as Mofes directed in fuch a cafe, by the oblation of a turtle dove ;-that the Saviour of their nation, whom they expected to be ufhered amidft them with all the enfigns and apparatus of royalty, fhould be brought forth in a ftable, and anfwerable to diftrefs;-fubjected all his life to the lowest conditions of humanity:-that whilft he lived, he fhould not have a hole to put his head in, nor his corpse in, when he died;-but his grave too, must be the gift of charity. These were thwarting confiderations to those who waited for the redemption of Ifrael, and looked for it in no other shape, than the accomplishment of thofe golden dreams of temporal power and fovereignty,

which had filled their imaginations.

The ideas were not to be reconciled;-and fo infuperable an obftacle was the prejudice on one fide, to their belief on the other, that it literally fell out, as Simeon prophetically declared of the Meffiah,-that he was fet forth for the fall, as well as the rifing again, of many in Ifrael.

This, though it was the cause of their infidelity, was however no excufe for it.-For whatever their miftakes were, the miracles which were

"

wrought in contradiction to them, brought conviction enough to leave them without excufe ;-and befides, it was natural for them to have concluded, had their prepoffeffions given

thousand with five loaves and twe fishes, could not want power to be

great; and therefore needed not to appear in the condition of poverty and meannefs, had it not, on other fcores, been more needful to confront the pride and vanity of the world, and to fhew his followers what the temper of chriftianity was, by the temper of its firft inftitutor ;-who, though they were offered, and he could have commanded them,-defpifed the glories of the world; took upon him the form of a fervant, --and though equal with God,-yer made himself of no reputation, that he might fettle, and be the example of fo holy and humble a reli

gion, and thereby convince his difciples for ever, that neither his kingdom nor their happinefs were to be of this world. Thus the Jews might. have eafily argued ;-but when there was nothing but reafon to do it with on one fide, and ftrong prejudices, backed with intereft, to maintain the difpute, upon the other, we do not find the point is always fo eafily determined. Although the purity of our Saviour's doctrine, and the mighty works he wrought in its fupport, were demonftratively ftronger arguments for his divinity, than the unrefpected lowlinefs of his condition could be against it; yet the prejudice continued ftrong;2. they

promises-fo bribed to do their

duty, they could not endure to

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think of a religion that would not promise, as much as Mofes did, to fill their basket, and fet them high above all nations:-a religion whofe appearance was not great and fplendid, but looked thin and meagre;—

and whose principles and promises, -like the curfes of their law, called for fufferings, and promised perfecutions.

If we take this key along with us through the New Teftament, it will let us into the spirit and meaning of many of our Saviour's replies in his conferences with his difciples, and others of the Jews;fo particularly in this place, Matthew vi. when