SERM. fufficiently implies,

II.

Joh. x.

41.

Many who reforted unto Jefus, faid, John did no Miracles; but all things which John pake of this Man, were true; that is, though he did none himself, yet he prophefied that Jefus fhould do them; and when his Difciples therefore faw that Prediction fulfilled, they were able themselves to answer their Own Question.- Art Thou He that should come? or do we look for Another? Farther;

Thirdly, The Particular Facts, which our Saviour here mentions, in order to infinuate his Præeminence over the Baptift, are extremely well fuited to that Purpose. They are all Acts of Beneficence and Kindness, wrought for the Service and Benefit of Men, either for the Inftruction of their Minds, or the Healing of their Bodies. And this, he tacitly suggests to them, was a far nobler Employment, and carried in it a much greater Degree of Perfection and Ufe, than the Solitary Life and Rigid AuFerities of the Baptift, for which his Difciples held him in fuch high Veneration.

He

He hints to them the Reasons for which SERM. he lived and conversed thus publickly 1. and familiarly, and applied himself to Men in the most Humane, Easy and Affable Manner, without distinguishing himfelf from Others by any rough and frightning Appearances, any thing Extraordinary and Singular, either in his Look, Attire, or Behaviour, (for which the Baptift was remarkable;) and he leaves them (even in this refpe&) to confider, whether his Character was not Superior to that of their Master, and his Administration ordained to more Excellent Purposes; and therefore he concludes his Reply with Words which have an Eye to those Prejudices they had entertained against him on this Account; Blessed are They, who are not Offended in Me! Beyond all this, it is, in the

Fourth place, extremely remarkable, that the Answer of our Lord to these Enquiring Disciples is expreffed in Words taken from a Prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Meffiah. And Isaiah was, of all the Prophets, He, in whole Writings

SERM. Writings the Baptift's Followers were II. the most converfant, and for whom they

had the greatest Efteem and Reverence; inafmuch as their Mafter was there more particularly pointed out, the Person and Office of this Cryer in the Wilderness was there more exactly defcribed, than in any other Part of the Sacred Volume. And therefore what this Prophet testified concerning the Meffiah, was best suited to work those into a Reception of him, who had been led by his Teftimony to discern even their Master himself, and to become his Followers.

Now the Places here referred to in Ifaiah, are thefe, chap. lxi. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath appointed me to preach good Tidings to the Meek. Εὐαγγελίσασθαι τοῖς πTwxoĩ, as it is in the Translation of the Septuagint; and the very fame Phrase is employed here in the Text, πτωχοὶ ευαγγελίζονται, The Poor have the Gofpe preached unto them. The reft of the Particulars may be almost entirely fup plied from another Paffage in the

xxxvth of the fame Prophet, v. 4, 5, 6. SERM.
Behold, your God will come with Venge- II.
ance, even God with a Recompence; he
Then the Eyes of

will come and fave you.
the Blind fhall be opened, and the Ears of
the Deaf shall be unstopped: Then shall the
lame Man leap as an Hart, and the Tongue
of the Dumb fhall fing.

It is very probable that the Baptist himself might have an Eye to this Pasfage, when he fent his doubting Disciples with this Question to our Saviour, Art Thou He that should come? Since we find there a Promife, within the Compass of a few Words, twice repeated, that God would come, and would come to fave his People; and therefore our Saviour, very appofitely, fent them back again to the same Prophet, in his Reply, and taught them by that means to understand the true Drift and Meaning of their Master's Queftion. It is as if he had faid, You believe not the Baptift's Testimony, that I am He who should come; yet furely Ifaiah, upon whose Authority ye have received the Baptift himVOL. I. felf

E

SERM. felf, will find Credit with you;
Il. hath thus prophefied of me.

and He

Every way, we fee, the Answer of our Bleffed Redeemer was fo wifely and graciously contrived, as to meet with all the Prejudices, and dispell all the Doubts of these Enquirers, and to lead them into an Acknowledgment that they had found the Meffiah whom they fought, Him who was to come, and were no longer to look for Another.

Nay thefe Words carry in them (as I in the Third place obferved) an Argument of more general Ufe and Influence, and propofe to us all the Chief Marks and Characters of fuch Miracles as are fufficient to confirm the Authority of any Perfon pretending to Le fent by God; and all of which concurred in the Miracles done by our Meffiah as any unprejudiced Perfon, who compares them together, may eafily perceive. I fhall but just mention them, as they are hinted to us in the Words of our Saviour's Reply, and leave the further Con

fideration