Ask with great reverence and humility when they performed these ser vices ? as they never saw him in want and therefore they could never assist him: "Lord when saw we thee an hungered 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, or 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." 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 foreible motive to charity, than that the Son of God himself from his seat of judgment in the 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 be considers all the distressed virtueus, as members of his body, loves them with the utmost tenderness, and is so greatly interested in their welfare that he grieves when they are distressed, and rejoices when they are happy.

Perhaps in this representation of the last judgment, it may seem strange that the inquiry should solely turn on the performance of duties, without any regard to the commission of crimes. Perhaps the true reason 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 duties, it has been asked why the offices of charity only are mentioned, & no notice taken of the duties of piety; though the Judge himself upon an other 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 piety and it's origin faith always producing charity; and charity wherever it subsists, necessarily presupposing piety.

There is such a connection between piety and charity, as it will evidently appear, if it be rightly considered, that no man can be truly benevolent and merciful, without having 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 cons nected 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 mone can assume the appearance of charity but by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, relieving the distressed, and performing other benevo lent offices to their brethree. The works 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 hardly 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, we may conclude, that the love of God, reigned in perfection whenever genuine, extensive, and permanent charity is found.

Therefore, this parable teaches us in the plainest manner, that however loud pretentions we may make to piety, they will stand us in no stead at the awful tribunal of the Son of God, if we are deficient in works of chari ty. At the same time, if we consider it in it's true, light, it will give us no reason to hope well of ourselves, if we are wanting in our duty to God; and will shew us, 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 from all men in all circumstances and which it would be un just 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 these perfections in God, that is he must love God so like. wise, he that is truly grateful to an earthly benefactor, cannot be ungrate ful 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 obliga tions 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, it will undeniably follow, that true morality can never exist where piety is wanting and that a person renders himself ridiculous who pretends to morality and is destitute of piety.

Thus having endeavoured to shew that justice and piety cannot subsist separately from each other, I shall now return to the remaining part of the parable, which exhibits a scene enough to terrify the most hardened sinner. The awful judge himself has told us, that after he has passed the happy sentence on the righteous, he will pronounce the following sentence of condemnation upon the wicked: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered and ye gave me no meat: I 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, & ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, say ing Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, 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. 41-46. Posty Our blessed Saviour has told us, that the fire of hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels as well as for the wicked; and 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 join with devils in their sin of rebellion against the Almighty, they are doomed to share with them in their punishment; a punishment of the heaviest kind, a punishment of devils.

Our Saviour having represented the sentences that are to be passed on the righteous and the wicked, he closed the parable in the following manner: And they shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the right eous into life eternal." An expression short indeed but awful beyond ex pression! And were it fully understood it must surely make an impression on the most hardened sinner; as it indicates, that, when the sentence is passed, the scene is closed for ever, and everlasting punishment, or life eternal, must be the lot of every individual of the human race.

CHAPTER XXXI.

CHRIST again foretelleth his own Death: The Rulers conspire against him: A Woman poureth precious Ointment upon his Head: Judas covenanteth with the Council to betray his Master for thirty Pieces of Silver: Peter and John sent to prepare the Passover: CHRIST eateth it with them, and washeth his Disciples' Feet: He comforteth them with the Promise of a heavenly Mansion: He professeth himself the Way, and Truth, and the Life: He foretelleth the Treachery of Judas, and pointeth him out to John by a Token.

AFTER our blessed Saviour had finished the before-mentioned parables he added a short account of his own death in order to fortify the 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 people, unto the place of the bigh priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people." Matt. xxvi. 1-5.

Our blessed Saviour, with his disciples, repaired to Bethany in the evening, 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, woman, who had also doubtless been an object of his mercy, poured box of precious ointment upon his head. This action displeased the disciples who knew 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 amongst the sons and daughters of poverty and affliction. But their benevolent Master said, that it had pleased the Divine Providence to order, that there should always be persons in necessitous circumstances that the virtuous might never want occasion for exercising their charity; but those who did not now testify their love to bim would never more have an opportunity of doing it, as the time of his ministry was near it's period, 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 token of love to him, he assured them, that her memory should live to the latest period of time, and that she should be highly celebrated for this action in every part of the world.

But Judas Iscariot one of the twelve having been more forward than the rest to condemn the woman thought the rebuke was peculiarly directed to him. Stung with the guilt of his own conscience, he rose from table, 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 immediBately promised to betray into their hands his Lord and Master, for the paltry reward of thirty pieces of silver.

Thus having engaged with the rulers of Israel, to put into their hands a person who had been long labouring for their salvation, and had often invited them in the most pathetic manner to embrace the benevolent terms of the gospel offered by the Alnighty, he sought an opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude. Ye monsters in human form how could you plot so detestable a crime; Surely you have forgot how mercy, with her charming voice, spake in all he uttered! How did benevolence pour her choicest stores in all his actions! Ye rulers of Israel,

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did ever compassion look so amiably soft, as in those melting Lears which swelled his eyes and poured down his cheeks, to soften your hard and stony hearts? Was it possible for patience to assume a form so lovely, as that sweetly winning conduct, that endured the contradiction of sinners; which besought the guilty not to die and entreated the obstinate to be reconciled.

The apostate Judas was, thus bargaining with the chief priests and elders to betray his Master while the benevolent JESUS was preparing to celebrate the passover before be suffered with his disciples. He was now going to finish the mighty work for which he came into the world; and therefore ore would not neglect to fulfil the smallest part of the law of Moses. He therefore sent two of his disciples into the city, to prepare a lamp 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 which should befall him that his sufferings were all premeditated by the Almighty; and that they were all submitted unto voluntarily on his own account.

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As soon as 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 was now near, he told his disciples in the most affectionate manner, that he had greatly longto eat the passover with them before he suffered, in order to show them the strongest proofs of his love. These proofs were to give them a pattern of humility and charity, by washing their feet: instructing them the nature of his death, as a propitiatory sacrifice; instituting the sacrament in commemoration of his sufferings; comforting them by the tender discourses recorded in John xiv, xv, xvi. in which be 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 1 say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Luke xxii. 15, 16.

After our Lord had thus spoken, he arose from the table laid aside his garments like a servant, and, with all the circumstances 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, of self-denial and indiffer ence, represented by a person glorious beyond expression in their great Lord and Master. He chose to wash their feet rather than their head, that he might have an opportunity of displaying a more humble posture and a more striking instance of his charity. The omnipotent Son of the 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 im. mensity of the Almighty. He deferred this ceremony, which was a customary civility paid to honourable strangers at the beginning of their feasts 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 of feeding on his flesh, and drinking his blood Irinking in a spiritual manner.

Peter modestly declined it when our blessed Saviour came unto him; but his Master told him, that if he refused to submit implicitly to all his or wders, 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 park of his body except his feet, which he might have dirtied by walking from

the bath. In order to teach us, that persons converted do not stand in need of a total change of mind but only to cleanse themselves from the sins they constantly commit through infirmity; for it is abundantly evident that our blessed Saviour spake of a spiritual washing, because he added, ye are clean, but not all." Ye are men of virtuous and holy: dispositions; but not all: 1 well know that one of you will betray ans.

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After our blessed Saviour had finished this menial service,' he asked his disciples if they knew the meaning of what he had done, as the action was purely emblematical ? You truly, added he, style me Master and Lord, for I am the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world but if I, your Master & your Lord, condescended to wash your feet, you surely ought to perform, with the utmost pleasure, the humblest offices of charity to one another. I have set you à pattern of humility, and I recommend it to you.

Certainly nothing can more effectually shew us the necessity of this heavenly temper of mind than its being recommended to us by so great urë 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. Upon which 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 has done before him: and, therefore, if he knows his duty, ha will be happy if he practices it." Our blessed Saviour added, that though! he had called them to the apostleship, and well knew the secret disposi tions of every heart, before he chose them, they need not be surprised. that any one among them should prove a traitor, as it was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled: "He that eateth bread with ine hath lifted up his heel against me." John xiii, 18. 7

Our dear Lord being now to be but a short time with his disciples, he thought proper to take his farewell of them, which he did in the most affectionate manner. These melancholy tidings greatly troubled them. They were very unwilling to part with so kind a friend, so dear a master so wise a guide, and so profitable a teacher; especially as they thought they should be left in a forlorn condition, a poor and helpless prey to the rage and hatred of a blind and malicious generation. They seemed wil ling to die with their Lord, if that might be accepted: "Why cannot I fol low thee? I will lay down my life for thy sake," was the language of one, and even all of them: but the thought of a diconsolate separation they could not support.

Their dear Lord and Master seeing them thus dejected endeavoured to cheer their drooping spirits: "Let not your heart's be troubled." Listen attentively to what I am going to deliver for your consolation: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." A reviving admonition? They were one day to meet again their dear, their affectionate Master, in a place where they should live together to all eternity. But death makes so vast a distance between. friends, and the disciples then knew so little of a future state, that they reemed to doubt whether they should ever after parting, meet their great Redeemer. They neither knew the place where he was going, nor the way that led to his kingdom. "Lord," said they, we know not whether thou goest; and how can we know the way ?" In answer to this question, he told them, that he was "the way the truth and the life;" as if he had said the only way of following me to the regions of happiness, is by duly observing my doctrines and precepts which I have delivered to you from the Almighty. He added, that by his removing to heaven, he would there intercede for them with his heavenly father, and send the Holy Ghost to comfort them from thence.