the imagery here employed heighten the impression of the simple truth thereby illustrated, that good men, however neglected and overlooked on earth, will be honored and happy in the world to come! So, too, on the other hand, what a fearful picture of wretchedness is that which is drawn by our Lord, in the same chapter, as descriptive of the state of a wicked man after death!" It is to be observed that the miracles which Christ performed were designed to direct popular attention to his doctrines more than to his person. He knew that the fundamental principles of religion which he taught lay so near to the reason and conscience of mankind, that they needed only to have their attention directed towards them, in order to secure assent. For this reason, Jesus delivered his instructions with such a clearness and simplicity, such an energy and power, that they commended themselves immediately to every ingenuous heart. "His instructions exhibited none of those dialectical subtilties, deep speculations, and prolix demonstrations, which abounded in the systems of the old philosophers, and rendered them, how much soever good they might contain, totally unfit for the multitude at large. The most important truths, which, in the way of speculation, and by the greatest efforts of philosophizing reason, had either not been discovered at all, or but imperfectly, were represented by Jesus with such a lucid and touching simplicity, that they must be obvious to the most illiterate, and fill the most acute thinkers with admiration. At the same time, he delivered them as the instructions and expressions of God himself, and thereby clothed them with that authority, every where and to the highest degree valid, which is indispensable to the great mass of people, and, with them, holds the place of demonstration and the profoundest proofs, without prohibiting reason, however, from laboring further upon them, and endeavoring to deduce them from principles peculiar to itself alone." One of the most important conditions fulfilled by the human life of our Redeemer was that of showing himself to be our brother. Under this character he always appeared, and never more so than when employed in teaching. He realized, in the presence of the human race, an ideal of human perfection level to popular comprehension and within the reach of all. In his person, his demeanor, and his speech, the world saw the infinite brought down to our standard, so realized that we can easily understand it, and feel the majesty and beauty of that love to Christ which is nothing but the imitation of God brought near to the roused intellect and heart. We cannot wonder that the people were spell-bound in the presence of such a teacher. The pure and joyous effulgence of truth emanating from him. must have captivated their vision, like the sun as he bathes with his beams fragrant vales and bleak mountain-tops. Christ was radiant with celestial benignity, which he transfused into the surrounding multitudes through the simplest expressions and most transparent life, fascinating the popular heart, and lifting it to a participation of immortal bliss. But, turning from the form of his teaching, let us look more particularly to its spirit. The chief element of Christ's power lay in the fact that he thrilled the principle of perfectibility latent in every rational creature whom he addressed. By his own incarnation he glorified humanity, and came breathing into every recess of its bleeding and aspiring heart nothing but peace and love. He explained the possibility of our being one with God, and presented motives for our becoming grand as eternity. In this way he portrayed the soul as a treasure most precious, which the universal Father bends down with infinite solicitude to rescue, ennoble, and forever preserve. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," said he; and his incessant effort was to elevate souls, by revealing to them the gospel plan of spiritual perfection. All his labors and lessons were designed to lift up the fallen race of Adam, to remove every obstruction in the way of moral improvement, and to show how man is to be loved as God's child, a creature of immortality, a temple built for the skies. Of all teachers Christ was the best, of all reformers the wisest and most beneficent; for his thoughts were the mightiest, and he strove with divinest zeal to plant them in all the masses of mankind. He unfolded the reality of spiritual life, his example the best model, and his teaching the only sure guide. The doctrines of Christ were at the same time the most practical and profound. His precepts were level to the capacities of a child, and yet they contained principles which the most matured and soaring intellect could never outrun. These were addressed to the wants, rather than to the worth, of their recipients. Their most distinguishing mark was a fulness of generosity; since the one avowed object of their Author was, “to do good and to communicate." Like a delicious air, laden with the most delicious odors, Christ every where made his presence manifest by the joys he awakened and the benefits he conferred. Sweet, gentle, conciliating, and yet most powerful, he approached human hearts to imbue them with something of his own divinity; and, by investing them with his own spiritualizing influences, not only to purify and gladden them, but to make them the almoners of like blessings to all other men. From first to last, there is all about the career of Christ the highest witchery of love. Unasked and undesired, he sped his flight from celestial glory earthward in search of moral wretchedness, that he might relieve its woes. Then, with a bearing exquisitely harmonious with his mission, in unassuming gentleness, he knocked at the door of sick and sorrowing humanity; pityingly lifted the latch of our dilapidated nature; spoke in sympathizing, soothing accents; and, having beguiled the fainting and guilt-burdened spirit into peace and hope by a kiss of forgiveness, he smilingly displayed a store of inestimable blessings, and bade us welcome to the eternal feast. He knew that the soul can never be contented to be fed with trifles or amused with bawbles, and he therefore came not to work on the surface of human character, but to pervade it with himself, thus rendering it divine. He would breathe into the soul a heavenly energy, an indomitable force of will, teaching at once the love of wisdom and the wisdom of love. His spirit possessed a most purifying and expanding warmth, because “a thousand hearts were great within him; "and he was the glory of all spiri.s, since he was the pattern of the grandest ideas. Every speaker who would be influential must stir in the bosom of the people the noble sentiments of liberty, equality, and justice. Christ was the most efficient in this respect, because he invigorated every attribute he wrought upon, inspired infinite hopes, and clothed human nature with unfading righteousness and majesty. His own spirit was large as the suffering world he came to save; and, in all his vicarious toils, he gathered bliss in seeing the needy blessed. The principles of Christianity are adapted to man's nature, and are designed to make him a better citizen, kinder associate, truer friend, a nobler being every way. They excel all other influences, not in intensity only, but in extent; they not only command, at one moment, the whole spiritual being, but retain their power through the whole course of existence, over every moment of an immortal life. They appeal to the thinking faculty of man, no less than to his heart and his conscience, making all our spiritual faculties to partake of the divine nature, to be filled with all the fulness of God. Such were the mode and spirit of his teaching whom the common people gladly heard, and who aroused in them emotions common to all, because his own sympathies were excited, and his esteem for his hearers was legitimately exercised. Herein is a model for us not only to admire, but imitate; for such must every disciple be who would honor God and benefit mankind. "He lives and breathes For noble purposes of mind; his heart We have considered two general points that Christ addressed a common nature, and that he aroused common emotions in the masses among whom he moved. It remains, thirdly, to show that he imparted common blessings, and that he accomplished this through labors for the redemption of the common people which were most intense, and by the exercise of love for them in every respect the most impartial. In the first place, the labors of Christ for the redemption of the common people were most intense, and this caused them to receive him gladly. The world was divided into two classes, the rich and powerful on one hand, and on the other the poor and unfortunate. There was no middle space. The Messiah comes, and behold which side he takes! He confers his royalty and divinity mainly upon the destitute. "He is poor," exclaims the prophet Zechariah, as he beheld him from afar; and, declaring his own mission, "The Lord," said he, "has sent me to evangelize the poor." His precursor, John, sent disciples to question him, saying, "Art thou he that should come, or is it necessary to expect another?" And Christ responded, "Tell John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are purified, the deaf hear, the dead are raised." Is this all? No. Hear the crowning wonder! "The poor have the gospel preached to them." That is, science, light that is truthful, and dignity truly divine, are restored to that immense portion of humanity who had been cruelly deprived of these gifts designed for all. Jesus Christ never formed the slightest alliance with the oppressors of the masses; but, sweeping splendid tyranny from his path as often as he encountered it, he exclaimed, with ineffable tenderness, "I thank thee, O my Father, that thou hast concealed these things from the educated and sagacious, and that thou hast revealed them unto docile little ones." In a word, he established between himself and such, a bond of fellowship which will eternally protect the poor, and guaranty_to_them the respect of all coming time. "Whatever you shall do to the most dependent among these my brethren, it is even to me that you do it," were his gracious words. Christ conquered the world by experiencing its deprivations, its oppressions, and all its woes. He started from the base of the pyramid of human society, and struggled up, by incessant toil, through all the superincumbent mass, before he entered |