that is, to give a more particular Account of our Saviour's Life, as it was defigned for an Example to us; and to draw fome fort of Picture of him, as to those Virtues and Qualities which he was most eminent and remarkable for, and in which he chiefly proposed himself to our Imitation, and most earnestly to recommend them to your

Practice.

And indeed very great Benefits and Advantages fhall we reap to ourselves by ferioufly employing our Thoughts and Meditations upon this Subject. Oh! what a mighty Check would the frequent Confideration of our Saviour's holy and immacufate Life give to the Temptations of Vice and Luft, with which we are daily affaulted; and how powerful a Spur and Incitement would it be to us, vigorously to purfue all manner of Virtue and Holinefs! We fhould think no Attainments too big for our Courage and Endeavour, fo long as we had but the Holy Jefus before our Eyes. To confider what Victories he obtain'd against Sin and the World, and the Kingdom of Darknefs, would infpire us with Refolutions worthy of thofe that pretend to be the Followers of fo great a Master: Nay, we should not only receive Encouragement, but also very confiderable Affiftances and Directions for the Conduct of ourfelves in this Chriftian Warfare, from a

due

due Confideration of this Example of Chrift. If we were thoroughly inftructed in the Spirit and Temper of our Saviour, it would be hard to impofe upon us with any falfe Notions of Religion, or new-fangled Modes of Worship. We fhould be able to give every Duty its juft Value, and not be apt, as it too frequently happens, to lay a greater Strefs upon fome Things than God has laid upon them, and to make others more inconfiderable than they really are in God's Account. In a Word, we fhould not want a very good and ufeful Rule to fteer our felves by in all Cases and Circumstances that we happen to be engaged in, where the exprefs Laws of God feem either to be short, or too obfcure. Let us all therefore be diligent and frequent in reading the Gospels of the New Teftament, wherein the Hiftory of our Saviour's Life is recorded. And let us from hence thoroughly acquaint our felves with the Manner of his Converfation, and obferve what a Perfon he was; what kind of Genius and Difpofition he had; what were the great Ends and Defigns he pursued in all his Actions ; what Duties of Religion he was moft zealous in; how in fuch and fuch Occurrences he behaved himself: And when we have fo done, let us, in thefe Things, feriously propose him to our Imitation; fo fhall we not fail of the aforefaid Benefits.

Now,

44

Now, if we confult thofe facred Writers, we cannot, in the first place, avoid obferving how devout a Perfon our Saviour was; and that both in publick and private. Of his Devotions in publick he gave a very carly Inftance, when being brought to Ferufalem by his Parents (which was when The was but twelve Years old) he conftantly frequented the Temple: That was the Place where they found him after they had three Days miffed him, being in their Journey homewards. And when they told him how long they had been seeking him, and feemed to complain that he had abfented himself from them, his Anfwer is very remarkable, Luke ii. 49. How is it, faith he, that ye fought me? Wift ye not that I muft be in my Father's Houfe? Our Translation doth indeed render it, Wift ye not that I must be about my Father's Bufinefs? this Senfe, in the Judgment of the most learned Criticks, doth not fo well fuit with the Signification of the Words: The Phrase ἐν τοῖς τὸ πατρίς με, being moft naturally to be expounded in my Father's House; and fo fome of the beft Interpreters, both antient and modern, have tranflated it. This then is our Saviour's Answer: Ye needed not, O my Parents, have gone far to feek me; for if ye had well confidered either the Office I am defigned for, or the Duty I owe to my heavenly Father, ye might

But

eafily have concluded that his House, his holy Temple, was the Place where ye might have found me, it being there that my Business chiefly lies. And what he

now declared, he made good in his Practice all his Life after. He was constantly prefent at the publick Affemblies appointed by Law for the Worship of God in all Places where he had his Abode. Nor do we ever find, that either he himself held separate religious Meetings from the eftablished Jewish Church, or encouraged others fo to do. On the contrary, when he was in the Country, he failed not to frequent the Synagogues on the Sabbath-day, which were the Places of publick Worship there. And when he was at Jerufalem, he was, as he himself tells us, daily in the Temple: tho' yet he knew that the Synagogue Worfhip was not commanded by any exprefs Law of God, but was only of human Inftitution. And as for the Temple, tho' it was a Place of Worship of God's own Appointment, yet he knew, and declared that the Service of it was juft upon the Point of expiring, and that the Time was coming when Men should no longer worship there, John iv.

How religious was he in obferving all the folemn Festivals of the Jewish Church, not only those that were of God's Appointment, (as the Sabbaths, and the three great VOL. V. Feafts

A a

Feasts of the Paffover, Pentecoft, and the Tabernacles) but thofe alfo that had no other Authority but what the Laws of the Land could give them? As we have an Inftance in the Feaft of the Dedication, for the folemnizing of which we find our Saviour making a Journey to Jerufalem, tho' yet that Feftival was only of human Appointment. John x. 22.

How zealous an Afferter was he of the reverent Ufage of Places devoted to God's Service? for he would not endure that the Houfe of God fhould be put to a common Ufe, but whipped out thofe that bought and fold in the Temple (tho' yet it was only fuch Things they bought and fold as were for Sacrifices and Oblations to God) declaring that the Houfe of God was a House of Prayer to all Nations, and therefore ought not to be made a Place of Merchandize.

How ready was he to fubmit to all the Rates and Taxes that were impofed for the Repairs of the Temple, and the defraying of the Charges of the publick Worship there? infomuch, that tho' he was very poor, and was befides a privileged Perfon, yet he would be at the Expence of a Miracle rather than not pay the half Shekel that was demanded of every Son of Ifrael, as a Tribute to the Houfe of God. Matt. xvii. 24.

Any