lasted long enough to show, that a body will venture upon bolder acts of iniquity than one individual, being screened by their numbers from reproach. To the guilt of murder, they added that of perfidy. Huss had appeared under the protection of a safe conduct from the Emperor; and the Council justified the violation of it, to which Sigismond assented, by the assertion, that neither faith nor promise, by natural, divine, or human law, was to be observed, to the prejudice of the Catholic Religion; a principle which had been already announced by Urban VIII. A.D. 1378, and is founded on the Decretals. Thus the Council demonstrated, that Persecution is a principle as much ecclesiastical as papal.

As recently as A.D. 1781, a Nun was the last victim of the Spanish Inquisition, and we may hope that never more may real heretics undergo the punishment of death; yet in most Christian countries, Dissenters from the national Church are deprived more or less of the privileges of citizens, and many retain what may be called the negative persecution, of not allowing their public worship. Complete toleration is comparatively recent in any; and it is mortifying to know, that in Holland, where it was first sanctioned by the State, it originated, not in principle, but in commercial policy. It is painful to think how slowly men, professing a religion which so preeminently inculcates peace and good will among men, have learnt what may be considered an elementary lesson. Even the wise and enlightened Bacon, who, both in philosophy and politics, was so far before his age, thought that Uniformity in Religion was indispensable to the support of Government, and that no toleration could safely be given to Sectaries. Milton, himself a Sectarian, went further, but he refused it to all who denied the sufficiency of Scripture; and it was during the civil wars, when the Protestants were divided into Churchmen, Presbyterians, and Independents, that

Teration was first advocated by two eminent divines, whose works suli edify and delight the Christian, the Independent Owen, and the Episcopalian Taylor. Even Locke, the friend of civil and religious liberty, and the author of Letters in favour of toleration, considers that Roman Catholics are justly excepted from it, on account of their allegiance in spiritual concerns to a foreign Bishop. The Act of Toleration, which so honcurably distinguishes the reign of William III. and was at the time condemned by many, would not now be regarded as a liberal measure, for Dissent though thereby legalized, was subjected to many restrictions. It was limited to persons professing a belief in the Trinity, and required that dissenting ministers and schoolmasters, though they received no remuneration from the State, should sign all the doctrinal Articles of the Church of Engiand. In our own country, all who profess any form of Christianity, enjoy the same political rights as the members of the Established Church, and all offices, with a very limited exception, are open to all. The only danger now is, that of running into the opposite extreme, and of encouraging and remunerating what ought only to be allowed; and that from excess of mistaken liberality, the State will hurt the feelings of the majority, by gratifying the minority; which it must do if it endow in any degree a Church, which the nation has formerly denounced for centuries as teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

96. Jesus cleanseth at their own petition ten Lepers, of whom the only grateful one was a Samaritan. Luke xvii. 11—19.

As if it were to show that this bigotry was not universal, the behaviour of these Samaritans is contrasted with that of an individual of that nation who was one of a company of ten Lepers. In obedience to the Law, which declared them to be

unclean, they stood at a distance, and cried out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. All had cried out; but the Samaritan alone, when cured, both glorified God, and fell down at the feet of Jesus, giving Him thanks. Jesus in return said unto him, Arise, thy Faith hath saved thee. All had been cleansed, as they went to show themselves, as He ordered them, to the priests: all then must have had faith in His miraculous power; but the Samaritan alone believed in Him as a Saviour, and alone received a spiritual blessing. This appears to be the explanation of an apparent contradiction. Salvation in Scripture is an ambiguous word, signifying deliverance; and the context only can show when it refers to the body and when to the soul, to this world or to the next. He was saved, or, as it is sometimes rendered, was made whole, is in the New Testament equivalent to, he was cured. When blind Bartimæus adjured Jesus as the Son of David, and He answered, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee; the restoration of that faculty is the salvation intended. But it is no less plain, that when Jesus said of Zacchæus, This day is salvation come to this house, He spoke of salvation from sin. In St. Peter's vindication of the miracle wrought upon the lame man, the two ideas are blended together: Be it known, that by the name of Jesus Christ doth this man stand before you whole. And then, rising from this inferior deliverance to the higher import of the word, he continues, Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. The apostles, the rulers, and the audience, had the full use of their limbs, but they all needed eternal salvation; and St. Peter wished to persuade them from the proof they had just had of the power of Jesus over the body, that He was also a Saviour from sin, and from the wrath to come. We conclude then that this Samaritan was saved not from leprosy only, but also from that moral malady, of which it is a siguificant type, which renders

a man as unfit for communion with his Creator, as does a loathsome disease for intercourse with his fellow creatures. Our first feeling on reading this history is indignation at the ingratitude of the nine; let us, however, take care that they do not rise up in judgment against us. Deficient as they were in the gratitude, which the Lord who seeth the heart requires, they did more than those in our days, who on recovering from some dangerous disorder, merely desire the minister to offer up thanks for them in the congregation; and there are, it is to be feared, many who do not make even this acknowledgment. The priest was not to certify the cure of a leper, till he had made atonement for him before the Lord; and this formal service, consisting of purification and sacrifices, required eight days, and would subject him to some expense. It is evident that our Lord required from these Israelites something more than the Law did, that is, such a testimony of gratitude as had been offered by this alien; a claim which proves at least the Divinity of His mission. The ingratitude of the nine excites His surprise and regret. His language implies that they were Jews, and misery in this instance, seems to have united those who would otherwise have had no friendly dealings with one another.

While Jews and Samaritans had no friendly dealings with one another, the divine Saviour of all men gave evidence of His good will towards both; and, when we consider that His human nature was perfect, it does not surprise us that He did not act like any other Jew, but was free from all the prejudices of His age and country. These descendants of Assyrian idolaters, as far as we can judge, were better prepared for His reception than the children of Israel; and it is remarkable, that while the latter are dispersed over all the world, the small remnant of the former, from their settlement in the land, have continued under the mountain where their fathers worshipped. Their colonies in Egypt and

Syria are extinct, and their community, reduced to 120 individuals, is now confined to the valley of Naplouse. While the Jews have adopted the alphabet of their conquerors, they retain the original Hebrew one, in which they had received the Pentateuch; yet, like the Jews, they explain away the Prophecy of Shiloh, though they expect a Teacher like unto Moses, whom God shall raise up unto them like unto his brethren. Dr. Wilson, who visited them in 1843, was hospitably entertained by their High Priest, who, through Manasseh, who established their worship on Mount Gerizim, traces up his descent from Aaron; and he had demonstration of the strong antipathy which still keeps these followers of Moses apart, for the Jewish Rabbi spoke of them as the despicable Samaritans; and when he and his friends came to return the call of the traveller, the Samaritan High Priest called out, Who told these brutes to come hither?

98. Jesus answers the question, when the kingdom of God shall come. Luke xvii. 20-37.

The Pharisees enquiring when this reign of heaven, which Jesus had so often announced, would commence, He answered, that it would not be ushered in, as they conceived, with any outward display, for though unobserved, it had already come upon them before they were aware. He who was amongst them, was this expected Sovereign, but this was a fact overlooked by them, and He intimated that they would hereafter wish in vain for the opportunities which they had neglected; they would desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. He then warned His disciples not to be deluded, as the nation would be, by false Messiahs, for He would come again after His sufferings and rejection, with the rapidity of lightning, and with the unexpectedness of the flood, and of the