cle, "I did here amongst you, and ye all marvel. "Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, and ye

66

on the sabbath-day circumcise a man: if a man on "the sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the law of "Moses should not be broken, are ye angry with me, "because I have made a man every way whole on the "sabbath-day?" Which is a direct defence of what he did at Jerusalem, a year and a half before the work he here speaks of. We find he had not preached to them there, from that time to this; but had made good what he had told them, ver. 38, "Ye have not the word of "God remaining among you, because whom he hath "sent ye believe not." Whereby, I think, he signifies his not staying, and being frequent amongst them at Jerusalem, preaching the gospel of the kingdom; because their great unbelief, opposition, and malice to him, would not permit it.

This was manifestly so in fact: for the first miracle he did at Jerusalem, which was at the second passover after his baptism, brought him in danger of his life. Hereupon we find he forbore preaching again there, 'till the feast of tabernacles, immediately preceding his last passover: so that 'till the half a year before his passion, he did but one miracle, and preached but once publicly at Jerusalem. These trials he made there; but found their unbelief such, that if he had staid and persisted to preach the good tidings of the kingdom. and to show himself by miracles among them, he could not have had time and freedom to do those works which

his Father had given him to finish, as he says, ver. 36, of this fifth of St. John.

When, upon the curing of the withered hand on the sabbath-day, "The pharisees took counsel with the "herodians, how they might destroy him, Jesus with"drew himself, with his disciples, to the sea: and a

66

great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from "Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and "from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude; when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him, and he healed them all, "and CHARGED THEM, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT MAKE

66

66

"HIM KNOWN: that it might be fulfilled which was "spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, Behold, my "servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom

ઠંડ

my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon "him, and he shall show judgment to the gentiles. "He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man "hear his voice in the streets." Matt. xii. Mark iii.

And, John xi. 47, upon the news of our Saviour's raising Lazarus from the dead, "The chief priests and "pharisees convened the sanhedrim, and said, What "do we? For this man does many miracles." Ver. 53, "Then from that day forth they took counsel together "for to put him to death." Ver. 54," Jesus therefore "walked no more openly amongst the jews." His miracles had now so much declared him to be the Messiah, that the jews could no longer bear him, nor he trust himself amongst them; "But went thence unto a "country near to the wilderness, into a city called

66

Ephraim; and there continued with his disciples." This was but a little before his last passover, as appears by the following words, ver. 55. "And the jews passover was nigh at hand," and he could not, now his miracles had made him so well known, have been secure, the little time that remained, 'till his hour was fully come, if he had not, with his wonted and necessary caution, withdrawn; "And walked no more openly amongst the jews," 'till his time (at the next passover) was fully come; and then again he appeared amongst them openly.

66

Nor would the Romans have suffered him, if he had gone about preaching, that he was the king whom the jews expected. Such an accusation would have been forwardly brought against him by the jews, if they could have heard it out of his own mouth; and that had been his public doctrine to his followers, which was openly preached by the apostles after his death, when he appeared no more. And of this they were accused, Acts xvii. 5-9. "But the jews, which believed not, "moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fel"lows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and "set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house

"of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. "And when they found them [Paul and Silas] not,

66

they drew Jason, and certain brethren, unto the "rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned

66

the world upside down, are come hither also; whom "Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the "decrees of Cæsar, saying, That there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people, and the "rulers of the city, when they heard these things: and "when they had taken security of Jason and the other, they let them go."

66

Though the magistrates of the world had no great regard to the talk of a king who had suffered death, and appeared no longer any where; yet, if our Saviour had openly declared this of himself in his life time, with a train of disciples and followers every where owning and crying him up for their king; the Roman governors of Judea could not have forborne to have taken notice of it, and have made use of their force against him. This the jews were not mistaken in; and therefore made use of it as the strongest accusation, and likeliest to prevail with Pilate against him, for the taking away his life; it being treason, and an unpardonable offence, which could not escape death from a Roman deputy, without the forfeiture of his own life. Thus then they accuse him to Pilate, Luke xxiii. 2. "We found this "fellow perverting the nation, forbidding to give tri"bute to Cæsar, saying, that he himself is a king or rather "the Messiah, the King."

Our Saviour, indeed, now that his time was come, (and he in custody, and forsaken of all the world, and so out of all danger of raising any sedition or disturbance,) owns himself to Pilate to be a king; after first having told Pilate, John xviii. 36, "That his

kingdom was not of this world;" and, for a kingdom in another world, Pilate knew that his master at Rome concerned not himself. But had there been any the least appearance of truth in the allegations of the jews, that he had perverted the nation, forbidding to pay tribute to Cæsar, or drawing the people after him, as their king; Pilate would not so readily have pro

66

nounced him innocent. But we see what he said to his accusers, Luke xxiii. 13, 14. "Pilate, when he had "called together the chief priests and the rulers of the "people, said unto them, You have brought this man "unto me as one that perverteth the people; and behold, I, having examined him before you, have "found no fault in this man, touching those things "whereof you accuse him: no, nor yet Herod, for I "sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death " is done by him." And therefore, finding a man of that mean condition, and innocent life, (no mover of seditions, or disturber of the public peace) without a friend or a follower, he would have dismissed him, as a king of no consequence; as an innocent man, falsely and maliciously accused by the jews.

66

How necessary this caution was in our Saviour, to say or do nothing that might justly offend, or render him suspected to the Roman governor; and how glad the jews would have been to have had any such thing against him, we may see, Luke xx. 20. The chief priests and the scribes "watched him, and sent forth "spies, who should feign themselves just men, that might take hold of his words, that so they might "deliver him unto the power and authority of the "governor." And the very thing wherein they hoped to entrap him in this place, was paying tribute to Cæsar; which they afterwards falsely accused him of. And what would they have done, if he had before them professed himself to have been the Messiah, their King and deliverer?

And here we may observe the wonderful providence of God, who had so ordered the state of the jews, at the time when his son was to come into the world, that though neither their civil constitution nor religious worship were dissolved, yet the power of life and death was taken from them; whereby he had an opportunity to publish" "the kingdom of the Messiah;" that is, his own royalty, under the name of " the kingdom of God, and of "heaven;" which the jews well enough understood, and would certainly have put him to death for, had the power been in their own hands. But this being no mat

ter of accusation to the Romans, hindered him not from speaking of the "kingdom of heaven," as he did, sometimes in reference to his appearing in the world, and being believed on by particular persons; sometimes in reference to the power should be given him by the Father at his resurrection; and sometimes in reference to his coming to judge the world at the last day, in the full glory and completion of his kingdom. These were ways of declaring himself, which the jews could lay no hold on, to bring him in danger with Pontius Pilate, and get him seized and put to death.

Another reason there was, that hindered him as much as the former, from professing himself, in express words, to be the Messiah; and that was, that the whole nation of the jews, expecting at this time their Messiah, and deliverance, by him, from the subjection they were in to a foreign yoke, the body of the people would certainly, upon his declaring himself to be the Messiah, their king, have rose up in rebellion, and set him at the head of them. And indeed, the miracles that he did, so much disposed them to think him to be the Messiah, that, though shrouded under the obscurity of a mean condition, and a very private simple life; though he passed for a Galilean (his birth at Bethlehem being then concealed), and assumed not to himself any power or authority, or so much as the name of the Messiah; yet he could hardly avoid being set up by a tumult, and proclaimed their king. So John tells us, chap. vi. 14, 15, "Then those men, when they had "seen the miracles that Jesus did, said, This is of a "truth that prophet that should come into the world. "When therefore Jesus perceived that they would come to take him by force to make him king, he departed again into a mountain, himself alone." This was upon his feeding of five thousand with five barley loaves and two fishes. So hard was it for him, doing those miracles which were necessary to testify his mission, and which often drew great multitudes after him, Matt. iv. 25, to keep the heady and hasty multitude from such disorder, as would have involved him in it; and have disturbed the course, and cut short

66

66