and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, E3c. 193 my fufferings, death, refurre&ion, and the converfion of the whole Gentile world to the Chrif ian religion. A profpea like this, could not fail of being agreeable to that compaffionate Being, who came down from heaven to redeem loll and undone mankind, andof removing the melancholy thoughts that affliQed his fpotlefs foul : and accordingly he communicated this comfortable reflec- tion to his difciples, telling them that the time was at hand when the kingdom of Satan fhould be deflroyed, and the fons of men exalted with himfelf into the happy regions of the heavenly Canaan : Now is the judgment of this world : now (hall the prince of this world be call out. And I, if I be liftedupfront the earth, will draw all men unto me. But the people on hearing our bleffed Redeemer affirm, that he was to fuffer death on the crofs, or as he termed it, be lifted up from the earth, could not recon- cile what he faid with the prophecies made concerning the Meffiah, whom they fup- ,pofed was never to tafle of death: We have heard, faid they, out of.the law, that Chrift abidethfor ,ever : and howfay thou, The Son of man mull be lifted up? To which our bleffed Lord replied, that they fhould foon be deprived of his prefence and mi- racles, and therefore they would do well to liften attentively to his precepts, firmly believe the doilrines he delivered, and wifely improve them to their eternal ad- vantage ; for otherwife they would be foon overtakenwith fpiritual blindnefs, and ren- dered incapable of inheriting the promifes of the gofpel : that while they enjoyed the benefit ofhis preaching andmiracles, which fufficientlyproved the truth of his million from the Moll High, they fhould believe on him, for by that means alone they could become the children of God : Yet a little while is the light withyou. Walk whileyou have the light, l darknefs come uponyou: for he that wallseth in darknefs, knoweth not whither he goeth. Whileye have light, believe inthelight, thatyemaybe the children oflight. No. 17. Having fpoken thefe words to the people, our dearLord,retired privately from Jerufalem, probably toBethany : but, not - withflanding the manymiracles our great Redeemer had wrought in the prefence of this perverfe and Itiffnecked people, the generalityofthem refufed to ownhim forthe Meffiah ; being filled with the vain expec- tations of a temporal prince, who was to rule over all the kingdoms of the earth, and place his throne in Jerufalem. Some, indeed, even of the rulers, believed on him, though, valuing the good opinion of men above the approbation of the Al- mighty, they thought it prudent to con- ceal their faith, left they ,fhould, like the blind man, be excommunicated; or put out of the fynagogue. But our Redeemer being willing to che- rifh the leali glimmerings of faith, wherever it appeared, he foon returned to Jerufa- lem ; and to infpire fuch as believed on him with courage, he cried in the temple, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him thatfent nse. As if he had faid, the dofrine I preach to the children of men, is fo evidently from God, that he who believeth on me, believeth more pro- perlyon the Almighty, who fent me into the world, and by whole authority alone I preach the gofpel : adding, he that feeth the miracles I perform, feeth the operations of that omnipotent Power by which I aci I amthe Sunof Righteoufnefs, whofe beams difpel the darknefs of ignorance in which the fons of men are involved, and am come to deliver all who believe on me, out of that palpable darknefs. You mull not however expeét, that I will at prefect exe- cute my judgments upon thofe who refute to embrace the dofrines of the gofpel; for I am not come to condemn and punifh, but to fave the world, and confeqq__uently to try every gentle and winning metñod to reclaim the wicked from the error of their ways, and turn their feet into the paths of virtue, which lead to the happy millions of my Father's kingdom : they £hall not, however, efcape unpunifhed who neglect 3 A the
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