"death." Ver. 48. "Then faid Jefus unto him, Except ye fee figns and wonders, ye will not believe." Then he returning homewards, and finding that his fon began to "mend at the fame "hour in which Jefus faid unto him, Thy fon liveth; he himself "believed, and his whole house." Ver. 53.

Here this nobleman is by the apoftle pronounced to be a " Be"liever." And what does he "believe?" even that which Jefus complains, ver. 48. "They would not BELIEVE, except they faw figns and wonders; which could be nothing but what thofe of Samaria, in the fame chapter, believed, viz. that he was the Meffiah. For we no where in the gospel hear of any thing elfe that liad been proposed to be believed by them.

Having done miracles, and cured all their fick at Capernaum, he fays, "Let us go to the adjoining towns, that I may preach there alfo ; "for therefore came I forth." Mark i. 38. Or, as St. Luke has it, chap. iv. 43. he tells the multitude, who would have kept him, that he might not go from them, "I muft evangelize," or tell the good tidings of the "kingdom of God," to other cities alfo, for therefore am I fent. And St. Matthew, chap. iv. 23. tells us how he executed this commiffion he was fent on. "And Jefus went "about all Galilee, teaching in their fynagogues, and preaching "the gospel of the kingdom, and curing all difeafes." This then was what he was fent to preach every where, viz. the gofpel of the kingdom of the Meffiah; and, by the miracles and good he did, let them know who was the Meffiah.

Hence he goes up to Jerufalem, to the fecond paffover fince the beginning of his miniftry. And here difcourfing to the Jews, who fought to kill him, upon occafion of the man whom he had cured, carrying his bed on the Sabbath-day, and for making God his father, he tells them, that he wrought thefe things by the power of God, and that he shall do greater things; for that the dead fhall, at his fummons, be raised; and that he, by a power committed to him from his father, fhall judge them; and that he is fent by his father; and that whoever fhall hear his word, and believe in him that fent him, has eternal life. This, though a clear defcription of the Meffiah, yet we may observe, that here to the angry Jews, who fought to kill him, he fays not a word of his kingdom, nor fo much as names the Meffiah; but yet that he is the fon of God, and fent from God, he refers them to the teftimony of John the Baptift, to the teftimony of his own miracles, and of God himself in the voice from heaven, and of the fcriptures, and of Mofes. He leaves them to learn from these the truth they were to believe, viz. that he was the Meffiah fent from God. This you may read more at large, John v. 1-47.

The next place where we find him preaching was on the mount, Matt. v. and Luke vi. This is by much the longest fermon we have of his any where; and, in all likelihood, to the greatest auditory: for it appears to have been to the people gathered to him from Galilee, and Judea, and Jerufalem, and from beyond Jordan; and that came

out

out of Idumea, and from Tyre and Sydon, mentioned Mark iii. 7, 8. and Luke vi. 17. But in this whole fcrmon of his we do not find one word of believing, and therefore no mention of the Meffiah, or any intimation to the people who himself was. The reafon whereof we may gather from Matt. xii. 16. where Chrift forbids "them to make him known," which fuppofes them to know already who he was. For that this 12th chapter of Matthew ought to precede the fermon in the mount, is plain, by comparing it with Mark ii. beginning at ver. 13. to Mark iii. 8. and comparing thofe chapters of St. Mark with Luke vi. And I defire my reader, once for all, here to take notice, that I have all along obferved the order of time in our Saviour's preaching, and have not, as I think, paffed by any of his difcourfes. In this fermon our Saviour only teaches them what were the laws of his kingdom, and what they must do who were admitted into it, of which I fhall have occafion to speak more at large in another place, being at present only enquiring what our Saviour propofed as matter of faith to be believed.

After this, John the Baptift fends to him this meffage, Luke vii. 19. afking, Art thou he that fhould come, or do we expect an"other" that is, in fhort, art thou the Meffiah? and if thou art, why doft thou let me, thy forerunner, languifh in prifon? muft I expect deliverance from any other? To which Jefus returns this anfwer, ver. 22, 23. "Tell John what you have seen and heard; "the blind fee, the lame walk, the lepers are cleanfed, the deaf

"

hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gofpel is preached; "and bleffed is he who is not offended in me." What it is be "offended" or "fcandalized in him," we may fee by comparing Matt. xiii. 28. and Mark iv. 17. with Luke viii. 13. For what the two first call "fcandalized," the laft calls " standing off from,' or "forfaking," i. e. not receiving him as the Meffiah (fee Mark vi. 1-6.), or revolting from him. Here Jefus refers John, as he did the Jews before, to the teftimony of his miracles, to know who he was; and this was generally his preaching, whereby he declared himself to be the Meffiah; who was the only prophet to come; whom the Jews had any expectation of; nor did they look for any other perfon to be fent to them with the power of miracles, but only the Meffiah. His miracles, we fee by his answer to John the Baptist, he thought a fufficient declaration amongst them, that he was the Meffiah. And therefore, upon his curing the poffeffed of the devil, the dumb, and blind, Matt. xii. the people, who faw the miracle, faid, ver. 23. Is not this the fon of David?" as much as to fay, Is not this the Meffiah whereat the Pharifees being offended, faid, He caft out devils by Beelzebub. Jefus, thewing the faifhood and vanity of their blafphemy, juftifies the conclufion the people made from this miracle, faying, ver. 28. That his cafting out devils by the fpirit of God, was an evidence that the kingdom of the Meffiah was come.

One thing more there was in the miracles done by his difciples, which thewed him to be the Melliah; that they were done in his

namc.

name. "In the name of Jefus of Nazareth, rife up and walk," fays St. Peter to the lame man whom he cured in the Temple, Acts iii. 6. And how far the power of that name reached, they themfelves feem to wonder, Luke x. 17. "And the feventy returned again with joy, faying, Lord, even the devils are fubject to us "in thy name."

66

From this meffage from John the Baptift, he takes occafion to tell the people, that John was the forerunner of the Meffiah; that from the time of John the Baptift the kingdom of the Meffiah began ; to which time all the prophets and the law pointed, Luke vii. and Matt. xi.

Luke viii. 1. " Afterwards he went through every city and village, preaching and shewing the good tidings of the kingdom of God." Here we fee, as every where, what his preaching was, and confequently what was to believed.

Soon after, he preaches from a boat to the people on the fhore. His fermon at large we may read Matt. xiii. Mark iv. and Luke viii. But this is very obfervable, that this fecond fermon of his here is quite different from his former in the mount for that was all fo plain and intelligible, that nothing could be more fo; whereas this is all fo involved in parables, that even the apoftles themselves did not understand it. If we enquire into the reafon of this, we fhall poffibly have fome light from the different fubjects of these two fermons. There he preached to the people only morality; clearing the precepts of the law from the falfe gloffes which were received in thofe days, and fetting forth the duties of a good life in their full obligation and extent, beyond what the judiciary laws of the Ifraelites did, or the civil laws of any country could prefcribe or take notice of. But here, in this fermon by the feafide, he fpeaks of nothing but the kingdom of the Meffiah, which he does all in parables. One reafon whereof St. Matthew gives us, chap. xiii. 35. "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the pro"phet, faying, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things "that have been kept fecret from the foundation of the world.” Another reafon our Saviour himself gives of it, ver. 11, 12. "Be"cause to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of "heaven, but to them it is not given. For whofoever hath, to "him fhall be given, and he fhall have more abundantly; but "whofoever hath not," i. e. improves not the talents that he hath, " from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”

On thing it may not be amifs to obferve, that our Saviour here, in the explication of the firft of thefe parables to his apoftles, calls the preaching of the kingdom of the Meffiah, fimply, "the word;' and Luke viii. 21. "the word of God:" from whence St. Luke, in the Acts, often mentions it under the name of "the word," and the "word of God," as we have elsewhere obferved. Το which I fhall here add that of Acts viii. 4. "Therefore they that "were scattered abroad, went every where preaching the word;" which word, as we have found by examining what they preached VOL. IV.

D

all

all through their history, was nothing but this, that "Jefus was the "Meffiah" I mean, this was all the doctrine they propofed to be believed for what they taught, as well as our Saviour, contained a great deal more; but that concerned practice, and not belief. And therefore our Saviour fays, in the place before quoted, Luke viii. 21. They are my mother and my brethren who hear the word "of God, and do it :" obeying the law of the Meffiah their king, being no lefs required than their believing that Jefus was the Meffiah, the king and deliverer that was promifed them.

it

66

66

Matt. ix. 13. We have an account again of his preaching; what was, and how." And Jefus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their fynagogues, and preaching the gofpel of the kingdom, and healing every ficknefs and every difeafe amongst the people." He acquainted them that the kingdom of the Meffiah was come, and left it to his miracles to inftruct and convince them that he was the Meffiah.

Matt. x. When he fent his apoftles abroad, their commiffion to preach we have, ver. 7, 8. in thefe words: "As ye go, preach, faying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand; heal the fick," &c. All that they had to preach was, that the kingdom of the Meffiah was come. Whofoever fhould not receive them, the meffengers of this good tidings, nor hearken to their meffage, incurred a heavier doom than Sodom and Gomorrah at the day of judgement, ver. 14, 15. But ver. 32. "Whofoever fhall confefs me before men, I "will confefs him before my father who is in heaven." What this confeffing of Chrift is, we may fee by comparing John xii. 4., with ix. 22. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers alfo many be"lieved on him; but because of the Pharifees they did not coN"FESS HIM, left they fhould be put out of the fynagogue." And chap. ix. 22. "Thefe words fpake his parents, becaufe they feared "the Jews for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did "CONFESS THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH, he fhould be put out "of the fynagogue." By which places it is evident, that to con-fefs him, was to confefs that he was the Meffiah. From which give me leave to obferve alfo (what I have cleared from other places, but cannot be too often remarked, because of the different fense has been put upon that phrafe) viz. that "believing on" or "in "him" (for is autor is rendered either way by the English tranflation) fignifies believing that he was the Meffiah. For many of the rulers (the text fays) "believed on him," but they durit not confefs what they believed, "for fear they fhould be put out of the "fynagogue. Now the offence for which it was agreed that any one fhould be put out of the fynagogue, was, if he " did confefs "that Jefus was the Meffiah." Hence we may, have a clear understanding of that paffage of St. Paul to the Romans, where he tells them pofitively what is the faith he preaches, Rom. x. 8, 9. "That is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou fhalt "confefs with thy mouth the Lord Jefus, and believe in thine "heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou fhalt be faved:"

and

and that also of 1 John iv. 14, 15. "We have feen, and do teftify, "that the father fent the fon to be the Saviour of the world: "whofoever fhall confefs that Jefus is the fon of God, God dwel"leth in him, and he in God." Where confeffing Jefus to be the fon of God, is the fame with confeffing him to be the Meffiah; thofe two expreffions being understood amongst the Jews to fignify the fame thing, as we have fhewn already.

86

How calling him the fon of God came to fignify that he was the Meffiah, would not be hard to fhew: but it is enough that it appears plainly that it was fo ufed, and had that import amongst the Jews at that time; which if any one defires to have farther evi-denced to him, he may add Matt. xxvi. 63. John vi. 69. and xi. 27. and xx. 31. to thofe places before occafionally taken notice of.. As was the apoftles commiffion, fuch was their performance, as we read Luke ix. 6. "They departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gofpel, and healing every where. Jefus bid them preach, " faying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." And St. Luke tells us, they went through the towns, preaching the gofpel; a word which in Saxon anfwers well the Greek súly, and fignifies, as that does, "good news. So that what the infpired writers call the "gofpel," is nothing but the good tidings that the Meffiah and his kingdom was come; and fo it is to be understood in the New Teftament; and fo the angel calls it "good tidings of "great joy," Luke ii. 10. bringing the first news of our Saviour's birth. And this feems to be all that his difciples were at that time fent to preach.

So Luke ix. 59, 60. To him that would have excufed his prefent attendance, because of burying his father, "Jefus faid unto "him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the

kingdom of God." When I fay this was all they were to preach, I must be understood, that this was the faith they preached; but with it they joined obedience to the Meffiah, whom they received for their king. So likewife when he fent out the feventy, Luke x. their commiffion was in thefe words, ver. 9. "Heal the "fick, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you."

66

After the return of his apoftles to him, he fits down with them on a mountain, and a great multitude being gathered about them, St. Luke tells us, chap. ix. 11. "The people followed him, and he "received them, and fpake unto them of the kingdom of God; "and healed them that had need of healing." This was his preaching to this affembly, which confifted of five thousand men, befides women and children; all which great multitude he fed with five loaves and two fifhes, Matt. xiv. 21. And what this miracle wrought upon them, St. John tells us, chap. vi. 14, 15. "Then thefe men, when they had feen the miracle that Jefus did, faid, "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," i. e. the Meffiah: for the Meffiah was the only perfon that they expected from God, and this the time they looked for him.

66

D 2

And

hence