ing in the field, watch over their flocks by night."

These were flocks of the desert, which were driven out for pasture about the time of the passover, which answers nearly to our March, and returned home at the first rains, which are said to begin on the third, or the seventh of the month Macheshvan, which corresponds to parts of our October and November. Even now, in the East, they drive their flocks into the deserts, or plainfields, and there feed them through all the summer, watching them through the day and night. Our Lord was therefore probably born between the months of March and November.

If we consider what was the winter climate of Judea, it will appear still more improbable, that the birth of our Lord should have been on the 25th of December. "He giveth snow like wool," says the Psalmist; "He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes; He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold."

Nor is it probable that Augustus would, at that season, have required all persons, women as well as men, to repair to their respective cities, to be taxed, or enrolled. That it was a time most inconvenient for travelling, may be inferred from the admo

nition which our Lord gave to his disciples, in predicting the destruction of Jerusalem, and the sufferings of the Jews, " pray that your flight be not in the winter." William of Tyre, in speaking of Saladines' troops, after their defeat in the neighbourhood of Ascalon, says, that they sunk under the cold, and the tediousness of the ways, and were not only taken prisoners every day, bub sometimes threw themselves in the way of their enemies, rather than perish with cold and want. And one of the Jewish rabbies mentions it as an instance of the clemency of God, that the destruction of the first temple occurred in the summer, and not in the winter.

The question, what was the exact date of the birth of Christ, is indeed of little importauce. There is however much more evidence that it was in the summer, or autumn, than in the winter. But one emotion of sincere love of his character, or one act of obedience to his will, will advance us farther in his favor, than the knowledge of all mysteries, while our hearts are unrenewed by his instructions. [Lightfoot's Hor: Heb: on the ver. and on Matth. xxiv. 20. Jenning's Jew. Antq. v. 2. p. 240. Harmer's Observ. v. 1. 21, 22.

tian disciple. What teacher can be compared with Jesus? What an attestation did he receive from the infinite God, when there came

to him this voice from the excellent glory, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased?" Can we prize too highly a religion, which fell from the lips, and was sealed by the blood of the Son of God? Can we search for its truths with too earnest and assiduous attention?

There are several qualities or dispositions, which are necessary or important to the acquisition of Christian truth. To illustrate and recommend these, will be a leading object in the Christian Disciple. One of these dispositions is humility, an excellent virtue, which cannot too frequently or too seriously be enjoined, as a preservative from error, and a guide to truth. But perhaps the true nature of this virtue has not been sufficiently explained. Perhaps it has not been sufficiently distinguished from counterfeits. A timid and abject spirit, at once unfavorable to truth and degrading to the character, has often been recommended as humility, and been cherished as a virtue on account of the honorable name which it has borne. In the following dissertation, I wish to consider what is intended by that humility, which we ought to carry with us into our inquiries after religion. And for the sake of greater clearness, I will begin with pointing out what this humility does not imply.

1. To search for truth with christian humility does not imply, that we consider ourselves incapable of judging for ourselves,, and that we resign our understanding to the guidance of oth

ers.

This is a humility, which

aspiring and haughty men very naturally recommend, for it is the great foundation of spiritual dominion. But we ought to be just to ourselves and to the powers which God has given us. We ought to feel that we are rational and moral beings, bound to exert our faculties, and accountable for their improvement. We ought not indeed to overrate our capacities. We ought to see and to acknowledge the superiority of those who surpass us-But because our powers of mind are inferior to those with which others are gifted, are they unworthy of cultivation ? Must we cease to exert them? Must we leave to others the task of thinking for us, and passively receive whatever they deliver as truth? Let us remember, that we are responsible only for the powers we possess, and that nothing is required of us, but to employ these with uprightness and assiduity. We are not expected to see as far as those who are blest with a more piercing vision; but as far as we can see, we are bound to look with our own eyes, and not to trust implicitly to the guidance of others.

There is one consideration, which should encourage common christians to examine the scriptures for themselves. The seriptures were designed for the great mass of mankind, and are in general adapted to their capacities. This we infer from the fact, that Jesus Christ addressed his instructions to the common people of a country, much less enlightened than our own. He did not repair to the schools of the learned, and entrust his truth to a few

exalted minds, to be dispensed by them, in the form which they should think best, to the inferior classes of society. His school was in the open air, in the streets, in the fields. His hearers were the poor and ignorant, as well as the rich and learned. Unto the poor was the gospel preached. Who then will say, that persons of ordinary understanding are incapable of attaining, by the honest exercise of their faculties, to a sufficient acquaintance with the instructions of Jesus, as they are preserved and transmitted in the sacred scriptures? Why must they yield their understandings to others?

If indeed we were assured, that any human being was infallible, we might safely commit to him the keeping of our consciences. But where is this privileged mortal, whose understanding is a region of unclouded light, a temple of truth too holy for the entrance of a single error? Who will dare, in so many words, to claim this exemption from human frailty?

Some indeed talk with great boldness of the perfect assurance which they have attained, as to the truth of the most disputed doctrines. But who are these bold and confident men? Are they distinguished by the patience of their inquiries, the calmness of their minds, the deliberateness of their judgments, the humility and meekness of their tempers? Or are they the precipitate, ardent, vain, and ignorant?

Some men are sure, that they are right on points where the wis est have doubted, because light has flashed upon their minds from heaven. They carry within them

an indescribable feeling, which assures them of the truth of their sentiments. They have received sudden, irresistible impressions, which are worth more than a thousand arguments. Are these the men we are prepared to follow ?Then there is no extravagance of sentiment or practice, which we must not embrace.There is no absurdity of which some weak enthusiast has not felt the certainty.

Some men owe their confidence not so much to enthusiasm as to their ignorance. Perhaps nothing produces so much positiveness, as narrowness of views. No difficulties ever strike that mind, which looks only at one side of a question. No doubts disturb him, who will not inquire.

If then loud claims are not to be believed, how are we to choose the guide to whom we may resign our understanding? A thousand offer to conduct us to truth and heaven. Whom shall we follow ? We must at least compare their different systems; and what is this but saying, that we must employ our own understandings on religion, that we must judge for ourselves?

Am I told by some of my readers, that they intend to take for their guides, not enthusiasts or the ignorant, but men of enlarg ed minds, more favored than themselves with the power and means of discovering truth? To this the answer is obvious:—If men of enlarged minds were unit. ed in their views of christian doctrines, the presumption would be strong in favor of their correctness. But who does not know, that on several subjects the

wise are divided-that every age has teemed with the controversies of the learned that great names are ranged under very different standards-that every sect can number among its advocates profound reasoners and laborious inquirers. The fact is, that the most vigorous minds are accessible to error, that the wisest men cannot escape all the prejudices of education, all the biases to which they are exposed from their connexions and pursuits. Great men are often very weak. Some are blinded by attachment to old opinions, which they began to defend, before they had examined them. Others are perverted by a passion for novelty, and by the proud hope of raising a name on the ruin of ancient systems, Before we attach authority to another man's opinions, we should not merely ask, is he intelligent and profound? we should inquire, how was he educated? where has he lived and especially we lived?-and should inquire, whether his reputation or interest be not in some degree connected with the senti, ments he defends. And after all, how poorly can we judge of the degree of impartiality with which the mind of another has conducted its inquiries after truth.

But some will say, that they choose for their guides, not the learned, but the most pious class of christians, and that they can hardly err in the company of saints. But, my friends, let me ask you, who has constituted you the judges of other men's piety? Are the hearts of men so easily searched, are the marks of goodness so obvious and undoubted, are false professors of piety so

easily detected, that you feel no hesitation in deciding, to what denomination of christians the purest piety ought to be ascribed? For myself, I had much rather be the judge of doctrines than of characters. If you act upon the principle of making the most.pious your spiritual guides, you will probably attach youselves to those, who make the loudest professions of religion. But are you sure, that you will find among these the profoundest humility and the tenderest love of God and Jesus Christ? Do those who make the longest prayers always wear the purest hearts ? Suppose that you had lived in Judea in the time of our Saviour, and had determined to take the most eminent saints as your spiritual directors, what guides would you probably have followed? There was at that time a class of men, whose reputation for sanctity rang through the land. They fasted often; they prayed often; they were solemn in their manners; they were too holy to com, mune with ordinary people; they would not suffer the Sabbath to be broken even by an act of mercy; not the minutest forms and expressions were overlooked ; they were filled with indignation at the deficiencies of others; they were unsparing in their censures; even Jesus Christ was a glutton, wine-bibber, and sabbath-breaker, when compared with the rigid rules of their sect; and their ears were too much shocked with the impiety of his sentiments, to permit them to hear him. How naturally would you have been led to take for your guides men so imposing in their appearance, whe

asserted so loudly their holy zeal, and of whom all around spoke in the language of veneration-and yet, what would these men have made of you? formal hypocrites, hard-hearted bigots, enemies of your Saviour. Under their guidance, you might have embrued your hands in his blood, and then have lifted them to God with a confident hope of his approbation.

I am far from applying this character of the Pharisees to any class of Christians. Whilst every denomination has its hypocrites, there is no one, I trust, which, as a body, is marked by hypocrisy. I only mean to say, that loud pretensions and fair appearances are not always to be trusted; that popular opinion may invest with peculiar sanctity the very sect, which is most unsound in faith and practice. The purest piety is modest, unobtrusive, retiring. It is often concealed, or only discloses itself to the eye of friendship. It is not ambitious of controlling the opinions of the world, and puts in no claim to obedience from the multitude. How then shall we be sure that the class of christians, whom we may select as our guides, are the purest who bear the christian name?

Another objection may be made to the principle of choosing the pious as our spiritual directors. If we look round on the christian world with candid and inquiring minds, we shall see marks of the purest piety in every denomination. Every church will exhibit to us its saints. It is a delight ful thought, that religion is confined to none of those enclosures

of sect and party, which are so often the limits of our narrow charity. As protestants, we shrink from the corruptions of the church of Rome. But what venerable sanctity has adorned many of its members? Who can pronounce the name of Fenelon without thinking better of human nature? Calvinism numbers among its disciples the fathers of New England, men of exalted piety, who breathed the spirit of the early martyrs. On the other hand, who can number the host of worthies, who have looked with a shuddering abhorrence on the doctrines of Calvin? Into what perplexities shall we be thrown, into what opposite paths shall we be attracted, if we choose to believe whatever the pious have believed?

Let us love and respect the good, but let us not lean upon them as if they could never fall into error. The best heart is not always guided by the most enlightened mind. Sometimes very conscientious men are weak and timid.

They are alarmed by the denunciations of the positive, fear to inquire, and thus yield themselves slaves to gross superstitions. Sometimes very excellent men have more fancy than judgment. They delight in the marvellous, and find hidden meanings in the plainest language of scripture; they send their thoughts into the spiritual world, and mistake their vivid and pleasing dreams for divine communica tions. Where shall we not be led, what absurdity shall we no adopt, if every opinion is to be em, braced which has found a place in the minds of the devout