Reflections on the cure of the nobleman's son. at the seventh hour the same hour in the 175 SECT. xxix. mend and they said ed of them what was the hour when he began to unto him, Yesterday mend: and they said unto him, Yesterday at the the fever left him. seventh hour, or at one in the afternoon, the fe- John ver left him at once, and he grew well on a IV. 50. 53 So the father sudden. The father therefore knew that [it was] 53 knew that it was at at the very hour in which Jesus said to him, Thy which Jesus said unto son is recovered: and when he came to reflect him, Thy son liveth: on the astonishing circumstances of the case, and himself believed, and his whole family believed that the person, by whom so convincing and beneficent a miracle was wrought, must be, not only as before supposed, some great prophet, but even the Messiah himself. and his whole house. he This is again the second miracle which Jesus 54 IMPROVEMENT. iv. 44. How unreasonable are the passions and prejudices of mankind, John and this in particular, that a prophet should have no honour in his own country! One would have imagined that Jesus at least, free as he was from all the follies of childhood and youth, should have been an exception; nay, indeed, that he should have been peculiarly honoured there, where his early wisdom and piety could not but be observed. Our Lord however intended them a visit, even at Nazareth; and it is the duty of his ministers to bear their testimony, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. Yet should they learn of their Great Master to study as much as they can to obviate those prejudices, which might prevent their usefulness, and should use the most prudent and gentle methods to vanquish them. Such was this beneficial miracle of our Lord; which may afford us many particulars worthy of our notice. With what affection and zeal does this tender parent apply to Christ on the sickness of 47 his child! Let us not be less importunate when soliciting spiritual. blessings in behalf of our dear offspring and so much the rather as their lives are so precarious, and we know not how soon these 49 lovely flowers may be cut down, and all farther petitions for them be for ever superseded. Our Lord, while at a distance from the patient, wrought and 50, 51 hA circumstance in which it agreed with the former.] Compare John i. 43. and ii. 1. That the words must be taken with such a limitation, evidently appears from what John had before said of the many miracles 176 xxxi. Jesus comes to Nazareth and preaches there.. SECT. perfected the cure. And has he not still the same Divine power, though he does not exert it in the same miraculous way? Let not his bodily absence abate our faith, while praying for others or for 53' ourselves. Salvation now came to this house, and blessings infinitely more valuable, than neble blood, or ample possessions, or royal favour, or recovered health could give; for the cure wrought on the body of one was a means of producing faith in the hearts of all. Blessed Jesus! thy power was no less employed in the latter than in the former. Oh may that power work in such a manner on our souls as that we all may be disposed cordially to receive thee and cheerfully to venture our eternal all upon thee! May we and our houses concur in so wise and happy a resolution and not insisting upon 48 evidence beyond what thy gracious wisdom has thought fit to give. us, may we candidly receive the light we have, and faithfully improve it so as to be at length entitled to the blessedness of those who have not seen and yet have believed! (John xx. 29.) SECT. xxxii. SECT. XXXII. Christ preaching at Nazareth is at first admired, but immediately after rejected: the people there making an attempt upon his life, he leaves them and comes to Capernaum. Luke IV. 14-30. LUKE IV. 14. LUKR IV. 14. about. IT T has already been observed that after John AND Jesus returned in the power of the Baptist was imprisoned and Jesus was the Spirit into Galilee, Luke acquainted with it, he left Judea and returned and there went out a IV. 14. into Galilee; and from what follows it will fame of him through all the region round be plainly seen that he went thither under the guidance and in the power of the Spirit; for as a mighty impulse on his own mind deter mined him to undertake the journey, so an amazing Divine energy attended his progress through it; and his renown was spread abroad as soon as he arrived in Galilee, and went 15 through all the neighbouring region. And, 15 And he taught 16 And having thus prepared his way, he came a In the power of the Spirit.] It seems a very wild thought of Mr. Fleming's that this intimates, Christ was transported through the air hither, after his temptation in the wilderness; see Flem. Christol. Vol II. p. 315. b With universal applause, doğaμvos at 16. And he came to Nazareth, U waylwv.] Our translation, which has had been brought up: and, as his custom was, He reads a passage of Isaiah to them. he went into the synagozue on the sabbathday, and stood up for 177 Luke Nazareth, where he at length to Nazareth, where it has been observ. SECT. ed before, Mat. ii. 23, and Luke ii. 51, that he _XXX}, which was educated; and according to his custom, he constantly observed there and elsewhere, he IV. 14. entered into the synagogue on the sabbath-day: and out of regard to the high reputation he had lately gained, being desired by the ruler of it to officiate, he stood up to read the scriptures, which made a constant part of their public worship; see (Acts xv. 21.) to read. 17 And there was And the book of Isaiah the prophet was deli- 17 delivered unto him the vered to him, a paragraph of the law having been book of the prophet read before; and unrolling the volume of the had opened the book, book he found that place of it (Isa. Ixi. 1, 2, 3.) he found the place where it was written to this effect; Esaias: And when he where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath a nointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to The Spirit of the Lord is upon me in an abundant 18 degree, for the important purpose to which he hath anointed me, and solemnly set me apart; and important indeed it is, [for] he hath sent he hath sent me me to preach good news to the poor and afflictheal the broken-heart- ed E, to heal those whose hearts are broken with ed, to preach deliver. sorrow, to proclaim free dismission to wretched and recovering of sight captives, even the recovery of sight to them that to the blind, to set at are blind in prison; [and] to set those at liliberty them that are berty who are bruised with the heavy load of In a word, to proclaim, as 19 by ance to the captives, bruised, 19. To preach the acceptable their fetters h: Being desired by the ruler of it to officiate.] One cannot but be amazed at the ignorance of Suidas, in arguing from hence that Christ was a priest. It is well known that any man of gravity and reputation might, at the request of the ruler, officiate on such occasions; compare Acts xiii. 15. d Unrolling the volume of the book.] So avanivas properly signifies; and 1 chuse to retain it, that the form of the books then used may be thus recollected: they were, as the copies of the Old Testament in the Jewish synagogues now are, long scrolls of parchment, that were rolled upon two sticks. The reader may see an excellent account of them in Mr. Jer. Jones's Vindication of St. Matthew's Gospel, chap. xv. p. 151-170. And this form of their books shews, in the most convincing manner, how improbable such transpositions are, as those learned harmonizers, Mr. Whiston and Mr. Manne, make the foundation of their respective hypotheses. e It was written to this effect.] It is evident that the quotation, as it stands here, does neither exactly agree with the Hebrew nor the Septuagint. The many oid copies in which that clause, acasa της συνετριμμένες την καρδίαν, to heal the broken-hearted, is wanting, has inclined many learned critics, with Grotius, to sup- f For the purpose to which he hath g Poor and afflicted.] Grotius well observes that it is probable some copies might read HнANJIM, the poor, instead of HHANAWIM, the meek, which is the word made use of in Isaiah. And as to that clause of restoring sight to the blind, which is omitted in Isaiah, I am not able to determine whether our Lord in his discourse borrowed this clause from Isa. xlii. 7. by way of illustration; or whether (as Dr. Prideaux supposes in his Connection, Vol II. p. 547.) it was taken from some Chaldee Targum which is now lost. h Sight to them that are blind, and to set those at liberty who are bruised.] It is beautifully 178 xxxii. He shows that passage to be now fulfilled in him. Lord. SECT. by the sound of a trumpet, that welcome year acceptable year of the of the Lord, which the year of jubilee, pleas Luke ing and grateful as it is, can but imperfectly re1V. 18. present, though debts are then forgiven and slaves released and inheritances restored to their original owners.” 20 21 22 And having rolled up the book, which was a 20. And he closed it again to the minister, and sat down; and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. long scroll of parchment, he delivered it to the the book, and he gave 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And he began to speak at large from this excellent and suitable passage; and the main tendency and purport of his discourse was to say to them, To-day this scripture I have now been reading is remarkably fulfilled in your hearing; for I am the person foretold under this charac ter, and sent with such ample powers to fulfil these of the Divine mercy. 22 And all bare him purposes witness, and wondered And, strong as their prejudices were against at the gracious words him, they all (by their very countenances (see which proceeded out Job xxix. 11) bore their testimony to him as a of his mouth. most excellent preacher, and were astonished at they said, Is not this those graceful as well as comfortable words which Joseph's son? tifully observed by the judicious Mr. Cra- i That welcome year of the Lord.] It is pro And the Jubilee; compare Lev. xxv. 9, 10. and Psal. Ixxxix. 15. kA scripture which seemed so plainly to refer to the Messiah.] Though many commentators of note apply Isa. Ixi. 1. to the good news of the dismission of the Jews from Babylon, I refer it to the impartial reader to judge, whether it be not much more probable that ver. 4, 5, 6. (where the prophet speaks of repairing the waste cities, planting vineyards, &c.) may be either meant in a spiritual sense, or literally predict the temporal prosperity of the church after the conversion of the Jews, than that Christ should mistake the true sense of the text, or build his argument on a mere allusion; see Dr. Sykes's Vindication of Christianity, p. 259, and Jeffery's True Grounds, p. 120. 1 Astonished at those graceful words.] The phrase in the original λόγοις της χαριτο, literally signifies words of grace; which, it is probable, may refer to the agrecabie manner of Christ's discourse, as well as to 23 And he said naum, do also here in thy country. 24 And he said, Verily, I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. He is rejected by his own countrymen. 179 xxxii. proceeded out of his mouth; so that they could not SECT. And he said to them farther, You will undoubt-23 unto them, Ye will edly say to me in the words of that common prosurely say unto me verb, Physician, cure thyself; [and] for the sathis proverb, Physitisfaction of thy own relations and neighbours, cian heal thyself; whatsoever we have if thou art really so extraordinary a person, do heard done in Caper- also here at home, in thine own country, those miraculous works which, as we have heard, were done at Capernaum, and elsewhere". But to expose the vanity of this suggestion, he went on, 24 and said, Verily I say unto you, that no prophet is acceptable in his own country (compare John iv. 44, page 180,) and therefore I know that you who have been acquainted with me from my infancy will, through envy and prejudice, refuse me an opportunity of working such miracles, and would indeed be still as obstinate and unbelieving as before, if you should see them. But 25 of a truth, Many wi- let it be remembered by you that God sometimes the days of Elias, when punishes men for this unreasonable temper, by the heaven was shut directing his prophets to confer those favours on up three years and six strangers, of which their countrymen and neighbours have rendered themselves so unworthy. 25 And I tell you dows were in Israel in months the matter of it: and as they could not but take notice of the majesty and grace with which he spoke, so it must naturally fill them with astonishment, considering the meanness of his birth and education; see Elsner, in loc. At Capernaum, and elsewhere.] It is strange that Dr. Clarke and many others should lay so much stress as they do on this, as an argument to prove that this visit to Nazareth was made after that to Capernaum, in which those miracles were wrought which are recorded, Mark i. 2134. and Luke iv. 33-41. (sect. xxxv. xxxvi.) when Luke himself so plainly says that he came down from Nazareth to Capernaum, and then gives an account of those miracles (Luke iv. 30, & seq.) and Matthew also introduces the history of them with saying (Mat. iv. 13.) that leaving Nazareth he came and delt at Capernaum. -We are expressly told by John that Jesus after the miracle which he wrought at Cana in Galilee, went with his mother and his brethren and disciples to Capernaum, and continued some time, though not very long there (John ii. 12. sect. xxiv.) and it is very possible he might visit it again in For his passing through Galilee (John iv. 43, If it be asked why Christ did not per- |