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bruised, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave it to the clerk, and sat down. And the eyes of all those that were in the synagogue, were fastened on him. Then he began to say to them, To day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears, and all bore their testimony and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded from his mouth, and said, Is not this the son of Joseph ?” Luke iv.

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The wonder here expressed by the people of Nazareth, appears from the sequel, as well as from the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark, to have been the dictate, not of admiration, but of scorn and aversion; and the meaning is, "They manifested indignant surprise at the words: which though gracious, proceeded from his lips.' The reply which Jesus makes, has apparently little connection with what precedes it. But the incoherence is owing to a circumstance which the writer has omitted. From the total silence preserved in the four gospels respecting Joseph, we may conclude with confidence, that he was now dead. His death had, perhaps, occurred before the commencement of our Lord's ministry. This being the case, it was natural for the people of Nazareth to say, If this be the man who is really anointed with the power of God to save others, would he not have saved his own father? Would he have suffered his mother to become a widow? Perceiving that they reflected on him as the son of a widow; he answers, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But I tell you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens

were shut up for three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent, except to Serepta, to a widow," ver. 24.

According to the authors of the miraculous conception, Mary was a virgin, brought up in the temple, and altogether averse to the marriage state. The evangelist evinces the falsehood of this representation, by holding her forth in the above incident as a widow, that is as one who had been married, though now destitute of a husband.

When Jesus was generally regarded as a God, his mother necessarily became an object of high veneration. In the Gospel of the Infancy, she is made to say, that none among the daughters of Eve was ever like her. Accordingly, the title of divine is every where given to her: churches were also dedicated in honour of her, where she was worshipped as the mother of God. The blessed Jesus had a distinct foreknowledge of all the events which befel his religion in future ages; and he provided means to set aside the honour thus conferred on his mother as an unwarrantable superstition. "And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company, lifted up her voice, and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which gave thee suck. But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it," Luke xi. 27. Which is to this effect;

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My mother has no claims to peculiar regard, merely for having given birth to me. She is to be deemed blessed and honourable only, if she receive my instruction and obey it. Any other woman,

equally virtuous and holy, is deserving of the same veneration, and has the same solid ground for future happiness. The conduct, therefore, of those false or ill judging men, who shall hereafter extol her beyond all praise as being my mother, is inconsistent both with reason and with my gospel." Luke, it may be observed, is the only evangelist who has recorded this incident; and we owe it to the peculiarity of his situation. The undue reverence paid to Mary as the mother of God, prevailed, at first, mostly in Egypt. This writer, therefore, who published his gospel in that country, was called upon to check and expose it as a superstition, contrary to the authority of Jesus, and to the spirit of his religion.

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Luke xiii. 22, " And he went through the cities and towns, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. Then one said unto him, Are there few who will be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in by the narrow door: for many, say unto you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able: when once the master of the house hath risen up, and ye begin to stay without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. But he will answer, and say unto them, I know not whence ye are. Then ye will begin to say, We have eaten and drank in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you I know not whence you are: de part from me all ye workers of iniquity."

In this place our Lord had in view certain false teachers, who should mislead the people; and here and elsewhere, he speaks of them under allusion to thieves, going about to plunder in the night; and this, because they were in the

number of those robbers who at this time infested Judea. Among these rose the impostors who taught that Jesus fled into Egypt to avoid the anger of Herod. Such a flight, if propagated so very early, Luke must have considered as very disgraceful, and utterly inconsistent with the claims and character of Christ. He therefore states the following fact, to shew his readers, that Jesus had too much magnanimity to shun Herod, even when he menaced his life. "The same day, there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox, Behold I cast out demons, and I do cures to day, and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following, I shall finish my course," xiii. 31.

The jealousy which prompted this cunning prince to murder the Baptist, induced him to seek the death of Jesus. In order to accomplish his aim, he had in this, as in the other case, recourse to artifice. The great feast at which Jesus was to suffer was at hand. Herod intended to be at the time in Jerusalem; and he might suppose this the most likely season to dispatch him some way or other. Perhaps a plan of this kind was contrived between him and his courtiers; and one necessary step to bring him into a snare on the way, or to get him into Jerusalem, was to alarm him with the intention of Herod. Accordingly, agents were sent to him under the mask of friendship, informing him that his life was in imminent danger, if he continued there any longer. Our Lord understood their design,

and hence addressed them to this effect, "There' are but three days to the feast, the two first of which I shall employ in doing such things as evince the divinity of my mission; on the third, I shall terminate my ministry at Jerusalem. There Herod shall have an opportunity of seeing me and of accomplishing my death. I am acquainted indeed with his crafty views, and am sensible what will be the event. Nevertheless, as my death is decreed by the wisdom of heaven, I must go there and suffer. The inhabitants of that city, and not Herod, will have the guilt of killing me; and this will complete the measure of their iniquity,"

That Luke, here alluded to Jesus's pretended flight into Egypt, and intended to set it aside as a falsehood, appears more probable from the consideration that, in early times, he was said to have gone there when grown to manhood, and in the reign of Herod the Tetrarch, of whom the evangelist is here speaking. It is farther remarkable, that our historian has subjoined this incident to the testimony which our Lord had borne against the very men, whom he foresaw should corrupt his religion; and he observes, that it occurred on the same day, as if it were an event intended to refute some falsehood propagated by those deceivers.

In the whole of his gospel, there occurs not an expression which, with any colour of critical justice, can be alleged to support the divinity, the atonement, or, with the exception of the forged chapters, the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, the author, in direct and positive terms asserts that Jesus, agreeably

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