his life. If he foretold, or alluded to, his own impending sorrow, it was, invariably, for the instruction, consolation, or improvement of his apostles. If he met the unfortunate, he pitied them; the ignorant, he taught them; the blind, he gave them sight. He received every mark of affectionate attention, with the most touching sensibility. The very alacrity of his movement, as he walked toward Jerusalem, incidentally noticed by one evangelist, indicated the calm, collected, firmness of his soul; and the occurrence which gave rise to the words of our text, is peculiarly deserving of a more detailed examination.

*

As our Lord was on his progress through the city of Jericho, great multitudes followed; attracted, both, by the splendour of his miracles, and by the delusive hope, that the meek and lowly Jesus, would triumphantly appear, at the approaching passover, as their victorious, temporal Messiah. One inhabitant, in particular, a rich man, a chief officer of the customs, long devoted to the acquisition of wealth, and not always exactly scrupulous in the means of acquisition, very naturally partook in the prevailing spirit of curiosity: "He sought to see Jesus, who he was." Impeded by the crowd, for he was little of stature, his ingenuity devised the means of safely gratifying his wishes; he ran

before the procession, climbed into a sycamoretree, and there awaited the arrival of the great Prophet. But a strange and wonderful revolution was at hand. For "when Jesus came to the place, he looked up." The majesty of our Lord's person, the more than human expression of his countenance, but, especially, the ineffable, and healing virtue of his look, doubtless affected the astonished publican, with an emotion, such as he had never felt before; and, in one moment, effaced the accumulated iniquity of years. "And Jesus saw him :" He saw the reality of his conversion, the sincerity of his repentance, the integrity of his altered purpose. "And said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house:" thus, manifesting his acquaintance, both with the name, and spirit, of his distinguished convert; and thus, too, indicating the value of a modest, inobtrusive disposition; for, it has been well observed, that our Lord never came an uninvited guest, except to him whose modesty forbad an invitation. The feelings of Zaccheus are rather to be imagined, than expressed. And that imagination must be cold, and those affections must be spiritless, which would demand more powerful excitement, than the few and simple words of the sacred historian; who tells us, that

"Zaccheus made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully." Far different were the sensations of the multitude: severe to others, indulgent to themselves; proud of their own imaginary rectitude, inexorable to the frailties of a weaker brother, they indignantly murmured, saying, "He is gone to be a guest with a man, that is a sinner." But divine goodness, like divine wisdom, is justified of her children. This once devoted worshipper of Mammon, stood forth, and testified a real change of mind, by the prompt, immediate, unconditional transfer of half his goods to the poor; and by still more unequivocal evidence, for many find it easier, to be generous than just, by a fourfold restitution, for every injury and wrong, of which he had been guilty'. Money was no longer the idol of his heart; God had regained the empire of his affections: and his bounty was acceptable unto God, and his transgressions were cancelled by the Searcher of hearts: for "Jesus said unto him, This day, is salvation come to this house; for the Son of man is come, to seek and to save that which was lost."

1

It has been observed, that, if more than an eighth part of Zaccheus's wealth had been unjustly acquired, he must, after having given half of what he now possessed to the poor, have been unable to make such restitution, even though he had stripped himself of all his possessions.-See Abp. Tillotson, iii. 83.

In this gracious transaction, it is the most prominent, and not the least instructive feature, that, while our blessed Lord was about to accomplish the redemption of a world, and while his heart was oppressed by the near approach of sorrows above all human sorrow, He spontaneously devoted his time, his thought, and his affectionate solicitude, to the spiritual welfare of one repentant publican; confirming his newborn faith, and cherishing the first dawn of his efficient virtue. But this is only a brief exemplification, of his whole conduct while on earth, and of his present merciful dealings with the children of men. For then, and now, during the short period of his ministry as a servant, and through the boundless extent of his dominion as Lord and Governor of all things, it was, and it is, alike his unchangeable prerogative, to consult the good of the whole, without neglecting the welfare of any part; to promote, indeed, the most comprehensive interests of the world, and the Church; but to pursue the wanderings, to invite the return, and, wherever his gracious call is obeyed, to effect the restoration, of the humblest individual sinner.

In the collective sense, and on the grander scale, it is the great truth of our religion, that the everlasting Son of the Father, dedicated Him

self, by a course of unexampled humiliation, to seek, and to save, the lost and ruined race of man. To seek it, by a long course of preparatory movements, through the ministration of angels, of patriarchs, of priests, and prophets; to save it, by his blessed incarnation, his matchless life, and his infinitely meritorious death. No sooner was his appointed humiliation finished, as the Son of man, than the glory of his prophetic empire began to dawn, as the Lord and Governor of all created things. A wider and more extended economy commenced; of providential arrangements, of gracious influences, of progressive, and cumulative dispensations; all digested, distributed, and over-ruled, by the victorious Messiah; for the gradual enlargement and edification, for the final accomplishment and perfection, of his universal Church: "all power," said He to his apostles, immediately before his ascension, "all power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth; and lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." These words are a brief summary of all the prophecies in the New Testament; and, from the general tenour of those prophecies, compared with the transactions of ages, past and present, we may venture to propose this imperfect outline of interpretation: that, by the all-controlling, and