could not believe that a meek and humble man was to be their Saviour, might have instantly seized on him, and have wreaked their vengeance on him before he could have uttered those discourses, have worked those miracles, and spoken those prophecies, which are now to us, and were then to his immediate followers such unshaken evidences of his divine mission. Had he, when he came to be more publicly known by the common people, who heard him gladly, and daily were witnessing and feeling the effects of his power, declared his right and title to be the Son of God, they who, after the performance of only a single miracle, wanted to take him by force and to make him a king," might, in spite of himself, according to human arguments, have placed him in a situation which would have almost precluded the possibility of his being put to death in the way in which he was, viz. by a solemn trial, and by a public execution, by which

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way only would the offering up of a sacrifice have been properly represented. He might, indeed, have placed one of the orders of society in opposition to the other; he might have raised a sedition, and, like many seditious leaders, have perished in the tumult which he himself had excited; but then he would have lowered himself, in a worldly point of view, in the estimation of society,-he would have left it doubtful whether his character was the pure one which he now has maintained; and his mode of death would have been too similar to that of many other earthly leaders, to have borne the sacrificial character which was its necessary feature. It was by the simultaneous movement of all parties against him, and by the deliberate and public solemnity of an open and devised death, that we can really admit that he fulfilled all that the law and the prophets had spoken concerning him, and that we can clearly perceive that he became to us (what we must accept, as the only hope which we have for happiness here

after) a sacrifice and an atonement for

our sins.

Thus much appeared necessary to give us a proper understanding of the circumstance to which we are about to draw your attention, and which, as it will give us an opportunity of adverting to our blessed Lord's miracles in general, will, it is hoped, not be deemed unworthy of explanation.

The story is as follows: John the Baptist, in the exercise of his office, as a teacher sent from God, had, with uncompromising integrity, openly reproved Herod the tetrarch of Gallilee for his adultery and incest'. By the command of that tyrant he was, for this his boldness, cast into prison. Whilst there, he heard continually of the fame of Jesus Christ, of the words which he spoke, and of the miracles which he performed. We are to remember that the chief office of John was to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, and that he distinctly applied to

1 Matt. xiv. 3.

himself the prophecy of Isaiah, which the Jews themselves interpreted as relating to Messiah's forerunner: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God1." John, therefore, who also knew that Christ had come into the world (for he had baptized him previous to his entering on his office, and had witnessed a visible proof of God's favour for him) when he heard of one who went about preaching doctrines in the name of God, and working miracles, had every reason to think that this must be that holy Person, and consequently the promised Messiah. But in the recesses of a prison it was difficult for him to be sure of this, and he was desirous of satisfying both his own mind, and those of his followers also. He sent, therefore, two of his disciples to Jesus with this plain question: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Art thou the Lord and Sa

1 Isaiah xl. 3.

viour of the universe, or art thou, like myself, a prophet, appointed to usher in Messiah's advent with yet greater pomp and solemnity. To this address our Saviour gave no direct answer; but in the same hour he performed in the presence of the two who were sent, many miracles, that they might be eye-witnesses to John, of the truth of what they were to communicate to him; and he then desired them to return to the Baptist with this emphatic reply to his message; “Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see; the blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me."

We have already stated some reasons which might have prevented our blessed Saviour from saying, in direct terms, that he was the Christ. But even if he had not been influenced by these, we can scarcely conceive a more beautiful answer