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stage, with a just detestation of vice, they are furnished with apologies for it, which they never forget, and are even taught to consider it as a necessary part of an accomplished character.

And as if we had not enough of this disgusting nonsense and abominable profligacy in our own country, and in our own language, we are every day importing fresh samples of them from abroad, are ingrafting foreign immorality on our own native stock, and introdu cing characters on the stage, or into the closet, which are calculated to recommend the most licentious principles, and favour irregularities and attachments that deserve the severest reprehension and punishment.

These are the several modes in which we may weaken or even destroy oral and religious principles of very sincere Christians, or in the words of Scripture, may make our brother to offend. And whoever is guilty of giving this offence, ought most seriously to consider the heavy punishment, and the bitter woe which our Lord here denounces against it. There is scarce

any one sin noticed by him, which he reprobates in such strong terms as this: "Who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me; it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 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 tremenduous words; but we cannot wonder that our Lord should express himself thus strongly, when we consider the dreadful consequences of spreading infidelity and immorality among our fellow-creatures. We distress them with doubts and scruples which never before entered into their thoughts; we rob them of the most invaluable blessings of life, of that heavenly consolation and support which is derived from religious sentiments and virtuous habits; of that trust and confidence in the Supreme Disposer of all things, which gives ease and comfort to the afflicted soul; of that unspeakable satisfaction which results from a conscientious discharge of

our duty; and of that peace of God which passeth all understanding. But what is still worse, we not only deprive them of the truest comforts of the present life, but we cut off all their hopes of happiness in the next; we take from them the only sure 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 consign 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 severe sentence 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 converse, that can be dangerous to the religious principles of his children, his friends, or his servants; nothing that tends to lessen their reverence for the sacred writings, their respect for the doctrines, the precepts, or the sacred ordinances of religion, or raise any doubts or scruples in their minds respecting the truth or divine authority of the Christian revelation. I mention these things, because even the friends of religion are sometimes apt through mere inadvertence or thoughtlessness to indulge themselves in pleasantries even upon serious subjects, which though meant at the time merely to entertain their hearers, or to display their wit, yet often produce a very different effect, and sink much deeper into the minds of those that are present (especially of young people) than they are in the least aware of. More mischief may sometimes be done by incidental levities of this kind, than by grave discourses or elaborate writings against religion.

I have dwelt the longer on this interesting topic, be. cause few people are aware of the enormity of the sin 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 commission of this crime they endanger the present peace and the future salvation of their fellow-creatures, and expose themselves to the woes which our Lord has in the passage before us denounced against those from whom these 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 disciples.

After having said in the 7th verse, "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;" he then adds, wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast 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 cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."

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

The heinous sin, against which I have been here cautioning you, that of offending your Christian brethren, of causing them by your misconduct to renounce their faith in me or to desert the paths of virtue, has its origin in your depraved appetites and passions; as in the present instance it is your ambition, your eagerness after worldly honors and distinctions, which it is to be feared will give offence and scandal to those that

observe it, and may impress them with an unfavourable idea of that religion which seems to inspire such sentiments. You must therefore go at once to the root of the evil, you' must extirpate those corrupt passions and propensities that have taken possession 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 should renounce what is most dear to you in this life, than that you should suffer those dreadful punishments in the next, which I have told you will assuredly be inflicted on all impenitent offenders, and more particularly on those who offend in the way here specified.

yen."

He then returns to the main subject of his exhortation: "take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaThat is, I again repeat to you, take heed that ye treat not with scorn and contempt such little children as you now see before you, or those believers in me who resemble these children in docility, meekness, humility, and indifference to all that the world calls. great and honourable. Take care that you do not consider their welfare, their salvation, as below your notice and regard, and wantonly endanger both by giving way to your own irregular desires; for I say unto you, that however contemptibly you may think of them, your heavenly Father regards them with a more favourable eye. He even condescends to take them under his protection, he sends his most favoured angels, those 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 passage some have inferred, that every child, and every faithful servant of Christ, has an angel constantly attached to his person, to superintend, direct and protect him; and this is the opinion of the learned Grotius himself; whilst others only suppose

that those celestial spirits, who (as we are told of Ga briel) stand before God, are occasionally sent to assist the pious Christian in imminent danger, in severe trials, or great emergencies. And hence perhaps the favorite and popular doctrine of guardian angels; a doctrine which has prevailed more or less in every age of the church, which is without question most soothing and consolatory to human nature, and is certainly countenanced by this and several other passages of holy writ, as well as by the authority of Origen, Tertullian, and other ancient fathers and commentators. In the Psalms it is said, "The angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them,"* And in the Epistle to the Hebrews† we are told, that the angels are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." No one therefore that cherishes this notion can be charged with weakness or superstition; and if it should be at last an error, it is as Cicero says of the immortality of the soul, so delightful an error, that we cannot easily suffer it to be wrested from us. But whatever may be the decision of learned men on this point, there is one thing most 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 ministering angels, or by the all-comprehending and omnipresent eye of God himself, watches over those true disciples of Christ, who, in their tempers, dispositions, and manners, approach nearest to the humility, the meekness, the innocence, and the simplicity of a child.

This doctrine is indeed so distinctly and explicitly asserted in various parts of scripture, that it stands in no need of any confirmation from this particular passage;

*Psal. xxxiv. 7.

† Chap. i. 14.

The excellent Bishop Andrews has, in one of his animated prayers, a passage which plainly shews that he believed this doctrine. It is as follows; "That the angel of peace, the holy guide of thy children, the faithful guard set by thee over their souls and bodies, may encamp round about me, and continually suggest to my mind such things as conduce to thy glory, grant O good Lord"

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