Q. What happened to Adam when he fell into sin? A. He found himself naked. Q. What did they do beside? Q. With what?. A. With sin, which is the sting of death. Q. Why are they said to have left him half dead? A. Because man, when he fell into sin, did not then die in body, but in spirit, in the better half of him, Q Who are the Priest and Levite that see him and pass by? A. The ministers of the law, who were to pass away, because their sacrifices could not take away sin. Q. Who comes after them, to do what the law could not? A. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of fallen man. Q Why does he call himself a Samaritan? A. Because he was hated by the Jews, as the Samaritans were; and they reviled him under the name of a Samaritan; (proba P2 (probably after the delivery of this parable). Q. What doth this Samaritan do? A. He hath compassion on him, and goes to save him. up Q. What does he apply, when he binds his wounds? A. Oil and wine; the spirit of life, and the blood of redemption. Q. What is oil remarkable for? A. It cures the bite of a serpent. Q. What is the Inn, to which the wounded man is carried? A. The Church. Q. Who is the Host of it? A. The Minister. Q. What charge is given to him? A. To take care of those who are committed to him. Q. And what is he to expect? A. That he who calls himself the Samaritan, will come again to repay him. Q. What duty are you to learn from this story? A. To go and do likewise; that is, to shew mercy to others, as Jesus Christ hath showed mercy to me. THE THE TEXTS. Luke x. ver. 25-38. XIV. THE CHAPTER OF THE NEXT to the history of our blessed Saviour himself the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is most wonder→ ful and affecting. When we read, how wise and innocent he was, how his father loved him, how his brethren persecuted him, we cannot help pitying and loving him. Even the distress of his wicked brethren is attended with such remorse and perplexity, that we pity them also. But when Judah pleads for Benjamin, and Joseph discovers himself, the scene is so affecting, that we cannot refrain from tears. In the three greatest lines of his character and history, he was a most exact figure of our blessed Saviour. He was innocent; he was persecuted; hẹ was exalted: and the life of every servant of God is and will be, more or less, after the same pattern. When St. Stephen pleaded before the Jews, he pointed this story of Joseph against them in such words, that they saw their own wickedness in that of Joseph's brethren, and fell into a rage: gnashing upon him with their teeth for bringing their wickedness home to them in such plain terms. For such as Joseph had been, such was Jesus Christ, whom they had lately crucified: they had done unto him as their forefathers had done to their patriarch Joseph: whose character, in every part of it, bears the strongest testimony to the history of Jesus Christ: so strong, that the Jews who heard it, were not able to bear it. For, saith St. Stephen, the Patriarchs (his own brethren) moved with envy (as the High Priests were afterwards) sold Joseph (as Judas sold our Saviour) into Egypt; (delivering him to the Gentiles to be evil entreated and punished as a melefactor and a slave.) The The Patriarch Judah was the seller of Joseph; and his namesake Judas, sold Jesus Christ. We see Joseph in a prison between two malefactors, and promising life to one of them, as Christ did to one of those who suffered with him. We see him again cast into a pit; there to be dead and forgotten; but brought alive out of it. His coat was dipped in blood; as Christ wore a purple robe, and appeared (as the prophet had foretold) in dyed garments, stained with the blood of his sufferings, In Joseph's exaltation, his brethren, who had persecuted him, fell down before him to the ground; and so to Jesus Christ, once mocked and persecuted by his brethren, every knee shall bow. Joseph was made a Saviour to his father and all his house, and fed them with bread according to their families, in a time of famine; as Jesus Christ is the true bread to Jew and Gentile, to whom all the tribes of the earth must come to be nourished unto life eternal. The character of Joseph preaches to me the same lesson of patience and per severance |