active faculties, doth he tempt any man, above what he is able to bear.

There remains for our consideration, one important practical lesson, which is obviously to be derived from the subject before us.

When the public ministry of Christ has once begun, we find a busy, and crowded narrative; in which, new incidents and events, new precepts and examples, are continually presented to our view. It would, certainly, be impossible to find a mere human history, which unites such diversity of incident, with such fulness of detail; and, perhaps, there is no case in ordinary life, which is not met by some gospel lesson. But, for the earlier years of life, our Lord has left no special rules. All that we are told, is, that, during his youth, he was obedient: as though the whole virtue of his youth consisted in obedience; as though the affection of natural guardians, and the care of their delegates, and the wisdom of the state, had so sheltered and fenced in the season of his minority, that nothing was necessary on his part, but humility to learn, and cheerfulness to acquiesce. In filling up the chasm of the history, we may exercise our fancies, as we please: but all that we can know of the matter, is, that, during his early years, our Lord was obedient to his guardians. How much is implied in this one word, obedient? How entirely does it exclude obstinacy or presumption? How foreign is it from that confidence, which spurns control, and which abounds in its own sense? We do not

see Christ too wise to learn, too impatient to deliberate, or too forward to be restrained. He knew, that he was destined to achieve a mighty enterprise the business of his Father, was ever before his mind; it was the ruling passion of his soul; yet, he did not, with precipitate eagerness, rush forward to its accomplishment; he suffered no impetuosity of juvenile ardour to anticipate, by a single day, the appointed fulness of the time. He knew, that it was ordained for him, to contend with the confederate powers of darkness. He knew, that a day would come, when his utmost strength would be put to the proof; when he should almost pray for deliverance, from further trial; when he should almost feel sensible of destitution, by his heavenly Father. Now, if we go to the book of inspiration, and ask what Christ did, to prepare himself for this conflict; we shall be told, that, for thirty, out of three and thirty years, he lived in a state of retirement, and obedience to those, with whom, by the order of Providence, he was connected. Nor is it only in his private and early life, that our Lord thus enforces, by his practice, the great principle of submission to authority. Even when he had gone forth on that stupendous mission, which was to change the aspect of the world, he manifests the same regard for what is constituted. He shows this reverence for established usages, in cases, where the closest scrutiny will fail to discover any personal cause for his acquiescence. He was the Lamb of God,

without blemish of sin; yet, he received from John, the baptism unto repentance. He came to found a Church, which was to overturn the church of the Jews: yet he frequented the worship, and observed the rites, of the national religion and he enforced attention, to its corrupt ministers, so long as they were permitted to continue in the chair of Moses. Thus, we have infallible proof, that it is possible to keep ourselves unspotted from the world; and at the same time, to accommodate our general demeanour, to the institutions, the customs, and, in some instances perhaps, even to the prejudices of those around us. Much is now said, about the right of private opinion; about the duty, of thinking and acting for ourselves. Did our Lord, in his own life, that life which is to be our model, did he show any such impatience, to vindicate this right; any such zeal, to enforce this duty? If ever there was a state of things, which seemed, irresistibly, to call for the interference of private men, it was that which then existed in Judea. The glory and the purity of her church were gone her common-wealth was, in its foreign relations, subject to a proud stranger; and, in its domestic polity, groaning under fraud and spoliation. In such days, and for such a man, it would have been easy to acquire the title of a patriot. But he does not look for it. Yet, our Lord loved his country he wept over Jerusalem; and how often would he have gathered her children, even as a hen gathereth her offspring under her wings!

The application of his blessed example, to our own persons, and our own times, is important to us all but it is particularly necessary to the young amongst us; they are arrived at that dangerous period, when the guidance from without, begins to fail; and when the light from inward reflection and experience, is but faint and ineffectual. Whither, then, should you turn yourselves, but to that true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world? Do this, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the eternal Wisdom of the Father, will bless you in your pursuits; and, above all things, will bring you to the knowledge of Him, whom to know is life eternal: and, after the example of his own most Holy Childhood, you will grow in wisdom, as you grow in years, and in favour with God and Man.

166

DISCOURSE IV.

SAINT JOHN, II. 4.

Mine hour is not yet come.

It is a circumstance, most interesting in itself, and most important in its consequences, that, amidst the many and conflicting hypotheses which have been entertained, respecting the authority of our Saviour's mission, and the dignity of his nature, there should have been a striking unanimity of opinion, concerning his personal character.

In the first ages, though some corrupters of Christianity denied that Christ was the Son of God; and though several, by a mistaken zeal, were carried so far, as to frame spurious gospels in support of their errors; all were overawed by the majestic sanctity of his life and manners, all held back from profaning it, by derogatory fictions. Thus, some denied the incarnation of Christ; but it was because they could not imagine, that a being so holy had, indeed, partaken of the infirmities of our nature. Others, from similar motives, denied his passion and death: they held, that his unparalleled righteousness was rewarded by immediate translation into heaven; and that Judas, or some other person, was executed in his place. Such suppositions we know to be unfounded; but they show,