heavy yoke of sin, and the cruel pangs of a wounded conscience?

Having concluded this public address, one of the Pharisees desired he would eat with him. The blessed Jesus accepted the invitation, accompanied him to his house, and sat down to meat. He had not continued long at the table, before a woman, who had lately left the paths of vice for those of virtue, placed herself behind him, and from a deep conviction of her former crimes, and the obligation she owed the Saviour of mankind, for bringing her to a sense of them, shed such quantities of tears, that they trickled down on his feet, which, according to the custom of the country, was then bare. But observing that her tears had wet the feet of her beloved Instructor, she immediately wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed them with the most ardent affection, and anointed them with precious ointment she had brought with her for that purpose.

It was a custom among the inhabitants of the east, to pour fragrant oils on the heads of such guests as they intended particularly to honour, while they sat at meat, and probably the woman's original intention was to anoint Jesus in the usual manner. But being exceedingly humbled on account of her former crimes, she could not presume to take that freedom with him, and therefore poured it on his feet, to express at once the greatness of her love, and the profoundness of her humility.

The Pharisee, who had attentively observed the woman, concluded from thence, that our Saviour could not be a prophet. "This man (said the Pharisee to himself) if he were a prophet, would have known who, and what manner of a woman this is, that toucheth him; for she is a sinner." Luke viii. 39.

But though Simon spoke this only in his heart,, his thoughts were not concealed from

the great Redeemer of mankind, who, to convince him that he was a prophet, and that he knew not only the characters of men,' but even the secret thoughts of their hearts, immediately conversed with him on the very subject he had been revolving in his mind. He did not indeed expose him, before the company, by relating what he had said in secret, but with remarkable delicacy, pointed out to Simon alone, the unreasonableness of his thoughts. Simon (said the blessed Jesus) I have something to say to thee. There was a certain creditor, who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him the most? Simon an-swered, and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast rightly judged." And then immediately applied this short parable to the subject of the woman, on which the Pharisee had so unjustly reasoned with himself, "Simon (continued our Saviour) seest thou this woman: I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet but she hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. Mine hand with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment." Luke vii. 44, &c.

ed the conduct of the woman, to the company, and rebuked with great delicacy, the unjust suspicions of Simon, turned himself to the woman, and in the kindest manner, assured her, that "her sins were forgiven.' But the power he assumed in forgiving sins greatly offended the Jews, who not being acquainted with his divinity, considered his speech as derogatory to the honour of the Almighty. Jesus, however, contemned their malicious murmurs, and repeated his assurance, telling the woman that her faith had saved her, and bidding her depart in peace.

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bath or pool, called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, that is, the House of Mercy, on account of the miracles wrought there by the salutary effects of the water, at certain seasons. This bath was surrounded by five porches or cloisters, in which those who frequented the place, were sheltered both from the heat and cold; and were particularly serviceable to the diseased and infirm, who crowded thither to find relief in their afflictions.

These porches were now filled with a "great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel descended into Whosothe pool and troubled the water. ever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." John v. 3, 4.

This is the account of this miraculous pool given us by St. John, the only writer who has mentioned it. Many controversies have arisen, concerning the place, the time, and the nature of the pool; questions which will perhaps never be answered, because the pool of Bethesda is not mentioned by any Jewish writer, sacred or profane.

The time when this miraculous effect took place cannot be determined: but it is almost universally agreed, that it could not be long before the coming of our Saviour; and that the miracle was intended to lead us to the Son of God. For the gift of prophecy and of miracle had ceased among the Jews, for above four hundred years; and therefore to raise in them a more ardent desire for the coming of the Messiah, and to induce them to be more circumspect in observing the signs of his coming, God was pleased to favour them with this remarkable sign at Bethesda. And as the descendants of Jacob, in the last times, were very obnoxious, not only to the irruptions and tyranny of the Gentiles, but had wholly lost their liberty: so God favoured them with this eminent token of bis favour, this wonderful pool,

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that they might not despair of the promises made to their forefathers being fulfilled.

The pool was situated near the gate of victims, which were figures of the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, that they might be convinced God had yet a regard to the posterity of Abraham, and the worship which he himself had established; and might thus support themselves with the pleasing hope of the coming of the Messiah, the great Angel of the covenant, to his temple.

And as this miracle of the angel descending from heaven, begun when the coming of the Messiah was at hand, to advise them of the speedy and near approach of that promised salvation; so Christ entered these porches, which were situated without the temple, and performed the miracle which will presently be related, to indicate what was the true intent of this gift of healing, namely, to lead men to himself, "the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanliness." The waters were troubled only at this certain season of the passover, or at other stated periods, and one only healed each time the angel descended, to shew them at once the weakness of the law, and the great difference between that and the gospel dispensation; and to teach them not to rest satisfied with the corporeal benefit only, as in the ministration of an angel, but to reflect attentively on the promises of the Messiah's approaching advent.

Such remarks, we conceive, will not be unacceptable to the reader, with respect to the celebrated pool, and shall now return to our Saviour, who thought proper to visit the porches of Bethesda, now crowded with persons labouring under divers dis

eases.

Among these objects of pity, was one who had laboured under his infirmity no less than thirty and eight years. The length and greatness of this man's affliction, which were well known to the Son of God, were sufficient to excite his tender compassion, No. 5.

and make him the happy object to demonstrate that his power of healing was infinitely superior to the sanative virtue of the waters; while the rest were suffered to remain in their affliction.

Had our Lord at this time restored one of them to health, he would have acted contrary to the general account which the evangelists give of his goodness, on other occasions, namely, "that he healed all who came unto him." For such diseased persons, who left their habitations through a persuasion of his power and kindness, were proper objects of his mercy; whereas the sick. in the cloisters of Bethesda were no more so than the other sick, throughout the whole country, whom he could have cured with a single word of his mouth, had he been pleased to have uttered it..

Our compassionate Lord now approached the man whom he had singled out as the person on whom to manifest his power. He asked him whether he was desirous of being made whole? A question which must induce the man to declare publicly his. melancholy case, in the hearing of the mul titude, and consequently render the miracle more conspicuous. And as this was done on the sabbath-day, our blessed Saviour seems to have wrought it, to rouse the sons. of Jacob from their lethargy, and convince the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the longexpected Messiah was now come, and that "God had actually visited his people."

This distressed mortal beholding Jesus with a sorrowful countenance, and understanding that he meant his being healed by the immediate virtue of the waters, answered in a plaintive accent, "Sir, I bave no man,. when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: But while I am coming. another steppeth down before me." John v. 7. But the beneficent Redeemer soon convinced him that he was not to owe his cure to the salutary nature of the waters, but to the unbounded power of the Son of God and accordingly said to him, "Rise,

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take up thy bed and walk." Nor was the heavenly mandate any sooner uttered, than the impotent man, to the astonishment of the multitude, was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked." John v. 9.

This miraculous atchievement could not fail of having a proper effect on the spectators; and his carrying his bed on the sabbath-day, which the Jews considered as a profanation of that day of rest, tended greatly to spread his fame of the miracle over the whole city. Nor did the man scruple to obey the commands of his kind physician he well knew that the person who had the power of working such miracles must be a great prophet; and consequently that his injunction could not be sinful. He therefore thought that he gave a sufficient answer to those Jews, who told him it was not lawful to carry his bed on the sabbath-day, to say, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk." John v. 11. He then restored my strength in an instant, and removed, with a single word, a disease that had many years afflicted me, commanded me at the same time to take up my bed and walk and surely a person endued with such power from on high, could not have ordered me to do any thing but what is truly right.

The votaries of infidelity should remember, that this signal miracle was performed in an instant, and even when the person did not expect any such favour, nor even knew the person to whom he owed it. No one, therefore, can pretend that imagination had any shew in performing it. In short, the narrative of this miracle of mercy sufficiently proves, that the person who performed it was really divine.

Soon after the miracle was performed, Jesus met in the temple the man he had healed at the pool of Bethesda; and took the opportunity of reminding him, that as he was now freed from an infirmity he had

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brought on hinself by irregular courses, he should be careful to abstain from them for the future, lest the Almighty should think proper to inflict him in a more terrible manThe man, overjoyed at having found the divine physician, who had relieved him from his melancholy condition, repaired to the scribes and pharisees, and with a heart overflowing with gratitude, innocently told them that it was Jesus who had performed on him so astonishing a cure; being, doubtless, persuaded that they would rejoice at beholding so great a Prophet.

But alas! this was far from being the case: the rulers of Israel, instead of being pleased with accounts of his many stupendous works of mercy and kindness, attacked him tumultuously in the temple, and carried him before the Sanhedrim, probably with an intention to take away his life, merely because he had done good on the sabbath-day.

Jesus, however, soon vindicated by irrefragable arguments, the propriety of his works; observing that in performing works of mercy and beneficence on the sabbathday, he only imitated his heavenly father, the God of Jacob, whose providence was continually employed, without any regard to times or seasons, in doing good for the children of men. And surely be must be more than blind who cannot discover, that the Almighty, on the sabbaths, as well as on other days, supports the whole frame of the universe; and, by the invisible operations of his power, continues the motion of the heavenly bodies, on the revolution of which the vicissitude of day and night, of summer and winter, so necessary to the production of the fruit of the earth depend.

But the Jewish prejudice could not be overcome by arguments. Nay the very apology increased their malice, as he claimed a peculiar relation to God; and by asserting that he acted like him, insinuated that he was equal to the Almighty himself.

The Saviour of the world did not deny this conclusion: but shewed that he acted agreeably to the will of God, doing whatsoever the Father commissioned him to perform. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." John v. 19, 20.

The blessed Jesus added, that he had not only power to heal the sick, but even to raise the dead; and his Father had constituted him the universal Judge of the world and therefore those who refused to honour him, refused to honour the Father. But whoever believed on him, should inherit eternal life.

And that they might not doubt of the truth of his mission, but that he was actually invested with the power of raising the dead, he desired them to remember the undoubted instances he had already given of it, in restoring the daughter of Jairus, and the widow's son of Nain, to life and consequently, that he could on any future occasion, exert the same power: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself: and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man." John v. 25, &c.

Our Lord added to this, be not surprised at the power of raising a few individuals from the dead, and the authority of inflicting punishment on a small number of the human race, I have a far greater power committed to me, even that of raising all the sons of Adam, at the last day, and of judging and rewarding every one of them

The great day of tribulation will distinguish between the good and the evil for the tremendous has been privy to all the actions of the sons of men, from the beginning to the end of time; nor has he any interest to pursue, or any inclination to satisfy, different from those of his heavenly Father. "And my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father, which hath sent me." John v. 30.

Nothing could more evince the character of our Lord, than these assertions; though he did not require his bearers to believe them merely on his own testimony; he appealed to that of John, who was a burning and a shining light and in whom, for a time, they greatly rejoiced, because the prophetic spirit, which had so long ceased in Israel, was revived in that holy man. Nay, he appealed to a much greater testimony than that of John, even that of the God of Jacob himself, who was continually bearing witness to the truth of his mission, by the many miracles he overpowered him to perform; and who, at his baptism, had, in an audible voice from the courts of heaven, declared him to be his beloved Son; a voice which multitudes of people had heard, and probably even some of those to whom he was now speaking.

The Jews had long expected the Messiah but they had expected him to appear as a temporal prince, who would not only restore the former lustre to the throne of David, but infinitely augment it, and even place it over all the kingdoms of the earth. And hence they were unwilling to acknowledge Jesus for their Messiah, notwithstanding the proofs of his mission were so unde

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