Luke vii. 12.

13.

14.

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, Nain. there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow and much people of the city was with her.

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

And he came and touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still; and he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

he proves his power by healing the servant of the centurion,
while he is at a distance from him; and, immediately after, by
the stupendous miracle of raising from the dead the son of the
widow of Naim.

One very impressive consideration on the subject of our
Lord's anthority over the laws of nature, as displayed in the
resurrection of the dead, seems to have escaped the enquiries
of commentators. He demonstrated the truth of his wonderful
assertion-that he was the resurrection and the life-that the
dead should hear the voice of the Son of God, and that he
would raise them up at the last day, &c. by his manifesting his
power over all the gradations of corruption. Whether the
daughter of Jairus was really dead or not, has been disputed:
she was either on the point of death, or had just died. Her re-
storation in the first case would have been a proof that our
Lord could arrest the departing spirit in the second that he
could restore that spirit to the body immediately. This was the
first stage of death. His power was next shewn in the raising to
life the widow's son. In that instance the body had been dead for
a longer period: though, as the interment in that country took
place very soon after death, it is probable that corruption had
not begun. In the third miracle which our Lord wrought to
demonstrate his power over the grave, the resurrection of La-
zarus, corruption had already began the body was returning
to its elements-the earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
When the time had come that the great sacrifice was completed,
the graves opened-the bodies of many who had expected the
coming of Christ rose again, and after his resurrection went
into the holy city. We cannot tell whether, in the interval
between his death and resurrection, the mouldering fragments
of their decaying forms remained in their narrow prisons in the
same condition as when the ground first opened, or whether
during that interval the scene which Ezekiel saw in vision was
renewed; we cannot tell whether the flesh and the nerves, and
the skin, again covered the renovated bones; and the scattered
atoms were slowly and gradually reunited in one living mass-
they rose from their graves as all mankind shall rise on the
morning of the judgment day. And when all these proofs of
his power had been effected, the greatest was yet to come.
Christ raised up his own body, endued with powers and pro-
perties more than human. Lord of death and of life, he mani-
fested to his followers, and he has revealed to us, that there are
modes of existence, and laws of body, which we cannot com-
prehend. Sufficient only is disclosed to us to make us fear God
and thank him, for the hope of eternal life, through his mani-
fested Son, the Lord of life and death.

(a) Marsh's Michaelis, vol. iii. part ii. p. 67.

Lake vii. 15.

16.

17.

18.

And he that was dead, sat up, and began to speak: and Nain. he delivered him to his mother "1.

And there came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, that God hath visited his people.

And this rumour of him went forth, throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.

And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things.

51 In one of the MS. letters of Lord Barrington to Dr. Lardner, I meet with an argument in favour of the cessation of consciousness between death and the resurrection, derived from this history of the raising to life the widow's son. Our Lord is represented as raising the youth to life, from the deep compassion he felt at the sight of his funeral. Lord Barrington reasons, -that if the soul was conscious in an intermediate state, then the widow's son, and Lazarus, and the bodies of the saints which rose at the resurrection of Christ, and went into the holy city, were brought from a condition of great happiness to undergo a second time the miseries of an inferior state of being and their resurrection would be rather a source of sorrow than of joy. I mention this circumstance, because the argument is frequently urged by the Psychopannychists. The reply, however, to the objection, may be derived from a consideration of the cause, for which these various restorations to mortal life took place. It was not for the benefit of the deceased that their resurrection was accomplished, but for the strengthening the faith of the spectators of the miracle, and of the survivors, and companions of the witnesses. If an objection be further proposed, that we never hear of any discoveries respecting the world of spirits from those who were raised from the dead, and that if their consciousness had not ceased, it is probable some of its mysterics would be disclosed; we answer, that every animated being is provided by his Creator with those faculties only, which are adapted to the condition which that Creator has assigned to him. The faculties which develope themselves in the next stage of our existence, may be so utterly different from those we at present possess, that if a human being were restored to life he might be unable to relate them, or convey an idea concerning them to others. We are unable, even from the hints in revelation, to form any idea of the invisible world. We seem to require other faculties to comprehend that which is all spiritual, yet possible in space: which defies all language, calculation, and comprehension. There is a beautiful idea in some brahminical record concerning the Deity. "I am like nothing human, with which to compare myself." So there is nothing in this state of existence, which can enable us to comprehend the invisible world: it could not be understood, and therefore, if the mortal faculties only were restored to those who were raised from the dead, the things which are unseen could not be clothed in human language; they could not be remembered, they could not be imparted.

MS. letter of Lord Barrington to Dr. Lardner, dated Dec. 18, 1728, communicated by his son, the present venerable Bishop of Durham.

Р

Matt. xi. 2.

SECTION XXII.

Message from John, who was still in prison, to Christ”.

MATT. xi. 2-6. LUKE vii, 18-23.

Now when John had heard, in the prison, the works of On a tour. Christ, he,

Luke vii. 19. calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them unto Jesus, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

Matt. xi. 3.

Luke vii. 20.

21.

22.

When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?

And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities, and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight,

Then Jesus, answering, said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind

52 This message of the Baptist is placed here on the joint au-
thority of all the five harmonizers, whose united labours form
the basis of this arrangement. The internal evidence, that it
is rightly placed is deduced from the transition in Luke vii. 18.
and the reply of our Lord to the disciples of the Baptist, in al-
lusion to the miracle of raising the widow's son-the dead are
raised, (Luke vii. 22.) The commentators are divided in their
opinion, whether the Baptist sent to Christ for his own satis-
faction, or for that of his disciples. The opinion of those who
espouse the latter of these appears much more probable,
when we remember-the Baptist's solemn testimony to Christ-
the sign from heaven, and the miraculous impulse, which made
John acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah (a).

Witsius has some very curious remarks on the dancing of
Herodias, the place where the Baptist was confined (b), &c.

The Jewish writers mention the Baptist in language of re-
spect and veneration. In addition to the testimony of Jose-
phus, who observes that John was a good and pious man, who
excited the Jews to the love of virtue, piety and justice-point-
ing out the necessity of repentance, and enforcing, by baptism,
habitual purity of soul and body. He imputes this imprison-
ment to the fear of Herod, his death to the instigation of He-
rodias, and the calamities that befel the army of Herod as the
result of the divine vengeance for the death of the Baptist (c).

Rabbi David Ganz, the author of the celebrated work on Chronology, which is generally received among the Jews, and which is merely an attempt so to falsify the ancient chronology, that discredit shall be thrown upon the system received among Christians, calls John the Baptist, the high priest: an error which is exposed in the notes by his learned editor Vorstius; who supposes that the name by which the Baptist was known among his countrymen, and referred to by Josephus, was ba, qui baptizabat, vel baptista erat (d).

(a) Vide Doddridge, vol. i. p. 301. (b) Vide Witsius de vita Johannis, Exerc. Sacræ, vol. ii. p. 554. (c) Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. 18. (d) R. D. Ganz, Chronol. Vorstius' Edition, p. 89. and 284. This was the same Vorstius respecting whom King James I. wrote to the United Provinces, that they should not harbour the proposer of so many obnoxious heresies.

Matt. xi.6. receive their sight; and the lame walk; the lepers are On a tour. cleansed; and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up"; and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

6.

me.

And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in

MATT. xi. part of ver. 2, ver. 4. and part of ver. 5.

2-sent two of his disciples,

4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John
again those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind-

LUKE vii. part of ver. 19. 22. and ver. 23.

saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for

19 another?

22 -see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

Luke vii. 24.

SECTION XXIII.

Christ's testimony concerning John.

MATT. xi, 7-15. LUKE Vii. 24-30.

And when the messengers of John were departed,

Matt. xi. 7. Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

8.

But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing,

Luke vii. 25. Behold they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in king's courts.

26.

Matt.xi. 10.

Luke vii. 28.

Mat. x. 11.

But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet:

For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

For

Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater

Luke vii. 28. prophet than John the Baptist:

Matt. xi. 11. (notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he ".)

63 This was one of the tokens which was to distinguish the

Terra-ארץ שמתיים היים תחלה מלך המשיח,reign of the Messiah

in qua mortui resurgent, ca est, ubi principium regni Messiæ ob
servabitur. The appeal to the Jews is uniformly made in com-
pliance with the popular and well known traditions and opi-
nions. Schoetgenius, Hor. Heb. vol. i. p. 111.

54 Every, the meanest Christian, after the resurrection of
Christ, was better acquainted with the mysteries of religion,
and the nature of the kingdom of the Messiah, than the greatest
of the ancient prophets (a).

Matt.xi. 12.

And from the days of John the Baptist, until now, the On a tour. kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force 5.

Matt. xi. 13. It was a saying among the Jews before the time of

all the ,לע נתנבאו אלא לימות המשיח כל הנבאים כולן,our Saviour

prophets prophesied only till the times of the Messiah (b).

(a) Vide Schoetgen. vol. i. p. 112. (b) Berachoth, fol. 34. 2. and Schabbath, fol. 63. I. Schoetgen. vol. i. p. 113. and Dr. Gill's comment

in loc.

55 Schoetgen is of opinion that these words are to be understood in their usual sense. So many obstacles were thrown in the way of those who were invited to become disciples of Christ, that all who would receive his religion, were required to resist with labour and persevering violence every difficulty that presented itself. Every human power and institution were opposed to the establishment of the Gospel. Authority, manners, opinion, prejudice, were alike leagued against it."

The Pharisees condemned the religion of Christ, as inconsistent with many of their interpretations of Scripture, as too spiritual, and as violating the laws and traditions of the elders. The Sanhedrim opposed it, as exciting tumults and dissensions among the poople, and disturbing the public peace. The Roman soldiers and officers, both civil and military, were inclined to treat the apostles and their doctrine with contempt, and thus the whole power of the state was arrayed against them.

The kingdom of heaven was violently attacked on every side, and those humble disciples who were anxious to gain admittance into it, were obliged to contend against all these difficulties, and to take possession of it by violence, contrary to the opinions and the opposition of the Pharisees, and the whole Jewish Sanhedrim. Luke xvi. 16.

Among the passages from the Talmudists, which Schoetgen quotes on this text, is Berachoth, fol. 34. 2. and which is quoted also by Dr. Gill, the learned commentator, and great ornament of the Baptist dissenters. All the inspired writers and prophets who were before John speak of the Messiah as one who was to come: John spake of him as one who is come: and directed the people in plain terms to Jesus of Nazareth, as the Messiah, the Lamb of God. Since the time of John vision and prophecy have been utterly taken away: and this is acknow

כל הנביאים כולן לא ledged by the Jews themselves, who say נתנבאו אלא לימות המשיח אבל לע" חב עין לא ראתה אלהים זולתף

Omnes Prophetæ non nisi usque, ad tempora Messiæ prophe-
tarunt, sed de vitâ æterna oculus non vidit præter te Domine,

נבואה מן הנביאי בטילה,and from the day the temple was destroyed

T. Bava Bathra, fol. 12.1. Since that time Abarbinel (a) con-
fesses they have had no prophet. Schoetgen quotes also to the
same effect-Schabbatt, fol. 63. 1. and fol. 151. 2. Pesachim,
fol. 68. 1. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1.

That John was a prophet, may be gathered not only from the
express declaration of St. Luke, that the word of God came to
him, in the wilderness; but from the nature of his ministry, and
his declaration to the people.

John prophesied

1. The approach of Christ, in the character of Elijah.

2. His pre-existence and dignity, as the eternal Son of God.
3. His atonement.

4. Rejection by the Jews, and adoption by the Gentiles.

5. Judgments on Jews, and fiual separation of the good from the evil, at the end of the world.