P° 48 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED the nobleman's fon, procured himfelf friends, and he was fore of a kind recep- tion. Nor is it unlikely, that fo great and benevolent a miracle fhould be generally known in the city, and not have influenced the minds of the inhabitants in favour of our Redeemer, while it prepared them for the reception of his. heavenly doflrine. This city feemed a place highly conve- nient for the execution of his great and benevolent deigns ; for it being the capital of the country, and nearly bordering on the lake, it was frequently crowded with merchants and traders ; who, on their re- turn to their refpe&ive countries, might fpread the report of what they might be eye and ear witneffes of ; and by this means, the miracles and doflrine of the Saviour of the world, might be related in diflant places. It was in the city of Ca- pernaum, and the adjacent cities and vil- lages bordering on the lake, that our great Redeemer fpent two out of the three years of his public life; molt commonly goingto Jerufalem at the public feafls, but foon re- turning. He frequently preached in the fynagogues on the Sabbath-day, not only in Capernaum, but in the other cities of Galilee ; and often the country villages, the fields, the mountains, the plains, and the waters of the lake were bleffed with his prefence ; and his heavenly doétrine was learned by the attentive multitudes who followed him, to hear his words and fee his wonderous works. It was in one of thefe excuriions, that he called Simon and Andrew. Thefe dif- ciples were following their occupation of fifhingon the lake : they had known him before, and immediately followed him. Soon after, he faw James, and John, who were bufy in the fame employment : he called them alfo, and they readily obeyed. Perhaps, they might have been acquainted with our Redeemer on the banks of Jor- dan ; or ifnot, his call was accompanied with fuch a manifeftation of divine power, that all their fcruples were overcome, and with a joyful readinefs and elation of mind, they followed the Saviour of the world. Accompanied by thefe difciples, our bleffed Redeemer took a tour through feveral cities, towns, and villages in Ga- lilee : the time he fpent in this progrefs is not particularly noted by the Evange- lifts, but we are told, that he wrought a great number of miracles, that he healed the difeafes of thofe that applied to him, and performed fuch wonderful works, that his fame drew great multitudes of people after him, not only from Galilee, but the remoter parts of Judea, and even from beyond Jordan: nor was the fame of the wonders he performed, confined to the landof Ifrael ; for the inhabitants of Syria brought their fick into the province of Galilee, to be healed by the Saviour of mankind. The bleffed Jesus, perceiving himfelf followed by a vafl multitude of people, who all crowded around him, with the utmofl earneftnefs and attention, afcended a mountain that was near at hand, and placing himfelf on an eminence, while all the people flood on the fides of the hill, he addreffed the liftening throng from thence ; and with' the molt intelligent fimplicity and plainnefs, joined with the molt powerful heart-affefling energy, he inculcated in them the moral precepts of his religion. He began his divine difcourfe with the dorrine of happinefs, a fubjea which had claimed the firft attention of the fchools of the philofophers, and the wife men of the age ; and a fubjea, which, in it's own nature, claims the confederation of every intelligent being, and the more fo, as the wifeft of mankind have differed very much in their definitions what true happinefs is, as well as the means by which it is to be attained. The Jews in general, concluded it to confiit in opulence, gran- deur,
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