after the sight of his eyes; for he discerned even the secret thoughts of men.

IX. The works of Jesus correspond with the predictions concerning the Messiah. Isaiah, speaking of the coming of the Messiah, says, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.”* Matthew, in describing the miracles of Jesus, says, "Great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and he healed them."

X. The ministry of Jesus corresponds with the predictions concerning the Messiah. The Psalmist, speaking in the name of Christ says, "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest."+ Jesus preached righteousness in the great congregation, both in the temple, in the synagogues, and in the open air; and let who would be present, rulers, priests, scribes, or Pharisees, he refrained not his lips. In Isaiah it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek: he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto

them that mourn in Zion, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."* Jesus applied this prophecy to himself, in the synagogue of Nazareth, his native place; and it corresponds exactly both with the character of his own preaching, and the gospel which he left for his ministers to preach. The prophet says, "The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek." Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Isaiah says, "He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted." Jesus said to the broken-hearted sinner, who came to him, "Go in peace, thy faith hath saved thee." Isaiah mentions, as one object of his coming, to "proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." He proclaimed liberty to the captives of Satan, and loosed them that were bound by him, while on earth; and he still proclaims in the gospel liberty to the captives of Satan, and looses those that are bound by the chains of sin. The prophet says he should come, "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims that "Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation." It also proclaims a day of vengeance,when the vengeance of God will be executed with ten fold fury upon the rejecters of the gospel. The prophecy says, "To comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the gar

* Isa. Ixi, 1.

ment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Christ says, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." And many now living can testify that he has given them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

XI. The conduct of Jesus, in regard to the applause of men, accords with the prediction of Isaiah, who says, "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. ""* Leaders in any exploit, in the East, or men who wish to raise clamor or get up a party, bawl aloud to their companions as they go along the street. This appears to be what the prophet alludes to. But it was not so with Jesus. He never sought, but avoided the applause of men. How frequently did he charge those who had been healed by him to tell it to no man; evidently to prevent drawing after him a multitude, and collecting a party. When he discovered to his disciples, also, his true character as the Messiah; knowing the expectation of the Jews, that their Messiah would be a temporal deliverer, he charged them not to make it known, lest a party should be raised, to elevate him to the throne; and when such a party was raised, with the determination to take him by force, and make him a king, he departed into a desert place, to avoid them. So true it was, that he did not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

* Isa. xlii, 2.

XII. The character of Christ, as a sufferer, corresponds with the predictions concerning him. Isaiah says, “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." This agrees exactly with the accounts given of his sufferings, during the whole of his life. His early life was spent in poverty and hard labor. He suffered, in the commencement of his ministry, from the severest conflicts with the Tempter. And we may judge something of the sufferings of his holy soul from this source, by the pain experienced oftentimes by the sincere Christian, from the horrible suggestions of the Adversary. But this pain arises from the small degree of holiness possessed by the believer, these wicked thoughts being so opposed to the new principle implanted in him by Divine grace. What, then, must have been the feelings of the holy Jesus, upon whose soul no spot of sin ever rested, to be enticed to tempt God, and to fall down and worship Satan, and accept of his usurped dominion over the earth? He suffered, also, from fatigue, and hunger, and poverty, during his ministry. He performed his journeys through all the cities and villages, and through the desert countries on foot. Often he was hungry and weary; yet at night he had not where to lay his head, no place that he could call his home. Even the foxes and the birds of the air were better provided for than

* Isa. lii, 14; liii, 3.

the Lord of life and glory. He suffered, likewise, from grief. Jesus was a perfect man, as well as a divine person. The sensibilities of human nature must, therefore, have been with him most acute. He must have been tenderly alive to all those things which excite the tender and sympathetic emotions; and when these were wounded, his grief must have been most intense. What, then, must have been his feelings, when he looked abroad over suffering humanity; when he beheld all the ruins which sin has made in this fair and beautiful world; when he saw so many souls perishing; but especially, when all his efforts to save lost men, were looked upon with cold disdain, his motives traduced, his conduct viewed with suspicion, all his movements watched with an evil eye, his doctrines and works misrepresented, and he himself reviled, traduced, vilified, and persecuted, by the very beings he came to save? We have incidental allusions to his feelings in these circumstances. He was often moved with pity for the sufferings of the sick and infirm. His compassion was tenderly touched, when he saw the widow of Nain following her only son to the grave. He wept over the grave of his friend Lazarus. He was grieved, when he saw the hardness of men's hearts, on proclaiming to them the word of life. And we have reason to believe that "his visage was so marred" by these sufferings, as to produce the appearance of premature age; for when he spoke of Abraham's having seen his day, the Jews replied, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ?" showing that they took him to be approaching the age of fifty years; whereas, he