of every denomination, the triumphs he obtained over the most artful and insidious of his enemies, the unrivalled purity and perfection of his example, the divine authority and dignity with which he spoke, the awful punishments he denounced against those who rejected, and the eternal rewards he promised to those who received his words. These things still remain, and must for ever remain; must for ever give irresistible force and energy to every word that is recorded as proceeding from the mouth of Christ, and must render it " quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit*." If eloquence such as this does not make a deep, and lasting, and vital impression upon our souls; if we do not find it to be, indeed, the power of God unto salvation, we shall be left without excuse. Let us, then, in the language of our church, most earnestly beseech Almighty God, that those sacred words which we have now, or at any other time, heard with our outward ears, may, through

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86

* Heb. iv. 12.

his

his grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to the honour and praise of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

SERMON XII*.

LUKE vii. 22.

THEN JESUS ANSWERING, SAID UNTO THEM, GO YOUR WAY, AND TELL JOHN WHAT THINGS YE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD; HOW THAT THE BLIND SEE, THE LAME WALK, THE LEPERS ARE CLEANSED, THE DEAF HEAR, THE DEAD ARE RAISED, TO THE POOR THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED.

YOU will immediately recollect the

occasion on which these words were spoken. They make a part of the answer which our Saviour gave to the two disciples whom John the Baptist sent to him, to ask whether he was the Great Deliverer that was to come, or they were to look for another. The whole passage is a remarkable one, and affords

* Preached at the Yearly Meeting of the Charity Schools, in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, May 2, 1782.

affords ample matter for observation; but the particular circumstance to which I mean to draw your attention at present, is the last clause of the text, in which we are told, that 66 to the poor the Gospel is preached."

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That our Lord should appeal to the miracles which he had wrought before the eyes of the two disciples, as an incontestable proof that he was the Messiah, will be thought very natural and proper; but that he should immediately subjoin to this, as an additional proof; and a proof on which he seems to lay as much stress as on the other, that, "to the poor the Gospel was preached," may appear, at the first view, a little extraordinary. We shall, however, soon be satisfied that in this as well as in every other instance, our divine Master acted with consummate wisdom. He was speaking to Jews. His object was to convince them, that he was the MESSIAH. The obvious way of doing this was to show, that he corresponded to the description which their own prophets gave of that great personage. Now they speak of him as one, who should not only give eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, feet to the lame, and speech to the dumb,

but,