LORD and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST. 85 But to conclude this difcourfe, our Lord proceeded to obferve that he himfelffhould not be their, only accufer to his Father, but they would becondemned for their infidelity by their great legillator, Mofes, on whom they trotted as their invariable friend. Do not think; Paid he, that Iwill accufe you to the Father ; there is -one that accufeth you, even Mofes, in whom ye truft : for had ye believed Mofes, ye would have believed the ; forhe wrote of the : but ifye believe not his writings, howfhallye believe my words? With fuch obfervations and arguments as thefe, the bleffed Jesus combated the pride and prejudices of the Jewifh nation, and proved himfelf to be the Son of God, the great Judge of the whole earth, and the Meffiah promifed by the ancient pro- phets ; and fo plain and convincing were the proofs and arguments he brought, that his adverfaries . could not reply : but though they were filenced by the wifdom ofhis words, theirold prejudices remained : and their being baffled and overcome in every contefi, filled them with growing ran pour and fettled hatred to his perron, which {hewed itfelf on every occafion, and proceeded fo far as to induce them to en- deavour to take away his life. Nor- was it long before the proud and envious Scribes and Pharifees found a frefh opportunity to exclaim againfi our great Redeemer, and purfue him with their im- pertinent objeaions and cavils ; for going with his train through the corn-fields on the fabbath-day, his difciples plucked the ears ofcorn and eat the grain, after rubbing it in their hands ; and the Pharifees with the utmolt feverity and bitternefs exclaimed againft this as a profanation of the fabbath. Our Lord, in reply to this calumny, re- minded them of the condua of David, who, in a cafe of necellity, when he fled from Saul, permitted his fervants, and prefumed himfelf, to eat of the fhew -bread which was kept in the tabernacle, and was not lawful for any to eat but the priefts ; No. 8. and further to convince them of the folly oftheir remarks, our Lord referred them to the condua of their own picas, who conffantly performed the neceffary work of the temple on the fabbath-day : from whence it appears, that works ofneceflity had been always permitted on the fabbath- day, though it was contrary to the command of the law. Our Lord further obferved, that it was neceffary the Scribes and Pharifees fhould know that the Son ofman was Lord of the .fabbath : for as the work which himfelf and his difciples conffantly attended to was promoting the eternal interefi of mankind, they had a greater right to claim an exemption from the firia obfervance of the fabbath than the priefis in the temple, who were only concerned in the praaice ofritual obfervances, could pretend to. And in the conclufion of this difcourfe, our great Redeemer took notice that aEis of mercy fhould always be per- formed, though they were attended with the violation of forne of-the facred inflitu- tions of the ceremonial law ; for it would be inverting the order of nature, and reverfing the immutable rules of reafon and the nature of things, to fuppofe that maso was made for the fabbath, and not thefabbathfor the ufe and beat of man. Soon after this debate with the Scribes and Pharifees, our blefled Saviour entered one of the fynagogues ofJerufalem on the fabbath-day, and in the aflèmbly there was a man whore right hand was withered. The Pharifees rightly concluded that fuch an objea of difirefs would excite the compaffton of that divine phyfician, who had fo often exerted the wonderful power he poflelfed in behalf of the helplefs and miferable : and, obferving that Jesus took particular notice of the infirm perfon, they watched him with all the keennefs and rancour of the moli inveterate malice, concluding that they fhould now have an opportunity of accufìng him to the people as a breaker of the fabbath. So full of pride X and
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