SER M. that could patiently bear the Reproaches of

VIII.

the People, with whom he had to do, and fuftain and put up all their Injuries and Affronts. And like to him was the Prophet to be, who is here foretold: One who, in delivering what he had to fay, fhould use the fame eafy, familiar Difcourfe, which Moles did; and, when flighted and opposed, should return Pity and Compaffion, inftead of Anger and Revenge. And who can look back upon the Behaviour of Jefus, without difcovering as much Meekness and Forbearance, as much Patience and Temper, as much Sweetness and Benevolence, as it was poffible for the moft Godlike Man to fhew? But,

Thirdly, Was this Prophet, fo humble and fo meek, yet to declare to those that heard him, the Mind of God?-Let any one look into the Gofpels and fee, whether all that JESUS preached and taught be not worthy of GOD for its Author. For he not only explained the moral Law, and rescued it from the corrupt Inclinations of the Jews; but he advanced it to a higher and nobler Pitch than was ever taught or fuggefted before: extending its Dominion to our very Thoughts, and adding fuch Precepts as are fufficient to raise us from Human to Divine. Such are the

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Injunctions of loving our Enemies and thofe S ERM. that hate us; of renouncing the World, and abstaining from Things that are lawful in themselves, purely for the Sake of fubduing ourselves, or for the avoiding the giving Offence to others.-Add to this the great Importance of the Revelations he made, which concerned no lefs than the Salvation of Mankind, and the Reconciliation of the whole World to God. He discovered to us all the Laws and the Precepts, the Covenants and Conditions, the Promifes and Threatnings which any Ways concern our future State. He did not (what other Prophets were ordered to do) confine himself to the Reformation of one particular State, or denounce the Fate of any one particular Nation only; but his Defign reached to the Inftruction and Converfation of all People, in all Places, and through all Times, even to the fettling a Covenant univerfal and perpetual. He brought forth Myfteries never before known or thought of: And to the final Doom of all the World did his Prophetical Promises and Denunciations extend. But

Fourthly, Was that Prophet, who was to speak and declare these great and mighty Things of God, to speak and declare them

by

SERM.

VIII.

by Inspiration from God? Was God to put
bis own Words into his Mouth? Deut. xviii.
18. (as he told Mofes he would do.)-Why
then look again into the Character of JESUS;
and, if
you can, name the Prophet that ever
was fo acquainted, fo intimate with God as
Jefus was; or any one that could poffibly
know his Mind fo well as he. The Pro-
phets of the Old Teftament, we are told, faw
Vifions and dreamed Dreams: And the Pro-
phets alfo of the New Teftament had the fame
Privilege vouchfafed to them. For St. Peter
had a Vifion; Acts x. Saint John had a Series
of them; Rev. per tot. and Saint Paul had
them frequently communicated to him. Acts
ix. 11. 5. Ch. xvi. 9. Ch. xviii. 9. 2 Cor.
xii. And yet we do not read that Jefus ever
Jaw a Vifion, or dreamed a Dream: But then
we know that he had immediate and intimate
Communication with the Father, which fet
him infinitely above the Need of them: In-
fomuch, that when we look back again upon
Mofes to whom God vouchfafed the glorious
Privilege of talking with him Face to Face,
as a Man fpeaketh to his Friend; Exod. xxxiii.
11. yet how low was even this when com-
pared with him, who lay continually in the
Bofom of the Father, who was one with the
Father,

VIII.

Father, and had the Fullness of the GodheadS ERM. dwelling in him. John i. 18. Ch. x. 30. Ch. xvii. 11, 22. Col. ii. 9. For as he was the eternal Son of God, he was always with him from all Eternity. And therefore must not only be fuppofed fully and perfectly to know his Will; but also to be privy to his fecret and inmoft Councils and Thoughts. So able was he to declare the perfect Will and Mind of God, and to make known to us all Things that he had heard of his Father, John xv. 15. as he himself told his Difciples he had done. And there was nothing which a Son fo united with the Father could not hear. And therefore we may be fure that nothing now remains unrevealed, which relates to the Purpofe of God with Man. For this Reason it is, and for good Reason too, that he has fuch high and great Appellations in Scripture: Such as the Angel of the Covenant --as Malachi pronounces him; Ch. iii. 1.— the Wisdom of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. and he in whom is hid all the Treafures of Wisdom and Knowledge-as he is pronounc'd by St. Paul; Col. ii. 3. and above all-The Word of God as he is ftiled by St. John, ch. i. 1. Which laft Title feems to intimate, that he bears as near a Relation to God the Father, as a Word

or

SER M. or Expreffion does to the Mind: For as it is

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the Office of our Speech to declare our Minds to one another; fo it is the Office of the Word of God, to declare God's Mind or Will to Men. But

Fifthly, Will you afk, how does it appear that our Jefus was fo intimately united with God, as he declares himself to be; or that the high Titles and Characters given of him, were really his due ?—If this you afk; My Answer is-Produce me a Prophet that ever brought fuch Credentials of Truth and Authority in all he said, and all he acted, as Jefus has done: Even Mofes himself (who was so renowned for his Miracles) must here again keep at as great a Distance as before. For how far were thofe of Jefus fuperior to his, not only in Number, but in Quality alfo? Let us but recount a few of them only; and they will enable us to judge of the whole. Turn but to the Gofpels and there observe; how he gave Sight to the Blind, and to a Man born blind; which no one was known to have done before him. The Eyes of the Blind he opened to fee; and the Ears of the Deaf he made to hear: He made the Lame to leap like a Hart, and loofened the Tongues of the Dumb to fing: He cleanfed the Lepers