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20, 21.) Even His own countrymen were offended with Him, for the same reason: (Matt. xiii. 54-57. Mark vi. 3.)

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Our Lord knew that this behaviour would provoke the Pharisees, and other persons of respectability, to seek His death; and that they would succeed. Some of His Disciples seem to have been amazed at the freedom with which He spake; and to have thought, that He could not be aware how greatly He was offending those, towards whom worldly policy would have dictated a more conciliatory deportment. But He corrects their misapprehension, and takes pains to make them understand that He acted upon better principles: (Matt. xv. 12-20.) Peter, disappointed at his Lord's prediction of the many things He was about to suffer from the Elders, and Chief-priests, and Scribes, even unto death, "took Him, and began to rebuke Him; saying, 'Be it far from Thee, Lord! this shall not be unto Thee.' But He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art an offence unto Me:" Why? "for. thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men:" (Id. xvi. 21-23. xvii. 12, 22, 23. xx. 17-19. Mark viii. 31—33. &c.) Peter, at this moment under the influence of the god of this world, would have

suggested to his Master a mode of proceeding like that which the Jesuits have pursued in India; for this, he hoped, would ensure for Him and His Disciples a more favourable reception. But our Lord's sharp rebuke of that Apostle teaches us, that such measures proceed from motives inconsistent with the principles of the Gospel, and in opposition to that disinterestedness and impartiality with which it is to be proclaimed. This Peter well understood, when under the influence of the Holy Ghost: · (Acts ii. iii, iv. and x,)

Our Lord's example, in this respect, may be placed in a still more striking point of view. There is not a greater difference between the Brahmin and Pariah, or even Chuckler, than there was between the Pharisees and Samaritans. The latter were regarded by all the Israelites as the most odious of men; despised by them, under the notion that they were possessed by the Devil; and all intercourse with them was carefully avoided. Yet we find, that Christ conversed with a Samaritan Harlot, and with all her countrymen who resorted to Him for instruction, as freely as with a Pharisee-a Master and Teacher in Israel: (John iii. and iv.)

In short, Jesus Christ neither rejected nor

gave a preference to any that sought Him in sincerity of heart. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. All were lost. But it was necessary for them to feel and deplore their hopeless state, before they could apply to Him for salvation in a right disposition of mind. The Pharisees, like the Brahmins, "trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." It was necessary that this feeling should be invertedthat they should learn to "repent in dust and ashes," and "esteem others better than themselves"-before they could become proper subjects for the mercy of Him who was "meek and lowly in heart." But that would never have been the case, had our Lord treated them as the Roman-Catholic Missionaries have behaved towards the Brahmins. The pride of both must be subdued; they must be converted and become as little children, before they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven: (Matt. xvii. 1, &c.)

The Saviour, instead of commanding His Disciples to continue to regard the Pharisees &c. with that respect which they had been accustomed to pay them, expressly cautioned them against being led astray by their influence and doctrines: (Matt. xvi. 5—12.)

Like his Divine Master, St. Paul paid no

more respect to the Pharisees, as such, than to the most illiterate, vulgar, and disreputable part of the Jews, or even the Gentiles. He was himself a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; and had more reason for glorying in temporal distinctions than most of his countrymen: (Phil. iii. 4—6.) But he never at

tempted, upon this plea, to recommend himself, or the Gospel, to his own, or any other Sect. He rather gloried in his infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him (2 Cor. xii. 9.); and that in direct opposition to the Pseudo-apostles mentioned in the preceding chapter of that Epistle, who seem to have adopted the very method which the Jesuits pursued in India, and for which they are there condemned.

The object of St. Paul, like that of Christ, was to preach the Gospel with such simplicity, that it might commend itself to every man's conscience by its own intrinsic merits. Were it clothed in classic language, and promulgated by a person of eminence, it would, doubtless, render it more acceptable to the higher classes: but for that very reason he divested it of human decorations, knowing the propensity of the mind to be attracted by a fair exterior of Religion, and to mistake an approbation of a Preacher and

his style, for an approval of his sacred message. He was well aware, also, that a flowing diction, high-sounding titles, and courtly manners, were calculated to blind the understanding against those parts of the Gospel which are most objectionable to the pride of man; but which must be subdued, before the doctrines and precepts of the New Testament can be rightly understood or faithfully obeyed. Our Apostle did not affect to undervalue human acquirements; and on several occasions he shewed that he knew how to employ them, when expedient, to promote the glory of his Lord. But he was cautious lest they should operate against that simplicity of faith and singleness of heart, which are indispensable to a correct understanding and sincere acceptation of the terms of the Gospel Covenant. We may easily suppose, then, how he would have abhorred the thought of assuming a fictitious character, as the Jesuits have done in India, for the purpose of imposing upon any description of men!

The very circumstance of our Lord's selecting illiterate and obscure Individuals, for the first Teachers of the Gospel, shews how contrary His design was to the policy of the Roman-Catholic Missionaries. Hu

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