combat. We can no more emulate the seraphic piety of angels, than we can ascend the heavens with the morning lark. It is in our incarnate Lord alone that every thing is lovely and engaging, every thing suited to our weak and frail state. Christ had our infirmities, he bore our conflict; like us he was tempted, and like us he felt suffering to be difficult even to a holy mind. This is an example brought down as near to us as possible, and exactly suited to our frailty and weakness. We behold in it the image of God, and can contemplate the divine character as the sun through a glass, which softens, without really diminishing, its glory.

Again, our Lord's example is not that of a warrior, or a statesman, or a scholar, or a noble. It is not a character rarely seen, and therefore adapted only to the imitation of a very small part of mankind, but it is one of daily occurrence; and conversant, not only with the things of heaven, but also with the most common incidents of life. It is surprising how little there is of our Lord's conduct which is not imitable. His retirement in the wilderness for forty days, and his denunciations on the Scribes and Pharisees, together with his miracles, are almost the only exceptions.

: Besides, the very circumstances of poverty and suffering in which he appeared, make his example still more adapted for us, situated as

we are in a world of sorrow, where the immense majority of mankind are suffered by Divine Providence to remain in dependence and subordi→ nation to others. Our Lord is an example of suffering virtue. He exhibits what is most wanted, the milder and more lovely and retired and patient graces.

Our Saviour, further, is our most suitable example, as he was both a public and domestic teacher, and thus instructs the ministers of God's word and sacraments, and the parents and guides of youth in every age, in their most important and difficult duties. What inimi

table beauty is there in our Lord's discourses and parables! What simplicity, and yet what force! He is not an abstract systematic teacher. He enters upon no long trains of reasoning. He illustrates spiritual truths by images the most familiar and the most striking. He draws the best lessons from incidental objects and occasions. He adorns his discourses with those simple beauties which are most easily retained in the memory, and most deeply penetrate the heart.

I only add, that our Lord's blesssed life is a most suitable, because it is a most endearing example. We cannot separate, and wish not to separate, from it the thought that this perfect pattern of virtue was exhibited in the adorable and mysterious Person, who became man, and

took upon him the form of a servant for our salvation, This makes our blessed Master's life the most engaging example, because it adds to it all the most powerful motives of gratitude and love. Nay, the additional reflection that the very graces which we imitate formed a part of that obedience unto death, that righteousness which is upon all and unto all them that believe, serves to give it an inexpressible attraction.

From the whole, then, of this subject, let us learn,

I. HOW FAR MAN IS FALLEN FROM GOD. Man would have perfectly resembled this picture which we have drawn of Christ, if he had not departed from original righteousness. Now, as the law is the ministry of condemnation, as well as the standard of duty, so the adorable Saviour, the image of God, is to be exhibited in all his holiness, not only as our example, if we are true Christians, but to humble us and convince us of sin, if we are not. The life of Christ shows us what man was, when created in the divine image, and what he still would be, if he were not corrupted and depraved. And yet if we look around us, either in our own families or in the world at large, what a contrast do we see to this admirable pattern! What impiety and irreligion! What coldness to God, and timidity in duty! What folly and impetu

osity in our own selfish pursuits! What admi ration and love of the sinful practices, and pleasures, and company, and maxims of the world! What unkindness, pride, severity, impatience, wrath, anger, evil speaking, revenge, cruelty! Where is the piety, zeal, wisdom, indifference to the world, benevolence, meekness, patience, compassion, and forgiveness of injuries which adorned the Master whose name we profess to bear? I do not proceed to ask where is the union and harmony of all virtues, or their loveliness and naturalness, because, if men have not the sepa rate graces of our Lord, they cannot pretend to the combined beauty of the whole. Let each irreligious person, then, compare his heart and life with the example of the Son of God. Let him pray for the illumination of the Holy Ghost, to show him both himself and his Saviour. Let him thus learn his fall, his condemnation, and his danger, and his need of repentance, pardon, and a new principle of holy obedience.

This subject máy teach us,

II. THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION BY GRACE. For if the conduct of our Lord Christ be only a transcript of the divine law which we are bound to obey, and if we are so far from being like that example, that in fact we are by nature directly contrary to it; then by the deeds of the. law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight; then it is impossible that we should be saved by

our own works and deservings. We are in truth transgressors of the holy law, and therefore can never be justified by it. We must then fly to the divine mercy. We must renounce the vain and presumptuous attempt of establishing our own righteousness, and must submit ourselves to the righteousness of God. Whilst men compare themselves only with each other, or substitute the corrupt standard of the world for the unalterable law of God, and are thus ignorant as well of the rule of duty as of their own hearts, it is no wonder that they stand upon their supposed merits and resist the doctrines of grace. But if they once come to know themselves and the holy life of their Saviour, and will honestly, and as in the presence of God, examine their hearts and lives by that perfect rule of virtue, they will gradually discover their extreme guilt and depravity, they will learn to welcome, and to glory in, the salvation which they now misunderstand and despise and justification by faith in the Redeemer, and in his righteousness, imputed to them without the deeds of the law, will appear a blessing infinitely desirable and suitable; and in fact the only blessing by which their deplorable misery can be relieved.

We learn,

III. ON WHAT FOUNDATION THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW BIRTH STANDS. For, if men, besides

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