044 4 SIIORT VIEW OF SCRIPTURE HISTORY. What token of honour from heaven did 'Christ re- ceive in the wilderness ? A. When the devil was disappc;nted and vanquished, and forsook him, the angels of God came and ministered unto him. SECT. I.Jesus Christ's Appearance with the Characters of the 1Vlesstah. 16. Question. We are come now to the public life and ministry of Jews Christ, and let us hear what were the chief parts or designs of it ? A. The first design of his public life and ministry was to appear in the world with the marks of a divine commission, and the characters of the Messiah upon him. 17. Q. flow did Jesus fulfil this first design of his public life and ministry? A, fie healed the sick, he raised the dead, he preached the glad tidings of salvation to the poor, he set about the reformation of the world, and all this without noise or uproar, and he received several testimonies from heaven. See these characters of the Messiah foretold by the prophets ; Is. xxxv. 4, 5, and hi. 1, 2. and xlii. 2. Mal. iii. 1 -3. and exem- plified in Christ ; Mat. xi. 3-+5. and v. 17-20. and xii. 19. 18. Q. But did not Christ preach up his own character as the Messiah or anointed Saviour ? A. Though lie several times preached that he was sett from God, yet he very seldom de- clared plainly that he was the Messiah ; and even forbid the men that knew it, to publish it at that time, nor would he suf- fer the devil to declare it ; Mat. xvi. 20. Mark i. 34. 19. Q. Why did our Saviour so long abstain from declaring that he was the Messiah, who should come into the world ? A. Partly that men might learn his office and character in a ra- tional way, and infer that he was the Messiah by his doctrine and his works, and partly that he might not expose himself to the rage of his enemies, and to death before his time; Luke vii. 19-23. 20. Q. What were some of the testimonies which Christ received from heaven in his life ? A. Voices from heaven at several times; once at his baptism, which was mentioned before, once among the people in answer to his prayer ; and once on the mount of transfiguration, when Moses and Elias calve from hea- ven toattend him. 21. Q. What was that voice which came in answer to his prayer ? A. When Christ prayed in public that God his Father would glorify his name, there was an answer came from hea- ven, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again ;" John xii. 28. 22. Q. What was the transfiguration ? A. Jesus went up into á high mountain with three of his disciples, his countenance was changed all glorious, andhis raiment shining like sun-beams, Moses and Elias appeared and conversed with him, and from a
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