the will of the Most High, and it was his meat and drink,' refreshing and delightful as the richest food, or as royal dainties, to finish the work that was given him to do.' So entirely devoted to the honour of God, that a zeal for his house, and for the purity of his ordinances, is represented by the evangelical historian, as eating him up.'t Like a heavenly flame glowing in his breast, it sometimes fired him with a graceful indignation, sometimes melted him into godly sorrow, and by exerting itself in a variety of vigorous efforts, consumed his vital spirits. So active and unremitted was the obedience of the blessed Jesus, that the sun did not enter upon his race. with a more constant assiduity, nor dispatch his business with greater expedition; and sure I am, that radiant luminary never dispensed beams half so bright, or a thousandth part so beneficial. Short was his span, but how grand and extensive were his services; so grand, that they bring more glory to God than all the administrations of providence, and all the phenomena of nature; so extensive, that they spread, in their gracious efficacy, to the ends of the earth, and to the clos. ing period of time; nay, they will diffuse their blessed influence even to the celestial world, and have no other limits of their duration than the ages of eternity. Most affectionately concerned for the welfare of mankind, he spent his strength, not barely in relieving them when his aid was implored, but in seeking the afflicted, and offering his assistance. With great fatigue he travelled to remote cities, and with no less 'Jesus being weary with his journey,' eкabečeтO OUTWC. John iv. 6. OUTog is thus explained by a Greek commentator, απλως, και ως έτυχε. Our Lord sat down, without ceremony and without complaint, even on the rough place; contented to use it just as he found it; neither desiring a softer seat, nor wishing for any better accommodation. Irather think the adverb refers to the preceding adjective KEKOжLakog, which signifies a state of very great fatigue, weakening a person to such a degree that he can hardly walk with steady steps, or even sit in an upright attitude. The sacred historian seems to mean, that our Lord sat in such a posture as spoke the lassitude of his body, declared the failure of his spirits, and shewed him to be spent condescension he visited the meanest villages, that all might have the benefit and comfort of his presence. Though multitudes of miserable objects were brought to him from every quarter, yet he was pleased even to prevent the wishes of the distressed, and went about doing good.' He gave sight, and all the agreeable scenes of nature, to the blind; health, and all the choice comforts of life, to the diseased: he expelled malevolent faging demons, and restored what is more precious than the light of the body, or the vigour of the constitution, the calm possession of the intellectual faculties. What greatly surpassed all the preceding blessings, he released the wretched soul from the dominion of dark. ness, and from the tyranny of sin: he made his followers partakers of a divine nature, and prepared them for a state of never-ending bliss. Such priceless treasures of wisdom and beneficence flowed from his tongue, and were poured from his hands! How different these triumphs of mercy, from the trophies erected by wild ambition in the bloody field! If heathens celebrated those mighty butchers, who made cities their slaughter-house, made half the globe their shambles, and measured their merit by the devastations they spread; how should Christians admire this heavenly benefactor, who rose upon a wretched world, with healing under his wings! Who distributed far and near, the unspeakably rich gifts of knowledge and holiness, of temporal happiness and eternal joy ! Nor were these righteous acts his strange work, but his repeated, his hourly, his almost incessant employ. Sometimes we hear him preaching in the temple, or publishing his glad tidings in the synagogues; sometimes we see him teaching in private houses, or bringing forth the good things of his gospel on the deck of a with the heat of the day, and the toil of travelling. Which circumstance gives a most beautiful heightening to his charity and zeal, so generously and so successfully exerted in the following conference. Exаpicaто TO Bλere, is the delicate and noble expression of the evangelist, Luke vii. 21. He made them a present of sight. Silver and gold had he none, but these were his gifts, such were his alms. ship: at other times he takes a mountain for his pulpit, the heavens are his sounding-board, and all that have ears to hear,' are invited to be his audience. Does he lay aside this solemn office? it is only to carry on the same design in a more condescending and familiar manIf he meets with the Pharisees, he discovers their errors, and reproves their vices; he confutes their objections, and (in case they are not absolutely inaccessible to wise counsel) rectifies their mistakes. If he vouch. safes to be present at a feast, he furnishes the richest, incomparably the richest part of the treat. Honey and milk are under his tongue." He inculcates lowliness. of mind on the vain;t he recommends disinterested charity to the selfish ; and promises pardon to the weeping penitent. Is he retired from other company, and surrounded only by his chosen attendants? his conversation is a sermon: whether he sit in the inner chamber, or travel on the public road, or walk through the corn fields, he is still prosecuting his great work, training up his disciples for their sacred function, and imparting to them what they may communicate to others. Is he retired from all company? even then he does not discontinue his labours of love, but adds the fervent intercessions of the night to the charitable toils of the day. Yes, when all but himself lay sunk in soft repose, this Advocate for a guilty world was engaged in an exercise of benevolence; which, though secret and unobserved as the falling dews, was far more beneficial to our best interests than those pearly drops to the languishing herbs. Most charming and unparalleled benignity! He forgot his daily food, neglected his necessary rest, to spend and be spent for the salvation of mankind. Neither the hardships of continual self-denial, nor the calumnies of envenomed tongues, could divert him from pursuing this favourite business. He sought none of your honours, coveted none of your rewards, O ye children of men! What he sought, what he coveted, was to wear out his life in your service, and lay it *Cant. iv. 11. + Luke xiv. 8.. VOL. II. I down for your ransom. This was all his desire, and this indeed he desired earnestly. He longed, (beneficent, blessed Being!) he longed for the fatal hour. He severely rebuked one of his disciples who would have dissuaded him from going as a volunteer to the cross: he was even straitened, under a kind of holy uneasiness, till the dreadful work was accomplished; till he was baptized with the baptism of his sufferings,' bathed in blood, and plunged in death. By this most meritorious obedience and death, what did he not deserve, what did he not procure? He proeured those inestimable blessings, the pardon of sin, and reconciliation with God; procured them (O love unmerited and unmeasurable!) for prodigals, for traitors, for rebels. To this it is owing, that we, who were enemies against God, may call the King of heaven our Father, may have free access to him in all our diffi culties, and may hope to reign with him in everlasting glory. Was ever goodness like this goodness?+ Were ever blessings comparable to these blessings, or purchased with such a price? Hide, hide your diminished heads, Luke xli. 50. The original word ouvexouat seems to express the condition of a person wedged in on every side by a tumultuous throng of people; his hands are hampered, and his body is confined in a moving prison; he is crushed, and hurried to and fro: he pants for breath, and is almost stifled in the crowd. How must such a one long to be disengaged from these very uneasy circumstances! With equal ardour did our most beneficent Lord desire those sufferings which were to overwhelm him with distress, but exalt us to happiness; were to bathe his limbs in blood, but cleanse our souls from sin. Oi oxλoi, says the same historian, συνέχουσι σε και αποθλίβουσι, Luke viii. 45. + Codrus, it is true, devoted himself to death for the Athenians, and Curtius threw himself into the yawning gulf for the preservation of the Romans; but these died, being mere creatures, and guilty creatures; whereas the dying Jesus was perfectly innocent and supremely glorious. These died only a little before their time; but Christ died though he had life in himself, and none could have taken it from him, had he not voluntarily resigned it. These died for their valuable friends, for their affectionate relations, for their native country; but Christ died for slaves, for enemies, for the ungodly. They died an honourable death; but Christ submitted to the most ignominious execution: Christ died under the imputation of horrid crimes, and in the form of an execrable malefactor. In all these instances, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so is Christ's love greater than their love, his philanthropy than their patriotism. ye little transitory donations of silver and gold. The riches of a thousand mines bestowed to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, are the most contemptible trifles, if mentioned with the charity of the teaching, the healing, the bleeding Jesus. Kingdoms given away in alms, if viewed with this infinitely noble beneficence, would make just the same figure as a spark from the summer hearth under the potent and boundless blaze of noon. This is, indeed, 'love that passeth knowledge.'* Amidst all these miracles of power and of love (any one of which would have entitled him to universal admiration and everlasting honour), how humble was our Saviour! O humility! virtue dear to the most high God, and peculiarly amiable in men; never didst thou appear in so charming a dress or so striking a light. At his birth, not accommodated with a magnificent palace, but lodged in a stable, and laid in a manger: as he advanced in years, not attended with a royal equipage, or supplied from a royal revenue, but labouring with his own hands, and earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. When he entered upon his ministerial office, not the least ostentatious parade appeared in the performance of all his wonderful works. So far, so very far from affecting the acclamations of the populace, that he often imposed silence on those unspeak. ably indebted lips which were ready to overflow with praise, and would fain have been the trumpets of his fame. Though a voice from heaven proclaimed him the Beloved of his Almighty Father, he disdained not to own the ignoble character of the carpenter's son :'t though Prince of the kings of the earth, he condescended Eph. ii. 19. This expression, as also the principal circumstance of superiority hinted in the preceding note, are founded on the divinity of our Lord: and indeed the expression is scarce Justifiable, the assertion is hardly true, upon any other supposition. A creature dying for a creature, is, though great, yet not incomprehensible goodness; but when we view the sufferings of Christ and the blessings of redemption, surrounded with all the splendour of the Deity, they dazzle our understanding, and fill us with holy astonishment; they appear to be the effects of a love never to be spoke of but in the language of wonder; never to be thought of but with an ecstacy of delight. † Matt. xiii. 55. |