If the Jewish high priest could not comprehend the wants and circumstances of the people individually whom he represented, much less could he become acquainted with the various emotions of their hearts, and sympathise in all the diversity of their feelings. He was indeed liable to mistake, in the individual cases which came occasionally before him, as well as to the indifference towards others, which is too common to our degenerate and selfish nature. Thus Eli mistook the case of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and attributed to excess of wine the movement of her lips, which was produced by the sorrows of her heart. Comparatively few are the individuals who know how to speak a word in season to them that are weary, and soothe, by the exercise of sympathy, the heart which is suffering and oppressed. How much were the sorrows of Job aggravated, by the well intended, but unskilful addresses of the three friends, who came to mourn with him, and to comfort him. Susceptibility of feeling, experience of sorrow, acquaintance with our nature, in all the variety of its constitutional tendencies, gentleness, patience, wisdom to select the time, and modify the manner, of pouring the balm into the wound, and binding up the broken heart,—are all necessary to him, whose work it is to comfort them that mourn.

Now these qualifications were displayed in their most perfect combination, by him who is the High Priest of the Christian church, during the period of his manifestation in the flesh. It was predicted of him, that he should not "break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax;" that he should" bind up the brokenhearted;" that he should " proclaim liberty to the captives;" that he should " give to them that mourn, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." He opened his commission at Nazareth, by quoting the prediction, and extorting from unwilling witnesses the testimony, that it was fulfilled by the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. He commenced his sermon to the multitude upon the mount, with words more sweet and soothing to the troubled heart, than were the tones of David's harp, which could smooth the rugged brow of Saul, and calm the tumultuous passions of his breast. His gracious concern for us, under the burdens which we are called to bear, and his commendation of himself to our confidence, were expressed in the invitation which he gave: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are and I will give you rest. you; and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

heavy laden, Take my yoke upon

In the sympathetic features of his character, he was fairer than the children of men, and therefore full of grace were his lips. His humanity was formed, not in the coarse and imperfect mould from which is produced our degenerate frame; but in the refined and perfect mould from which was produced the exalted manhood of him, into whom God breathed the breath of life. Sin had not impaired the delicate and sensitive perceptions of his nature, had not chilled the fountain of its feelings, nor contracted the channels through which the warm current of the affections flow. No letter of the law of love was wanting, or obscurely written upon the fleshly table of his heart; no expression of its exercise can be required, which was not found in his life; no illustration of its power can equal, can compare, with that which he displayed in his death. Humanity constituted like his, was prompt to feel the woes of others. The sympathetic strings were constantly attuned and tremulously sensitive. They vibrated at every sigh of the sorrowful spirit, and responded, full and deep, to every sound of human woe. There was, indeed, something approaching to identity of feeling with every subject of disease and sorrow which his eye beheld. He took the infirmities, and bare the sicknesses of those

who were brought before him to be healed, by sympathy with the sufferers in his humanity, before he exerted the power of his divinity for their relief.

That this was the sense in which the disciples applied to him the passage from Isaiah's prophecies, is evident, from the connexion in which it stands, with what must have been one of the most interesting and impressive scenes of the Saviour's life. He had taught in the synagogue of Capernaum, and, in the presence of the congregation, had released from his unhappy bondage a man who had been oppressed by the devil. He had retired from the synagogue to the house of Peter, and there had restored Peter's wife's mother from a fever. The fame of the miracles spreads abroad, and so soon as the sun was setting, and, according to their notions of the sanctity of the sabbath, it was lawful for them to carry the sick from their dwellings, "all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them unto him."* So deep and general was the interest which had been excited by the miracles which had been performed in the earlier part of the day; so sanguine the anticipations that were indulged of the result of bringing all the sick which the

*Luke iv. 40.

place contained to him; and so universal the desire to see what he would do for them, "that all the city was gathered together at the door."* Nor were the expectations which had been formed disappointed. 66 'He laid his hands upon every one of the sick, and healed them." The number of the sick, their cases respectively, the circumstances connected with any of them, are not related; and therefore, our impressions of this most extraordinary scene are exceedingly vague and inadequate. Perhaps a more legitimate or interesting subject for the pencil, is no where to be found in the Saviour's history, than is presented in this passage. But he must be a master in his art, whose imagination, feeling, judgment, and taste, could supply all which is comprehended in the two verses of the Evangelist; "When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses."† Minds of ordinary power must be content to receive their illustration of the manner in which the Redeemer, by the tenderness

:

* Mark i. 33.

† Matt. viii. 16, 17.