in the pages of the four Evangelists, neither exaggerated, vague, nor inconsistent, but altogether probable and coherent; displayed not so much by general remarks, as by minute incidents; and glowing with the vivid colouring of actual life. The same elevated views, the same unswerving integrity, the same unspotted purity is uniformly, yet naturally depicted. 2. No peculiar anxiety is manifested by these biographers respecting the reputation of their Lord; no care is taken to suppress objections; to explain away what might appear suspicious, or to elucidate that which is obscure. 3. The four memoirs, when compared together, exhibit no attempt whatever to preserve strict uniformity. Different incidents and sentiments are introduced in their respective works; the same are continually related in a different way, and in an altered order, and the several Evangelists affix, for the most part, their own peculiar stamp to the phraseology they employ. Yet throughout their writings, we perceive, even where they differ most, that they are delineating the same character. The same qualities are unfolded in different anecdotes; the same sentiments embodied in varied language; the same simple figures pursued through new illustrations. The varieties observed appear to be no more than the colouring, distinct minds will communicate to that general mode of thinking and speaking, which results from the common ob

ject in which they may be engaged, and the habits of the society to which they belong. 4. The discourses of Jesus have a spirit and tendency which distinguishes them from all others, and especially from the method of instruction prevalent in His own age. We discover in them none of the trifling glosses upon Scripture, nor the "old wives fables," in which the Scribes delighted: none of the affected obscurity, or the sophistical distinctions, common in the Grecian Schools of philosophy. No particular stress is laid upon the explanation of doctrinal points, or the interpretation of difficult passages in the Old Testament. We remark everywhere a tranquil familiarity with the highest subjects; a disposition rather to assume, and authoritatively to enforce, than to demonstrate the truths He taught. Yet is His manner, in the highest degree affectionate. A "spirit of love," no less than of "a sound mind," animates His exhortations as well as His actions; a love which, while directed towards His heavenly Father as its supreme object, embraced all His creatures within its bands. If His first object was to glorify God by bearing witness to the truth,' His second was to render that truth acceptable to His hearers, to convince them that it came from One who perfectly loved them, and was willing and able to do more for their present and eternal welfare than man had ever undertaken. His whole soul appears so pos

sessed with these high purposes, as to become insensible to His own glory; prepared in this cause to endure, even to court every extremity of shame and indignity. Our Lord's teaching is also represented as practical; not so much calculated to win mere admiration, to gratify the intellect, and excite the fancy, but directly effectual to supply the actual necessities of man; of man as he exists in every age, and in every clime; to make a way for the doctrines He enforced, to the hearts, as well as to the understandings of His hearers; to represent them vividly to their eyes and ears; to connect them with their domestic usages and daily duties. May the ministers and stewards of His mysteries be enabled more and more to approximate towards that spirit and method of teaching, of which their Lord was the perfect example; may their hearers remember, that it is possible, mechanically to acknowledge the truths presented to them in these Gospels, without any serious endeavour to view them in their genuine force and bearings; nay, that they may become intellectually masters of the whole subject, without allowing it to have a vital influence upon their consciences, their hearts, and their lives. Unless that view of Scripture be sought from above, which sanctifies the will, while it enlightens the understanding, the philosophical examination of its evidences, or the critical survey of its literary character will rather

*H

be of disservice to our real welfare.

Without that safeguard, such enquiries, by multiplying facts and notions of slight or secondary moment, will distract and deter us from the simple reception of the Word of God, as the direct channel of communication between our souls, and that Power, who implanted, and will again require them.

CHAPTER VII.

UPON THE CHARACTER AND BEHAVIOUR OF PONTIUS PILATE, AS DESCRIBED IN THE GOSPELS.

66. THAT impressive scene of the Gospel History which represents the Redeemer before the judgment seat of Pilate, appears to me to testify, in a high degree, the fearless simplicity of the narrators; their intimate acquaintance with their subject; and, amid some superficial variations, their essential conformity with each other, and with the truth of history. During the period of His active ministry, our Saviour may certainly be considered to have lived chiefly in public; yet it was not often that His simple and unambitious duties drew Him into contact with persons of high rank or general celebrity. In treating then of His ordinary conduct, His biographers were subject to few restrictions. Keeping prophecy and probability just in view, they might almost have given their imaginations the range through the regions of fiction;