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the Jews, and say that persons possessed were brought to be healed. They were not authorized to change the common forms of speech upon this subject, though founded in error; for it was the object of their mission to teach men the nature of true religion, and not the nature of human distempers, which mankind were left to learn by the use of their own faculties. By lunatics we are not to understand the persons to whom we, at the present day, apply that word, that is maniacs, but those who were afflicted with the epilepsy, or falling sickness, as appears from the description which is given us of a lunatic by the evangelist Matthew, (xvii. 15.) "Have mercy upon my son, for he is lunatic, and sore vexed with a dæmon; for oft time he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water:" in the other evangelists the same person is described as making grievous outcries, foaming and gnashing with the teeth, as being convulsed or torn, and tossed about on the ground----all which are plainly the symptoms of the epilepsy. This disorder, as well as madness, the Jews and heathens attributed to the possession of some wicked spirit, but not to the devil or a fallen angel, because the understanding is disordered in both cases; the mind having no command over the organs of the body. The reason why epileptics are called lunatics, was because the periods of the disorder were supposed to be regulated by the moon, and the fits to return every new and full moon. The persons then of whom Matthew speaks in this passage were maniacs and epileptics: these were afflicted with disorders very difficult to be cured, and therefore they are properly joined with those who had the palsy. The two distempers were different, although they were ascribed to the same cause---the spirit of a wicked man possessing the bodies of the sufferers. Those who wish to have this subject of possessions more fully explained, I must refer to the writings of Dr. Lardner and Mr. Farmer upon the dæmoniacs of the New Testament.

25. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and

from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judæa, and from beyond, rather, "from the side of " Jordan.

Decapolis was a region of Palestine; so called because it contained ten cities, about the names of which men are not agreed: it extended on one side of Jordan, and on each side of the lake of Gennesareth.

REFLECTIONS.

1. We see that Jesus, though he knew of the imprisonment of John, was not deterred from undertaking the dangerous office to which he had been appointed; notwithstanding he was well aware that he should expose himself to greater evils from the hands of his enemies than John could suffer by the hands of Herod, He hereby shewed that a sense of duty and a desire to do good had more influence over his mind than a regard to his personal safety. After his example, let us resolve to perform our duty, and hereby keep a good conscience, although we see others suffering for the like conduct. To be terrified by the sufferings of any of the professors of pure Christianity, in the present day, or in past generations, will discover a timid spirit, unworthy of the disciples of such a master. This ten:per will be peculiarly disgraceful to those who are the teachers and instructors of others, who ought to set an example of fortitude in their conduct.

2. Andrew and Peter, James and John, give up their employment and leave their relations and friend: to follow Christ; a master who had not sufficien wherewith to subsist himself, much less his follower. without charity, and had not where to lay his head.---

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Such sacrifices we also must be ready to make in proof of our attachment to Christ, and in obedience to the precepts of his religion: for he has declared, "whosoever loveth father or mother, wife or children, houses or lands, more than me, is not worthy of me." Yet he has given us sufficient encouragement to make these sacrifices chearfully, however great they may be; for whoever abandons any of these enjoyments for the sake of Christ, shall receive an hundred fold more now in this present time, in the peace and satisfaction of his own mind, and in the world to come, life everlasting.

3. Christ chose fishermen for his apostles; to be witnesses of his life and doctrine while he lived; and to transmit an account of them to the world, when he ascended into heaven. In the success of their ministry we have an illustrious proof of the divine origin of the Christian religion. Pehold the wonderful spectacle, the wisdom of the learned confounded, the power of the great overthrown, and the whole world subdued, by a few illiterate fishermen: surely the weapons which accomplished such a change could not be carnal; there must be something more than human wisdom or human power in a scheme that prevailed by such feeble means.

4. Happy was the land of Naphthali, in which Christ opened his divine commission, by preaching the gospel; but more happy are we in this island, in having the whole scheme of the Christian dispensation displayed before our eyes! We were once involved in the grossest ignorance, when our ancestors were heathens, and sacrificed men and women to their Gods; but that darkness was happily dispelled by the light of the gospel, and when involved again in the same clouds of error and superstition, under the dominion of popery, a glorious light sprung up upon us from the reformation, and has continued to shine to the present day. Let us bless God, who has favoured us with so much light, while so large a portion of mankind are still in the region of the shadow of death.

5. In the miracles which Christ wrought we have the most satisfactory proof of a divine mission which God could give or we desire. He declares that he was sent of God, to instruct mankind in his will. In support of this declaration, God changes the course of nature, by healing the sick and curing those who were afflicted with every kind of disorder, not excepting the most inveterate; hereby setting his seal to the truth of what Christ taught. What better evidence then of any truth can we wish for than the testimony of God? While our faith is built upon this foundation, it is established upon a rock, against which the gates of hell will never be able to prevail: but this excellent foundation we weaken, or even destroy, by allowing that the devil is able of himself, or that he is allowed by God, to work miracles, by taking possession of the bodies of men; for how shall we be able to distinguish the miracles of God from the miracles of the devil; the messenger of heaven from the messenger of hell? Let us be careful therefore how we admit a position which may undermine the foundation of Christianity.

Wherever Jesus proceeds, the divine power accompanies him: well might the wonderful and beneficent acts which he performed, spread his fame into the neighbouring kingdoms: may his name continue to diffuse itself until it shall be extended over the whole earth; until all mankind shall hear of and embrace the gospel of Christ!

Matthew v. 1----12.

1. And, seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him.

Christ went up into a mountain, that he might be better seen and heard, in speaking from higher ground

to the crowds which now followed him; and he sat down to teach, after the custom of the Jewish Rabbies. The disciples who came to him here were not the apostles only; for we have but four of them mentioned before this time; nor the seventy disciples; but all that attended upon his instructions, and began to believe, in consequence of the miracles which he performed, that he was either the Messiah or some great prophet. In this sense is the word disciples often used in the history of the evangelists, and almost universally in the book of Acts, where disciples means the same thing as Christians. Luke likewise tells us, (vii. 1.) in giving an account of the sermon upon the mount, that he ended his sayings in the audience of the people.---It is necessary to make this observation, in entering upon this sermon, respecting the persons to whom it is addressed; for if it was delivered to the twelve apostles only, ordinary Christians may consider the precepts which it contains as not binding upon them, and imagine that they are entitled to no share in its blessings; but what was delivered to believers in general, must be interesting to Christians in every age.

The

In order to understand the full force and propriety of Christ's discourse, it is necessary to consider the circumstances and present temper of his hearers. Jews, it is well known, expected in their Messiah a temporal prince, who would deliver them from the Roman yoke, and lead them to dominion over the neighbouring nations, and to all those gratifications of their passions which are usually obtained by a victorious army. This was the error, not only of the profligate Jews, who might be supposed to fall into it from a desire of plunder and sensual indulgence, but likewise of the more virtuous part of the nation, whom we cannot suppose to be influenced by such motives; and the error even of the twelve apostles, who often disputed among themselves who should be the greatest in this kingdom, and put that strange question to Christ, after his resurrection from the dead, "wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom again to Israel?" Acts i. 6. Being possessed with this notion, and hearing John and Jesus announce the approach of the kingdom of

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