be that was dead, fat up and began to SERM. Speak; and be delivered him to his mother*, The whole. fcene of raifing Lazarus from the grave, places our Saviour's fympathy in the strongest light. As foon as he came among the mourning friends, although he knew the caufe of their mourning was fpeedily to be removed, he could not forbear partaking of, their forrow; He groaned and was troubled in fpirit; and when surrounded by a crowd in tears, he approached to to the grave of his deceased friend, it is exprefsly recorded to the eternal honour of his feelings, Jefus wept; and the Fews faid, Behold how he loved him! In like manner, when, for the last time, he was about to enter into Jerufalem, though the certain knowledge of all the cruelties which were prepared for him there, would have filled the breaft of any ordinary perfon with indignation and hatred, instead of such emotions, the fore * Luke, vii, 12-16. † John, xi. 35. F 2 fight SERM. fight of the direful calamities which III. hung over that devoted city melted his heart; and when he drew near to it and beheld it, he wept; pouring forth that pathetic lamentation; O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft the Prophets and ftoneft them that are fent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes*! Thus, as a man, he indulged all the amiable feelings of our nature, teaching us that it is our duty to regulate our paffions, not to extirpate them. Such was Jefus of Nazareth, the founder of our religion. A part only of his character I have now attempted to delineate many other of his eminent graces and virtues have been left in III. the fhade. But in what we have now SERM. contemplated of his behaviour as a man among men, we behold a perfect model of the conduct we ought to hold in the ordinary intercourse of society with one another. We have feen him attentive to every opportunity of being beneficent and useful; in his behaviour to all men, affable and obliging; to his friends, faithful and indulgent; to his enemies, generous and forgiving; to the diftreffed, full of tendernefs and compaffion. I might also have dwelt upon the peaceable spirit he difplayed on all occafions; his respect, as a fubject, to the civil laws and government of his country; difcouraging a factious and mutinous fpirit; paying tribute when demanded; exhorting his followers to render unto Cefar the things which are Cefar's, as unto God those which are God's. Enough has been faid to thew what a bleffing it would prove to the world, if this illuftrious example were generally followed. Men would then become happy in all their 1 III. This world would be a bleffed dwel ling; and the fociety of human beings on earth, would approach to the joy and peace of the focieties of the just in heaven. The Spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear? IV. THERE are are two claffes of goods S ERM. and evils belonging to man; thofe `which refpect his corporeal, and those which refpect his fpiritual state.Whatever is of an external nature, is fufficiently the object of attention to all men. In the health and vigour of the body, and in the flourishing state of worldly fortune, all rejoice; and whatever diminishes the one or the other, is immediately felt and lamented. Thefe are |