rality, but all the revelations of God made before him*.

But further ftill. How aftonishing, and from what fource infpired, mut the mind of that man be, who could entertain fo vaft a thought in fo low a condition, as that of inftructing and reforming a whole world; a world divided between atheism and fuperftition, but univerfally abandoned to fin; of teaching the whole race of mankind to live. foberly, righteously, and godly here, and leading them on to an eternity of happiness hereafter? How contemptible a figure do they, who affected to be the conquerors of the world, make, when compared with him who undertook to be the faviour of it? Then, in the execution of this immenfe defign, what condefcenfion without meannefs, what majefty without pride, what firmnefs without obftinacy, what zeal without bitterness or enthufiafm, what piety without fuperftition; how wonderful a combination of feemingly most oppofite, if any could be oppofite, virtues; how exact a temperature of every thing great, and

For the principal and moft valuable part of the fix following pages, I am indebted to my late excellent friend and patron Archbishop Secker.

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venerable,

venerable, and lovely, in his foul! And another very important and remarkable confideration is, that all these admirable qualities appeared perfectly eafy and natural to him, and seemed not to require the leaft exertion of his mind to produce or to fupport them. And the cafe was the fame in his difcourfes and his inftructions. No emotion when he delivered the moft fublime and affecting doctrines, the most comfortable or most terrifying predictions. The prophets before him fainted and sunk under the communications which they received from above. But truths that overwhelmed the Jervants of God, were familiar to his Son. Composed on the greatest occafions, refpectable even on the leaft, he was at all times the fame; and the uniform dignity and propriety of his behaviour throughout, evidently flowed from the inbred grandeur and rectitude of his mind. Tried he was every way (and that in fo public a life perpetually) by wicked men, by the wicked one, by friends as well as by enemies; but far from being overcome, never once difconcerted, never once embarraffed, but calmly fuperior to every artifice, to every temptation, to every difficulty.

Well,

Well, then, may we afk, even after this very short and very imperfect fketch of our Saviour's character, "whence has this man. "these things, and what wisdom is this, "that is given unto him?" He had evidently none of the ufual means or opportunities of cultivating his understanding, or improving his heart. He was born in a low and indigent condition, without education, without learning, without any models to form himself upon, either in his own time, and his own country, or in any records of former ages, that were at all likely to fall into his hands. Yet, notwithstanding this, he manifefted and fupported invariably through life, fuch wifdom and fuch virtue as were never before found united, and, we may venture to fay, never will be again united in any human being. The confequence, then, is unavoidable, and one of thefe two things must be true. Either the character of our Lord, as drawn in the Gospels, must be abfolutely ideal and ficti tious, exifting no where but in the imagination of those who drew it; or else the perfon to whom it really belonged must be endowed with powers more than human. For never

did mere mortal man either speak or act as Jefus did.

If we take the former part of the alternative, and affirm, that the portrait of our Saviour, as drawn in the Gospels, is an ideal one; where, in the first place, shall we find the man that could draw it? where fhall we find the man, who, by the mere force of imagination, could invent a character at once fo abfolutely perfect, and fo truly original? The circumstances of his uniting the divine and human nature in one perfon, and of his being at one and the fame time the Meffiah of the Jews, and the Inftructor, the Redeemer, the Mediator, and the Judge of mankind, are fo very peculiar, and fo perfectly new; and yet all these feveral parts are fo well fupported, and preferved fo diftinct, and every thing our Saviour faid or did is fo admirably accommodated to each, that to form fuch a character as this, without any original to copy it from, exceeds the utmost ftretch of human invention. Even the best of the Greek and Roman writers never produced any thing to be compared with it, either in point of originality or cf excellence, though they frequently exerted themVOL. II.

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felves

felves to the utmost in forming beautiful portraits of wisdom, greatness and goodness of mind, fometimes in the way of compliment, fometimes of inftruction. But however fome. extraordinary genius, in the polite and learned nations of the world, might have fucceeded in fuch an attempt, let it be remembered that the hiftorians of Jefus were Jews, natives of a remote, and, in general, unlettered corner of the world. How came they by such extraordinary powers of invention? They have never fhewn fuch powers in any other inftance. Not

even the fublimeft of their own facred books equal, in this refpect, the hiftory of the Gospel; much lefs their apocryphal writings, much less: Philo and Jofephus, though instructed in Pagan literature and philofophy. And as to the fucceeding rabbies, they have not given the hiftory of a fingle perfon that is not over-run with wildness and abfurdity. Or if we think it poffible that one Jew, at least, might be found, who, with the help of extraordinary talents, and a better education than any of the reft ever had, might do fo much more than any of the reft ever did, what colour can there be for applying this to the EVANGELISTS, to those