Now, those young persons who shall be convinced of the Saviour's remembrance of them, and shall be touched in heart at thought of the provision which he has made for their instruction in his holy word, and of his lovingkindness in presenting to them, in his own person, a perfect pattern for their imitation, will be well prepared to enter on the perusal and meditation of the following pages; to imbibe the lessons of truth and holiness which will be drawn from the sacred narrative; with adoring veneration and grateful delight, to contemplate the example of the blessed Jesus; to long for grace to follow in his footsteps, and fervently to pray that they may be "changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord."

CHAP. II.

ON THE PERSONAL ENDOWMENTS OF CHRIST.

Ir is evident that the personal endowments of Christ, simply considered, cannot be the subjects of imitation. But when it is remembered that these endowments were improved by Christ, as man, not through any miraculous power, but by the use of ordinary means, and when they are contemplated in this light, there will be suggested many instructive lessons of the exemplary kind. The Evangelist describes them as relating to the body, the mind, and the spirit.

The bodily endowments of Christ.—These are described by the expressions" the child grew," and "Jesus increased in stature."

It cannot be doubted that Jesus was partaker of all the sinless infirmities of the human nature, for "in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren;" but with this difference, that we are necessarily subject to them, whereas he voluntarily assumed them. Yet, as little can it be doubted, that Christ assumed hu

manity in its most perfect state; not being, as many among men, the subject of any original bodily defect, nor of any hereditary imbecility or disease. He was not only truly man, but man" in his best estate ;" free, not merely from whatever was vicious, but from every infirmity not necessarily belonging to the present condition of the human kind. Hence, when it is related by the Evangelist that he "grew," and that he "increased in stature," it is most reasonable to conclude that his meaning is, that Jesus, as he advanced in years, made the fullest progress in bodily health and vigour. To this effect, indeed, in him every thing conspired. All the common hindrances were absent. There was nothing of originally infirm or morbid constitution. A perfectly sound and pure constitution was not vitiated in the beginning by the foolish and pernicious indulgences of parents. Joseph and Mary were poor, and therefore could not deprave his health by pampering him with luxuries: they were wise and holy persons, and therefore they would not.

Here we see the advantages of an humble condition in life, in connexion with godliness; and well would it be for some young

persons who are tempted to envy those who have rich and indulgent parents, to remember that such commonly pay a dear price for their pleasures, in the loss of vigorous health and of the power of bodily and mental labour, or in the want of self-denial and self-government; and that, wanting these, they have little capacity for the best and purest earthly enjoyments. How many are now occupying useful and honourable stations in society, who, under the wise and good providence of God, owe their healthfulness, their power of application to business, their habits of cheerful industry, and their capacity of enjoying with a lively zest the simple comforts of life, to the wholesome restraints and discipline to which they were subjected in early years; because either their parents had it not in their power to ruin them by indulgence, or, (which has sometimes happened,) having the power, they had too much wisdom and grace to abuse it! Christ, who "is Lord of all," and who was free to select the most elevated condition of human life, saw fit to choose the humblest, and to be born of one who was as remarkable for her poverty as for the sanctity of her character. Let the recollection of this, suppress those

feelings of pride and self-elation which are so prone to rise in the hearts of those who are the children of affluent parents, when they look around on their poorer school-fellows or acquaintance. And let it also avail to shame away the pinings of envy or the fretfulness of discontent, which are so commonly awakened at sight of the glitter of wealth, and of the many gratifications which it commands, in the minds of those from whom they are withheld; and let it prompt them to fervent prayer for like-mindedness with Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet voluntarily became poor.

Born without the corruption of sin or innate malady, and nurtured under the salutary discipline of humble life, the child of wholesome poverty, Jesus, "grew, and increased in stature." But his constitution, which was pure at the beginning, and uncorrupted afterwards by any vitiating indulgences of parental folly, could have thus increased in vigour, only by the use of proper means. The water that is deprived of motion becomes putrid and noxious; so the body in a state of inactivity grows feeble and morbid. The early days of Jesus were not passed in indolence. Joseph, his "supposed" father, was by trade a car