destroy him." Destroy him! for what? Why, for giving ease to timid minds and scrupulous consciences, and for restoring the withered hand of a poor decrepit man. And were these deeds that deserved destruction? Would it not rather have been the just reward of those inhuman wretches who were capable of conceiving so execrable a project; and would not our Saviour have been justified in calling down fire from heaven, as he easily might, to consume them? But his heart abhorred the thought. He pursued a directly opposite conduct; and instead of inflicting upon them a punishment which might have destroyed them, he chose to set them an example that might amend them. He chose to show them the difference between their temper and his own, between those malignant vindictive passions which governed them, and the mild, gentle, conciliating disposition which his religion inspired; between the spirit of the world, in short, and the spirit of the Gospel. He withdrew himself silently and quietly

from

from them; and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; and, to avoid all irritation and all contest, he charged them that they should not make him known. "Thus was fulfilled (says the evangelist) that which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom 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. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory*." A most sublime passage! which may thus be paraphrased.

Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased! I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall teach true religion, not only to the people of Israel, but to the heathens also; and this he shall do with the utmost tenderness, mildness, and meekness,

* Isaiah, xlii. 1—3.

meekness, without contention and noise, without tumult and disturbance. A bruised reed shall he not break; he shall not bear hard upon a wounded and contrite, and truly humble and penitent heart, bowed down with a sense of its infirmities. And smoking flax shall he not quench; the faintest spark of returning virtue he will not extinguish by severity; but will cherish and encourage the one, and will raise and animate and enliven the other; till by these gentle conciliating means he shall have triumphed over the wickedness and malevolence of his enemies, and completely established his religion throughout the world. What an amiable picture is here given us of the divine Author of our faith! and how exactly does this prophetic description correspond to the whole tenour of his conduct in the propagation of his religion.

The next remarkable occurrences which present themselves in this chapter are those of our Saviour casting a devil out of a man that was both blind and dumb; the reflections

reflections which the Pharisees threw upon him in consequence of this miracle, and the effectual manner in which he silenced them, and repelled their calumny.

The passage is as follows: "Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb: and he healed him; insomuch that the blind and dumb

both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?"

This passage affords room for a variety of observation..i

In the first place, it is evident from this, as well as from many other passages of

holy

holy writ, that at the time when our Saviour promulged his religion, there was a calamity incident to the human race, of which at present we know nothing, and that is, the possession of their bodies by evil spirits, or devils (as they are usually called in Scripture,) which occasioned great torments to the unhappy sufferers, and often deprived them both of their sight and hearing, as in the present instance. Such possessions having long since ceased, they have appeared to several learned men so incredible, that they have been led to deny that they ever existed, and to maintain that they were only diseases of a violent and terrifying nature, attended with convulsive or epileptic fits; that this sort of disease was ascribed by the Jews to the operation of evil spirits; and that our Saviour, in compliance with their prejudices, treated them as cases of real possession, and pretended to cast out devils, when in fact he only cured the disorder with which the patient was afflicted.