As the Great Exemplar to his people, Christ is not less sufficient or perfect than as their atoning sacrifice and mediator. In him the due submissiveness of youth displayed its fairest graces. He taught how poverty might dignify itself by contentment, nobleness of demeanour, and sacred duties. The power which he possessed was infinitely greater than that of the combined potentates of the earth; and the manner in which he kept it under the constant control of pure wisdom and benevolence, instructs the mightiest in their duty. Nor was he without rich stores of wealth. His poverty was a voluntary subjection to need. The abundance of the earth waited on his will to use it. At a word, Mammon must have given up the possession of his stores, and yielded them to Jesus:the temple, magnificent as it was, knew no other master; and to no other prince but him did the Jews owe tribute. But had he used his wealth, he could not have effected the design for which he became man. He withheld his hand, therefore, from the treasures which it might so instantly have grasped he did not allow himself to gather wealth about him, though it might have been employed for the purpose of relieving the poor and afflicted. It was his will-and highest wisdom doubtlessly furnished the reasons for his so doing-to sanctify every other way of doing good more conspicuously than he did the use of wealth. This affords a very

solemn lesson against the love of riches, or the too anxious pursuit of them on any plea whatever; and the rich man who truly believes in, and loves the Redeemer, must needs feel tremblingly awake to his responsibility in the use of wealth, when hist Lord so manifestly neglected it even as an instrument of good.

The value of Scripture is not always duly estimated even by devout believers. It is commonly read in large masses; and one set of circumstances or of doctrines is so exclusively sought for in these wide excursions over the surface of revelation, that the depths are rarely sounded, or those signs observed which indicate the presence of hidden treasures. Were the information contained in Scripture to be estimated by the length of the record, it would be rightly regarded as limited and imperfect; for there never was a book which professed to give particular information on topics so various and important as those of Scripture, in so short a compass. The true reason of this is found in the apostolic maxim, that the letter profiteth nothing— it is the Spirit that giveth life.

Thus the annals of the gospel require to be weighed with the utmost attention. Every thought Christ expressed was an embodied ray of light from the innermost recesses of divine wisdom; and, light itself, it sheds a heavenly lustre on the soul which receives it. As the word of God, he made

manifest the will, the reasons, the decrees of God; but his mode of revealing the mind of his Father was not confined to direct addresses. He taught by his miracles and his actions, as well as by words; and the wise reader of Scripture, therefore, studies his history with a minute attention to each particular in the narrative. The combination of circumstances in the divine life is itself a wonderful subject for contemplation. There is its deep tranquillity-the peace which passeth understanding, giving grace and sweetness to every word and gesture. There is its active charity-girding up the loins for any exertion, and giving wings to the feet. Then come its manifold hopefulness of disposition-shedding an air of joyousness over its stayed and serious deportment:-its wisdom, which bestows dignity on the mildest of its virtues, and power on the least of its resolves:-its humility, that meet preparation for all the sympathies of universal brotherhood:-its magnanimity, subduing every artifice of selfishness, and inspiring resolution sufficient to overcome the powers of darkness: —its fortitude, giving strength to suffer:-its patience, instructing to forbear :—and, finally, its holiness, bestowing on every tendency of nature the character of a spiritual and godlike attribute. This combination of heavenly graces is to be traced in every child of heaven; but the divine lineaments show only faintly through the veil of mor

tality: a ray of light does sometimes dart upwards from the depths of the purified soul, and gives a startling and affecting distinctness to one or the other of the features of the inward character; but the illuminating grace passes quickly away, and leaves behind it only a dim impression in the minds of men, that there is in human nature, in its best state, something angelical and divine.

Unlike the evanescent beauty of mere moral holiness, the perfection of Christ's character shines with a steady and unchangeable lustre. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.' In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' This is the sublime language of the Spirit when he draws the portraiture of the Son of God; and we may learn, therefrom, that the study of his character demands the exercise of our best faculties. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in Jesus Christ, are like the most beautiful laws and mysteries of nature working in the bosom of the material universe; and as these reveal themselves not to the idle gazer, nor give comfort to a weak superstition, wondering at their phenomena, so neither are the essential graces of our Lord's character discoverable by the negligent observer. Infidels have acknowledged that he was venerable for his virtues; and the general impression left upon the mind by early reading, clings to many a heart that has lost all other sense of Chris

tianity, but that of reverence for the character of Christ. It is only, however, when not the letter merely but the spirit of his character is contemplated that its beauty is discovered, or its exemplary perfection made intelligible to the soul. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his and, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.' In which sentence we see the study of his example brought under the same spiritual rules as that of every other branch of evangelical theology; and the example made practicably imitable by the assignment of its mysterious perfection to a cause sufficient for the effect, and one of which the force is ever communicable and extending.

The example of Christ can lose none of its interest or utility by the lapse of time, or any change in customs or opinions. It belongs to all ages; it applies to every sharer in the common nature of man. No circumstance of rank, no peculiarity of disposition, no advantage or disadvantage of mind, can deprive a human being of the hope, or emancipate him from the obligation, of becoming conformable to the image of Christ. This universality of his example depends on the same grand principle as the limitless efficacy of his atoning sacrifice. His human nature had no restricting peculiarity: it was perfect; embracing every feature and property of the human personality, and thereby ren