15.

Jo. xv. 14, was the language of friendship: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I command you." Though I am your Lord and Master, and my disciples may be properly called my servants and God's; if ye obey me "I no longer call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his master doeth: but I call you friends: for all things [expedient for you] which I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you"."

Luk. xii.

13, 14.

SECT. XII. Of our Lord's conduct towards those in
authority, and towards his country.

AFTER having viewed our Lord in his domestic and private connexions; let us now consider him as a member of civil society, and as a part of a great community together with his other countrymen the Jews.

And here we may observe, that he did not exceed the limits of his commission as a prophet and religious teacher. When one said to him "Lord, command my brother to divide with me the inheritance;" his reply was, “Man, who appointed me a judge or a divider over you?" And he proceeded, as his proper province required, to deliver precepts against covetousness, and against anxiety in worldly affairs. Again: when an adulteress was brought to him in the temple a, and the Pharisees thus addressed him, "Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou?" he wisely answered them, "Let him that is without sin among you first cast a stone at her." And though he did not condemn the woman judicially, which would have been involving himself in civil affairs, he directly condemned her as a divine teacher, “Go, and SIN no more."

P See some further remarks on this subject, part I. ch. i. sect. x. p. 38, 39.

a John viii. 1–11. See part I. ch. ii. sect. 8. p. 103, 104.

24.

When the didrachm for the service of the temple Mat. xvii. was required of him under the authority of the Jewish rulers, though he might have pleaded an exemption as the lineal descendant of king David, yet not to offend them, as irreverent towards the temple, either by this plea, or by that of poverty and his want of a settled habitation, he wrought a miracle to pay the accustomed tribute money. On another occasion, when he was questioned about the lawfulness of paying tribute to Cæsar, he raised the wonder of those who asked him by the fitness of his reply: "Render to Cæsar the Mat. xxii. things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's."

21.

With respect to religious teachers, though as a prophet he very freely reproved those among the Jews who were unworthy of that character, yet he enforced the proper kind of respect due even to such: "The Mat.xxiii. 2, scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' chair: all things therefore whatsoever they command you to observe,' meaning such things as were agreeable to the law of Moses, "those things observe and do."

دو

3.

31, 32.

But though our Lord's conduct was reverent to all in authority, it was not slavish. While he was in Galilee, a province under Herod's jurisdiction, some Pharisees said to him, "Depart and go hence; for Luk. xiii. Herod seeketh to kill thee. And he said unto them, Go and tell that fox," that crafty and cruel prince, "Behold I cast out demons, and I do cures, to day and to morrow; and the third day I shall be perfected." When "the high priest asked Jesus of his disciples Jo. xviii. 19 and of his doctrine, Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them who heard me what I spake unto them; behold

-21.

Luk. xxii. 67-69. and

p.p.

they know what I have said." This is the language of prophetic authority, of conscious innocence, and of just wonder that his judge made no regular appeal to the testimony of witnesses: and throughout the whole of his trial we must bear in mind that, agreeably to the singular circumstances in which he was placed, he had previously determined not to use the natural means of averting death. When he was afterwards adjured by the living God to say whether he were the Christ or not, he answered with dignity as a prophet, "If I tell you, ye will not believe; and if I also ask you" such questions, as should lead you to a conviction of my Messiahship, "ye will not answer me, nor release me." He then added, in deference to the high priest's adjuration, "I am and hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the powerful God, and coming in the clouds of heaven." When Pilate asked him, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" conscious that the most vigilant governor could not have discovered any thing seditious in his conduct, he first Jo. xviii. 34 observed that the suggestion came from his accusers, and that his kingdom was of a spiritual nature: he then confessed that he was a King, and added with great dignity, "For this end was I born, and for this end came I into the world, that I might bear witness unto the truth: every one that is of the truth heareth Luk. xxiii. my voice." Again: when Herod "questioned him in

-37.

8-11.

many words, he answered him nothing;" he entered not into a history of his conduct, or a defence against his enemies, like one intent on obtaining a powerful interposition in his favour; much less did he gratify Herod's expectation by working a miracle before him: but he appeared at his tribunal with the majesty of a judge, and not with the abjectness of a blasphemer and mover of sedition.

We are next to observe what our Lord's conduct was towards his country.

26, 41, 42.

Luk. xvii.

Mat. xv. 22.

His miracles and instructions, during the course of a laborious ministry, were almost all of them dispensed to the Jews. Considering the great number of his useful lessons and mighty works, the exceptions are very few. As he passed through Samaria in his way to Galilee, he instructed and converted many of the Jo. iv. 21Samaritans. He wrought miracles on the servant of a Mat. viii. 5. Roman centurion, on a Samaritan leper, and on the and p.p. daughter of a Syrophoenician woman. However, when 16. he commissioned the twelve, he gave them this injunc- and p.p. tion, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into Mat. x. 5, 6. any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go ye Mat. xv.24. rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This was the affectionate language of the good Shepherd, Jo. x.11,13. who cared for the sheep, and laid down his life for them. Jesus conducted himself as "a minister of the Rom. xv. 8. circumcision, to confirm the promises made to the fathers:" he preached first and chiefly to the heirs of Act. iii. 25. the Abrahamic covenant: but as it was originally designed that the gospel should also be preached to the Gentiles, he incidentally afforded them a specimen of his future benevolence.

See also

31.

p.p.

Our Lord repeatedly forewarned his disciples of their impending danger from the Romans, and taught the Luk. xvii. serious and attentive among them in what manner to Mat. xxiv. avoid destruction. But "there was nothing covered, 16-18, and that was not to be revealed; nor hidden, that was not to be known. What Jesus said to them in darkness, they were to speak in the light; and what they heard in the ear, that were they to preach on the house

b Matt. x. 26, 27. The parallelism, like that in the Hebrew poetry, should here be observed.

Mat. xxiii.

37.

tops." He likewise prophesied of the same event to the Jews, both by parable and in direct terms.

He twice addressed the following affectionate and Luk.xiii.34. pathetic words to the Jews; "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" And when from the surrounding hills he beheld that once holy and favoured city, and in spirit foresaw her desolation, he lamented and wept over her with great emotion; and the abrupt manner in which he expressed himself was an indication of genuine sorrow in his heart: "If even thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace- But now they are hidden from thine eyesf."

Christ's love for his country most eminently appeared Jo. xi. 51, in his dying for it. He died for the Jewish nation; and not for that nation only, but for all the true sons of God wherever dispersed throughout the world.

52.

SECT. XIII. Of our Lord's prudence.

THE great and singular assemblage of virtues in our Lord's character was ever guided by consummate prudence; which presided over his conduct, and gave a peculiar aptness and force to his words and actions.

In his discourses there are express and implied preMat. vii. 6. cepts on the subject of this virtue. His disciples were not to lavish and hazard instruction and reproof on the obstinate and incorrigible. When he sent forth the