12. He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee; where the doctrine is good, but the application bad. The doctrine is true, that God is pleased to employ his angels for the good of his servants, and particularly for their preservation in times of danger: but see how falsely the devil perverts, misapplies, and wrests, that sacred scripture. When God promises that his angels shall keep us, it is in all his ways; not in our own crooked paths. Learn, That although the children of God have the promise of the guardianship of his holy angels, yet then only may they expect their protection, when walking in the way of their duty: He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Observe lastly, The issue of his combat: Satan is vanquished, and departs from our Saviour. St. Matthew says, The devil left him, and angels came and ministered unto him. Satan is conquered, and quits the field. Teaching us, That nothing like a vigorous resistance of temptation, causes the tempter to flee from us. Satan is both a cowardly enemy, and a conquered enemy; resist him, and he will run.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were

in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Our blessed Saviour being thus fitted and prepared by his baptism and temptation for the execution of his ministerial office, he now enters upon the great work of preaching the gospel, and St. Luke here declares the first place he preached at, namely, Nazareth; and the first text he preached upon, Isa. Ixi. 1. Observe, 1. The place where our Saviour preached at: he bestowed his first sermon upon Nazareth, the place of his conception and education; for though Christ was born at Bethlehem, yet he was bred and brought up at Nazareth; there he had his poor, but painful education, working on his father's trade, that of a carpenter. This prejudiced the Jews against him, who looked for a sceptre, not an axe, in the hand of him that was born King of the Jews. Our Saviour's short and secret abode at Bethlehem, and his long and public living at Nazareth, occasioned him to be called Jesus of Nazareth; yet some conceive it was a nick-name, fastened by the devil upon our Saviour, that he might disguise the place of Christ's nativity, and leave the Jews at a greater loss concerning their Messiah. Sure it is, that this name, Jesus of Nazareth, stuck upon our Saviour all his life; and at his death was fixed by Pilate on his cross. Yea, after his ascension, such as believed on him were called, lowers of Jesus of Nazareth. Observe, The sect of the Nazarenes, or the fol2. The text which our Saviour preached upon at Nazareth: he takes it out of the prophet Esaias, chap. Ixi. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; that is, God the Father hath poured forth his Holy Spirit without measure upon me, furnish me for the work of a mediator; and in all the gifts and graces of it, to fit and particularly, to preach the gospel to the poor in spirit, and to such as are poor in outward condition also, if meekened and humbled with the sight and sense of their sins. To bind up the broken-hearted; that is, to comfort them with the glad tidings of the gospel. To preach deliverance to the captives; to let such sinners know, who were slaves to sin and Satan, that a Deliverer is come, if they be willing to be delivered by him. To preach the

acceptable year of the Lord; or to proclaim a spiritual jubilee, in which God proffers pardon of sin and reconciliation with himself upon the terms of the gospel. Learn hence, 1. That God stirreth up none to take upon them the office of the ministry, whom he hath not fitted and furnished with gifts for the regular discharge of it. 2. That Christ himself did not undertake the office of a mediator, but by the ordination of God the Holy Spirit: The spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he hath sent me to preach the gospel. 3. That no creature, angel or man, could perform the office of a mediator, but only Christ, who was consecrated to that office by an anointing from the Holy Spirit without measure: The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me. 4. That the preaching of the gospel is the great ordinance which Christ himself made use of, and recommended to his apostles and ministers, for enlightening blind sinners, for comforting broken hearts, and for delivering captive souls from the slavery and dominion of sin and Satan: He hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to publish deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. What enemies then are they to the souls of men who have low and mean thoughts of this high and honourable ordinance of God, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation? Observe, 3. The behaviour of our Saviour's auditors, the men of Nazareth, under his

preaching: their eyes were fixed, and their minds intent, upon him, and upon what was spoken by him: The eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him; not closed with sleep, nor gazing about upon others; but fixed upon Christ the preacher. Fixing of the eye is a great help to the attention of the ear, and the intention of the mind; a fastened eye is a mean to help us to a fixed heart; as a wandering eye is both a sign and a cause of a wandering heart. O that our hearers would imitate our Saviour's hearers under the word! They fastened their eyes upon him, as if they meant to hear with their eyes as well as with their ears and yet we have cause to suspect that curiosity rather than piety caused this their attention; seeing, as you will find, ver. 29. that these very persons, who out of novelty were ready to eat his words, soon after out of cruelty were ready to devour the speaker for they thrust him out of

the city, led him to the brow of the hill, and would have cast him down headlong, O blessed Saviour, what wonder is it that the persons of thy ministers are despised, and their doctrine neglected, when thou thyself, the first preacher of the gospel, and for thy first sermon at Nazareth, wert thus ignominiously treated! Observe, lastly, How Christ conforms to the ceremonies of the Jewish doctrine, who, in honour of the law and the prophets, stood up when they read them, and, according to custom, sat down when they explained them. And although the synagogual worship was then loaden with rules and ceremonies of human invention, and also the lives and manners both of priests and people were much corrupted, yet both our Saviour and his disciples went to the synagogue, as members of the church of Nazareth, every sabbathday, joining with them in the public worship. From whence we may reasonably infer, that such christians as do quietly and peaceably comply with the practice of the church in whose communion they live, in the observation of such indifferent rites as are used by her, act most agreeable to our Saviour's practice and example.

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Observe here, 1. The effect of our Saviour's ministry at Nazareth: it created wonder, but did not produce faith; they marvelled, but not believed; they admired the wisdom of his discourses, but will not own him to be the promised Messiah, because of the poverty and meanness of Christ's condition: Is not this Joseph's son? They expect the son of a prince, not the son of a carpenter, to be their Messiah. Thence note, That the poverty and meanness of Christ's condition was that which multitudes stumbled at, and which kept many, yea, most, from believing on him. None but a spiritual eye can discern beauty in an humbled and abased Saviour. Observe, 2. Our

Saviour wonders not that so few of his countrymen, among whom he had been bred and brought up, and with whom he had lived most part of his time, did despise his person, and reject his doctrine; he tells them, No prophet has honour in his own country; that is, very seldom has. Teaching us, That usually the ministers of God are most despised where they are most familiarly known; sometimes the remembrance of their mean original and extraction, sometimes the poverty of their parents, sometimes the indecencies of their childhood, sometimes the follies of their youth, sometimes the faults of their families and relations, are ript up, and made occasion of contempt; and therefore that prophet that comes from afar, and has not been much known, gains the greatest reputation amongst a people, who, being ignorant of his extraction, look upon his breeding, as well as his calling, to be divine. This good use ought

to be made of our Saviour's observation,

that his ministers be very wise and discreet in conversation with their people, not making themselves cheap and common in every company, nor light and vain in any company; for such familiarity will breed contempt, both of their persons and their doctrine. But our duty is by strictness and gravity of deportment to keep up an awe and esteem in the consciences of our people; always tempering our gravity with courtesy and a condescending affability. That minister which prostitutes his authority, frustrates the end of his ministry, and is the occasion of his own contempt.

25 But I tell you of a truth, MaBy widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them were cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Here our Saviour by a double instance confirms what he had last told his countrymen at Nazareth, namely, that prophets are most despised by their own countrymen and acquaintance, and that strangers

oft-times have more advantage by a prophet than his own people. The first instance of this which our Saviour gives them, is in the days of Elias, though there were many widows then in his own nation, yet none of them were qualified to receive his miracles, but a stranger, a widow of Sarepta.

The second instance was in the days of Elisha; when though there were many lepers in and about the neighbourhood, yet they being his countrymen, despised him, and none were qualified for a cure but Naaman the Syrian, a man of another country. Thus the prophets of God, like some fishermen, catch least in their own pond, and do more good by their ministry among strangers, than among their own countrymen, kiusfolk, and near relations: No prophet is accepted in his own country.

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30 But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

Observe here, 1. The horrid impiety of the people of Nazareth, in thrusting their Saviour out of their city, and their barbarous and bloody cruelty in bringing him to the brow of the hill, with full intent to cast him down headlong. But Christ was to die a clean contrary way, not by throwing down, but by lifting up. O ungrateful and unhappy Nazareth! is this the return you make that divine Guest, which for thirty years had sojourned in your coasts? No wonder that the ablest preaching, and most exemplary living, of the holiest and best of Christ's ministers obtain no greater success at this day amongst a people, when the presence of Christ at Nazareth, for thirty years together, had no better influence upon the minds and manners of that people; but instead of receiving his message, they rage at the messenger: neither let any of the ministers of Christ think it strange, that they are ignominiously despised, when our Master before us was in danger of being barbarously murdered, and that for his plain preaching to his own people, the men of Nazareth. But observe, 2. The miraculous escape of our blessed Lord from the murdering hands of the