I. The EXTENT AND PURITY of the Christian morals will appear, if we consider that,

1. They embrace all that was really good in the ETHICS OF HEATHEN SAGES, and in the dictates of natural religion; and re-enact them with greater clearness and authority. The scattered fragments of moral truth which original Revelation, or the responsible nature of man, or the labour and study of philosophers, have dispersed up and down the world, are found to be comprehended in the Christian code. Truth, justice, fortitude, integrity, faithfulness, chastity, benevolence, friendship, obedience to parents, love of our country, and whatever else is praiseworthy, have all their place; only cleared of base admixtures, directed to their proper ends, and clothed with necessary authority for swaying the conscience.

2. There is, in the next place, a COMPLETENESS in the Christian code of precepts. They insist on every virtue and duty for which man was originally formed; and forbid every vice and sin contrary to his real relations and obligations. There is nothing wanting as it respects man's intellectual or moral powers; nothing omitted

the closing words of the passage imply; These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

of the duties which he owes to himself, to his neighbour, and to Almighty God: nor is there any thing impure or debasing intermixed with its code. All is holy and consistent; in opposition to the Heathen and Mahometan morals, where whatever is good itself, is lost amidst the pernicious usages with which it is incorporated.

3. Then the Christian morals erect the only true and unbending STANDARD OF DUTY to God and man; a standard so high, and yet so reasonable; a standard so unknown to any other religion, and yet, when revealed, so obviously agreeable to the sovereignty of the ever-blessed Creator, and the relation in which man, the work of his hands, stands to him; a standard so intelligible to the meanest capacity, and yet so far surpassing the imagination of the highest, as to have the strong impress of a divine hand upon it. Yes; when our Lord uttered those memorable words, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' he raised the true and intelligible standard of morals, which places even a child in a Christian country far above, in this respect,

1 Matt. xxii. 37-39.

the greatest moral philosophers of the ancient or modern world.

4. It follows from this, that the Christian code OMITS MANY FALSE VIRTUES of heathenism, and INSISTS ON MANY REAL ONES unknown to it. Christianity rejects from its catalogue of virtues, vanity, pride, the love of fame, jealousy of honour, resentment, revenge, hatred of enemies, contempt of the low and miserable, self-confidence, apathy under suffering, and patriotism in the sense of pushing conquest and upholding the interests of one nation to the hatred and injury of others; and she inserts humility, meekness, the forgiveness of personal injuries, self-denial, abstraction of heart from earthly things, sympathy with the poor and mean, renunciation of confidence in self, cheerful resignation under affliction.'

1 The form of the argument from the mere purity and clearness of the Gospel morals, is thus illustrated by an able American writer:-" There are certain primary principles of jurisprudence, beneficial to mankind under all circumstances. But no actual system of human jurisprudence has recognized such principles, and such alone. Every where private cupidity, political ambition, ecclesiastical or professional superstition, prejudices of education, old habits, personal interests, encumber municipal law with idle forms, unmeaning distinctions, &c. If a code were to be presented professedly from

5. Indeed, the Christian religion chiefly dwells on the MILD AND RETIRING VIRTUES, in opposition to those which are of a more hardy and obtrusive character. She omits not, indeed, courage, vigour of resolution, eagerness of zeal, fortitude, perseverance, contempt of danger; but she dwells chiefly on lowliness, patience, silent and meek returns for ill usage, gentleness, compassion, allowances for the prejudices and failings of others. It is a consequence of this, that she founds her code on humility and self-denial, though she avoids moroseness, austerities, and whatever might verge towards melancholy and misanthropy. By laying man low, and giving him a just impression of his unworthiness before God and man, and then, by teaching him to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, she fixes the only firm foundation of consistent morality, and especially of the milder virtues. But whilst all other religions, when they attempt this, fall into foolish and absurd injunctions, severities without reason, privations which vex without purifying man, Christianity is as lovely as she is self-denying. She is friendly, and tender

heaven, and if it were found on examination, to embody all that was excellent in human laws, to avoid imperfections, to supply deficiencies, to suit every form of civil polity, and all understandings, &c., would such a claim be without foundation?"-Verplank.

hearted, and full of the social and domestic affections and sympathies.

6. Once more, the Christian religion requires

an ABSTINENCE FROM THE PROXIMATE CAUSES

OF EVIL, and demands what is right in motive and intention, as well as in the overt act. Human laws chiefly deal with the manifest action, when capable of proof. They argue back very feebly to the intention, which they still do aim at reaching as they can. The divine law lays the restraint upon the intention, the first element of the moral nature of man; the divine law considers nothing to be virtuous, unless the motive as well as the material action be right; the divine law regulates the inward wheels and structure, of which the outward movement is the indication; the divine law demands an abstinence from every appearance of evil, from the proximate causes of crime, from the scenes, the places, the books, the persons which create the temptation. The divine law forbids doubtful indulgences, questionable pleasures, the approach towards the line of demarcation between virtue and vice, and bids men cultivate a decided intention and study of obeying God.

7. Accordingly, Christian morality regards all outward forms of devotion and piety as MEANS TO A HIGHER END, and as only acceptable to God