Serm. LXIII. Proving lefts to be the Meßìas. 455 fuch Evidence of his great Wifdom and Knowledge, and did Inch mighty' Works. This could not be imputed to his Breeding, for that was mean , therefore there mull be fomething extraordinary and Divine in it. Thus another Man, who had been free from Prejudice, would have reafoned. 3. The molt unreafonable Prejudiceof all, in refpe& of his Extra&ion, was grounded upon a fpiteful and malicious Proverb, concerning the Country where our Saviour was brought up, and they fuppofed him to be Born ; and that was Galilee, John a. 46. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? And john 7. ¢a. Shallthe Me f as come out of Galilee ? And v. 52. Search and look, for out of Gali- lee arifith no Prophet. But it feems Nathanael, who was a good Man, was ealily taken off from this common Prejudice, when Philip faid to him, come and fee. He bids him come and fee the Works he did, and then refers it to him, whether he would believe his own Eyes, or an old Proverb. However, it feems the Jews laid great weight upon it, as if this alone were enough to confute ail his Miracles, and after they had 'hot this Bolt at him ; the Satinet's were concluded clearly againft him. But prudent and conliderate Men do not ufe to give much Credit to ill- natur'd Proverbs ; the good or bad Chara&ers which are given of Countreys are not underftood to be univerfally true, and without Exception. There is no place but bath brought forth fome brave Spirits, and excellent Perfons ; what- ever the Géneral Temper and Difpofition of the Inhabitants may be. Among the Grecians, the Beotians were efteem'da dull People, even to a Proverb ; and yet Pindar, one of their chief Poets, was one of them. The Scythians were a Barbarous Nation, and one would have thought no good could have come from thence ; and yet that Country yielded Anacharfis an eminent Philofopher. The Idnneeans were Aliens, and Strangers to the Covenant; and yet lob, one of the heft Men that ever was, came from thence. God can raife up eminent Perfons from any place; Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, and an Idolatrous' People. Nay, as our Saviour tells us, he can out of Stones raife up Children unto Abra- ham. The Wife God, in the Government of the World, does not tie himfelf to our foolifh Proverbs. It is not neceffary to make a Man a Prophet, that he fhould bebred in a good Air. If God fends a Man, it matters not fromwhat Place he comes. Secondly, Another Head of Exception againft our Saviour, was the meannefs ofhis outward Condition, focontrary to the Univerfal Expe&ationof the Jews. TheYews, from the Tradition of their Fathers, to which they (as the Church of Rome does at this Day,) paid a greater Reverence, than to the written Word of God, were poffeft with a prong Perfwafion, that the Meifias, whom they expe- fted, was to be a great Prince and Conqueror,and to fubdue all Nations to them; fo that nothing could be a greater defeat to their Expeaations, than the mean and low Condition ; in which our Saviour appeared; fo that upon this Account they were almoft univerfally offended at him. But chis Prejudice was very unreafonable. For neither did their Prophets fore- tel any fuch thing, as the Temporal Greatnefs of the Mef ias : But on the con- trary molt exprefly, that he fhould be defpifed and rejeiled of Men, that he fhould be a ManofSorrows andSufferings, and at Taft beput to death ; which was direly contrary to what they expe&ed from their ill-groundedTradition. Thirdly, Againft his Miracles they made thefe two Exceptions. a. That he wrought them by Magical Skill, and by the Power'of the Devil. Which Was fo exorbitantly unreafonable and malicious, that our Saviour pro- noanceth it to be an unpardonable Sin, and for Anfwer to it, appeals to every Man'sReafon, whether it was likely that the Devil fhould confpiri againft himfelf, and affifl any Man to overthrow his own Kingdom? For it was plain, our Savi- our's Marinewas direly contrary to the Devil's Defign ; and therefore to affift him to work Miracles for the Confirmation of it, mutt have been apparently againft his own Interell, and to the Ruin of his own Kingdom. a, They
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