the ocean of life, he knows that over him their vehemence has no power. And, though his nature be dark and wavering, and though the shore to which his course is directed, be sometimes shrouded in disheartening obscurity, he still subdues the rising apprehension; and commits his spirit to that good guidance, which has been promised, and which will not be withheld. Sorrow may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning: and his doubts, and his fears vanish, before the sunbeams of eternity.

Oculorum, inquit Plato, sensus est acerrimus, quibus sapientiam non cernimus: quam illa ardentes amores excitaret sui, si videretur!

Si ipsam honestatem undique perfectam et absolutam, rem unam præclarissimam omnium maximeque laudandam, penitus viderent, quonam gaudio complerentur !

CICERO.

125

DISCOURSE I.

SAINT LUKE, 11. 46.

After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

Ir was a saying of the wiser heathen, that, if moral beauty could be embodied and presented to the view, it would kindle the warmest and most affectionate emotions. At the first reading or hearing of this sentiment, one almost exclaims, that philosophy, too, has had its prophecies of the Messiah. And were not man calamitously heedless of his better nature, it would be indeed a prophecy. God has performed his part; performed it in a manner so transcendently glorious, that the angels may well desire to look into the mystery. The other part depends upon ourselves: and who can disguise from his own heart, how fearfully little he has contributed to its accomplishment?

Man has no longer to plead the absence, of an object, for his purer affections; of an end, for his holier desires; of a model and a support, for his higher aspirations and endeavours. All these are found, in the person, and the character, of the

Lord our righteousness. He, who has humbly and affectionately acquainted himself with Christ, has not only mastered the whole science of morals, but has also acquired aids and motives for practical attainment, which no mere moral system, at any conjuncture, has even professed to furnish. The human nature of the Son of God, is not only the appointed standard of our actions, but the great sacrament of our faith; it is, at once, the pledge of Divine Grace, and the medium through which, according to our various wants and weaknesses, that grace is distributed. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. What he was on earth, is the assurance and the specimen of what he is in heaven: and this immutability of his adorable character, is the foundation of our hopes, and the charter of our privileges. He has still a feeling of our infirmities. The Christian, therefore, knows, that no just wish is unheeded; no true comfort is withheld; no circumstances, out of which can accrue good or evil, are permitted, without his all-gracious superintendence, and almighty control.

But duly to appreciate these great benefits, we must set before us, habitually and distinctly, the spirit and demeanour of our blessed Lord. Human nature is but little affected by generalities. It is not enough, that we contemplate, in the fulness of its glory, that moral Schechinah which shines out in the gospel. Each particular word and action of our Saviour sends forth its own characteristic