84 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED But our great Redeemer proceeds fur- ther to alfert and enforce his own divi- nity, and equality with his Father, by obferving, that to him is af(igned the great work of fitting in judgment, and fixing the eternal (late of all mankind. Marvel not at this, faid he, for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves (hall come forth : they that have done good, to the rfurreftion of lift, and they that have done evil, to the refurrefiion of damnation. And my judgment is full, becaufe IPeek not mine own will, but the will of my Father who fent me. In that groat and terrible day, the fate of a falling world will be decided by Unerring Wifdom, and the invariable rules of righ- teoufnefs and goódnefs ; for the great Judge of heaven and earth, hath a full and clear perception of every aaion which has been performed from the beginning to the end of time ; and he is abfolutely impartial and unbialled, having no in- clination to fatisfy, no end to purfue, different from thofe of his heavenly Fa- ther. The great Saviour of' the world, as a further confirmation of his divinity, ap- pealed to the teftimony of John, to whom the Pharifees had formerly fent a depu- tation to know his opinion of CHRIST. Our Lord obferved, that he was a burn- ing and a fhining light, in which, for a time, the Jews greatly rejoiced, and they had caufe to rejoice, becaufe the pro- phetic fpirit, which had fo long ceafed in Ifrael, had been revived in that holy man; and he had given a full and clear teftimony, that JESUS was the Son of God: but our Redeemer. proceeded to a greater teftimony than that ofJohn, which was no other than God himfelf, who, by the miracles which he daily direfled him to perform, was bearing a conftant witnefs to the truth of his divinity, and had by an audible voice at his baptifm, declared him to be his well -beloved Son ; a voice which multitudes of people had heard, and, perhaps, fome of thofe to whomhe was now (peaking. And for a further confirmation of the great truth he had been maintaining, our Lord, as a means to ftrike a full con- viêlion in the minds of the Jews, with whom he was converfing, appealed to their own Scriptures : Search the Scrip-, tures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which t f ify of me. But, notwithflanding the clearnefs of the ancient prophecies, and the remarkable manner in which they defcribed and pointed out the Saviour of finners, that unhappy nation was fo blinded by their prejudices and vices, that they could not believe. The Jews had long expeéted the Meffiah to appear amongft them, but they had formed very different concep- tions of his appearance, than the defigns of heaven, or the defcriptions of their prophets. The Scribes and Pharifees had long amufed themfelves, and filled the minds of the people, with grand and magnificent ideas of the Meffiah's king- dom ; they had reprefented him as a potent prince, who was to be adorned with all the enfigns of power,, and the glory of -fovereign greatnefs ; he was to fit on the throne of his father David, and raife it in power, greatnefs, glory, grandeur, and magnificence, above all the kingdoms of the earth. Hence it was, that they could not acknowledge JESUS as their Meffiah ; they took offence at the meannefs of his appearance ; and though the mighty works which he per- formed, fully manifefted the truth of his miffion, and were fufficient to convince every impartial and unprejudiced mind, that he was really, the Meffiah; yet the pride of that infatuated nation, could not (loop fo low as to acknowledge him : nor could their teachers, who had filled their minds with fuch vafl expellations of temporal greatnefs, condefcend to con - fefs themfelves fo much miftaken in the . meaning of the prophets. But
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