170 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD even times in a day turn to thee, laying, I repent; thou(halt forgive hint. This difcourfe on forgivenefs, uttered at a time when the Pharifees had juif up- braided him, by calling him a falfe teacher, fufficiently proves how truly he forgave them all the perfonal injuries they had committed againft him ; and fhould be a powerful recommendation of that amiable virtue, the forgivenefs of injuries. However beautiful thefe difcourfes of our Saviour appear, when examined with attention, they feem to have ftaggered the faith of his difciples and followers ; per- haps they full imagined, that he would fhortly ereét a temporal kingdom, and dif- tribute among them the rewards they ex- pelled for theirfervices. If fo, they might well defire their Mailer to increafe their faith: as difcourfes like thefe had a very different tendency from what might natu- rally have been expelled from one who was going to eftablifh the throne of David, and extend his fceptre over all the king- doms of the earth ; but however this be, our Saviour told them, that if they. had the fmalleft degree of true faith, it would be fufficient for overcoming all temptations, even thofe, which feem as difficult to be conquered, as the plucking up trees and planting them in the ocean : Ifye hadfaith as 'a grain of muftard feed, ye might fay unto this fycamine-tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the fèa, and it fhould obey you. Luke xvii. 6. C H A P T E R XXV. The Sickn f and Death of Lazarus: Jesus receives an Account thereof; and, in his Way to Bethany, he heals ten Lepers in a Village of Samaria : He arrives at Bethany, and raifeth Lazarus to Life, after he had been dead four Days : Many Jews believe: The Pharifees hold a Council againft CHRIST: Caiaphas prophefieth: Jesus retireth to Ephraim, a City oso the Borders of the Wildernefs, where he fheweth the fpiritual Nature of the Kingdom of God, foretelleth the Deruciion of the jewifil State, and inftruBteth his Difciples concerning the Coming of the Son of Man. Jesus delivers the Parable of the unjuji Judge and importunate Widow, and that of the Pharifee and the Publican: He anfwereth the Queflion of the Pharifees concerning Divorces: He receiveth the little Children with Tendernefs that were brought unto him, and bleth them. SHORTLY after our bleffed Saviour had finifhed thefe difcourfes, one of his friends, named Lazarus, fell fick at Bethany, a village about two miles from Jerufalem, but at a great diftànce from the countries beyond Jordan, whereJesus was now preaching the gofpel. The fiflers of Lazarus, finding his ficknefs was of a dan- gerous kind, thought proper to fend an account of it to Jesus ; being firmly per- fuaded, that he who had cured fo many ítrangers, would readily come and give health to one whom he loved in fo tender a manner : Lord, faid they, behold he whom thou loveft is lick: they did not add, come down and heal him, make hafte and fave him from the grave; it was fufficient for them to propofe their neceffities to their Lord, who was both able and willing to help them in their diftrefs. When
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