56

PRELIMINARY PRINCIPLES

gospel ; * without some delineation of which, this part of mylabors would be too imperfect and unsatisfactory. But how shallI acquit myself on this part of the subject ? Not by attemptingto do it justice; for this would be impossible. Who can, withsafety, attempt to portray the moral character of the Saviour ofmankind ? As never man spake , so never man acted , like thisman.f What may not be done fully , however, may be doneimperfectly ; and, if a vivid picture cannot be drawn, a faint oneat least may be furnished. The imperfections may well beattributed to the writer.

The greatest of the Roman orators and moralists, and themost eloquent and valuable writer of all antiquity, (Cicero,) hasleft us a delineation of a great and good character, in the draw-ing of which, he may well be presumed to have exhausted hisutmost skill.

The chief excellences combined in the character of the greatand good man delineated by him, are, a low estimate (con-tempt) of riches, power, honor, and the other gifts of fortune, —a willingness to undertake arduous labors, incur dangers, and evenexpose life itself in a good cause, — independence of mind,—the pursuit of nothing but what is honorable and praiseworthy,—and that complete self-control, which raises a man above theinfluence of all passion and agitation of mind, and puts it be-yond the power of external circumstances to discompose orotherwise disturb him.j: And it must be admitted, that these

* Paley’s Evidences of Christianity, p. 252. t John vii. 46.

$ I subjoin the entire passage, of which the above is a summary. — u All truegreatness of mind,’ ’ says he, “ is especially seen in two things; — the first is agenerous contempt or disregard of all the goods of fortune, proceeding from anopinion, that it is unworthy of a man, to admire or wish for or endeavour afterany thing, unless it be honorable and becoming ; to submit himself to the willof any one; to be a slave to his own irregular passions; or, in any way, to beaffected by the caprices of fortune. When he has acquired such a temper ofmind as I have been describing, — then the second thing is, that he performsuch actions as are glorious and beneficial, but withal very full of labors anddifficulties, and extremely hazardous to life itself, as well as to those thingswhich pertain to life, and on which the value of life very much depends. Nowall the lustre and dignity of these two things, nay, I add, all their usefulnesstoo, consists in the latter; but the principle, as it were, and effective cause ofall true greatness, consists in the former. For, in that,” continues he, u are con-tained those noble aspirations, which exalt men’s minds, and raise them above