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contempt of the whole Jewish nation, they looked not beyond the surface. They examined nothing with candour and seriousness. They never approached the Christian question. They dismissed it, so far as they heard of it by rumour, as unworthy their regard. With the same spirit as the modern literary unbeliever, they gave no heed to the divine message, bestowed no pains on ascertaining its truth, and lived and died in the gross and miserable bondage of their vices and ignorance. Such is the tendency of pride in the fallen heart of man. Let us guard against the first approaches to such a state of mind. Let us be led by the miracles to a serious study of the scriptures, that we may see the doctrine of a crucified Lord to be the power of God and the wisdom of God.

III. But we must not rest in a formal adherence to the Christian faith. The example of the Jews may warn us against this opposite, but not less dangerous, evil. They were near the Saviour. They saw his miracles. They received, at the time, the deepest impression of his divine mission. They knew and acknowledged, at first, that he was the Christ the Saviour of the world. But as our Lord after

wards developed his character and doctrine, as he rebuked the vices of the Scribes and Pharisees, condemned their traditions, exposed their hypocrisy, expounded the spiritual nature of his kingdom, and called them to repentance and conversion, they began to hate his person and steel their hearts against his most decisive, miraculous works. They persuaded themselves that he opposed their law, which they well knew to be divine. They attributed his miracles to evil spirits. They tempted him by cavils, and watched for his words that they might accuse him. They persisted in their unbelief, till that came upon them which was spoken of by the prophets, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

That you may avoid this awful state, yield now to the conviction which calls you to heaven. Open wide the gate, so to speak, that the truth may enter in. Close your ears to vain objections, and your hearts to corrupt pleasures, and give yourselves up to preparation for the doc

VOL. I.

trine of Christ. Now is the accepted time, now

is the day of salvation.

of miracles brings you

The glorious apparatus

up to the feet of Christ.
There confess your sins.

There fall prostrate. There confess
There implore his mercy.

There renounce

every criminal passion. There supplicate the inward influences of grace. There enter upon new resolutions of obeying the religion you profess, and acting on the evidences you have received. Remember, the higher you rise in privileges, the lower will be your fall, if you abuse or neglect them. The knowledge you have been blessed with, cannot but bring with it a correspondent accountableness. Call to mind the doom of those cities in which our Lord's mightiest deeds had been performedWoe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day.16

16 St. Matthew xi. 21-23.

May God grant that the blessed purpose of our Lord's miracles may be fulfilled in our humiliation and salvation! For this is their high end-These things were written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.

LECTURE VIII.

PROPHECY.

2 PETER i. 16-21.

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

mount.

In the last lecture, we considered the proof of the divine authority of the Christian religion,

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