SERMON VI. ON THE EXAMPLE OF OUR SAVIOUR'S PIETY. હૃદ PHILIPPIANS, ii. 5... Let this mind be in you, which was also in "Christ Jesus.” IN these words, as in many other parts of Scripture, the example of our Lord is recommended to our imitation; and the great proof of the character of a Christian is considered as consisting in following the steps of his master. It has often accordingly been stated as an argument for the truth and excellence of our religion, that the divine Author of it has not only bequeathed us a system of the most pure and perfect morality, but that he himself is the great example of the perfection he describes, and has left a model, to the last hour of time, for the imitation of his followers. To imitate, however, is not to copy. It is not servilely to use the expressions, or to adopt the manners, or to affect some of the actions of another. It is to enter into the spirit, and to acquire the dispositions which formed the character, and produced the conduct of those we admire. It is not, therefore, the exhortation of the apostle that we should barely copy the example of our Lord, but that the same "mind should be in us which was in "Christ Jesus." It is, of course, my brethren, of the human nature of our Saviour that the apostle thus speaks, and which alone he proposes as the subject of our imitation." His divine nature can be known to us on ly as it resembles that of the Deity himself, in which it is so intimately blended and where it is lost to our apprehension amid the splendours of Omnipotence. It is, therefore, the character of our Saviour only in his human nature that I shall at present attempt to consider, or what the nature of that mind was which has produced so perfect a model for the future imitation of man. In every character of distinguished eminence there is always some ruling principle, which affords the permanent motives of conduct, and to which all its peculiarities may be referred; some prevailing disposition which absorbs every lower affection of our nature, and which throws over the whole conduct a degree of unity and consistence never to be observed in that of ordinary men. If in this view we consider the human character of our Lord, we shall find that the prevail ing principle of his mind was that of PIETY-that deep and exalted piety which is founded upon the the love of God," which is maintained by constant communion with him, and which sees every other object as unworthy of its pursuit, but that of knowing his laws, and doing his will. It is a character which wise men in different ages have loved to conceive, as the utmost exaltation of the human faculties, and as approaching to the perfection and happiness of the Divine Nature: but it is a character also, which no age (except that of Jesus) has ever hoped or attempted to realize. I speak not, at present, of the numerous or affecting instances of his devotion, of those retirements of meditation,of those perpetual acts of thanksgiving, of those ardent and humble prayers, which we meet with in every page of the Gospels. These are, indeed, the signs and expressions of piety; but they are not piety itself. I speak of the course and tenor of his life,-of the simple and undeviating system of his whole conduct, -of that piety which was exemplified, not in words alone, but in every scene of suffering or of repose. 1 1. It is exemplified, in the first place, in the early dedication of his mind to religious thought, and in the great and exalted views which he then attained of the wisdom and goodness of God. Of the events of his youthful years, we are ignorant. We know only, that " he dwelt "with his parents at Nazareth, and was subject unto them." The only incident which marks this long period, is his appearing, at an early age, in the Temple at Jerusalem, " sitting in the midst of "the teachers of religion, both hearing them, and asking them questions." From this simple incident, however, we |