Sect. VII. wards us, which, for their own fakes, we with them to have. Whereas a contrary conduct, by provoking and alienating their affections from us, may put it out of our power ever to be of service to them again. chodi ! THE fame charitable plan is carried on by our Lord, who, in his anfwer, inftructs the difciples, by feeming to inftruct their mafter;" Go (faith he) "and tell John what ye have seen and "heard." And this may suggest a reafon, why Chriftians in general should converfe more upon religious fubjects, than they are wont to do, both asking queftions, like St. John, and returning anfwers, like Chrift, for the benefit and improvement of the by-ftanders, who may need information, through the perfon to whom one immediately addreffeth onefelf, fhould not. And many a man hath been the better, all his life after, for a seasonable word fpoken in common converfation, which is often more regarded and attended to, than a formal difcourfe from the pulpit.

THE

THE best proofs of a divine miffion, Seat. VII. which man is capable of receiving, are miracles, evidently and inconteftably fuch; miracles, of the reality of which the outward fenfes, the eyes and the ears, are competent judges; miracles wrought publickly in the face of the world, in the prefence of enemies as well as friends; and that, not once, or twice, but repeatedly; and these miracles exprefly predicted, hundreds of years beforehand. Such were the proofs offered by Chrift to the difciples of John. For " in that same hour," while they were préfent, and before their eyes, "he cured many of their infirmities and

plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto "many that were blind he gave fight.

Then faid he unto them, Go your "way, and tell John what things ye "have seen and heard; how that the "blind fee, the lame walk, the lepers "are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead "are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And bleffed is he whofo"ever fhall not be offended in me." As if he had faid, I bear not witness of myfelf; my miracles bear witness of me. Only

Sect. VII. Only tell John what you have heard and feen, and he will teach you how to draw the proper inference. Isaiah, as he well knoweth, did foretell, that when Meffiah came, he would perform fuch and fuch mighty works. You yourselves are eye and ear witnesses of the works done by me. Lay the premises fairly together, and you cannot be to feek for the conclufion.

1

JOHN had engaged his reputation as a prophet, that Jefus of Nazareth, whom he baptized in Jordan, would anfwer the character of Meffiah, and do the works predicted of him; as appears from John x. 39. where we read, that Jefus, having escaped from the Jews, "went again beyond Jordan, "unto the place where John at first "baptized; and there he abode. And

66

many reforted unto him, and faid,

John did no miracle: but all things "that John fpake of this man were "true. And many believed on him "there." Malice itself cannot find reafon to suspect a collufion, when prophecies and miracles thus unite their

testimony, and proclaim Jefus to be the Sect. VII. Meffiah.

AT his word, "the eyes of the blind "were opened, and the ears of the deaf unftopped; the lame man leaped as “an hart, and the tongue of the dumb "did fing;" the leprofy, that foul, contagious, and obftinate disease, for which so many ceremonies of purification were appointed by the law, was healed at once; and the dead in their graves, hearing the voice of the fon of man, came forth. Every malady and infirmity, to which the children of Adam were fubject, vanished at his prefence, and confeffed the almighty deliverer of his people. This, therefore, is" He that fhould come," nor let us think of "looking for another," to the eyes of the understanding, and let in the light of heavenly knowlege upon ignorant and benighted minds; to remove all obftructions, formed by intereft, prejudice, or paffion, and give us the hearing ear; to reftore and invigorate the will; and affections, that we may make large advances in the course a Ifai. xxxv. 5, 6.,

open

of

Seat.VII. of duty, and run with delight the way

of God's commandments; to loose the
tongues which guilt hath tied, and
tune them to hymns of praise and thanks-
giving to cleanfe us, by his blood,
from all fin, that leprofy which exclu-
deth from the congregation of Ifrael,
the camp of the faints, and the beloved
city; to raise our fouls from death to
life, and our bodies from dust to glory.
"We have found him of whom Mofes
"in the law, and the prophets did
"write 1---
Rabbi, thou art the Son of
"God, thou art the King of Ifrael!"
THERE is one particular in this an-
fwer of Chrift, which remaineth yet
unnoticed; "The poor have the gospel

6.6

preached unto them." Our Lord here referreth to the celebrated paffage in Ifaiah, which, in the fynagogue of Nazareth, he had expounded, and declared to be fulfilled in himfelf.. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings," or the Gospel, “to "the meek," or poor; "he hath sent "me to proclaim liberty to the captives, b John i. 45, 49.