neglected or performed works of charity; works which flow from the great principles of faith and piety, and which the very Heathens are, by the light of nature, invited to perform. But we must not understand that such works merited this favour from the Judge; no, all who are acquitted at that day, whether Heathens or Christians, shall be acquitted solely on account of the righteousness of Christ, the true, the only meritorious cause. Good men can at best but consider their present state as a banishment from their native country. A state in which they are often exposed to innumerable temptations, to persecutions, to poverty, to reproach, to contempt. But the consideration that they are travelling towards the heavenly Jerusalem, a city prepared for them, when the foundations of the world were laid, will be abundantly sufficient to support their spirits, and render them more than conquerors. The glory laid up for them in the mansions. of eternity, and which the great Judge will, at the awful day of accounts, confer upon them, will animate them to bear the violences of their oppressors, and even defy the malice of men and devils. Nay, they will behold with contempt the flourishing prosperity of the wicked, and look forward to that glo rious and immortal crown, which will be given them by their great Redeemer. "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." Matt. 34, &c. The enraptured and amazed soul shall then ask, with great reverence and humility, when they performed these services? as they never saw him in want, and therefore could not assist him. "Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee: or thirsty, and gave thee drink? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick and in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer, and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matt. XXV. 37, &c. This is truly astonishing! The united wisdom of men and angels could never have discovered a more proper method to convey an idea of the warmth and force of the divine benevolence to the sons of men, or offer a more forcible motive to charity, than that the Son of God should, from his seat of judgment, in presence of the whole race of mankind, and all the hosts of blessed spirits from the courts of heaven, declare that all good offices done to the afflicted are done to himself. During the time of his dwelling with human nature in this vale of tears, he suffered unspeakable injuries and afflictions: and therefore he considers all the distressed virtuous, as members of his body, loves them with the utmost tenderness, and is so greatly interested in their welfare, that. he rejoices when they are happy, and grieves, when they are distressed. Perhaps the true reason why the grand inquiry shall rest solely on the performance of duties is, that men, generally speaking, consider the neglect of duties as a matter of no great consequence, but dread the commission of crimes. And hence it happens, that while they keep themselves free from the latter, they easily find excuses for the former. And as there is not a more pernicious error, with regard to religion and morality, than this, the blessed Jesus thought proper to give such an account of the judgment, as should prove the most solemn caution against it. But as the inquiry turns wholly on the performance of the duties of charity, it has been asked why the offices of charity only are mentioned, and no notice taken of the duties of piety; though the Judge himself, upon another occasion, declared these to be of more importance than the duties of charity so highly applauded in this parable? But those who ask this question would do well to remember, that piety and charity cannot subsist separately: pety, and its original faith, always producing charity; and charity, wherever it subsists, necessarily pre-suppos. ing piety. The connection between piety and charity will evidently appear, if it be considered, that no man can be truly benevolent and merciful without loving those dispositions. Consequently, he must love benevolence in God, that is, he must love God; for piety, or the love of God, is nothing else but the regard we cherish towards God, on account of his perfections. Piety and charity, being thus essentially connected together, it was abundantly sufficient to examine the conduct of men, with regard to either of those graces. In the parable, the inquiry is represented as turning upon the duties of charity, perhaps because in this branch of goodness there is less room for self-deceit than in the other. It is common for hypocrites, by a pretended zeal in the externals of religion, to make specious pretences to extraordinary piety, and at the same time are totally deficient in charity; are covetous, unjust, rapacious, and proud, and consequently destitute of all love for their creator. But none can assume the appearance of charity, but by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, relieving the distressed, and performing other benevolent offices to their brethren. The work of charity may, indeed, in some particular cases, flow from other principles. than those of a pious and benevolent disposition, as from vanity, or even views of interest; but then it should be remembered, that a common degree of hypocrisy will hard ly engage men to undertake them; they are by far too weighty duties to be sustained by those false principles, and therefore are seldom counterfeited. Consequently, wherever a genuine, extensive, and permanent charity is found, we may conclude, that there the love of God reigns in perfection. Hence we learn that all pretences to goodness, without a principle of grace wrought in the heart, avails nothing in point of eternal salvation. At the same time, if we consider it in its full light, it will give us no reason to think well of ourselves, if we are wanting in our duty to God; and that we should not only be charitable, but grateful also, just, temperate, and blameless in all our dealings with mankind. For we should remember, that the duty we owe to the Almighty is no other than what is due to men in the like circumstances, and which it would be unjust in us to neglect. It consists in dispositions and actions, the same in kind, but different in degree, proportionate to the perfection of the object. He who loves and admires holiness, justice, and truth in men, cannot but love those perfections in God; that is, he must love God: so likewise, he that is truly grateful to any earthly benefactor cannot be ungrateful to one from whose bounty he receives all the good things he enjoys; and since ingratitude in men is nothing more than forgetting the benefit received, and the Benefactor who conferred the favour; how can we acquit ourselves from the charge of ingratitude to God, if we forget the obligations we lie under to him, and are at no pains to return him thanks: that is, if we wholly neglect the external and internal exercises of devotion. Since, therefore, the duty we owe to God is the same in kind with that we owe to man in like circumstances, it will undeniably follow, that true morality can never exist where piety is wanting; and that those who pretend to morality, and are Lamb! awful sentence to the workers of iniquity! may it excite us to pray for that grace, by which alone we shall obtain the former! destitute of piety, render themselves ridiculous. The awful judge himself has told us, that after he had passed the happy sentence on the righteous, he will pronounce the following sentence of condemnation upon the wicked: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." Matt. xxv, 41, &c. It is remarkable, that our blessed Saviour has told us, that the fire of hell was not prepared for the wicked, but for the devil and his angels; but that the kingdom of heaven was prepared for the righteous. Perhaps he intended to teach us, that the original design of Omnipotence was to render man happy, not miserable; a state of consummate felicity was formed for the human race, at the time they were created; but the fire of hell was prepared for the devil and his angels immediately after their fall. And as wicked men joined with devils in their sin of rebellion against the Almighty, they are deemed to share with them in their punishment; a punishment of the heaviest kind, a punishment of devils. After having represented the sentences that are to be passed on the righteous and the wicked, our Saviour closed the parable, "And these in the following manner: shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. xxv. 46. Happy decision to the followers of the CHAP. XXXII. Our blessed Lord is anointed by a poor but pious Woman. The perfidious Judas consents to betray his Master. The humble Jesus washes the feet of his Disciples, and foretels that Disciple who was to betray him into the Hands of his inveterate Enemies. HE blessed Jesus used frequently to retire, in the evening, from the city to the mount of Olives, and there spend the night, either in some village or the gardens, in order to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies. They did not, indeed, presume to attack him, while he was surrounded by his followers in the day-time but in all probability, had he lodged within the city, they would have apprehended him during the darkness and silence of the night. When our blessed Saviour had finished these parables, he added a short account of his own death, in order to fortify his disciples against the greatest trial they had yet met with; namely, the sufferings of their Master. And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the peo. ple, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people." Matt. xxvi. 1, &c. 3 F When the evening approached, our blessed Saviour, with his disciples, repaired to Bethany, and entered the house of Simon the Leper, probably one who had experienced the healing efficacy of his power. But while he sat at meat, a woman, who had also, doubtless, been an object of his mercy, poured a box of precious ointment upon his head.. This action displeased the disciples, who knew that their Master was not delighted with luxuries of any kind; and therefore they rebuked the woman, imagining that it would have been more acceptable to the Son of God, if the ointment had been sold, and the money distributed among the sons and daughters of poverty and affliction. To reprove the disciples, Jesus told them that it had pleased the divine Providence, to order that there should always be persons in necessitous circumstances, that the virtuous might never want occasions for exercising their charity; but that those who did not now testify their love to him would never more have the opportunity of doing it, as the time of his ministry was near at an end, when the king of terrors should enjoy a short triumph over his body; and therefore this woman had seasonably anointed him for his burial. And to make them sensible of their folly, in blaming the woman for this her expression of love to him, he assured them, that she should be highly celebrated for this action, in every part of the world, and her memory live to the latest period of time. Judas Iscariot, (one of the twelve, having been more forward than the rest, in condemning the woman, thought the rebuke was particularly directed to him) stung with the guilt of his own conscience, arose from the table, and went immediately into the city, to the high priest's palace, where he found the whole council assembled. His passion would not suffer him to reflect on the horrid deed he was going to commit; he immediately promised, for the reward' of thirty shekels of silver, to betray into their hands his Lord and Master. Having thus engaged with the rulers of Israel, to put into their hands a person who had been long labouring for their salvation, who had often invited them, in the most pathetic manner, to embrace the benevolent terms of the gospel, offered by the Almighty, he sought an opportunity to betray him, in the absence of the multitude. Our Lord, who well knew that the time of his suffering drew nigh, desired, therefore, to celebrate the passover with his disciples. He was now going to finish the mighty work for which he came into the world and therefore would not neglect to fulfil the smallest particular of the law of Moses. He therefore sent two of his disciples into the city, to prepare a lamb, and make it ready, for eating the passover; telling them that they should meet a man, bearing a pitcher of water, who would conduct them to his house, and shew them a large upper room furnished, where they were to make ready for him. He was willing, in this last transaction, to convince his disciples, that he knew every thing that should befal him; that his sufferings were all predetermined by the Almighty; and that they were all, on his own account, submitted unto voluntarily. When night approached, Jesus left Bethany; and every thing being ready for him, at the time he entered into the city, he sat down at the appointed hour. But knowing that his sufferings were now near, he told his disciples, in the most affectionate manner, that he had greatly longed to eat the passover with them before he suffered, in order to shew them the strongest proofs of his love. These proofs were to give them a pattern of humility and charity, by washing. their feet; in instructing them in the nature of his death, and a propitiatory, sacrifice; instituting the sacrament in com memoration of his sufferings: comforting them by the tender discourses, recorded, John xiv. xv. xvi. in which he gave them a variety of excellent directions, together with many gracious promises; and recommending them to the kind protection of his heavenly Father. "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you, before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Having thus spoken, he arose from the table, laid aside his garments, like a servant, and with all the officiousness of an humble minister, washed the feet of his disciples without distinction, though one of them, Judas Iscariot, was a monster of impiety; that they might at once behold a conjunction of charity and humility, and self-denial, and indifference, represented by a person glorious beyond expression, their great Lord and Master. He washed their feet (according to a custom which prevailed in those hot countries, both before and after meat,) in order to shew them an example of the utmost humility and condescension. The Son of the Omnipotent Father lays every thing aside that he may serve his followers; heaven stoops to earth, one abyss calls upon another, and the miseries of man, which were almost infinite, are exceeded by a mercy equal to the immensity of the Almighty. He deferred this ceremony, which was a customary civility paid to honourable strangers at the beginning of their feast, that it might be preparatory to the second, which he intended should be a feast to the whole world, when all the followers of the blessed Jesus should have an opportunity, in a spiritual manner, of feeding on his flesh, and drinking his blood. When our blessed Saviour came to Peter, be modestly declined it; but his Master told him, if he refused to submit implicitly to all his orders, he could have no part with him. On which Peter cried out, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." But Jesus told him, that the person who had bathed himself had no reason to wash any part of the body, excepti his feet, which he might have dirtied by walking from the bath. And added, Ye are all clean, as to the outward laver, but not as to the inward and spiritual laver: I well know that one of you will betray me. When our gracious Lord had finished this menial service, he asked his disciples, if they knew the meaning of what he had done, as the action was truly emblematical? You, truly, added he, stile me Master and Lord, for I am the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world. But if I, your Master and your Lord, have condescended to wash your feet, you surely ought to perform, with the utmost pleasure, the humblest offices of charity one to another. I have set you a pattern of humility, and I recommend it to you. And certainly nothing can more effectually shew us the necessity of this heavenly temper of mind than its being recommended to us by so great an example: a recommendation, which, in the present circumstances, was particularly seasonable; for the disciples having heard their great Master declare, that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, their minds were filled with ambitious thoughts, And, therefore, our blessed Saviour added, Ye need not be ashamed to follow my example in this particular; for no servant can think it beneath him to condescend to perform those actions his Lord had done before him. And therefore if he knows his duty, he will be happy if He moreover added, that he practises it. though he had called them all to the apostleship, and well knew the secret dispositions of every heart, before he chose them, they need not be surprised, that one among them should prove a traitor, as it was done that the scripture might be fulfilled. "He |