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of that satisfaction which his faith had procured. The miraculous cure was in proportion to his faith; for return. ing, he found upon inquiry, that his servant recovered at the very same time that Jesus had declared it. Thus the servant received the blessing of health, as the reward and honour of his master's faith.

From Capernaum Jesus passing through Galilee attended with a great multitude of people, and as he came near the gates of Nain, was met by a crowd, mournfully attending the corpse of an only son of a widow, by which loss the mother was deprived of all her worldly comfort. Here was a proper object for divinity to exercise itself upon, and to which our blessed Saviour's compassion readily prompted him. To comfort the weeping parent, he ap proached the bier, bidding the widow forbear weeping, and commanding the bearers to stop; when, with his powerful word and touch, he raised the young man to life; who sitting up on the bier spake to the company, to convince them that he was indeed alive. To restore decayed health, and dispossess devils and impure spirits, were acts of wonder to all who beheld them; but to recover defunct nature, and to recall it from the hands of death, was so stupendous a prodigy, as struck the beholders not only with amazement, but fear: for they glorified God for visiting his people, by sending a great prophet among them; justly concluding from the grandeur of the action, that nothing but an Almighty power could effect such wonders.

Upon the fame of this and other miracles, which soon spread through all Judea, John the baptist, who was still in prison, sent two of his disciples to him, to give the greater publicity to his mission by inquiring if he were indeed the Messiah, or whether they were to expect another? At the very time of their asking this question, for their clearer conviction and proof of his being so, Jesus* performed many miracles in their presence, curing several persons of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto many who were blind he gave sight. To these messengers therefore of John he returned answer, by

Jesus. See Luke vii. 21, 22, &c.

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a demonstration of the nature of the thing, and the glory of the miracles, saying, "Return to John and tell him what you see; for the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised, the lepers are cleansed, and to the poor the gospel is preached." All which were the grand characteristic notes of the Messiah, according to the predictions of the holy prophets.*

Our blessed Saviour having dismissed John's disciples with this answer, began to speak concerning John, bestowing encomiums on the austerity and holiness of his person, the greatness of his function, and the divinity of his commission: saying that he was greater than a prophet, a burning and shining light-the Elias who was to come, and the consummation and ending of the old prophets : adding withal, that the perverseness of that age was most notorious in the treatment of himself and the baptist : for neither could the baptist, who came neither eating nor drinking (that by his austerity and mortified deportment he might invite the judgment and affections of the people) nor Jesus, who came both eating and drinking (that by a moderate and affable life, framed to the common use and compliance of men, he might sweetly insinuate himself into the affections of the multitude) obtain belief amongst them. The obstinate Jews objected against every thing, and nothing could please them: but wisdom and righteous, ness had its friends in its own family, and is justified of all her children.

Then he proceeded to a more direct reprehension of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum; declaring to the two first, that if the mighty works which were done in them by him, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, (two heathen cities) they would long ago have repented; and therefore that the judgment or punishment which befals mere heathen cities, shall be lighter than what they could

* Prophets. See Isa, xxxv. 5, 6. "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened," &c.

It was also predicted that he should instruct the poor; and it is plain that our Lord did not court the favour of the rich, like the heathen philosophers and Jewish doctors, but shewed a marked attention to the despised poor.

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expect. And thou Capernaum, said he, the place of my abode, which hast been so honoured and favoured by me, beyond all other places, and hast received such spiritual advantages, shalt be brought to destruction suddenly, humbled as low as thou wert highly advanced; for if the miracles done in thee with design to reform thee, 'had been done in Lot's time, for the reforming Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have prevented their destruction by a speedy repentance.

Having thus severely reprehended the three cities for their pertinacious continuance in their sins and infidelity, in defiance and reproof of all the mighty works which had been wrought in them, he takes occasion at the same time (probably from that of his being received by the meaner, and refused by the higher sort) to break out into an af fectionate expression of thanks to God, that those mysteries of the gospel, which the wise men of the world despised (and were thereupon given up by God to their own wilful blindness) were yet by him revealed to the most ignorant and mean; by this denoting, that God had so disposed the way to heaven, that the most ignorant and humble, not the proud and elated, were most ready to receive and embrace it. This, said the blessed Jesus, is an act of thy free and undeserved mercy to some, O Lord, and of thy just deserving to others; and then he concluded this sermon with an invitation to all people wearied and disconsolate, loaden with sin and misery, to come to him, promising ease to their burdens and refreshment to their weariness, and to exchange their heavy pressures, " for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

The holy Jesus having concluded this sermon, a certain wealthy Pharisee, named Simon, invited him to dine with him into whose house having entered, a woman* that had lived a sinful and scandalous course of life, abiding there in the city, heard of it. She came to Jesus in the

* Woman. There is good reason to believe that the woman here spoken of, was not Mary Magdalen, who was a person of eminent station and opulent fortune, being mentioned by St. Luke, ch. viii. even before Johanna, the wife of Herod's steward. It is not likely that such a person should have been a prostitute.

Pharisee's house; not to feast her eyes with the sight of a miraculous and glorious person:, but in remorse and regret for her sins. She came to the blessed Jesus to lay her burden at his feet; and as he lay along, she came behind him that lay next to Jesus, and standing there, let fall drops of tears upon his feet, the effects of sorrow and contrition; and stooping down, wiped them with her hair: she then fell down and kissed his feet, and poured a box of ointment upon them. This action was done in an ecstacy of love, sorrow, and adoration; a festival ceremony, becoming the majesty of the greatest earthly monarch.

Whilst this poor sinner thus was busy in the expressions of her love and veneration to Jesus, Simon, in whom something of the perverse and peevish Pharisee still appeared, thought within himself, that Jesus could not be a prophet; otherwise he would have known this woman to be a sinner,* and not have suffered her to touch him. Which Jesus knowing, (for he understood his thoughts as well as his words) immediately made an apology for the woman and himself, in a question expressed in the parable of two debtors, to whom a greater and a less debt respectively were forgiven; both of them teaching that they would love their creditor in proportion to his mercy in forgiving their debts. In this parable, Jesus gave the reason of this woman's extraordinary expression of love and grief, and his reasons for not rejecting her. Then applying it to the woman, he reproved his host by distinguishing between his and the woman's entertainment; and concluding the parable with forgiveness of her sins; for she, who loved much, had much forgiven. This was so home and plain upon the proud Pharisee, that he might therein read his own, when it stood confronted with the magnificence of the woman's penitence and love; and dinner being over, Jesus dismissed the penitent with this blessing: "This great and affectionate expression of thy faith is rewarded with a free

Sinner. Though the Jewish religion did permit harlots of their own nation to live and enjoy the privileges of their nation, except that their oblations were refused; yet the Pharisees, who pretended to a greater degree of sanctity than others, would not admit them to civil usages, or the benefits of ordinary society; and therefore Simon the Pharisee made this objection within himself.

pardon of all thy sins: Go, and live as thou oughtest to do for the rest of thy life, and God's favour and all happiness be with thee.

After this, Jesus attended by the twelve, with Mary Magdalen, Joanna, Susanna, and many others, who supplied him with necessaries out of their own possessions, went through the whole country, preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and coming into a house with a design to eat, he was so crowded by the people that he could not; and therefore he disposed himself to dispense his time to the necessities of those that stood in need of his help. Of which there were many and daily instances; and with one of which he was presented in the person of a poor demoniac, possessed with a blind and dumb devil; in whose behalf his friends intreated Jesus, that he would cast out the devil: which he immediately did, and the blind man saw, and the dumb spake; so much to the amazement of the people, that they ran in such immense numbers after him, and so offended the Pharisees, who thought that by means of this prophet, their reputation would be diminished, and their schools deserted, that first a rumour was industriously circulated among the people that Jesus was beside himself. On which report, his friends and kindred came together to see, and to make some provisions accordingly. When the mother and other relations of our Lord ar rived, they found him in a house, incircled with a multitude of attentive hearers, who were filled with admiration. And there the holy Virgin-Mother might hear part of her own prophecy literally verified, "That the generations of the earth should call her blessed :" for a woman worshipping Jesus, cried, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck." To this Jesus replied, not denying her to be blessed, who had received the honour of being the mother of the Messiah, but rather advancing the dignity of spiritual blessings far above the greatest temporal honour in the world, he says; "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and perform it."

Our blessed Saviour being still in the house, they informed him that his mother and his brethren were wait-.

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