LECTURE XII. LUKE, IV. 16–22. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the lynagogue on the jabbath. day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Efaias: and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written, the Ipirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gofpel to the poor; he hath fent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of fight to the blind, to fet at liberty them that are bruijed to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and gave it again to the minifter, and fat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the fynagogue were faftened on him. And he began to fay unto them, this day is this fcripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. WE read, in the biftory of the patriarchal ages, of an illuf trious perfonage who exercifed at once the functions of a priest and of a fovereign; Melchizedee, "King of Salem, and priest of the Moft High God." He, whom this venerable perlon thus early reprefented to the world, united to thefe two characters, a third, less splendid indeed, but not lefs important, that of a teacher and instructor of mankind; and thus He became all that a guilty, enflaved, ignorant world flood in need of. In the bleffed Jefus, O wretched man, thou beholdest the great High Prieft of thy profeffion, who hath, by one offering, one victim, one blood, procured the remiffion of all thy offences; the Prince of the kings of the earth, who has broken afunder the bands of thy yoke, and afferted thee into the "glorious liberty of the fons of God;" and the great, the unerring Teacher fent from God, who Ipake as never man spake, whose leffons make men wife unto falvation. As the Sovereign and Lord of Nature we have feen him exercifing dominion over the powers of the worlds vilible and invifible, putting Satan to flight by a word, receiving the homage and miniftrations of angels. As an High Prieft," after the order of Melchizedec," we fhall in the progrefs of this hiftory behold behold him offering himfelf, once for all, "a facrifice of a fweet Imelling favour unto God." We are this evening to fit at his feet, and to listen to him in his humbler and more familiar character of the meek, patient, and condefcending inftructor of the weak, the ignorant, and the prejudiced. And, O may the gracious words which proceed from his mouth not only excite our wonder, but penetrate and melt our hearts, kindle our repentings together, and put all that remains of our existence under the dominion of love. His firft labours of affection were bestowed upon his kindred and acquaintance, they were confecrated to the improvement of the companions and friends of early life. He had hitherto taught them by example, he now teaches them out of the written word. Had he been covetous of fame or of honour, he would furely have chosen another theatre on which to difplay his fuperior powers, for he well knew that no prophet is accepted in his own country. He well knew that eminent excellency excites envy, that envy produces malignity, and that malice prompts to evil speaking. But regard to his own intereft and ease is loft in compaffion to others, and the love of reputation with men reverently bends to zeal for the glory of God. Every circumstance of the scene before us is interesting and inftructive. it was 6.6 1 We have in the preceding Leature adverted to thofe of place, in Galilee at Nazareth where He had been brought up," and "in the fynagogue." Attend now to the season, it was on the fabbath-day. As to the pure all places, fo all times are pure, yet to man, weak and in perfect as he is, diftinction of both time and place is important and neceffary. Shew me a man who is habitually and uniformly that in the world, which decency obliges him to appear to be in the house of God, and I fhall not prefume to condemn him, though he frequent not the temple; although fuch an one is of all others the leaft likely to delert it. Shew me the man whofe every day is a day of order, of piety, of mercy, and of good works, and fuck an one fhall, for me, fpend the feventh day in what manner he will; though fuch an one is of all others the most likely to put respect on the ordinance of God. Who of all thofe, who are born of a woman, ftood leaft in need of the influence and affiftance of facred edifices and seasons ? He whofe converfation was continually in heaven, whofe " meat and drink it was to do the will of his heavenly Father," who never lost sight, for a moment, of the great end of his miffion. And who was fo regular in his attendance on the exercises of religious worship; who who was fo exact in the obfervance of every inftitution that was ftamped with marks of divine authority? The fabbath is an ordinance of mercy, defigned by Him who "preferveth man and beaft," to be an interruption of painful toil, a reftorer of exhausted nature, a feafon of repofe; but in perfect confiftency with this, it is a feafon of mental exertion of beneficence; of devout contemplation, of virtuous, focial intercourse. But the obfervance of the fabbath had, when our Saviour came into the world: degenerated into a narrow and grovelling fuperftition, which feparated from it every idea of mercy and good will to men, and the fpirit was funk in the letter. It therefore became this great Teacher, to reflore the inftitution to its primitive defign and ufe, and to guard mankind equally against the extremes of fuperftition, on the one hand, and of profanity on the other; and this he does with a wisdom, a delicacy, and a dignity peculiar to himself. Who can think flightly of what he treated with refpe&t? Who dares to violate what he observed as "the holy of the Lord and honourable?" And who again can think he is doing honour to God by expreffing indifference, unkindness, and want of fympathy to men? He who attended the fynagogue, who read and expounded the Scriptures on the fabbath; on the fabbath alfo reftored the withered hand, defended his difciples from the charge of profanation displayed the character of the fovereign Lord of the fabbath, as preferring mercy to facrifice, and as having inflituted "the fabbath for man, and not man for the fabbath." Obferve farther, the Evangelift takes care to inform us that Chrift's attendance on the fervices of the fynagogue and the fabbath was not merely accidental or occafional, but habitual and stated: as his custom was. What we do according to no fixed rule, we do feebly and confufedly. What we do feldom we do with reluctance and dislike; and from diflike the nat ural transition is to total omiffion. On the conary, what is fubjected to rule is done accurately and efficiently; what we do habitually, we do with eafe and delight; for custom, fays the proverb, and with much truth, is a fecond nature. The Saviour of the world, accordingly, vouchfafed to become an example here alfo, as of every thing else that is wife and good; He was a pattern of regular, orderly conduct; from his childhood, and upward, He was a filent inftructor of the fucceffive flages of rifing existence, in docility, in contentment, in fub miffion, in regularity. Let no one tell me that it is useless to habituate children betimes to the forms of devotion; to the obfervance of inftitu tions whofe meaning and intention they do not fully compre hend to restraints which to them appear harsh and unreafonable. It is a great thing, indeed it is every thing, to be under the government of innocent or praise-worthy customs to be inured to the laws of order; to be prepared for thinking for themselves, and for having their fentiments heard and attended to, by learning to pay refpect to the understanding, to the opinions, and to the experience of others. Think with what holy indignation, He, whofe name we bear; would have liftened to a propofal to violate his cuftom, and to make the hour of the devotions of the fynagogue, the hour of walking into the cornfields ! The hiftorian is here fingularly minute, and gives wonderful vivacity to his representation. by going into a detail of particulars. Among thefe, we muft advert to his posture and attitude, when employed in reading to the people the word of God. He stood up for to read. Nature feems to point this out as an attitude of reverence and refpect. Since the days of Abraham, who ftood up and bowed himself before the people of the land wherein he dwelt, the wife, the benevolent, and the courteous have employed it as an expreffion of regard to fuperior fanctity, power, majesty or multitude. Pofture is, in itfelf, ftill more indifferent than time or place; but nothing is indifferent in the eyes of true wildom by which the interefts of either human virtue or felicity can be affected. Truth is the fame whether delivered in an erect or a recumbent posture. But in matters of this fort, What says common practice? Will my compliance conciliate affection, procure attention, give force to what is faid? Then I will cheerfully conform. Will my fingularity give offence, will it awaken prejudice, will it injure the caufe I mean to promote? Then I will not affect fingularity; I will not be uncomplying nor unkind; and I will diffent only where confcience is concerned, and where compliance would be criminal. How melancholy it is to reflect, on the talents which have been perverted, on the time which has been wafted, but that is comparatively nothing, on the angry fpirits which have been excited, on the oceans of blood which have been spilt, in determining whether ftanding, fitting or kneeling; whether this or the other une ffential circumftance were moft adapted to the nature of things, or most conformable to the will, or conducive to the glory, of the Creator. In this too, therefore, I confider the example of Chrift as intelligible, decided and inftructive. He "ftood up to read." Happily for the world, its infor mation and inftruction in matters of everlafting moment were not entrusted to the uncertainty, the changeableness and the corruptibility of oral tradition. He who bestowed on man the gift of fpeech, for the mutual communication of thought, gave likewife the pattern of permanent Ipeech, by means of writing; by which thought is tranfmitted from region to region, from generation to generation, unfophifticated, unimpaired. Hence the events which. Mofes recorded, and which Ifaiah predicted, the precepts of the Law and the promises of the Gofpel, defcend from age to age in equal purity, weight and measure and the fon fees, reads and apprehends the felf. fame truth which was the light and joy of his progenitors. And what muft it have been to hear the fublime and pathetic ftrains of Ifaiah pronounced by the tongue of Him who formed the ear for the perception of melodious founds, the mouth to utter them, and the heart to receive the impreffion of facred and interefting truth! We may judge of it from the inute attention with which he was heard, and from the wonder expreffed, after he had finished," at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.' It would appear that it was not only "his custom" "his custom" to attend the fynagogue, but to perform the office of public reader to the affembly. For the proper minifter delivers to Him, as to the acknowledged conductor of this part of the fervice, that portion of the Sacred Code which either order prefcribed, or which his felection called for, or to which Providence fpecially directed; and he received it from Him again to be depofit ed in its place. And whether indeed did Providence, indea. pendent of human defign or forefight, by a special interpofia tion unfold the particular pallage from ancient prophecy; or did his own choice felect it as peculiarly applicable to the occas fion ? In either cafe, what portion of the Old Teftament Scriptures is more emphatically defcriptive of his person, character, and divine miffion ? And what can be fo worthy of our most deep and serious attention, whether we confider the infinite. and everlasting moment of the subject, the interest which we have in it. or the affecting correspondence of the event with the prediction, of the prophet with his object. The prophecy holds up to view a perfon of the moft diftinguifhed eminence, confecrated in the most extraordinary manner, to the execution of the most generous, merciful and benevolent purposes, and in language the most powerful and pathetic. It is the anointed of the Lord God, his Holy One, who alone could without prefumption undertake, and triumphantly accomplish, the work of redemption, and could un Q told |