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cumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me because I have made a man altogether whole on the sabbath day?"

He established the goodness and transcendent lib. erality of God in the following manner: "If a " son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

When the Jews charged him with blasphemy, for making himself God by the assertion that he and his Father were one, he answered: "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods. If he called them Gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest: because I said, I am the Son of God?"

When the Pharisees questioned him about y divorces, he referred them to the words of Moses; took up the point on which the argument turned, "So that they are no more twain but one flesh;" and reasoned against "divorcing a wife for every cause," from the closeness of the marriage tie, and from its divine appointment.

We also read that he thus proved the resurrection of the dead against the Sadducees, who denied that

Luke xi. 11, 13.

* John x. 35, &c.

y Matt. xix. 3--6.

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great truth. "Have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abrahain, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." "For all live unto him." "Ye therefore do greatly err." I consider our Lord as arguing thus: The inconceivably great and glorious God could not be called the God of those whose existence terminated with this life. God would be b ashamed to be called their God, if he had not prepared for them a continuing city; of which, in his own time, he will make them the glorious inhabitants.

Once more: When the Scribes and Pharisees, who went down from Jerusalem to Capernaum, said that our Lord had Beelzebub, and that he cast out demons by the prince of the demons, he forcibly con. futed their blasphemy by the following parables: "How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man: and then he will spoil his house." "And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." He seems to

Mark xii. 26, 7.

'Mark iii. 23-7.

Luke xx. 38.

d Luke xi. 19, 20.

b Heb. xi. 16. xiii. 14.

say: I am establishing a kingdom of righteousness by beneficent miracles: and if Satan assisted me in such a work, he would destroy his own power. You represent him as averting both natural and moral evil, instead of delighting in them. But it is plain, from the nature of my doctrines and miracles, that he is the vanquished and not the confederate. And if there be such an unnatural confederacy, your own kinsfolk will appear to be engaged in it; and it will be too general not to be discovered.

SECTION V.

OF THE BEAUTIES WHICH SOMETIMES OCCUR IN HIS DISCOURSES

OUR Lord's discourses are void of artificial and studied ornaments, but have a force and energy which no art can equal. The general characteristics of his manner are simplicity, affection, and dignity: qualities of speech which are the immediate sources of beauty and sublimity.

We may observe a lively use of the interrogation in some places: ❝a Ye shall know false prophets by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns? or figs of thistles ?" "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall "a Whereunto shall I liken the

we compare it ?"

a Matt. vii. 16.

Mark iv. 30.

• Observe here the pleonastic

d Luke vii. S1.

manner common in the Old Testament; the parallelism of the second Branch of the sentence to the former.

men of this generation? and to what are they like?" "Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but only division." "Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch ?" "How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray?” “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea I say unto you and more than a prophet."

In the fourth beatitude the figure is strong, and expressively continued; "Blessed are they who' hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." He censures the doctrines and practices of the Pharisees under a striking allegory: " Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted out." And he beautifully uses the same figure to shew the propriety of displaying his

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⚫ Luke xii. 51. fSo da signifies. The meaning is, that very great divisions would be the consequence of his religion. Luke vi. 39. ♪ Matt. xviii. 12. iib xi. 7-9. * An inhabitant of the desert,

exposed to the injuries of the weather; like a reed beaten to and fro by the wind. To this there is an opposition, v. 8. a man clothed in soft raiment, living in a palace. Majorem vim accipit, says Quinctilian, Usque adeone mori miserum est ? quam per se, mors misera non est. Inst. viii. c. v. And Longinus observes that this figure makes what is said active, rapid, impetuous, enthusiastic, and pathetic, in an easy and natural way. Sect. xvifi. Matt, v. 6. Matt. xv. 13

miraculous power on a particular occasion: "I must "work the works of him that sent me, while it is day the night cometh, when no man can work.” The large return, likely to be received by the bountiful man, is thus described with a very pertinent amplification: "Give, and it shall be given unto you good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. In the same style is the following reproof to the Apostles: "Why reason ye because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?"

When our Lord had spoken a parable denouncing a fearful destruction of the Jews, which the Chief Priests and Scribes deprecated with horror, looked on them, and said; What is this then which is written, "The 'stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?" And the image is thus pursued by him with great sublim< ity: "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall

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"John ix. 4. • Luke vi. 38. An allusion to the flowing garments of the east. See Ps. lxxix. 12. Jer. xxxii. 18. Isai. xl. 11. Prov. vi. 27. This is well explained by the action of Quintus Fabius in the Carthaginian senate. Tum Romanus, sinu ex toga facto, Hic, inquit, vobis bellum et pacem portamus: utrum placet sumite. Liv, xxi. 18. Polybius's expression is, δείξας τοῖς ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳτὸν κόλπον : having she wn to those in the senate the bosom of his gown, iii. 33. See Wetstein. P Mark viii. 17, 18. 9 Quinctilian (1. viii. c. iv.) thus expresses himself about this figure. Potest ascribi amplificationi congeries quoque verborum ac sententiarum idem significantium. Nam, etiamsi non per gradus ascendant, tamen velut acervo quodam alievantur. Luke XX. 17, 18.

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