this distinguished man would have viewed a further extension of good-will as overstepping the bounds of reason and patriotism. The design, then, of benefiting morally and religiously the whole human race, without regard to complexion, country, climate, or other circumstances, a design which enters into the very essence and heart of Christianity, had occurred to no one before the advent of the Saviour of mankind. But this is a most important feature of Christianity, and will be seen still more manifestly and impressively, if we inspect ancient history and ancient writings somewhat more minutely.

His mind must be infected with incurable prejudice, who has studied the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans, without kindling with admiration of the moral and intellectual qualities of many of the patriots and statesmen whose names adorn the annals of these celebrated nations. Their actions and writings, and the traits of personal character which those writings make known to us, contain much, very much, that is worthy of our admiration; and his taste and judgment are not to be envied, who can hold them in light estimation. Still it is doing no injustice to these illustrious authors, patriots, and statesmen, to say, that no one had attained the comprehensiveness of good-will, which led him to entertain the design, or to devise a plan of benefiting all men without discrimination.

The great fame of Hercules has been celebrated from the earliest dawn of history to the present hour, yet he did no more than wander over the earth; by his great strength, ridding the inhabitants, wherever he came, of the monsters which afflicted them. This he did, moreover, impelled (it is said) by the anger of Juno, and not from his spontaneous good-will. He is not said, even by tradition, to have formed any plan for instructing, reforming, or otherwise morally improving the human race, or any part of it. The design of such men as Sesostris, Alexander, Pyrrhus, and Cæsar, was in no other sense universal, than as they wished to devastate the earth universally, and subject all mankind to military domination and despotic sway.

The early founders of cities, too, who, themselves rising above the ignorance and barbarism of their times, had the skill and address to assemble men in considerable numbers, and to put them

in the way of becoming civilized, by introducing agriculture, commerce, manufactures, the arts, letters, and government among them, are well entitled to much praise and admiration; still their enterprises, as meritorious as they were, admit of contrast rather than comparison with the founding of that great commonwealth of righteousness and peace, into which the author of Christianity proposed to bring all men wherever scattered over the face of the earth. We must form the same judgment of those men, who by their personal valor and military skill defended their country in ancient times. The history of the Greeks and Romans is full of examples of this kind; Miltiades, Themistocles, Leonidas, Agesilaus, Epaminondas, Philopomen, Brutus, Fabricius, Camillus, Marcellus, the Scipios, and many others. Who does not know, and who can forget, their splendid achievements, their elevation of mind, and their intense love of country? But in illustrating the point before us, it cannot be necessary to do more than refer to men of this class. Amidst all their greatness, they never looked beyond the interests of their own country. Instead of wishing to benefit all mankind, or as many as possible, the object of their achievements could only be accomplished by the overthrow and destruction of all opposed to them. And, moreover, the motive from which they acted was of a mixed nature, composed quite as much of a desire of personal fame as of the pure love of country.

Nor, if we turn to the ancient lawgivers, salutary and praiseworthy as their labors were, shall we find any one who had formed a plan of extending the benefit of his labors to all mankind. Their laws are filled with no doubtful or indistinct traces of narrow and selfish views, and not unfrequently manifest a jealous and hostile spirit towards all other nations. To the class of lawgivers belong the Seven Wise Men of Greece, so called by reason of the wisdom supposed to be manifested in the laws and maxims which they wrote and promulgated. It was the pervading policy of all the ancient States, and especially those of Lacedæmon and Rome, to make the citizens warriors, and to encourage and inspire them with the spirit of conquest and the lust of domination. Even in time of peace, one nation did not look upon another with a friendly eye. The Roman law

lays it down as a settled principle, with respect to nations with whom the Romans were at peace, but had no particular alliance, that whoever passed from one country to the other, immediately became a slave. The views of them all were comparatively exclusive, contracted, and selfish.

If, moreover, we resort to the ancient philosophers, who flourished before the coming of Christ, and make ourselves acquainted with their lives and writings, we shall still be unsuccessful in finding any one who raised his mind above his immediate sphere, or whose good-will was much more expansive than that which we have ascribed to the ancient lawgivers and founders of cities. Some of them admit, indeed, that there is a certain degree of relationship (societas) among all mankind, the bond of which consists in reason and speech; and that men are not born for themselves alone, but that they may be useful to each other; but we search the writings of the ancient philosophers in vain for any plan of benevolence embracing all mankind, and for any trace of that fraternal love, by which the Saviour sought to unite all the families of the earth in unity of faith, and in the bonds of righteousness and peace. .

If we regard practical wisdom, good-will to man, ardor and zeal in instructing and benefiting as many as possible, Socrates is confessedly the chief of the ancient philosophers. What scholar can peruse his defence of himself and his instructions, as given by his celebrated disciple Plato, without being strongly affected, and moved with admiration of that greatness of mind, which, in prosecuting his salutary and disinterested design, led him to disregard and despise all the objects usually esteemed most valuable among men. He declares in presence of his judges, that he will not be deterred, by the fear of any punishment which they can inflict, from maintaining his accustomed intercourse with his fellow-citizens, in which his habit had been to avail himself of every opportunity to exhort them to the practice of honor and virtue. He professes, that he will not yield obedience to their decrees, if they attempt to prevent him from instructing his countrymen in the way of truth and

+ Cicero, De Legibus, Lib. I., and De Officiis, Lib. I.

+ Apologia Socr.

duty; and adds the celebrated resolution, "I will obey the Divinity rather than you." He declares, that he has been given to his country by the special favor of the Divinity, and says, that, mindful of his high commission, he has, during many years, to the total neglect of his private interest, devoted himself to the welfare of his countrymen, and, addressing the citizens individually as opportunity offered, with all the interest and affection of a father or an elder brother, has exhorted them to the love and practice of virtue.

But, noble and disinterested as were the views of this greatest of all the ancient philosophers, what comparison can be instituted between him and the Author of Christianity, in regard to their respective designs, and the spirit manifested in them? Socrates labors to instruct and reform the Athenians; Jesus designs to instruct and renovate the human race, spread over the face of the earth; and not only so, but his design embraces the renovation and salvation of all the future generations of mankind. Socrates, although he sees how vain and impious the sentiments of his countrymen are, concerning the nature of the Divinity, not only does not dare to overthrow the idolatry of Athens, but thinks that some allowance should be made for their prejudices, and even participates in their superstition. The Gospel of Jesus, on the other hand, was designed (and much of this design. has been accomplished) to overthrow and exterminate all false divinities throughout the earth, and to bring all men to unite in the worship of the supreme and true God. Socrates is not deterred. from his design by the menaces of his ungrateful countrymen, and at length perishes by a mild and honorable kind of death. The design unfolded in the Gospel of Jesus excites against him, both the utmost virulence of the Jews, and the scorn and contempt of the Gentiles; and at length he dies the death of the cross, a punishment, of all the most painful and ignominious. Finally, although we may rightfully view Socrates as the first of all the philosophers of antiquity, still, when we consider the plan which he devised, the labors he performed, or the knowledge he imparted, we must be convinced that he was far, very far,

surpassed, even by the apostles of our Saviour; and that, in respect to the Saviour himself, when we regard the design, the spirit, and the power of his Gospel, NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE

THIS MAN.

(3.) Christianity is the only religion which has undertaken to control and regulate the prime sources of human action, by putting a moral restraint on the thoughts. The feelings and propensities of mankind, which require to be specially curbed in their ultimate sources, are of two kinds, the malicious, and the voluptuous passions. "From within," says our Saviour, "out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." He denounces the Scribes and Pharisees in the most severe terms, because, while they made clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, they were within full of extortion and excess. He says, they appeared outwardly righteous unto men, but within were full of hypocrisy and iniquity. And he compares them to whited sepulchres, which appear outwardly beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. And, above all, the searching and decisive declaration designed to curb the first risings of unlawful desire; "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." §

No one can doubt, that the control and regulation of the passions and propensities of our nature is indispensable, and that the placing the check on the thoughts, instead of the actions, is one important point of difference between religion and law. While Christianity manifests the utmost solicitude to regulate the affections, appetites, and desires, the law is contented with bringing the actions of delinquents to its tribunal, and does not take notice of their thoughts, or even their intentions, except so far as these give a character to their actions. From the nature of the case, the law must be satisfied with regulating the actions of men; but Christianity, addressing itself immediately to the conscience,

* John vii. 46. —See Reinhard's Opuscula Academica, Vol. I. p. 240, &c. t Mark vii. 21 - 23. Mat. xxiii. 25-28.

§ Mat. v. 28.