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for that of his disciples, whose prejudices in favour of himself, their first master, he found it so difficult to conquer. What he had hitherto said having proved insufficient for that purpose, he now, in compassion to their infirmity, condescendeth to have their scruples propounded in his own name; affording us thereby a very useful hint, that in order to instruct others, we should abase ourselves, and know how to become weak with those that are For it often happens, that men need information upon some important point, who either through pride or bashfulness will not ask it, or through passion and prejudice will not receive it at our hands. In this case, the good, which we cannot do directly, we must contrive, if we can, to do indirectly, by proposing those questions ourselves, which we know that others in company want to hear answered, but cannot bring themselves to ask. This method of edifying the weak, without exposing their infirmities, will produce in them that love and confidence towards us, which, for their own sakes, we wish them to have. Whereas a contrary conduct, by provoking and alienating their affections from us, may put it out of our power ever to be of service to them again.

The same charitable plan is carried on by our Lord, who, in his answer, instructs the disciples by seeming to instruct their master; "Go," saith he, and tell John what ye have seen and heard." And this may suggest a reason, why Christians in general should converse more upon religious subjects than they are wont to do, both asking questions, like St. John, and returning answers, like Christ, for the benefit and improvement of the by-standers, who may need information, though the person to whom one immediately addresseth oneself,

should not. And many a man hath been the better, all his life after, for a seasonable word spoken in com. mon conversation, which is often more regarded and attended to, than a formal discourse from the pulpit.

The best proofs of a divine mission, which man is capable of receiving, are miracles, evidently and incontestably such; miracles, of the reality of which the outward senses, the eyes and the ears, are compe tent judges; miracles wrought publicly in the face of the world, in the presence of enemies as well as friends; and that, not once or twice, but repeatedly; and these miracles expressly predicted hundreds of years beforehand. Such were the proofs offered by Christ to the disciples of John. For "in that same hour," while they were present, and before their eyes, " he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then said he unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." As if he had said, I bear not witness of myself; my miracles bear witness of me. Only tell John what you have heard and seen, and he will teach you how to draw the proper inference. Isaiah, as he well knoweth, did foretell, that when Messiah came, he would perform such and such mighty works. You yourselves are eye and ear wit nesses of the works done by me. Lay the premises fairly together, and you cannot be at a loss for the conclusion.

John had pledged his reputation as a prophet, that Jesus of Nazareth, whom he baptized in Jordan,

would answer the character of Messiah, and do the works predicted of him; as appears from John x. 39. where we read, that Jesus, having escaped from the Jews, "went again beyond Jordan, unto the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things which John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there." Malice itself cannot find reason to suspect a collusion, when prophecies and miracles thus unite their testimony, and proclaim Jesus to be the Messiah.

At his word, "the eyes of the blind were opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame man leaped as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb did sing;"* the leprosy, that foul, contagious, and obstinate disease, for which so many ceremonies of purification were appointed by the law, was healed at once; and the dead in their graves, hearing the voice of the Son of man, came forth. Every malady and infirmity to which the children of Adam were subject, vanished at his presence, and confessed the almighty Deliverer of his people. This, therefore, is "He that should come," nor let us think of "looking for another," to open the eyes of the understanding, and let in the light of heavenly knowledge upon ignorant and benighted minds; to remove all obstructions, formed by interest, prejudice, or passion, and give us the hearing ear; to restore and invigorate the will and affections, that we may make large advances in the course of duty, and run with delight the way of God's commandments; to loose the tongues which guilt hath tied, and tune them to hymns of praise and thanksgiving; to cleanse us, by his blood, from all sin, the leprosy which ex* Isa. xxxv. 5, 6.

"We have

cludeth from the congregation of Israel, the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; to raise our souls from death to life, and our bodies from dust to glory. found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did writeRabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel!"*

There is one particular in this answer of Christ, which remaineth yet unnoticed; "The poor have the Gospel preached unto them." Our Lord here referreth to the celebrated passage in Isaiah, which, in the synagogue of Nazareth, he had expounded, and declared to be fulfilled in himself. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings," or the Gospel, "to the meek," or poor: "he hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives,-to comfort all that mourn, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,"† &c. The meaning of all the figurative expressions here used by the prophet, is this that Messiah should, at his appearance, confer upon such as were disposed to receive them, the two great evangelical blessings, namely, the remission of sins, and a participation of the Spirit of joy and gladness, with which God had "anointed him above his fellows." The inauguration of Jesus to all the offices of the Messiah, by this divine unction, John had beheld, when, after his baptism, he saw the Holy Ghost descending upon him, and thereby knew him to be that "Rod," or "Branch of Jesse," on whom Isaiah had elsewhere foretold, that "the Spirit of the Lord should rest."‡ Nothing, therefore, could be more apposite, than this part of Christ's answer, "The poor have the Gospel preached unto them;" the full import of which, considered as referring to the sixtyfirst chapter of Isaiah, and addressed to St. John, is as followeth-Go show John again, that the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of might and counsel, which Isaiah foretold should rest upon the Rod and Branch of Jesse, and which John saw descending and abiding upon me, in the likeness of a dove, at my baptism, is not departed from me. The unction of the Spirit was not given me for mine own use; nor is it spent, or consumed, although it hath powerfully diffused itself to all * about me. By it the poor are made rich, being instated in the kingdom of grace and of the Gospel, and anointed heirs unto the kingdom of glory. By it every contrite heart is healed; such as were shut up are set at liberty; such as were bound are loosed; and by it the yoke of the oppressor is broken.*

We must not omit to mention the end for which, according to the prophet, all these changes were wrought in the converts to the Gospel; "That they may be called Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." The "Rod," the "Branch of Jesse," the "righteous Branch of David," were the known titles of the Messiah, or Son of David; and it was his glory, while he lived upon earth, to make others, like himself, " Trees," or "Plants of Righteousness." This expression, as it standeth here, joined with others plainly descriptive of evangelical benefits and comforts, unfoldeth to us the true nature of those wonders which Isaiah foretold should be wrought in the wilderness, and which he hath represented under so rich a variety of poetical imagery; such as streams of water breaking forth in the deserts, causing them

(

to blossom as the rose; myrtles coming up, instead of briars; cedars, firs, and olive trees, instead of thorns, &c. The purport of these figurative predictions appears, by the passage before us, to be this; that the dry and barren places of Judea, where John baptized, and preached repentance, should, in the days of the Messiah, become a fruitful nursery of a new kind of plants, prepared for the celestial paradise. These were men of humble, peaceable, contrite hearts; such as poverty and disease had rendered those who came to be healed by Christ; such as the consideration of our sins and infirmities should render us all. To such is the Gospel of the kingdom preached, and they with joy receive it. "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted."

To these beatitudes let us add one more, with which our Lord concludeth his answer to the question asked by John's disciples. "Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me." In other wordsAnd now, blessed, thrice blessed are all they, who shall so consider the wonderful works done by me, as not to be offended at my poor and lowly appearance, during the time of my humiliation and suffering here on earth; or at the seeming harshness of my salutary doctrines to flesh and blood. For I well know, that many, though they have beheld me giving sight to the blind, and vigour to the impotent, cleansing lepers, making the deaf to hear, and raising the dead to life again; yet, because the truths which I deliver, are contrary to their interests, their pleasures, their pride, their prejudices, which they are determined not to quit, even for the kingdom of heaven; many, I say,

THIS word is the adjective, denoting the qualities of what is expressed by the substantive Gospel. The lat ter is derived to us through the Saxon, the former directly from a Greek compound word, which signifies good tidings; and is used throughout the New Testament, to express the Christian revelation; the first first announcing of which by an angel, was in a word derived from the same root.* By a very common figure, the four histories of the Author of the Christian revelation are termed Gospels.

The exact word evangelical never occurs, either in Scripture or in the Liturgy. The nearest approximation to it, is the word evangelist, which is thrice used in the New Testament, to denote a teacher of the Gospel. It is used in the same sense in the Liturgy; and also as a title peculiarly appropriate to the four historians of our Saviour's life.

The correct meaning of the term evangelical, according to Scripture and the Liturgy, is, therefore, to be found in the sense they ascribe to the word Gospel. That this is, as stated above, the Christian revelation, is supposed to be conceded, as no other (except the figurative one confined to the four histories of Christ,) is known by the present writer, to be entertained. The misapplication of the term call ing forth these remarks, consists not in any abstract idea of it, but in an erroneous view, or a too narrow limitation of the particulars embraced in the general definition.

It is obvious, from the true meaning of the term, that every opinion and practice which comports with the Christian revelation, is evangelical; Translated, "I bring you good tid. ings." St. Luke ii. 10.

*

that every one which dissents from it, is not evangelical; that a system of faith and practice, embracing every particular included in that revelation, is thoroughly; and that every one deficient in any of these particulars, is, in proportion to the instances of such deficiency, but partially, evangelical.

The writer conceives the following to be the general outlines of the Christian revelation, and, of course, to constitute the particulars essential to a thoroughly evangelical system.*

I. The Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead.

2. The fall of man from his state of original uprightness; and the involving of all the human race in the consequences of that fall, by their inheriting a weak and corrupt nature, inclined to sin.

This should be distinguished from the doctrine of total depravity. Whatever might have been the immediate effect of the fall upon Adam's character, independently of the Mediator's intervention; it is obvious that his posterity are so far removed from total depravity, as to be gifted with the power of consenting to the offers of divine mercy, and co-operating with the Holy Spirit in the work of their salvation. These offers could not have been made, nor this work been commanded, had our nature been wholly averse to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil; for then there would have been an utter impossibility of availing ourselves of divine mercy; our salvation, if at all effected, must have been the work of constraint upon mere machines; and our condemnation, not for our own, but our first parents' fault.

This article does not embrace the

doctrine of the imputation of Adam's guilt, as far as that represents the whole human race to have sinned in Adam. This involves an impossibility. No man can sin in the person of another. It is no where in Scrip