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as a prophet and a priest in the first place and as a king afterward. He acted as a prophet when he went through Judea preaching the doctrine of repentance and turning men from "dead works unto faith;" he discharged the duties of a high-priest when he offered up the great sacrifice of himself upon the cross; and he entered into his kingdom and established it never to be overthrown, when, after his ascension, his apostles began to make converts. It is true that in the descriptions of his regal state language is usually employed more suitable to the pomp and parade of an earthly potentate than to the dignity of a religious sovereignty; but the language of prophecy is always figurative, and its images are necessarily drawn from things with which the outward senses are conversant. Besides, it is an error to assert that the Messiah is more frequently or more plainly described as a triumphant monarch than as a suffering man. Of the great antiquity of Isaiah's writings no doubt can exist; and upon his representation, were there none besides in the Old Testament, we might be content to rest our faith.*

*There are other petty objections to which the history of our Lord's early proceedings is exposed; as, for example, that his employing his supernatural power to supply with more wine those who had already partaken largely of the juice of the grape was unworthy of a Divine Being; and that his language to his mother, both on that and other occasions, was the reverse of respectful. To the first of these it is sufficient to reply, that excess at a Jewish wedding was a thing utterly unknown; the governor or ruler of the feast being appointed for the express purpose of marking, by a well-known signal, when each guest had drunk enough; and that, as the feast itself lasted many days, a large portion of wine was needed. To the second, our answer must be confined to a positive denial of the charge. Though in the English translation the expression "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" may seem harsh, in the original it implies simply that the absence of wine ought not to give uneasiness to any one besides the founder of the feast; while the word rendered "woman," signifies "lady," or any other term of profound respect and love. It was used by subjects to their princesses, by slaves to their mistresses, and by children to their parents

CHAPTER XI.

A Paralytic healed-Miracle of the withered Hand-Sermon on the Mount -Widow's Son restored to Life at Nain-John the Baptist's Mission -The Female pardoned-Miracle of the Swine-Miracle of the Loaves -Death of the Baptist-Jesus walks upon the Sea-Is present at the Feast of Tabernacles-Raises Lazarus from the Dead-Objections stated and answered.

A. D. 29.

THE second year of our Lord's public ministry had arrived, and Judea was every where filled with his renown; when, on the return of the season of the passover, he again went up to keep the feast with his disciples at Jerusalem. On the north-east side of the city lay the pool of Siloam, surrounded by an hospital of five porticoes, called Bethesda, which, at certain seasons, possessed a healing virtue of no ordinary kind. It is stated by St. John that an angel went down and troubled the pool, and that whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever disease he had; and the porches adjoining were, in consequence, continually crowded with miserable expectants of the heavenly visit. It chanced that our Saviour's attention was attracted to a poor paralytic, who for the space of three years had vainly striven to avail himself of the sanitary qualities of the fountain. He ap proached the invalid, and equally admiring his patience and commiserating his misfortune, commanded him to "take up his bed and walk." Unwonted vigour was immediately communicated to limbs which had long ceased to do their office; the paralytic arose from his couch, lifted it on his shoulders, and walked through the most public streets towards his home. But he was not permitted to pass thus. It was the Sabbath-day, and the Pharisees stopped him, angrily accusing him of a breach of the law of God; and when the patient replied by stating that he only obeyed the instructions of the personage by whom his malady had been removed, their indignation was transferred from him VOL. II.-S

to Jesus. The Messiah, however, took no further notice of their anger than by proving that the leisure of the Sabbath can never be more worthily employed than in performing acts of mercy and charity; and claiming to himself more decidedly than he had yet done the honour of a divine descent," My Father worketh hitherto," said he, "and I work ;" in other words, the good providence of my Father is exercised equally on the Sabbath as on other days, and I, who partake of his nature, am equally entitled to "heal on the Sabbath-day." As might be expected, such a defence served but to increase the malice of his enemies, "who sought to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself equal to God."

How long our Saviour remained at Jerusalem on this occasion we know not, further than that we find him again exposed to a charge of Sabbath-breaking, because his disciples gathered and rubbed out a few ears of grain while passing through a cornfield; but it is probable that he quitted the capital as soon after the conclusion of the feast as circumstances would allow. His course was directed to Galilee, where, in one of the synagogues, he restored to a man afflicted with a withered hand the perfect use of his limb; but the hostility both of the Pharisees and Herodians became in the end so galling that he withdrew privately, accompanied by his disciples only, towards the seaside. Retirement however was not now attainable by one in his circumstances. Great multitudes from almost every district of Palestine followed him, whose sicknesses he freely healed, causing the very touch of his garment to bring with it relief, till the crowds became at last so oppressive, that to escape from them he took refuge in a fishing vessel which his disciples had been previously instructed to hold in readiness. By this means he escaped to a mountain which stood considerably apart, where, after a night spent in prayer, he made that distribution of his followers into different classes which has ever since prevailed in the constitution of the Christian church.

With the dawn of the morrow the multitude once more appeared, and he delivered to them the splendid discourse, generally known as "Christ's Sermon on the Mount." accords not with the plan of our present work to offer any

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analysis of this oration; but we may be permitted to observe, that in real dignity of sentiment, in absolute purity of morals, and in simplicity and perspicuity of style it stands without a rival in any language. It produced, moreover, a very powerful effect upon those who listened to it; for we read that "the people were astonished at his doctrine, because he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

Having descended from the mountain and healed a leper at its base, our Lord returned to Capernaum, where he exercised his miraculous powers by restoring to health the servant of a devout Roman centurion. This done, he proceeded towards Nain, a pleasant place on the Kison, situated about half way between Nazareth and Mount Tabor; at the gate of which he was met by a funeral-party, bearing the corpse of a widow's only son to the grave. Jesus was much affected by the spectacle of the mother's grief; and commanding the procession to halt, he cried, with a voice of authority, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise." stantly the soul of the dead youth returned; and the multitude exclaimed, with one accord, "that a mighty prophet was risen up among them, and that God had visited his people."

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While our Saviour was thus employed, a circumstance befell, which, like every other attending the career of the Messiah, was not without its weight in furthering the great scheme of conversion. John the Baptist, who still lingered in his dungeon, either fearful that some new claimant of the mediatorial office had arisen, or desirous of allaying the doubts of his own disciples and of transferring them to Christ, sent two of them to demand whether Jesus "were indeed he that should come, or whether they ought to look for another." The messengers arrived at a moment of all others the best calculated to serve the Baptist's purpose. Our Lord was in the act of realizing that vision of the prophet where the Messiah is represented "as taking men's sicknesses upon him, and bearing their infirmities," and he accordingly, instead of giving a direct answer to the message, desired John's disciples to report to their master what they saw and heard. No reply could have served its purpose better. The misgivings of the Baptist, if indeed he really entertained any, were effaced, and his disciples became from that hour firm believers and disciples of Christ,

From this time forth, the history of our Saviour's life contains little besides a continued narrative of wonderful decds, pious and profoundly wise discourses, privations, persecutions, insults, and sufferings. Dining with one Simon, for example, in Nain, a wretched outcast from female society rushed into the apartment, fell at Jesus's feet, and bathed them with her tears; an incident from which our Lord took occasion to show that his was a religion of mercy and reconciliation: while his business, after quitting that place, was to go round other parts of Galilee instructing the people in their duty and healing their maladies. As a necessary consequence, his conduct exposed him more than ever to the hatred and envy of the Pharisees, who now accused him of casting out devils by the influence of Beelzebub, and again demanded of him some proof that he was what he professed to be; but to these accusations and querulous demands Jesus paid no other heed than by referring them to the history of Jonas, thus intimating that his claims, like those of the prophet, would be best established after he should have undergone all that was reserved for him.

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Having thus rebuked the Pharisees, and instructed his mother and nearest relatives that to do the work of his Father was to him more acceptable than any other employment, Jesus, finding the crowd press rudely upon him, once more withdrew to the shores of the sea of Galilee. he embarked in a fishing-vessel, from which he taught the people in parables, comparing the propagation of the gospel to the sowing of a mustard-seed, and to the effect of a piece of leaven thrust into a heap of flour; after which he desired his disciples, to whom he interpreted his several apologues, to push for the opposite coast. They obeyed him; but ere half the passage was made good, a violent storm arose, by which the frail bark and its crew were placed in imminent danger. Jesus, however, who had fallen asleep, probably overcome with his late exertions, was no sooner aroused than he rebuked the tempest, and to the inexpressible amazement of all on board there was a profound calm.

Arrived in the country of the Gadarenes, Jesus was met by two demoniacs, who, from their exceeding ferocity, were objects of terror to all that passed that way. The wretched beings no sooner beheld him than the evil spirits by which

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