no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, That the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

So unwilling was the blessed Jesus to give over his kind attempts for men's salvation! He projected another circuit through the country, and sends forth other messengers, more numerous than the former company. He renews his invitations to perishing sinners, and his lamentations over those, who had hitherto rejected the counsel of God against themselves. (Luke vii. 30.) Thus let us love the souls of men; thus let us use repeated endeavours to deliver them; endeavours which would probably be much more successful than they are, if these wise and gracious directions of Christ to his ministers were more attentively observed by those who are honoured with that important office.

Let all such cast their care upon God; let them go forth

cheerfully in a dependence on his protection and favour; let them carry about with them hearts full of affection for the whole human race, seeking and praying for the peace of all around them; cheerfully contenting themselves with such things as they have, (Heb. xiii. 5); and neither pursuing the grandeurs nor the delicacies of life with any eager attachment. Send forth, O Lord, such labourers into thine harvest, and animate them to a becoming zeal in their work, by a deep sense of that dreadful condemnation, which those will incur, who despising them, pour contempt on their Divine Master, and his heavenly Father, in whose name he was sent! May God preserve our country from that guilt and ruin! The kingdom of God is come nigh unto us, and we are lifted up to heaven by our privileges: may we not, after all, be cast down to hell for the abuse of them! but may Divine grace make such a way for the gospel into our hearts, that we may cordially receive all who faithfully proclaim it, and bid them welcome in the name of the Lord!

SECTION XXXII.

LUKE X. 17-24.

AND the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things

that ye see: for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

And are not our obligations in some measure proportionable to theirs, while these glorious sights are reflected to our eyes from the mirror of his word, and these glad tidings are echoed back to our ears? Have not we also reason to adore the peculiar favour of God to us, and to admire the sovereignty of his love, that he has been pleased to reveal his Son in us, and has given to such babes, as we must own ourselves to be, that spiritual knowledge of him, which he has suffered to remain hidden from the great, the learned, and the wise! Even so, Father, must we also say, for so it seemed good in thy sight: thou hast mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy, and often exaltest the riches of thy grace by the meanness and unworthiness of those, on whom it is bestowed.

Have we reason to hope that our worthless names are written in heaven? let us often think of that glorious society, amongst whom we are enrolled as members, and rejoice in the thought of those privileges, which result from such a relation to it privileges in comparison of which, a power to heal diseases, and eject demons with a word, would hardly deserve our joy. In a grateful sense of them, let us adore the grace which gave us a place in the Lamb's book of life, and be ever solicitous to behave in a manner worthy of so illustrious a hope.

We have great encouragement to expect that he, before whom Satan fell like lightning from heaven, will enable us finally to trample on his power. Let us not servilely fear that condemned criminal, already marked with the scars of the Divine vengeance; but let us cheerfully hope, that the triumph over him will be renewed by the preaching of the gospel. Quickened by that hope, let us more earnestly pray, that the ruin of his gloomy kingdom may be daily more and more apparent, especially among us; that our gracious Redeemer, who reckons the interests of souls his own, may have renewed reason of joy and praise on that account. Exert, O blessed Jesus, thine own almighty arm for that great purpose; and, as thou alone canst do it, reveal thine heavenly Father to those who, by neglecting thee, shew that they know not him!

SECTION XXXIII.
LUKE X. 25-37.

AND, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two-pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Of how great importance is it, that we should every one of us be in good earnest making this inquiry, which the Scribe addressed to our Lord, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal

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life! What ought we not willingly to do, and to bear, that we may secure so great a felicity? Still will our Lord answer us from his word, that we must keep the commands of God, while we are looking to him as the end of the law for righteousness. (Rom. x. 4.) Happy are they that faithfully do it, that through the grace manifested in the gospel they may have a right to eat of the tree of life! (Rev. xxii. 14.)

May this abstract and summary of the commandments be written as it were in golden characters, on the table of each of our hearts! May we love the Lord our God with all the united powers and faculties of our souls, and our neighbour as sincerely and fervently as ourselves! And may we learn, from this beautiful parable of the good Samaritan, to exercise our charity to our fellow-creatures in the most amiable manner!

The Jewish Priest and Levite had, no doubt, the ingenuity to find out some excuse or other for passing over to the other side; and might, perhaps, formally thank God for their own deliverance, while they left their brother to bleed to death for want of their assistance. Is it not an emblem of many living characters, perhaps of some, whose sacred office lays them under the strongest obligations to distinguished benevolence and generosity? But the good Samaritan acted the part of a brother to this expiring Jew. O seed of Israel, O house of Levi and of Aaron! will not the day come, when the human virtues of heathens shall rise up in judgment against thee!

Let us reflect with shame, what are the differences between one Christian and another, when compared with those between a Samaritan and a Jew! Yet here the benevolence of a good heart overcame even these; and, on the view of a wounded dying man, forgot that he was by nation an enemy. Whose heart does not burn within him, whose eyes do not overflow with tears of delight, while he reads such a story? Let us go and do likewise, regarding every man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Let us exclude every malignant sentiment of bigotry and party zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race, but a little select number, whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self-love reflected. With an honest openness of mind let us always remember the relation between man and man, and feel and cultivate that happy instinct by which God, who has formed our hearts in many instances alike, has in the original constitution of our nature strongly and graciously bound them to each other.