2. That we should seek rather the edification of others —
[To " please our neighbour" is an object well worthy our pursuit : for it is by pleasing him that we shall gain the more easy access to him, for the benefit of his soul. Not that we should attempt to please him by any sinful compliance : for "if ire that sense we please men, we cannot be the servants of Jesus Christ." The proper limit to our compliance is here assigned : we must go so far only as will be " for his good to edification." Do we think him too much leaning to the side of needless scrupulosity or superstitious fear ? let us not despise his weakness, but act towards him with all imaginable tenderness and forbearance. Do we behold in him a readiness to be offended or grieved at any liberty in which we indulge ourselves? let us cheerfully condescend to his infirmity in a way of conciliation and concession. To " win his soul " should be in our estimation a rich recompence for all the kind- ness we can manifest, and all the self-denial we can exercise. This was the line of conduct which St. Paul both enjoined to us, and himself practised : " Let no man seek his own, but
every man another's wealth even as I please all men
in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be savedc."
But to recur to the example of our blessed Lord, to which our attention is more especially directed. We see to what an extent he carried these virtues, even to a relinquishment of all the glory of heaven, and to a suffering of all " the pains of of hell," for the welfare, not of his friends and brethren, but of his most inveterate enemies: yes, "even Christ" (whose plea- sure the whole universe ought incessantly to consult) " pleased not himself." Shall we then be backward to deny ourselves ? we, whose only hope is founded on the self-denial that Christ has exercised for us ; and who are bound even to " lay down our lives for the brethren?" No : " Let the same mind be in us as was in Christ Jesus ; and let us look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others'1."]
The subject thus viewed may well suggest to us the following reflections :
1. How extensive and amiable is true religion !
[Religion consists not in notions, nor even in outward actions; but in the habits and dispositions of the mind: it consists in a subjugation of self in all its bearings, and in a conformity of heart to the mind that was in Christ Jesus. And O ! what a world would this be, if true religion universally
c 1 Cor. x. 24, 33. d Phil. ii. 4, 5.