he freely converts into healing unguents. He binds up the wounds; fets the difabled ftranger upon his own beaft; and, with all the affiduity of a fervant, with all the tendernefs of a brother, conducts him to an inn. There he depofits money for his prefent ufe; charges the hoft to omit nothing that might conduce to the recovery or comfort of his gueft; and promises to defray the whole expence of his lodging, his maintenance, and his cure.

What a lively picture this of the most difinterested and active benevolence! A benevolence which excludes no perfons, not even strangers or enemies, from its tender regards, which difdains no condefcenfion, grudges no coft, in its labour of love. Could any method of conviction have been more forcible, and at the fame time more pleafing, than the interrogatory proposed by our Lord, and deduced from the ftory? "Which now of these three, thinkeft thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" Or can there be an advice more fuitable to the occafion, more important in its nature, or expreffed with a more fententious energy, than Go thou, and do likewife? In this cafe, the learner inftructs, the delinquent condemns himfelf. Bigotry bears away its prejudice; and pride (when the moral fo fweetly, fo imperceptibly infinuates) even pride itfelf lends a willing ear to admonition.

I would beg leave to obferve farther, That the virulent animofity of the Jew difcovers itself even in the lawyer's reply; He that fberved mercy on bim. He will not fo much as name the Samaritan; cfpecially in a cafe, where he could not be named without an honourable diftinction.-So ftrongly marked, and fo exactly preferved, are the manners or diflinguifhing qualities of cach perfon, in the facred narrations!