SERMON XXV.

JOHN, vii. 46.

NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN.

HE chief priests and Pharisees being deter.

THE

mined, if poffible, to destroy our bleffed Saviour; and having gotten, as they supposed, fome handle against him, fent their officers to apprehend him. The officers were fo ftruck with what Jefus faid to them, that they returned without him. "Never man," said they," fpake like this man." What our Saviour faid to these officers does not appear; but we may be fure, from his answering on other occafions, it was fomething, which they thought extremely uncommon and affecting.

As we are often apt to pafs over things flightly which deserve great attention, many of us, in the present

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prefent cafe, may not confider in fo ftrong a light as we ought, the extraordinary power with which our Saviour always fpoke. In the following difcourse therefore, I fhall endeavour to explain the text, by fhewing you, firft, the great wisdom with which he oppofed his adverfaries-fecondly, the

divine precepts be gave his difciples-and, thirdly, the grand fcheme of redemption which he opened; in all which he spake as never man spake.

We first admire the great wisdom with which he oppofed his adverfaries. Thus when they asked him, whether it were lawful to give tribute to Cæfar? they wanted only a handle against him. -If he had faid, it was lawful, he would have offended the Jews, who thought themselves naturally free from all tribute. If he had faid, it was not lawful, he would have offended the Romans, who had impofed the tribute. An ordinary man might have held his peace; or have answered, he was no judge of the cafe: the wif dom of Jefus meant to confound these malicious enquirers. He asked for a piece of money with which the tribute was paid. Whofe image, faid he, does this coin bear? On their answering Cæfar's,

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Cæfar's, he bade them give it then to Cæfar, if it was Cæfar's. But, as his manner was, always to introduce fome moral inftruction, he bade them remember, they had a heavenly power to ferve, ftill fuperior to Cæfar. His enemies, astonished at his wildom, left him in confufion.

The fame fnare was laid for him, when the woman taken in adultery was brought before him. If he had faid, they ought not to put her to death, he oppofed the law of Moses; and if he had advised the contrary, he laid himfelf open to the Romans, who forbade the Jews the power of life and death*. Here again he might have avoided the difficulty by filence; but he chose rather to confound his wicked adverfaries, by fetting their confciences and their practice at variance. Let him, faid he, among you, who hath never been guilty of this crime himfelft, throw the firft ftone. This roufed the confcience of each, efpecially as they were probably confcious of each other's guilt, and they retired in confufion. He then told the woman, it

* See John, xviii. 31.

†This appears rather to be the meaning of our Saviour's expreffion, than our tranflation of it; for fin of fome kind they had all undoubtedly committed.

was

was not his part to pafs any judicial fentence upon her; but only exhorted her to fin no more.

Among other inftances of the wisdom with which he reproved his adverfaries, we may remark fome of his parables. Such was that of the man, who had two fons whom he ordered to work in his vineyard. The elder pretended to go, but afterwards refufed. The younger at first refused, but afterwards went. In the elder was held out the perverfenefs of the Jews in rejecting the Gospel in the younger, the penitence of the Gentiles, who fhould now be received. But though the parable was very fevere, the chief priests could not take hold of Jefus, because the wisdom, as well as the feverity of it, lay in their own application.

Of the fame kind was the parable of the guests invited to the marriage. As they who had been invited would not come, the master of the feast fought for fuch as could be found. The chief priests had sense enough to understand the feast meant the Gospel-the guests who refused to come, the Jews; and those invited from abroad, the Gentiles. If Jefus had faid all this plainly, his enemies would foon have raised an accufation

against him: but as he told them only a fable, the application was their own.

Of the fame kind also was the parable of the householder, who let out his vineyard to husbandmen. On their ufing his fervants ill whom he had fent to gather the fruits of it, he at length fent his fon, but him they put to death. In the preceding parable, Jefus had fhewn the chief priests what they had done; in this he fhewed them what

they intended to do.

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But ftill each parable was

wrapped up in fo much prudent caution, that his enemies were their own accufers.

Having given you a few instances of our bleffed Saviour's wisdom in reproving his adversaries, I shall now fhew you, that in giving inftruction also, no man fpake like this man. In the first place, he laid a stress on many virtues, which other lawgivers did not value-on humility, for inftance, gentlenefs, meekness of spirit, the forgiveness of enemies, contempt of the world, and univerfal charity. It was his defign to draw men from this world, to which they are always too much attached. Other lawgivers wish to fit men for it, and there

fore