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--- to comfort all that mourn, to give Sect. VII. them beauty for afhes, the oil of joy " for mourning "," &c. The meaning of all the figurative expreffions here used by the prophet, is this; that Meffiah should, at his appearance, confer upon fuch as were difpofed to receive them, the two great evangelical blesfings, viz. remiffion of fins, and a participation of the Spirit of joy and gladnefs, with which God had "anointed "him above his fellows." The inauguration of Jefus to all the offices of the Meffiah, by this divine unction, John had beheld, when, after his baptism, he faw the Holy Ghoft defcending upon him, and thereby knew him to be that

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Rod," or "Branch of Jeffe," on whom Ifaiah had elsewhere foretold, that "the

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Spirit of the Lord fhould reft "." Nothing therefore could be more appofite, than this part of Chrift's answer, "The poor have the Gofpel preached

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unto them;" the full import of which, confidered as referring to the LX1a chapter of Isaiah, and addreffed to St. John,

a Ifai. lxi. 1. Ibid. xi. 1, 2,

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Sect. VII. is as followeth Go fhew John again, that the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of might and counsel, which Isaiah foretold should reft upon the Rod and Branch of Jeffe, and which John faw defcending and abiding upon me, in the likeness of a dove, at my baptism, is not departed from me. The unction of the Spirit was not given me for mine own ufe; nor is it spent, or consumed,. although it hath powerfully diffused itfelf to all about me. By it the poor are made rich, being inftated in the kingdom of grace and of the gofpel, and anointed heirs unto the kingdom of glory. By it every contrite heart is healed; fuch as were fhut up are set at liberty; fuch as were bound are loosed; and by it the yoke of the oppreffor is broken ".

WE muft not omit to mention the end for which, according to the prophet, all these changes were wrought in the converts to the Gospel; "That "they might be called Trees of Right"eousness, the planting of the Lord,

a See the Works of Dr Jackson, Vol. ii. p. 542.

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"that he might be glorified.". The Se&t. VII. "Rod," the "Branch of Jeffe," the

Righteous Branch of David," were the known titles of the Meffiah, or Son of David; and it was his glory, while he lived upon earth, to make others, like himself, "Trees," or " Plants of "Righteoufnefs." This expreffion, as it standeth here joined with others plainly descriptive of evangelical benefits and comforts, unfoldeth to us the true nature of those wonders which Ifaiah foretold fhould be wrought in the wilderness, and which he hath reprefented under fo rich a variety of poetical imagery; fuch as, ftreams of water breaking forth in the defarts, caufing them to bloffom as the rofe; myrtles coming up, inftead of briars; cedars, firs, and olive trees, instead of thorns, &c. The purport of these figurative predictions appears, by the paffage before us, to be this; that the dry and barren places of Judea, where John baptized, and preached repentance, should, in the days of the Meffiah, become a fruitful nursery of a new kind of plants, prepared for the celestial

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Seat. VII. radife. Thefe were men of humble, peaceable, contrite hearts; fuch as poverty and disease had rendered thofe who came to be healed by Christ, and the confideration of our fins and infirmities fhould render us all. To fuch is the gospel of the kingdom preached, and they with joy receive it. "Bleffed "are the poor in fpirit; for theirs is "the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are "the meek; for they fhall inherit the "earth. Bleffed are they that mourn; "for they fhall be comforted."

To these beatitudes let us add one more, with which our Lord concludeth his answer to the question afked by John's difciples. "Bleffed is he whofo"ever is not offended in me." In other words ---- And now, bleffed, thrice bleffed are all they, who fhall fo confider the wonderful works done by me, as not to be offended at my poor and lowly appearance, during the time of my humiliation and fuffering here on earth; or at the feeming harshness of my falutary doctrines to flesh and blood. For I well know, that many, though they have beheld me giving fight to the

blind, and vigour to the impotent, Sect. VII. cleanfing lepers, making the deaf to hear, and raifing the dead to life again; yet, because the truths, which I deliver, are contrary to their interefts, their pleasures, their pride, their prejudices, which they are determined not to quit, even for the kingdom of heaven; many, I fay, will reject what they cannot but acknowledge to be the counsel of God, and put away the word of falvation from them. Let a man only fupprefs his inordinate defires of things temporal, and he will be difpofed to hear what I shall tell him of things eternal. Let him cease to love the world, and he will cease to have any objection to the Gofpel. Let but his heart be open to conviction, and when the evidence hath been once fairly laid before him, he will never again ask the question, "Art "thou he that should come, or do we "look for another?"

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