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Man, and, if he continues fo, designed of God to deftruction.

20. By thefe Fruits therefore of good and evil Difpofitions and Actions, may ye certainly diftinguish the Preachers of true Religion, from Deceivers and falfe Prophets.

21. And according to thefe fruits of good and evil Lives, will God himfelf judge and reward or punish Men. For not every one that makes an outward profeffion of Religion, and believes and calls upon my Name; but they only, who in their Lives obey the Commandments of God, fhall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

22. Many will fay unto me in the Day of Judgment; Lord, have we not believed and embraced thy true Religion, and taught and preached it to others? And have we not had fo great Faith, as even to caft out Devils and work Miracles in thy Name? Wilt thou not therefore now receive us, and acknowledge us for thy true Difciples ?

23. But I fhall reject them, faying Notwithstanding you have indeed done all these things, yet fince in Lives and Converfations ye did not your obey my Commandments, but were proud or covetous, or fenfual, or contentious, therefore I never * looked on you as my true Difciples; neither do I now approve or acknowledge you:

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* The words déñote kyvwv, I never knew you, fignifie in Scripture Phrase, I never approved you. Thus Pfalm i. 6, The Lord knoweth, that is, approveth the way of the righteous. So Rom. vii. 15, That which I do, & yσw, I know not, that is I allow not. So I Cor. viii. 3, If any man love God, he is known, that is, approved of him.

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Depart

Depart from me, all ye that have lived wickedly.

24. Wherefore he that fhall not only hear and receive thefe my Inftructions, but alfo remember, and confider and practife, and live according to them; fuch a Man may be compared to one that builds his House upon a Rock.

25. For as a House founded upon a Rock, ftands unfhaken and firm, against all the affaults of Rains and Floods, and Storms: So the Man who in his Life and Converfation actually practifes and obeys my Inftructions, will firmly refift all the temptations of the Devil, the allurements of Pleasure, and the terrors of Perfecution; and shall be able to ftand in the final Judgment, and be rewarded of God.

26. But he that fhall hear and receive my Inftructions, and yet not obey them in his Life and Actions ; may fitly be compared to a foolifh Man, who builds his House upon the Sand.

27. For as a House without foundation, built upon the loofe Sand, is not able to refift the affaults of Winds and Floods, but is eafily overturned and ruined by them: So the Man who hears, and believes, and makes profeffion of true Religion, but lives not fuitably to the Precepts thereof; cannot refift the violence of Temptation, and will not be able to ftand before God in Judgment, but shall perish for

ever.

28. Thus Jefus ended his Sermon: And the People which heard him were furprized with admiration at the Excellency of his Difcourfe.

24 Therefore, whofoever heareth these fayings of mine, and doth

them, I will liken

him unto a wife man which built his house

upon a rock:

25 And the rain defcended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these fayings of mine, and doth them not,

fhall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his houfe upon the fand:

27 And the rain defcended, and the winds blew,

and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

28 And it came to pass when Jefus had ended these fayings, the people were

aftonished at his doEtrine.

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not

as the fcribes.

29. For his Doctrine was not like the Preachings of the Jewish Doctors, formal and trifling, full of vain Traditions, and depending on the groundless Authority of Rabbies and Heads of Sects. But the things which he spake, were Great and Noble; and he delivered them with a Voice of Majesty and Authority, of Gravity and Truth.

CHAP. VIII.

A Leprous Perfon healed, ver. 1. A Centurion's Servant healed, ver. 5. Peter's Mother-in-law healed, ver. 14. The Poverty of Chrift, ver. 18. Of Perfeverance, ver. 21. A Tempeft miraculously stilled, ver. 23. Devils caft out of a Man, and entring into Swine, ver. 28.

I WHEN he was come down

from the mountain, great multitudes fol

lowed him.

2 And behold,

if

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2. And there met him a Man that there came a leper was Leprous, and fell down before and worshipped him, him, and intreated him to take pity faying, Lord, thou wilt, thou canft on him and heal him; faying, Lord, I firmly believe, that, if you please, have Power to make me clean from this Disease.

make me clean.

3 And Jefus put

you

3. Jefus being pleased at the Man's forth his hand and Faith, touched him with his Hand, touched him, fay- and faid, I will do what you defire; ing, I will, be thou Be clean from your Disease. And his Leprofie was immediately cured.

clean. And imme

diately his leprofie

was cleanfed.

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4. But Jefus, not being willing to Jefus give any unneceffary Offence or Scandal him, to the Jews, charged the Man, faying; Do not go immediately and publish

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every

every where, that you have been healed have been healed by me ; but go and fhew your felf regularly to the Prieft, who is to judge of your being clean; and offer the Sacrifice which the Law requires for your Purification; * that we may convince them of the reality of the Cure, and yet not give them any occafion of Calumny.

5 6. After this, Jefus went to Capernaum; and as he was entring into the City, there met him Meffengers from a Centurion, or Captain of the Roman Soldiers, to entreat him for a Servant in his House, lying very dangeroufly ill of a Palfie.

7. Jefus knowing the Man's Faith and Humility, and intending by making the Virtues of this Stranger more confpicuous, to take an occafion of rebuking the Pride and Infidelity of the Jews; faith, I will go down to the House and heal him.

8, The Man fent again other Friends, and anfwered; Lord, I am originally a Gentile, and have been long a Sinner, and am not worthy that you fhould honour House with my your Prefence: I know, that if you do but fay the Word, my Servant fhall be healed.

9. For if I, who am but an inferiour Officer in an Army, can give the word of Command, and be immediately obeyed by my Servants: How much more may you, to whom God hath committed fuch Power and Authority, fay but a Word, and what you fay fhair be effected?

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Among the various Senfes, which Expofitors give of these words, εις μαρτύριον αυτοῖς this feems the moft probable.

10. When

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10. At this Anfwer Jefus was fur prized, and faid to his Difciples, and to the People that followed him; Verily I have not found so great Faith among the Jews themfelves, who have lived always under a Revelation of the Will of God, and have had the conftant Ufe of the Scriptures and the Prophets, as this Stranger has now discovered.

II. They esteem themselves indeed the Children of Abraham and the Patriarchs, the peculiar People of God, to whom the Promifes of Salvation are made: But affuredly I tell you, that many Strangers out of the Heathen World, fhall come from all Parts, and join themselves to the true Church of God here on Earth; and fhall hereafter be received with Abraham, and Ifaac, and Jacob, into the Kingdom of God in Heaven:

12. While the Jews, to whom the Promifes did originally belong, exclude themselves out of the true Church of God here, and fhall hereafter be thrust out of the Kingdom of Heaven into the Darknefs which is without, where fhall be fruitless Repentance and endlefs Woe.

13. Then fending back the Meffengers to the Centurion, he bad them fay thus to him: As you have believed, fo is it done to you. And his Servant was found to be healed at that very inftant.

14. After this, Jefus retired from the multitude, and went into Peter's Houfe; and there he found Peter's Wifes Mother lying upon the Bed, fick

of a Fever.

15. And he took her by the Hand and helped her up; and the Fever was immediately cured fa entirely, that her D 4 Strength

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