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more impartially of him and his doctrine, declared that his discourses were not the words of a lunatic, nor his miracles the works of a devil. Moreover, they asked his enemies if they imagined any devil was able to impart the faculty of sight to one that was born blind, alluding to the astonishing cure which Jesus had lately per.. formed.

This conversation took place at Jerusalem on the feast of dedication, in the winter before his crucifixion. And Jesus was walking in the temple, in that part of it which, to preserve the memory of the antient edifice, was denominated Solomon's porch. The Jews at this time came round him, requiring that he would tell them plainly whether or not he were the true Messiah of God. Jesus replied that he had already told them by his works, beth common and miraculous; but that they had refused to believe him, because they were not his sheep, the people whom his father had drawn to him. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hands: My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. The Jews, finding him assert this intimate union with the Father, took up stones to stone him, in obedience, as they supposed, to the law, which was promulgated against blasphemy in Lev. xxiv. 16. Jesus answered them, many good works have I shewed you from my Father ; for which of those works do ye stone me? In confirmation of my mission from my Father, I have worked many miracles, all of a beneficent kind, and most becoming the perfections of my Father, who sent me. I have fed the hungry, I have healed the lame, I have cured the sick, I have given sight to the blind, I have cast out devils, and I have raised the dead, for which of all these are ye going to stone me ? The Jews answered him, saying, for a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man makest thyself God. We are going to punish thee with death for no good work, but for blasphemy; for though thou art a man, weak and mortal as ourselves are, thou arrogantly assumest to thyself the power and majesty of God; and, by laying claim to the incommunicable attributes of the Deity, makest thyself God. This they took to he the plain meaning of his assertion, that he and the Father were one. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God? If in the scripture, the authority of which you all acknowledge, they to whom the commandment of ruling God's people was given are called gods, and the sons of God, on account of their high office and the inspiration of the Spirit, which was bestowed on them but sparingly, can ye with reason say of him whom God hath sent into the world on the grand work of saving the human race, and whom he hath set apart for that work by giving him the Spirit without measure, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works. Though you do not believe what I say concerning my personal dignity, ye ought to believe it on account of my miracles, which are plainly of such a kind, that it is impossible for any deceiver to perform them; they are the works of God himself, and therefore ye ought to consider them as such; believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him: may know that I neither do nor say any thing but by his authority; for the Father and I are so united, that every thing I say and do is, in reality, said and doue by him, and he approves of it accordingly.

As this defence was so far from satisfying the Jews, that it only increased their

rage, and caused them to make attempts to seize his person, our Lord thought proper to retreat to the country beyond Jordan, and there employed some of the last months of his life in delivering the most valuable instructions to his disciples, and to the multitude. His ministry was well received, the people flocking round him in great numbers, and many of them receiving him as the Messiah, in consequence of their finding the testimony of John amply confirmed, and illustrated by the teaching, conduct, and miracles, of the Son of God.

CHAPTER X.

FROM THE FEAST OF DEDICATION, TO THE RESURRECTION OF Lazarus.

Christ in Perea teaches his disciples---his miracles are again ascribed to Beelzebub--he again repeats the sign of the prophet Jonas, and the parable of the lighted lamp--dines with a Pharisee---the Pharisees reproved---exhortation to the disciples to avoid anxiety-- Christ refuses to decide a dispute---parable of the rich glutton---the disciples exhorted to watchfulness, and informed of approaching troubles---Christ's observations on the murder of the Galileans---parable of the barren fig-tree---cure of the woman who had been bowed down eighteen years---exhortation to enter by the strait gate--the approaching calamities of Jerusalem bemoaned---Christ visits one of the chief Pharisees, at whose house he heals a man who was afflicted with the dropsy, and delivers the parable of the great supper---the three parables of the lost sheep, lost silver, and prodigal son---parable of the unjust steward---of the rich man and Lazarus-exhortation to humility, and to avoid giving offence---Christ goes to see Lazarus --the ten lepers---the resurrection of Lazarus.

WHILE Jesus was in the country beyond Jordan, he happened to pray publicly with such fervency, that one of his disciples, exceedingly affected both with the matter and manner of his address, begged that he would teach them to pray. It seems, this disciple had not been present when our Lord, in the beginning of his ministry, gave his hearers directions concerning their devotions; or, if he were present, he had forgotten what had then been said. Wherefore, Jesus, who always rejoiced to find his hearers desirous of instruction, willingly embraced this opportunity, and repeated the discourse on prayer which he had formerly delivered in his sermon on the mount; but with this difference, that he now handled the arguments which he had offered as motives to the duty a little more fully than before. Christ, on this occasion, repeated that brief formula which is denominated the Lord's prayer, and which he had delivered in the sermon on the mount, as well as in that on the plain; and then enforced the duty of constancy in prayer, by the example of one who gave way to the importunity of his friend, though he called upon him at midnight; and of an earthly parent, who will not refuse the reasonable requests of a child, but give him such gifts as should be really conducive to "his benefit. If ye, said Christ, being evil, know how • give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him.

About this time, our Lord having cast out a devil, the Pharisees again attributed

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his influeuce to a power derived from the prince of infernal spirits; and Christ defended himself by a train of similar arguments with those which we have repeated upon a former occasion. While Jesus thus reasoned in confutation of the Pharisees, a woman of the company, ravished with his wisdom and eloquence, and, perhaps, believing him to be their long expected Messiah, expressed her admiration of his character in a manner suitable to her sex. She broke forth in an exclamation upon the happiness of the woman who had the honour of giving him birth. But Jesus, not at all moved with her praise, gave her an answer which, at the same time that it shewed his humility, did the greatest honour to virtue. The blessedness, said he, which you prize so much, and which could be enjoyed by one woman only, however great, is far inferior to a blessedness which is in every one's power, namely, that which arises from the knowledge and practice of the will of God. But he said, yca, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.

The multitude having gathered round, probably in the expectation of seeing a sign from heaven, our Lord again assured them that they should receive no other than that of the prophet Jonas, which was to be exemplified in his own death and resurrection; and again admonished them of the importance of making a proper use of that religious knowledge which had been communicated to them, and to take heed that the light which was in them was not darkness.

When he had made an end of speaking upon these subjects, one of the Pharisees invited him to his house, probably with an insidious intention of ensnaring him in his words. However this might be, Christ accepted the invitation, accompanied the Pharisee, and sat down at table, but without washing, as all the other guests had done. When the Pharisee who invited him observed this, he was greatly surprised to see so great contempt cast upon their traditions. [Luke ix. 39.] And the Lord said unto him, now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, paying the strictest regard to whatever might defile the body, but the soul, your inward part, is full of ravening and wickedness. Did not that God who made the body make also the soul? be, therefore, merciful, as he is merciful, and give alms of such things as ye have. But woe unto you Pharisees; for ye tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God, those most essential parts of true religion. These should have claimed the first share in your regard, while you ought not to have omitted the less important matters of the law. He then denounced a judgment against the pride of the Pharisees, which was so excessive, that it displayed itself in their carriage while walking in the streets, and attending at the synagogues. As in the third woe he joined the scribes with the Pharisees, it will not be here improper to give a brief summary of their character.

The scribes were called, in the Hebrew language, sopherim, writers; and are often mentioned, in the sacred history, as persons of great authority in the Jewish commonwealth. They were originally secretaries, being employed in the church, the state, the army, the revenue, &c.; to which offices those were entitled who could write, because, antiently, that art was practised by few. When Ezra made the reformation. in religion which has rendered him so famous among the Jewish doctors, he was ascisted by the scribes in revising the canon of scripture, and ordered matters so, that from thenceforth a sufficient number of them should always be employed in multiplying the copies of it. This class of men, therefore, being much conversant in the sacred writings, acquired a singular knowledge of them; and, in process of time, expounded them to the common people [Mat. vii. 39.] with such reputation, that, at length, they obtained the title of doctors, or teachers, [Luke ii. 46.] and were consulted upon all difficult points of faith. [Mat. ii. 4.] Hence they are said, by our Lord,

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to sit in Moses's chair, [Mat. xxiii. 3.] and to determine what doctrines are contained in scripture. [Mat, xii. 35.] Hence, also, an able minister of the New Testament is called a scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. But as the Jews were divided into several religious sects, it is natural to imagine that each sect gave such interpretations of scripture as best agreed with their peculiar tenets. Wherefore, it cannot be doubted, that the doctors studied and expounded the sacred writings with a view to authorize the opinions of the party they espoused. Accordingly, [Acts xxiii. 9.] mention is made of the scribes that were of the sect of the Pharisees, which plainly implies that some of the scribes were of the other sects. It is true, the scribes are distinguished from the Pharisees in the woes which our Lord now pronounced, and in several other passages, particularly Mat. v. 20, xxiii. 2. But from the latter of these passages Dr. Macknight thinks it is evident, that by the scribes and Pharisees is commonly meant the Pharisaic scribes, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language for, as the name Pharisees denoted a sect, and not an office, it could by no means be said of the whole sect, that they sat in Moses's chair. A character of this sort was applicable only to the doctors or scribes of the sect. In other instances, where the scribes are distinguished from the Pharisees, the Sadducean doctors may be intended. The badge of a Pharisee was his placing the tradition of the elders on an equality with scripture: whereas, the Sadducees rejected all the pretended oral traditions, and adhered so close to the text, that they acknowledged nothing as a matter of faith which was not expressly contained in the sacred books. And in this they were followed by the Karaites, or Scripturists, a sect that subsists among the Jews to this day. It is generally supposed, indeed, that the Sadducees acknowledged the authority of none of the sacred books, except the writings of Moses. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that they received all these books; for had they denied the authority of any of them, our Lord, who so sharply reproved their other corruptions, would, probably, not have let this escape uncensured. Nay, Josephus himself, who was no friend to the Sadducees, does not, in the whole compass of his writings, charge them with rejecting any of the sacred books. He says, they rejected the traditions of the elders, so much cried up by the Pharisees, affirming that nothing ought to be held as an institution or rule but what was written. Perhaps, of the sacred writings, the Sadducees preferred the books of Moses. All the Jews did so, and do so still but whether, in this point, the Sadducees outstripped the rest of the sects, it is hard to say. In the mean time, considering the veneration which the Jews had for the books of the law, it is reasonable to suppose that some of the doctors of each sect would apply themselves more especially to the study of these books in private, and to the explication of them in public; and that such as did so might obtain the appellation of lawyers. Accordingly, he is called by Matthew a Pharisee, and a lawyer, xxii, 35.] whom Mark calls a scribe.

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Farther, it is not improbable, that the Pharisean lawyers, foud of their own particular study, might exalt the law, not only above the rest of the sacred writings, but above the tradition of the elders, in which respect they were distinguished from the ret of their sect, paying only a secondary sort of regard to these traditions on this account that one of them was now so displeased, when he heard Jesus join the whole body of scribes indiscriminately; and consequently the lawyers with the Pharisees, in the woes which he now denounced against them for the hypocritical shews of piety which they made by their zeal in giving tythes of mint, anise, and cummin, according to the precepts of the elders, whilst they omitted judgment and the love of God, enjoined expressly by the divine law. It seems, he thought the rebuke undeserved on the part of the lawyers, even of the Pharisean sect, because Lo d

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