n xi. 35.) in his noticing of the widow's mite; (Mark xii.
42.) in his parables of the good Samaritan, of the ungrateful servant,
and of the Pharisee and publican, of which parables no one but a man of
humanity could have been the author: the mildness and lenity of his
character is discovered in his rebuke of the forward zeal of his
disciples at the Samaritan village; (Luke ix. 55.) in his expostulation
with Pilate; (John xix. 11.) in his prayer for his enemies at the moment
of his suffering, (Luke xxiii. 34.) which, though it has been since very
properly and frequently imitated, was then, I apprehend, new. His
prudence is discerned, where prudence is most wanted, in his conduct on
trying occasions, and in answers to artful questions. Of these the
following are examples:--His withdrawing in various instances from the
first symptoms of tumult, (Matt. xiv. 22. Luke v. 15, 16. John v. 13; vi.
15.) and with the express care, as appears from Saint Matthew, (Chap.
xii. 19.) of carrying on his ministry in quietness; his declining of
every species of interference with the civil affairs of the country,
which disposition is manifested by his behaviour in the case of the
woman caught in adultery, (John viii. 1.) and in his repulse of the
application which was made to him to interpose his decision about a
disputed inheritance:(Luke xii. 14.) his judicious, yet, as it should
seem, unprepared answers, will be confessed in the case of the Roman
tribute (Matt. xxii. 19.) in the difficulty concerning the interfering
relations of a future state, as proposed to him in the instance of a
woman who had married seven brethren; (Matt. xxii. 28.) and more
especially in his reply to those who demanded from him an explanation of
the authority by which he acted, which reply consisted in propounding a
question to them, situated between the very difficulties into which they
were insidiously endeavouring to draw him. (Matt. xxi. 23, et seq.)

Our Saviour's lessons, beside what has already been remarked in them,
touch, and that oftentimes by very affecting representations, upon some
of the most interesting topics of human duty, and of human meditation;
upon the principles by which the decisions of the last day will be
regulated; (Matt. xxv. 31, et seq.) upon the superior, or rather the
supreme importance of religion; ( Mark viii. 35. Matt. vi. 31--33. Luke
xii. 4, 5, 16--21.) upon penitence, by the most pressing calls, and the
most encouraging invitati