regularities and attachments that deferve the feverest reprehenfion and punishment.

These are the feveral modes in which we may weaken or even destroy the moral and religious principles of very fm. cere Christians, or in the words of Scripture, may make our brother to offend. And whoever is guilty of giving this of fence, ought most seriously to confider the heavy punish. ment, and the bitter woe which our Lord here denounces against it. There is fcarce any one fin noticed by him, which he reprobates in such strong terms as this: "Who fo fhall offend one of these little ones which believe in me; it were better for him that a mill-ftone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the fea. Woe unto the world because of offences; for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." These are tremendous words; but we cannot wonder that our Lord fhould exprefs himself thus ftrongly, when we confider the dreadful confequences of fpreading infidelity and immorality among our fellow-creatures. We distress them with doubts and fcruples which never before entered into their thoughts; we rob them of the most invaluable bleffings of life, of that heavenly confolation and fupport which is derived from religious fentiments and virtuous habits; of that truft and confidence in the Supreme Difpofer of all things, which gives eafe and comfort to the afflicted foul; of that unfpeakable fatisfaction which results from a confcientious discharge of our duty; and of that peace of God which paffeth all understanding. But what is still worse, we not only deprive them of the trueft comforts of the prefent life, but we cut off all their hopes of happinefs in the next; we take from them the only fure ground of pardon and acceptance, the death and merits of a crucified Redeemer: we bar up against them the gates of heaven, into which but for us they might have entered, and perhaps confign them over to everlasting perdition. Is not this beyond comparison, the greatest injury that one human creature can inflict upon another? And does it not justly merit that fevere fentence which our Lord has pronounced against it? Let then every one keep at the utmost distance from this most atrocious crime. Let every man

who commits his thoughts to the public, take especial care that nothing drop even incidentally from his pen that can offend those whom our Saviour calls little children that believe in him; that can either stagger their faith or corrupt their hearts. Let every father of a family be equally careful that nothing escape his lips in the unguarded hour of familiar converfe, that can be dangerous to the religious principles of his children, his friends, or his fervants; nothing that tends to leffen their reverence for the facred writings, their respect for the doctrines, the precepts, or the facred ordinances of religion, or raise any doubts or scruples in their minds refpecting the truth or divine authority of the Chriftian revelation. I mention these things, because even the friends of religion are sometimes apt through mere inadvertence or thoughtlessness to indulge themselves in pleafantries even upon ferious fubjects, which though meant at the time merely to entertain their hearers, or to display their wit, yet often produce a very different effect, and fink much deeper into the minds of thofe that are present (especially of young people) than they are in the least aware of. More mischief may fometimes be done by incidental levities of this kind, than by grave discourses or elaborate writings againft religion.

I have dwelt the longer on this interesting topic, because few people are aware of the enormity of the fin here reproved by our Lord, of the irreparable injury it may do to others, and of the danger to which it exposes themselves. But when they reflect, that by the commiffion of this crime they endanger the prefent peace and the future falvation of their fellow-creatures, and expose themselves to the woes which our Lord has in the paffage before us denounced against those from whom thefe offences come, they will probably feel it their duty to be more guarded in this instance than men generally are; and will take heed to their ways that they offend not either with their pen or with their tongue.

I now go on with the remaining part of our Lord's admonition to his difciples.

After having faid in the 7th verfe," Woe unto the world because of offences; for it must needs be that of

fences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh ;" he then adds, wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and caft them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire; and if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and caft it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."

Our Saviour here applies to the particular fin which he was then condemning, the very fame words which he had ufed before in his fermon on the Mount with reference to the crime of adultery; and the meaning is this:

The henious fin, against which I have been here cautioning you, that of offending your Chriftian brethren, of caufing them by your mifconduct to renounce their faith in me or to defert the paths of virtue, has its origin in your depraved appetites and paffions; as in the present inftance it is your ambition, your eagerness after worldly honors and diftinctions, which it is to be feared will give offence and scandal to those that observe it, and may im prefs them with an unfavorable idea of that religion which feems to infpire fuch fentiments. You must therefore go at once to the root of the evil, you must extirpate thofe corrupt paffions and propenfities that have taken poffeffion of your hearts, though it may be as difficult for you to part with them as it would be to pluck out an eye, or tear off a limb from the body. For it is better that you fhould renounce what is most dear to you in this life, than that you should fuffer thofe dreadful punishments in the next, which I have told you will affuredly be inflicted on all impenitent offenders, and more particularly on those who offend in the way here specified.

He then returns to the main fubject of his exhortation: "take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I fay unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." That is, I again repeat to you, take heed that ye treat not with fcorn and contempt fuch little children as you now fee

before you, or those believers in me who refemble these children in docility, meeknefs, humility, and indifference to all that the world calls great and honourable. Take care that you do not confider their welfare, their falvation, as below your notice and regard, and wantonly endanger both by giving way to your own irregular defires; for I fay unto you, that however contemptibly you may think of them, your heavenly Father regards them with a more favorable eye. He even condefcends to take them under his protection, he fends his most favored angels, thofe ministers of his that do his pleasure, and stand always in his presence ready to execute his commands, even these he deputes to guard and watch over these little children and those humble Christians, who are like them in purity and innocence of mind.

From this paffage fome have inferred, that every child, and every faithful fervant of Chrift, has an angel conftantly attached to his perfon, to fuperintend, direct, and protect him; and this is the opinion of the learned Grotius himfelf; whilft others only fuppofe that those celestial spirits, who (as we are told of Gabriel) ftand before God, are occafionally fent to affift the pious Chriftian in imminent danger, in fevere trials, or great emergencies. And hence perhaps the favorite and popular doctrine of guardian angels; a doctrine which has prevailed more or lefs in every age of the church, which is without question most foothing and confolatory to human nature, and is certainly countenanced by this and feveral other paffages of holy writ, as well as by the authority of Origen, Tertullian, and other ancient fathers and commentators. In the Pfalms it is faid, “The angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them*." And in the Epistle to the Hebrewst we are told, that the angels are all miniftering fpirits, fent forth to minifter for them who fhall be heirs of falvation." No one therefore that cherifhes this notion can be charged with weakness or superftition; and if it should be at last an error, it is as Cicero fays of the immortality of the foul, fo delightful an error, that we † Chap. i. 14.

* Psal. xxxiv. 7.

cannot eafily fuffer it to be wrefted from us. But whatever may be the decition of learned men on this point, there is one thing moft clearly proved by the text now before us, and confirmed by a multitude of others, and that is, the doctrine not only of a general but of a particular providence, which in one way or other, whether by miniftering angels, or by the all-comprehending and omniprefent eye of God himself, watches over thofe true difciples of Chrift, who, in their tempers, difpofitions, and manners, approach: nearest to the humility, the meeknefs, the innocence, and the fimplicity of a child.

This doctrine is indeed fo diftinctly and explicitly affert ed in various parts of fcripture, that it ftands in no need of any confirmation from this particular paffage; but every additional proof of fo material a fupport under the afflictions and calamities of life, must be grateful to every heart that has known what affliction is.

The verfe that comes next in order is this: "For the Son of man is come to fave that which is loft." The connex ion of this verfe with the preceding one is fomewhat obfcure, but feems to be as follows: You may think, perhaps that man is too mean, too infignificant a being, to be worthy of the miniftration and guardianfhip of celestial fpirits. But how can you entertain this imagination, when you know that for this creature man, for fallen and finful man, did the Son of God condefcend to offer himfelf up a facrifice on the cross, and came to fave that which was loft? Well then may the angels of heaven be proud to guard what their Lord and Master came to fave. Jefus then goes on to exemplify, by a familiar fimilitude, his paternal tenderness to the fons of men. "How think ye, if a man have an hundred fleep, and one of them be gone aftray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and feeketh that which is gone aftray? And if fo be that he find it, verily I fay unto

It

* The excellent Bifhop Andrews has, in one of his animated prayers, a paffage which plainly fhews that he believed this doctrine is as follows; "That the angel of peace, the holy guide of thy chil dren, the faithful guard fet by thee over their fouls and bodies, may encamp round about me, and continually fuggeft to my mind fuch things as conduce to thy glory, grant O good Lord?"