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quently do so; but there is no system of error incorporated with their constitution. Corruption, terror, influence, are excluded by it; and prejudice, in a great degree, though not entirely. This danger, which consists in juries viewing one class of men, or one class of rights, in a more or less favourable light than another, is the only one to be feared, and to be guarded against. It is a disposition, which, whenever it rises up in the minds of jurors, ought to be repressed by their probity, their consciences, the sense of their duty, the remembrance of their oaths.

And this institution is not more salutary than it is grateful and honourable to those popular feelings of which all good governments are tender. Hear the language of the law. In the most momentous interests, in the last peril indeed of human life, the accused appeals to God and his country, "which country you are." What pomp of titles, what display of honours can equal the real dignity which these few words confer upon those to whom they are addressed? They show, by terms the most solemn and significant, how highly the law deems of the functions and character of a jury; they show also, with what care of the safety of the subject it is that the same law has provided for every one a recourse to the fair and indifferent arbitration of his neighbours. This is substantial equality; real freedom: equality of protection; freedom from injustice. May it never be invaded, never abused! May it be perpetual! And it will be so, if the affection of the country continue to be preserved to it by the integrity of those who are charged with its office.

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OBSERVATIONS

UPON THE

CHARACTER AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST,

AND THE

MORALITY OF THE GOSPEL.

ORIGINALLY ANNEXED AS A SUMMARY AND APPENDIX TO "REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF CHRIST," BY EDMUND LORD BISHOP OF CARLISLE.-FIRST PUBLISHED 1776.

ON THE CHARACTER AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.

In the first place, Christ was absolutely innocent: we do not find a single vice to which he was addicted, either from the accounts of his own followers, or as charged upon him by his enemies: we hear nothing like what is told of Mahomet, of his wives and concubines; nothing of his falling, like Socrates and Plato, into the fashionable vices of his country.-In the next place, his whole life, that part of it at least which we are acquainted with, was employed in doing good, in substantial acts of kindness and compassion to all those who fell in his way, i. e. in solid virtue. In his youth, he set an example of subjection and obedience to his parents. (Luke ii. 51.)-By his presence of mind and judicious replies, whenever ensnaring questions were proposed to him, he testified the coolness and soundness of his understanding. (Matt. xxi. 24; xxii. 16; xxx. 37.)—By avoiding all danger when he could do it consistently with his duty, and

CHARACTER AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.

419

resolutely encountering the greatest, when his hour was come, i. e. when his own office or the destination of Providence made it necessary, he proved the se dateness of his courage in opposition to that which is produced by passion and enthusiasm. (Matt. xii. 14, 15; xiv. 12, 13; John iv. I-3, compared with Matt. xv. 17-19.)-By his patience and forbearance, when he had the means of revenge in his power, he taught us the proper treatment of our enemies. (Luke, ix. 54; Matt. xxvi. 53, compared with Luke, xxiii. 34.)-By his withdrawing himself from the populace and repelling their attempts to make him a king, he showed us the sense we ought to entertain of popular clamour and applause. (John, vi. 15.)— By his laying hold of every opportunity to instruct his followers, and taking so much pains to inculcate his precepts, he left us a pattern of industry and zeal in our profession.-By the liberty he took with the Pharisees and Sadducees, the lawyers and scribes, in exposing their hypocrisy, their errors, and corruptions, he taught us fortitude in the discharge of our duty. (Matt. xxiii. Luke, xi. 54.)—He spared neither the faults of his friends, nor the vices of his enemies.--By his indifference and unconcern about his own accommodation and appearance, the interest of his family and fortune, he condemned all worldly mindedness. (Matt. viii. 20; xii. 46--50; John, iv. 34.)— He was perfectly sober and rational in his devotions, as witness the Lord's Prayer compared with any of the compositions of modern enthusiasts. His admirable discourses before his death are specimens of inimitable tenderness and affection towards his followers. (John, xiv.—xvii.) His quiet submission to death,

though even the prospect of it was terrible to him, exhibits a complete pattern of resignation and acquiescence in the divine will. (John, xxii. 41—44.)

And to crown all, his example was practicable, and suited to the condition of human life.-He did not, like Rousseau, call upon mankind to return back into a state of nature, or calculate his precepts for such a state. He did not, with the monk and the hermit, run into caves and cloisters, or suppose men could make themselves more acceptable to God by keeping out of the way of one another. He did not, with some of the most eminent of the stoics, command his followers to throw their wealth into the sea, nor with the eastern faquirs to inflict upon themselves any tedious gloomy penances, or extravagant mortifications. He did not, what is the sure companion of enthusiasm, affect singularity in his behaviour; he dressed, he ate, he conversed like other people; he accepted their invitations, was a guest at their feasts, frequented their synagogues, and went up to Jerusalem at their great festival. He supposed his disciples to follow some professions, to be soldiers, taxgatherers, fishermen ; to marry wives, pay taxes, submit to magistrates;-to carry on their usual business; and when they could be spared from his service, to return again to their respective callings*.-Upon the

* The like did his forerunner John the Baptist. When the publicans and soldiers, people of the two most obnoxious professions in that age and country, asked John what they were to do, John does not require them to quit their occupations, but to beware of the vices and perform the duties of them; which also is to be understood as the Baptist's own explanation of that uɛraνοια εις άφεσιν αμαρτιών to which he called his countrymen.

AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.

421

whole, if the account which is given of Christ in Scripture be a just one ;—if there was really such a person, how could he be an impostor?-If there was no such person, how came the illiterate Evangelists to hit off such a character, and that without any visible design of drawing any character at all?

ON THE MORALITY OF THE GOSPEL.

THE morality of the gospel [is] not beyond what might be discovered by reason; nor possibly could be; because all morality, being founded in relations and consequences, which we are acquainted with and experience, must depend upon reasons intelligible to our apprehensions, and discoverable by us.

Nor perhaps, except in a few instances, was it beyond what might have been collected from the scattered precepts of different philosophers.

Indeed to have put together all the wise and good precepts of all the different philosophers, to have separated and laid aside all the error, immorality and superstition that was mixed with them, would have proved a very difficult work. But that a single person, without any assistance from those philosophers, or any human learning whatsoever, in direct opposition also to the established practices and maxims of his own country, should form a system, so unblamable on the one hand, and so perfect on the other, is extraordinary beyond example and belief; and yet must be believed by those who hold Christ to have been either an impostor or enthusiast.

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