Mat. xxiii. 3. 17; Mat. v. 18. 66 66 and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." His words to one whom he had Mat. viii. 4. healed of a leprosy were, "Go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded." And this was his general exhortation to the people: Whatsoever the scribes and Pharisees command you to observe, that observe and do." There are also many occasions on which he speaks honourably of the law. Mat. v. 17. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." I am not come to abrogate it prematurely and unnaturally; but to accomplish its typical and prophetical declarations, and to supersede it by a law of grace and Luk. xvi. truth. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one tittle of the law to fail." What is written in the law? how readest thou1?" However, he plainly intimates the superior excellence of the gospel coveLuk. vii. 28. nant. "Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater that he." Mat. xi. 13. When he observes that "all the prophets and the law prophesied until John," he asserts their subserviency to the gospel covenant. And when he says to the PhariLuk.xvi. 16. sees in another place, "The law and the prophets were until John;" there is a very remarkable implication that the ceremonial law subsisted no longer to the members of the kingdom of heaven. This was one of the truths which his disciples could not bear. Stephen Act. vi. 14. was arraigned before the Jewish council for being supposed to advance it. But after Christ's death the Spirit Gal. iv. 9, clearly revealed that the Mosaical law was not oblivi.15; Rom. gatory on Christians: and the Epistle to the Hebrews 1 Luke x. 26. See also Mat. xii. 5. and p. p. 10; V. I; xiv. 14. was written to show the superiority of the Christian law above the Jewish. 32. Another subject, occasionally introduced by our Lord with the greatest wisdom, was the admission of the Gentiles into the church of God. This part of the divine counsels is early mentioned in the Gospels, to show that it was not an afterthought on the rejection of Christ by the Jews. It was referred to by Simeon, Luk. ii. 31, when the child Jesus was presented in the temple. The appearance of the star to the Arabian Magi showed that the Gentiles had an interest in the birth of Christ: and John the Baptist alluded to the conversion of the heathen, when he taught the Pharisees and Sadducees that God was able of the very stones to raise up chil- Mat. iii. 9. dren unto Abraham. Our Lord's prophecies of this event both by parable and in express terms are elsewhere enumerated m. The most distinct of them was Mat. xxi. addressed to the Jews during the last week of his life. 43To his disciples he was more explicit; and especially Mat. xxiv. after his resurrection. It was made the subject of a xxvi.13.and vision to Peter, when he had received the Spirit. We P. P. see what a tumult was raised, when St. Paul repre- 19; Mar. sented Christ as saying, "I will send thee far hence Luk. xxiv. unto the Gentiles." To this apostle the gospel of the 47. uncircumcision was committed; and he expressly as- Act. xxii. sures us that the call of the Gentiles was God's eternal 21. purpose. 14.and p.p.; I Mat. xxviii. xvi. 15; Act. x. Gal. ii. 7. Eph. iii. II. It must be observed also that the wise and lowly Jesus was not full and explicit on the subject of his own glorious nature and exalted offices. This light was too strong to be admitted at once. But after his resurrection and ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, after a gradual preparation of men for such magnificent truths, it was revealed by his apostles that Jo. i. 1. m Part I. ch. iii. sect. i. p. 154. Jo. i. 1; 1 Jo. i. 1 ; he was from the beginning, that he was the Word of Rev. xix. 3. God, that by him all things were created, that he was the image and representative of the invisible God, and that he was over all God blessed for ever. Col. i. 16. Ver. 15. Rom. ix. 5. SECT. XIV.—A recapitulation of our Lord's character. UPON the whole: when our Lord is considered as a teacher, we find him delivering the justest and most sublime truths with respect to the divine nature, the duties of mankind, and a future state of existence; agreeable in every particular to reason, and to the wisest maxims of the wisest philosophers; without any mixture of that alloy which so often debased their most perfect productions; and excellently adapted to mankind in general, by suggesting circumstances and particular images on the most awful and interesting subjects. We find him filling, and as it were overpowering our minds with the grandest ideas of his own nature; representing himself as appointed by his Father to be our Instructor, our Redeemer, our Judge, and our King; and showing that he lived and died for the most benevolent and important purposes conceivable. He does not labour to support the greatest and most magnificent of all characters; but it is perfectly easy and natural to him. He makes no display of the high and heavenly truths which he utters; but speaks of them with a graceful and wonderful simplicity and majesty. Supernatural truths are as familiar to his mind, as the common affairs of life to other men. He takes human nature as it came from the hands of its Creator; and does not, like the Stoics, attempt to fashion it anew, except as far as man had corrupted it. He revives the moral law, carries it to perfection, and enforces it by peculiar and animating motives: but he enjoins nothing new besides praying in his name, and observing two simple and significant positive laws which serve to promote the practice of the moral law. All his precepts, when rightly explained, are reasonable in themselves and useful in their tendency: and their compass is very great, considering that he was an occasional teacher, and not a systematical one. If from the matter of his instructions we pass on to the manner in which they were delivered, we find our Lord usually speaking as an authoritative teacher; though sometimes justly limiting his precepts, and sometimes assigning the reasons of them. He presupposes the law of reason, and addresses men as rational creatures. From the greatness of his mind, and the greatness of his subjects, he is often sublime; and the beauties interspersed throughout his discourses are equally natural and striking. He is remarkable for an easy and graceful manner of introducing the best lessons from incidental objects and occasions. The human heart is naked and open to him; and he addresses the thoughts of men, as others do the emotions of their countenance or their bodily actions. Difficult situations, and sudden questions of the most artful and ensnaring kind, serve only to display his superior wisdom, and to confound and astonish all his adversaries. Instead of showing his boundless knowledge on every occasion, he checks and restrains it, and prefers utility to the glare of ostentation. He teaches directly and obliquely, plainly and covertly, as wisdom points out occasions. He knows the inmost character, every prejudice and every feeling, of his hearers; and accordingly uses parables to conceal or to enforce his lessons: and he powerfully impresses them by the significant language of actions. He gives proofs of his mission. from above by his knowledge of the heart, by a chain of prophecies, and by a variety of mighty works". He sets an example of the most perfect piety to God, and of the most extensive benevolence and the most tender compassion to men. He does not merely exhibit a life of strict justice, but of overflowing benignity. His temperance has not the dark shades of austerity; his meekness does not degenerate into apathy. His humility is signal, amidst a splendour of qualities more than human. His fortitude is eminent and exemplary, in enduring the most formidable external evils and the sharpest actual sufferings: his patience is invincible; his resignation entire and absolute. Truth and sincerity shine throughout his whole conduct. Though of heavenly descent, he shows obedience and affection to his earthly parents. He approves, loves, and attaches himself to amiable qualities in the human race. He respects authority religious and civil; and he evidences his regard for his country by promoting its most essential good in a painful ministry dedicated to its service, by deploring its calamities, and by laying down his life for its benefit. Every one of his eminent virtues is regulated by consummate prudence; and he both wins the love of his friends, and extorts the approbation and wonder of his enemies. Never was a character at the same time so commanding and natural, so resplendent and pleasing, so amiable and venerable. There is a peculiar contrast in it between an awful greatness, dignity, and majesty, and the most conciliating loveliness, tenderness, and softness. He now converses with prophets, lawgivers, and angels; and the next instant he meekly endures the dulness of his disciples, and the blasphemies and rage η Ποικίλαις δυνάμεσι. Heb. ii. 4. |