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were as awful, as they were gracious and endearing. We likewise know, that his instructions were every where illustrated by the commanding force of a most amiable, and in him a most perfect example. And to all this, to the discourses he delivered, and the consummate pattern which he gave of universal goodness, was added the weight of many most astonishing miracles; with reference to which it seems, that no other place was equally distinguished.

The wonderful works which Christ had done at Capernaum, are spoken of by himself, as known to all the inhabitants of Nazareth; who were therefore ready to say, Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thine own country: And many more were done after that. At Capernaum he healed the nobleman's son †, while he was himself at a distance in Cana: At Capernaum he Cast out a devil in the public synagogue on a sabbath day. At Capernaum he cured Peter's wife's mother of a fever §: At Capernaum they brought to him All that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils; yea, All that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them: At Capernaum it was, that The power of the Lord was present to heal great numbers, before the Pharisees and doctors of the law, who were come thither out of every town of Galilee and Judea ** to a place which was become so illustrious: And it was here, and in the midst of this assembly, that he cured the Paralytic, who was let down by cords into the place, to which they could get no other access but from the top of the house ++: It was here also at Capernaum, that he cured The Centurion's servant ‡‡, before he came under the roof where he was: And in another visit, some time after these words in the text were spoken, it was here that he cured the Woman by the touch of his garment, and raised the daughter of Jairus to life §§.

This is a brief and imperfect view of the advantages Capernaum enjoyed: How justly therefore with respect to these might it be said, it was exalted unto heaven! How reasonably might it have been expected then, that Capernaum, thus divinely taught, thus miraculously relieved, should have been remarkable for its diligent attention to the doctrines of our Lord,

* Luke iv. 23. Ver. 32.

+ John iv. 46, & seq.
Luke iv. 40.

++ Luke vii. 1-10. §§ Luke viii. 41, & seq.

Mark i. 23-26. § Ver. 30,31. ** Luke v. 17. Ver. 18-26.

and its ready obedience to his gospel! But alas, we cannot forget the connection in which these advantages have been surveyed; and it must be the business of our next general, to consider,

II. The abuse of these privileges; for wretchedly abused they were.

It is expressly said here, that They repented not *: Which implies, that many sins were to be found among them ;—and that they would not be reformed under all the endeavours which the Son of God himself thought proper to use for that purpose.

1. It is certain, that many sins were to be found among them.

They could not otherwise have stood in such need of repentance, as to have been obnoxious to so dreadful a sentence for their impenitence. Guilty they undoubtedly were of many evils, but we cannot certainly pronounce as to the particulars: Probably they were such as are commonly to be found in opulent and elegant cities, where the materials of luxury abound, and temptations to it are multiplied.

We may reasonably suppose, that irreligion led on the train here, as it does wherever iniquity abounds. Perhaps the worship of God, might be neglected, and that neglect lay at the door of every other evil and enormity. The synagogues might be unfrequented, especially by the rich and the great; unless when curiosity drew them thither, on the same principles as those on which it might have drawn them to a theatre: And though the terrors of the law that hung over their heads, might prevent that breach of the sabbath, which it pronounced a capital offence, yet it is highly probable, that it might be a day of idleness and diversion, and in no other view might be Called a delight t; so that being perverted from its original purpose, it turned into an occasion of mischief, rather than of benefit, and left them more sensual and vicious than it found them.

Perhaps, amidst their many Merchants, the balances of deceit might be in their hands t; the arts of dishonest gain might be practised, till every sense of their infamy was lost, amidst the numbers by which they were countenanced; till their palaces were cemented by the tears of oppressed widows and orphans, The stone crying out of the wall, and the beam from the timber answering it §.

*Mat. xi. 20.

+Isa. Iviii. 13.

Hos. xii. 7.

§ Hab. ii. 11.

More certainly still may we reckon upon it, that the fatal arts of luxury reigned in Capernaum: Ostentatious ornaments of dress and furniture, exquisite food, rich wines, and not improbably, concerts of music and other theatrical entertainments, which we know Herod introduced into some of their cities, drawing the world after them, and employing the great, when their minds should have been occupied about the affairs of the public; perhaps too intoxicating those in common life, and leading them to forget the cares and interrupt the labours, upon which their own subsistence and that of their families depended, and so bringing upon their families a ruin that would not have so much as the consolation of being pitied; at once exhausting the substance, and corrupting the taste of the rising generation. Wretched offspring of cruelly-indulgent parents! who instead of being trained up in the fear of the Lord, in the methods of a wise, virtuous, and pious education, might have their minds broken by effeminacy, and a thousand artificial wants created, when perhaps there might hardly be enough left from the ravages of luxury, to supply the necessities of nature. They would no doubt grow up exorbitant, petulant, and audacious; ignorant of every art but that of corrupting and injuring others, of every science but that of deriding the little remainder of religion and virtue, that might be found in the midst of so general a wreck. Alas, what an inheritance laid up for them! But whatever the offences of Capernaum were, it is to be remembered,

2. That they would not reform under all the efforts which Christ used with them for that purpose.

The Son of God himself was among them; A wise Reprover, but it was on disobedient ears *. Neither his remonstrances, nor his example, nor his miracles, would make any lasting impression upon them. Perhaps there were those, who would not condescend to give him the hearing: They thought themselves wise and polite in looking with contempt upon the man of Nazareth, and would not give themselves the trouble of enquiring into what seemed to them so incredible a tale, as that of his miracles; or if the evidence forced itself upon their minds, and laid down certain favourite maxims to themselves, and resolved to reject every thing inconsistent with them, whatever wretched shifts they might make to do it: Nay, it seems manifest, that here that blasphemous suggestion was advanced, that he Cast out devils by the prince of the devils †. There might be others more decent, who yet heard in vain; If they

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Wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, those words were To them but as the lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; they heard them, but they would not do them: Or if any impressions were made, they quickly wore them off again, and were enchanted back into the same circle of pleasure or business. So that on the whole, they rejected the gospel which was so well calculated to reform them, and grew more hopeless under it than ever. If he had not come and spoken unto them, they would in comparison have had no sin; but now they had no cloak for their sin : And the interpretation, that he himself with all his unequalled candour was obliged to pass upon their conduct, with whatever indignation they might reject the charge, was this, that They had both seen, and hated, both him and his Father §. What could be expected then from such aggravated and incorrigible wickedness, but

III. The doom pronounced upon them; that dreadful doom, which we are next to consider, that having been exalted unto heaven, they should be brought down to hell; and it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for them.

You will easily observe a strong and beautiful opposition in the former clause of the sentence; and both that, and the latter, may express-their temporal ruin, but much more cer-their future condemnation.

1. It may perhaps express their temporal ruin.

We know that this is sometimes signified by this expression, being brought down to hell. The destruction of Babylon is foretold by Isaiah by this very phrase, to shew How the oppressor should cease, and the golden city cease: Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell ; that is, thou shalt be utterly destroyed and buried in thy own ruins. And such, we know, was the doom of Capernaum. Many of the vices, which we have naturally enough supposed to have abounded in it, would in their own consequences have led it on to certain, though to slower ruin: But God, as is frequently his method, interposed to execute this fair, yet abandoned criminal, before she died of her own debaucheries.

I do not remember, that we read any thing particular concerning the circumstances of the ruin of Capernaum: But as

*Luke iv. 22.
Ver. 24.

Ezek. xxxiii. 32.
Isa. xiv. 4, 13, 15.

+ John xv. 22.

all the country about the Galilean sea was over-run by the Roman army in the war that quickly happened, it undoubtedly shared the fate of its neighbours, of whose terrible destruction Josephus gives a most affecting description in the third and fourth books of the Jewish war. It was then plundered of its wealth, and in all probability its streets and palaces were filled with the dead bodies of its slaughtered inhabitants; as the historian says expressly, "that the lake on which the city stood, after a terrible sea-fight there, was covered with the floating corpses of the slain, which almost poisoned all the country round by the insufferable stench they emitted, while they remained unburied." The country being thus subdued and trodden down by the Gentiles, who became its absolute Lords, Capernaum must have soon lost all its glory; so soon indeed, that many of the young people, who had been present while Christ preached in their synagogues and wrought miracles among them, must in a course of nature have lived to share the desolation. Thus the sword of the enemy entered into those hearts which had been impenetrable to that Two-edged sword that went out of the mouth of the Son of God †. And so entire was the ruin of the place, that, as we learn from Jerom, in his time, which was less than 400 years after Christ, "All that remained of the magnificence and glory of Capernaum, was six or seven poor fishermen's cottages ;" and modern travellers can hardly find a trace of it: So literally is it grown, like the much more celebrated city of Tyre, Like the top of a rock, a place to spread nets upon §. Such is the ancient Tyre; such, after all the privileges it enjoyed, Capernaum now is; and such the proudest city upon earth shall be, if God but mark it out for the like ruin. But more than this, these awful words of our blessed Redeemer did certainly express,

2. Their future and final condemnation.

It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, in the great day of final retribution, than for thee. You see, the day of judgment is introduced, that great and terrible day of the Lord. And it is very necessary, that the memory of it should be kept up in the world, that men Knowing the terror of the Lord may, if possible, be awakened and persuaded. Our blessed Redeemer himself, who was Anointed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, considered it also as a part of his commission to declare the day of vengeance of our

* Joseph, de Bell. Jud. lib. iii. cap. 10. §. 9. ↑ Rev. i. 16. De Loc. Hebr. § Ezek. xxvi. 14. 2 Cor. v. 11.

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