grity was placed beyond a doubt-it was transparent; and that the guilt of Jesus was so evident, that to refuse to condemn him was to betray the interests of the government: "Whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cæsar;" and, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend." Such were their pretexts-mere pretexts, but they are those which have been put forth a thousand times since, and are still put forth every day. Such have ever been the pretexts of intolerant priests and persecuting bigots. They have never yet stretched out a hand to bind or to despoil a fellow creature, or a tongue to defame him, but, according to their own account, they have been influenced by the purest motives. In some instances they confess to a sincere gratification in the work of contumely and reproach, or even of spoliation and slaughter; but it is a holy joy, the fruit and recompense of successful zeal. In other cases, when the work of persecution is attended with public odium, they affect to lament their hard lot; it grieves them exceedingly to do anything that may appear harsh or unkind; but necessity is laid upon them; unhappily, these poor people are so mistaken, and at the same time so stubborn; but the law must be obeyed, and it is their duty to see it enforced; but let heaven and earth witness, the blame rests not with them, but with the contumacious violators of the law. According to the account which spiritual despots and their advocates have given of their conduct, there never has been such a thing as persecution in this world, at least, not since the murder of Abel. A great authority, for instance, gravely informs us that the sufferings of the Puritans in this country were not at all of the nature of persecution; the authors of their wrongs, the men who deprived them of their ministry, who reduced them and their families to want, who haled them before Star Chambers and High Commission Courts, who degraded them, fined them, pilloried them, branded them, numbered them with felons, and doomed them to rot in prisons, were not persecutors by any means, far from it; they were merely enforcing the law of the land! That is to say, they were simply doing what Nebuchadnezzar did when he thrust the three Hebrew youths into the fiery furnace-he inflicted the penalty they had incurred by refusing to obey the law of the land. They did just what Antiochus did to thousands of the Jews; what some of the heads of pagan Rome did to thousands of Christians; and what some of the rulers of papal Rome have done to myriads of the followers of Jesus-they punished them for not obeying the law. How exactly is the case of the persecutors of Jesus mirrored in these! The pretext has indeed been stereotyped for ages: "We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die."

We shall not, however, understand the case of the Jewish priests and rulers, unless we bear in mind that there were some things in our Lord's conduct, as well as in his position and circumstances, which they did not understand, and which they could not reconcile with his exalted claims. There were some things in our Lord's situation which must have proved serious difficulties to the most honest of his disciples, who shared the general expectations and prejudices of the Jewish nation; as, indeed, there is no providence, no truth, no revelation to which some difficulties do not attach; nothing connected with man's highest interests respecting which it can be said to doubt is

impossible; for what is it of which some men have not doubted? Not unfrequently must the most enlightened and honest of our Lord's disciples have felt themselves placed in this position-satisfied, on various grounds, of the truth of his high claims, they allowed many difficulties to adjust themselves, and many obscurities to disappear, as the light grew stronger and brighter. Our Lord was, in his views and in his conduct, so completely before his age, that there were none who could thoroughly sympathise with him-none who could entirely understand him. Who can wonder, therefore, if those who had no spiritual illumination, whose noblest faculty-that by which man apprehends the spiritual and the divine-was wholly unexercised, and yet were so lost in conceit, that they took all their notions to be everlasting truths, and all their prejudices to be the perfection of reason; who thought that they were the authorised teachers of the world, and had themselves nothing to learn-who can wonder if these misunderstood the Redeemer, and easily fell into the sin of misrepresenting him? Jesus was of Nazareth; but they said, "Out of Galilee there ariseth no prophet." They thought the Messiah would come suddenly, mysteriously, no one could tell whence or how; but they knew Jesus, whence he was; they knew him and his humble parentage; he was the son of the carpenter, and his mother, and his brethren and sisters, were with them. Struck with his stupendous miracles, some said, "When Christ cometh, will he do greater miracles than these which this man doeth? It is scarcely possible; may not this then be the Christ? But they replied again, We know this man, whence he is; but when the Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is." That his success was almost exclusively amongst the common people was to the rulers a scandal, and a clear proof that his pretensions were not valid. "Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him? but this people, that knoweth not the law, are accursed." They took it to be indisputable that Messiah was a prince; of course there could be no prince but such as they imagined and wished; but Jesus was not a prince, he was a peasant, and the companion of peasants. The Messiah was to continue always; but Jesus was mortal like themselves. The Mosaic economy was permanent; but Jesus spoke of its termination, and of the introduction of another. Religion consisted in a scrupulous attention to rites and ceremonies; but Jesus seemed to make light of them-" What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" There were some of the observances to which they attached religious importance, which Jesus scrupled not to represent as worthless. Even the divine law of the Sabbath he seemed to them to violate; he was a sinner, unquestionably a sinner, because he healed on the Sabbath day; he broke the law of the Sabbath himself, and enjoined its violation on others.

These difficulties were not insuperable; some of them originated in ignorance, and others in error. None of them were such as could offend a pure heart, a divinely enlightened mind. They were offences only to the carnal and the superstitious. Those who felt that religion consists in harmony of mind, and feeling, and conduct, with the will of God, were never offended in Jesus; his character approved itself at once to their minds; they could not fail to see in him a divinely mis

sioned man. But the superstitious, who thought that religion consisted in the maintenance of a creed, in attendance on a round of ceremonies, or in an outward connexion with a certain community, could not understand him, and were often offended at him. To the chief priests and rulers, to whom, for the reasons which we have already mentioned, Jesus was exceedingly offensive, these difficulties would appear very serious. Then they would dwell upon them until their minds became as darkened as their hearts were perverted. They would look at them until they could see nothing else, or until they saw everything through their medium.

All bigots and persecutors have their difficulties, no less than the Jewish priests and rulers; they have their ideas of truth and right; and, their notions being generally traditional-what they have received from others, and not the result of their own anxious and prayerful inquiries-they cannot hold them with the firmness of conviction, joined to the forbearance of charity; but they held them in a spirit of blind credulity united to a feeling of infallibility. They are, for the most part, strangers to an affectionate and honest pursuit of truth; that is a state of mind which they do not understand; and as they have never examined any subject with care and candour, they have no idea of the difficulties which attach to it; they cannot conceive of any doubts respecting it; and whosoever expresses them, is regarded at once with surprise and horror. As they know not what it is to have their views enlarged, or in any way modified by a more careful or extended inquiry, they cannot conceive how any one can think but just as they do; they have no mercy for him, unless he comes precisely to their standard and stops there. To differ even about the propriety of a word is seriously to offend. And their intolerance will not fail to manifest itself in the way which best accords with the usages of the age in which they live. If it be the custom to burn as heretics those who are conscious that they have souls, and who think for themselves, then they shall be burned; but if, to relieve the spiritual powers of the odium of persecution, it be thought desirable to imprison and hang them as felons, then they shall be imprisoned and hanged; but if the spirit of the age will not allow either of these methods of punishing conscientiousness, then they shall be calumniated and abused in every way which law and custom do permit.

Melancholy illustrations of this present themselves on every side. How many honest, well-meaning men there are in this country, who cannot even conceive of dissent from the prevalent ecclesiastical system as the result of enlightened religious conviction, and who cannot listen with common patience to those who complain of being compelled, under the penalty of spoliation or imprisonment, to support a system from which they derive no benefit, and with which they can conscientiously have no connexion.

But let no man think that bigots and persecutors of any grade have a distinct and full impression of their own character; that they see and feel, with the apostle Paul, that they are blasphemers, and persecutors, and injurious. Probably, it would be difficult to find one amongst the countless herds of them who would not denounce persecutors, and who would not think it impossible that such should be his

character. And they have all their pretexts and their difficulties; the points on which they dwell, and by means of which they succeed in blinding their own minds.

The same thing is constantly occurring in the ordinary affairs of life. An individual attaches himself to a party, civil or ecclesiastical; he approves their principles-their professions are sincere and their conduct is just. But his brethren differ from him in opinion, it may be, on some very trifling point; or he is offended with some individual member of the society; or he thinks it may be more profitable for him, or that he will gain greater credit, or rise to higher honours, or be felt to be of greater importance in another community. He is, therefore, alienated from his old friends. From that hour he views their proceedings with a jaundiced eye; he misunderstands, he misrepresents them all; and not only so, but even those measures which were adopted while he was connected with them-the very things which he was accustomed most highly to commend-are now denounced. We are at times strongly tempted to ask some of these gentlemen, "What, then! is that party, with which you were connected, changed in its principles, or in its practices?" Why, humhah-no-I cannot exactly say that they are changed." "Then, I suppose, since you condemn the whole character of their proceedings, your views must have undergone a serious change?" Oh, no! I am not changed; not at all." Ah! I really am unable to understand you; you confess the party which you have deserted are unchanged; and you are unchanged; and yet you admired them once, and you condemn them now. It may seem a rude thing to say, but it really appears to me, that either you were sadly befooled formerly, when you were so loud in your praises of them; or that you are under some strange influence just now." Then, perhaps, he endeavours to justify himself, and to account for it all by saying, that he never did, at any time, very cordially approve the party; thus belying, in one breath, the professions of perhaps ten or twenty years.

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It is scarcely necessary to remark, that these marvellous changes frequently take place with reference to persons as well as to parties. We have often seen them in relation to favourite authors, actors, politicians, preachers, friends. The change is sometimes strikingly complete. Everything appears now the very opposite of what it once did. The very words and tones which were once so gratifying, are now indicative of nothing but moroseness, and excite nothing but displeasure. The very actions which used to be regarded as the index of an upright mind, and of a noble heart, now show only a proud or a perverse spirit. These marvellous changes sometimes originate in circumstances the most trivial; and sometimes in circumstances not the most creditable to the subject of them. But in exact proportion as they are either trivial or discreditable, must they be concealed from others, and, if possible, from his own mind. And now, see how he dwells on his pretexts; and assiduously endeavours to lose sight of the real cause of his change of mind and feeling. At times he dwells on something, so unimportant in itself, or so obviously capable of explanation, that every candid man perceives at once, that if his mind were not twisted and perverted, he could find no ground of offence in it. Sometimes things

are mentioned as the cause of the alienation which occurred weeks, or months, nay, it may be even years, before there was any change; and then there was nothing thought of them. Sometimes that is mentioned as the cause, or at least as affording a justification, of the change, which took place some time after the alienation had been made manifest. Men are often alienated from a party or from a person, either without a cause, or for some cause which they know it would not redound to their credit to mention; and they want some excuse for an open separation. They are, therefore, looking out for pretexts in every direction; and it is a hard case indeed, if the devil, and their own fruitful genius, do not furnish them with, at least, a tolerable one, in the course of some months. Oh! what, under the influence of such a spirit of this-what will not men see-what will they not say? Under the influence of this spirit, the Jewish priests and rulers saw in the prophet of Nazareth an enemy to the Roman government; in the holy one of God, a blasphemer; and, in incarnate Deity, a devil.

THE PRETEXTS which men put forth are sometimes the very opposite of the motives by which they are really influenced. They are fully aware that their real motives, if made known to the world, would expose them to scorn and contempt; they not only conceal these, but they put forth pretexts which would raise them to dignity as men of honour, of piety, of disinterested virtue. Thus the Jewish priests and rulers were really the envious haters of superior worth; but by the pretexts which they assume, they represent themselves as the disinterested supporters of law and religion. Thus also the masters of the Pythoness, at Philippi, were really influenced in their opposition to Paul and Silas, by disappointed avarice; by vexation and rage, that their unjust gains were at an end. But in the accusation which they preferred against the apostles, before the magistrates, not a word escapes them on this subject. They are men of disinterested patriotism and piety; their concern is only for the laws and customs of the empire; a sordid thought has not once, in relation to this business, crossed their minds. Thus also many slave-owners would have us believe that they are the most disinterested people in the world. They talk of the comforts of the slaves, and of the care which is taken of them; they contrast their happy state with the penury and wretchedness of the peasantry of many civilised and free countries; they say, What would become of these poor creatures if they were liberated? they would be thrown loose upon the world, without a soul to care for them; and then, with the empty name of freedom, they would suffer greater evils than they had ever known in a state of bondage. One would really think that these gentlemen were the most disinterested friends of humanity the world ever saw; and that they were influenced only by solicitude for the poor negro. Pretexts fine pretextsunhappily, nothing but pretexts; the real motive being still the love of gain.

In this country we have sometimes a very offensive, and sometimes a very amusing, illustration of the disposition to put forth fine pretexts in order to cover unworthy motives. Application is made on behalf of a benevolent or religious object. Perhaps the person applied to cannot conveniently give; but this his pride will not allow him to admit; or