them, in whom our earthly happiness is bound up, we may not be wholly cast down, but may be brought to a kindly submission to thy fatherly discipline as best for us, though we see it not; and may find comfort in the hope of meeting again with all we have loved and valued here, in those mansions of endless felicity which thy bountiful goodness hath provided for us, and promised by Christ our Lord! Now unto Thee, O Father, &c. May 18, 1783. VOL. II. M SERMON SERMON VIII. MATTH. xxvi. 6, 7. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman, having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it out on his head as he sat at meat. OUR Lord had now come up to Jerusalem for the last time to keep the passover. He did not, however, lodge in the city, though he spent the whole day from morning to evening in teaching in the temple; but retired to Bethany, an adjoining village, to have more opportunity of being alone with his disciples, and to keep out of the way of his enemies, who were bent upon taking away his life; till his hour was come, and his work was finished. As he had the certain foreknowledge given to him, that within a very few days he was to suffer, some may think it extraordinary that he should find leisure or be disposed to be at an entertainment, as he is here described, where there was a large number of persons; though at other seasons he was never averse to mix with men at their social meetings, where he had a prospect of being of any service to them in promoting the truth and their real happiness. But upon examination we shall see a propriety and decorum in it, as in every thing done by him; and that it was an instance of that friendly condescension and humanity which so remarkably distinguished his character. The apostle John, who composed his history of his divine master after a perusal of the writings of the three other evangelists, and with a view to supply their omissions, has furnished us with such further particulars as we might be desirous to be informed of, over and above what Matthew has given us. He says, (xii. 1, 2.) "Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. a supper, and Martha There they made him served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at table with him." He was here, you see, in the midst of friends; some of whom had received the greatest greatest possible benefits from him, both in respect of this life and of another; who acknowledged his authority from God, as Saviour of the world and a teacher sent by him; and, to show their respect, they had made a supper for him, and (probably) joined in the expense; inviting his twelve disciples, and other guests most likely, whom they might wish to give an opportunity of seeing, and hearing the conversation of so extraordinary a person, and receiving advantage from it; so that the company would be very numerous. And the presence of Lazarus, in particular, must affect them all with sacred awe, and fill them with reverence for him who had recently restored him alive from the grave. Simon, at whose house they were, was a friend and neighbour, and is conjectured to have been a kinsman of Lazarus and his sisters. He is called Simon the leper; not that he had now the leprosy upon him; for if so, according to the Jewish law, he must have lived by himself without the town, and apart from all society. But he had formerly been infected with this deplorable disorder, and in all probability healed of it by our Lord. This account is supported by the testimony of Je rom, |