In fact, it appears from this and a variety of other instances of the same nature, that neither fame nor reputation, nor any other worldly advantage, had the least influence upon their hearts. Their sole object was the advancement of truth, of morality, of religion, of the eternal welfare and salvation of mankind. For these great objects they wrote, for these they lived, for these they suffered, and for these they died: on these, their thoughts were entirely and immoveably fixed, and therefore their narratives justly claim the most implicit belief in every thing that relates to these great and important and interesting subjects. Another observation which this part of the Sacred History suggests to us, is this; that no person ever yet appeared in the world, to whom such distinguished marks of honour were paid from his birth to his death, as our blessed Lord. We are often reproached with the mean condition of our Redeemer. We are often told, that He, whom we have chosen for our Lord and Master, who is the object of our adoration, and on whom all our hopes are fixed, was the reputed son of a carpenter, lived in penury and distress, and at last suffered the ignominious death of the cross. All this is true. But it is equally true, that this man of indigence and of sorrow appeared through his whole life to be the peculiar favourite of heaven; and to have been considered, not indeed by his infatuated countrymen, but by beings of a far superior order, the most important personage that ever appeared on this earthly scene.. At his birth, we are told, that the glory of the Lord shone round about certain shepherds that were then keeping watch over their flocks by night; and there was a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men*." Not long after this, a new star or meteor appeared in the heavens on purpose to announce his birth, which accordingly (as we have just seen) attracted the notice of those illustrious strangers, who came from a distant country to pay their homage to the infant Jesus; whom, notwithstanding the humility of his condition and of his habitation, they hailed as king of the Jews. At his baptism, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. After his temptation, when he had vanquished the prince of darkness, behold, angels came and ministered unto himt. At his transfiguration, his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was bright as the light, and there appeared Moses and Elias talking with him, and from the cloud which overshadowed them, there came a voice, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him §." At his agony in the garden, there appeared an angel unto him, strengthening him. At his crucifixion, all nature seemed to be thrown into convulsions: the sun was darkened; the vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom; the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; the graves were opened, and gave up their dead; and even the heathen centurion, and those that were with him, were compelled to cry out, " Truly this was the Son of God¶." Before his ascension, he said to his disciples," All power is given to me in heaven and in earth; and while he yet blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven, and a cloud * Luke ii. 14. + Matt. iii. 16. D + Id. iv. 11. received him out of their sight*." There, we are told, he sitteth at the right hand of God, making intercession for the sinful race of man, till he comes a second time in the glory of his Father, with all his holy angels, to judge the world. There has God "highly exalted him above all principalities and power, and might and dominion, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Fathert." When all these circumstances are taken together, what a magnificent idea do they present to us of the humble Jesus, and how does all earthly splendour fade and die away under this overbearing effulgence of celestial glory! We need not then be ashamed either of the birth, the life, or the death of Christ, "for they are the power of God unto salvation." And if the great and the wise men, whose history we have been considering, were induced, by the appearance of a new star, to search out, with no small labour and fatigue, the infant Saviour of the world; if they, though philosophers and deists (far different from the philosophers and deists of the present day) disdained not to prostrate themselves before him, and present to him the richest and the choicest gifts they had to offer; well may we, when this child of the Most High is not only grown to maturity, but has lived, and died, and risen again for us, and is now set down at the right hand of God (angels and principalities and powers being made subject to him); well may we not only pay our homage, but our adoration to the Son of God, and offer to him oblations far more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh; namely, ourselves, our souls and our bodies, "as a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto him;" well may we join with that innumerable multitude in heaven, which is continually praising him and saying; "Blessing, and honour, and glory be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.*" *Rev. v. 13. 36 LECTURE III. MATTHEW III. THE subject of this Lecture will be the third chapter of St. Matthew, in which we have the history of a very extraordinary person called JOHN THE BAPTIST; to distinguish him from another John mentioned in the New Testament, who was our Saviour's beloved disciple, and the author of the gospel that bears his name; whence he is called JOHN THE EVANGELIST. As the character of John the Baptist is in many respects a very remarkable one, and his appearance bears a strong testimony to the divine mission of Christ and the truth of his religion, I shall enter pretty much at large into the particulars of his history, as they are to be found not only in the gospel of St. Matthew, but in the other three Evangelists; collecting from each all the material circumstances of his life, from the time of his first appearance in the wilderness to his murder by Herod. St. Matthew's account of him is as follows: "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, |