Our Lord declared the
equity of the Divine administration, when he told the Jews, (what,
probably, they were surprised to hear,) "That many should come from the
east and west, and should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven; but that the children of the kingdom should be
cast into outer darkness." (Matt. viii. 11.) His reproof of the hasty
zeal of his disciples, who would needs call down fire from heaven to
revenge an affront put upon their Master, shows the lenity of his
character, and of his religion: and his opinion of the manner in which
the most unreasonable opponents ought to be treated, or at least of the
manner in which they ought not to be treated. The terms in which his
rebuke was conveyed deserve to be noticed:--"Ye know not what manner of
spirit ye are of." (Luke ix. 55.)
VIII. Lastly, amongst the negative qualities of our religion, as it came
out of the hands of its Founder and his apostles, we may reckon its
complete abstraction from all views either of ecclesiastical or civil
policy; or, to meet a language much in fashion with some men, from the
politics either of priests or statesmen.
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