"Thou art Chrift, the fon of the living

"Bleffed art

God," he faid, Matt. xvi. 17. thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." But after this he charged his difciples, verfe 20. " that they fhould tell no man that he was the Chrift."

5.

DISCOURSE II. PART II.

THE peculiarly striking manner in which Jefus often delivered many of his moral precepts added greatly to their force, and at the fame time gives us a high idea of his dignity and authority; as when, upon being told of his mother and brethren inquiring for him while he was engaged in teaching, he faid, as quoted in the preceding part of this discourse, Matt. xii. 48. "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren; and stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he faid, Behold my mother and my brethren ; for whofoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the fame is my mother, and fifter, and brother." How would any of

the

the heathen philofophers have been admired for fuch an extempore faying as this! Nothing can well be conceived more forcible, or more dignified.

6. Jefus never appeared to be overawed by the presence of any man, but always fpake and acted as a fuperior character. This we fee in his converfation with Nicodemus, a perfon of confiderable rank in the country, and a member of the Sanhedrim. Speaking to fuch a perfon as this, himself we must not forget a common carpenter, and known to be fo, he says, John iii. 5. "Verily, verily, I fay unto thee;" and when he did not understand him, he said, verfe 10. "Art thou a master in Ifrael, and knoweft not these things?"

He preserved the fame dignity whether he addreffed his friends, or his enemies. His inftructions to the Twelve, and alfo to the Seventy, before their miffion, evidently came from great authority; and were peculiarly calculated to give thofe to whom they were addreffed the greatest confidence in the divine favour and protection, in confequence of their relation to him. They are not the mere advices of one friend to another, or of a common mafter to his fcholars. Matt. x. 11. "Who oever

"Whofoever fhall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that houfe or city, shake off the duft of your feet. Verily I fay unto you, it fhall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city. Behold I fend you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wife as ferpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will fcourge you in their fynagogues, and ye will be brought before governors and kings for my fake, for a teftimony unto them, and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how, or what, ye fhall fpeak; for it will be given unto you in the fame hour what ye fhall speak, for it is not ye that fpeak, but the spirit of your Father that fpeaketh in you." In the fame manner he addreffed the Seventy, Luke x. 10. "But into whatever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways into the streets of the fame, and fay, Even the very duft of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you; notwithstanding, be ye fure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you that it fhall be more tolerable

lerable in that day for the city of Sodom than for that city." This was admirably calculated to infpire thofe to whom it was addreffed with the fame exalted fentiments from which he himself fpake, giving them a ftrong fenfe of the great importance of their miffion. We fee nothing approaching to this in any heathen whatever. There were no fuch characters, or inftructions, in all profane hiftory. For fuch great and magnanimous fentiments, and a conduct adapted to them, we must look into the Scriptures, and no where elfe. There is nothing refembling this in the conduct, or the Koran, of Mahomet.

There is the fame mixture of dignity and affection in his converfation with the apostles before his death. John xiv. 1." Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe alfo in me. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or elfe believe me for the very works' fake. Verily, verily, I fay unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, fhall he do alfo ; and greater works than thefe fhall he do, because I unto my Father; and whatsoever ye fhall afk in my name, that will I do, that the Father

VOL. III.

F

go

I give

Father may be glorified in the fon." verfe 27. "Peace I leave with you; my peace unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." ch. xv. 15." Thefe things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know it hated me, before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chofen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." ch. xvi. 33. "Thefe things have I fpoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." It is impoffible to perufe this address, of which I have recited but a fmall fpecimen, and put ourfelves in the place of the apoftles, without feeling the peculiar force of it. Such fentiments as thefe, and fuch a mode of addrefs, could not poffibly have occurred to any perfon but to one who, like Jefus, was confcious of a divine miffion, and of the most important kind; and confequently that the folemn and encouraging affurances which he delivered, as by authority from God, were well founded.

Jefus,