DISCOURSE VII.

JESUS CHRIST THE MOST EXCELLENT OF ALL TEACHERS.

[AT STAPLEFORD.]

JOHN Vii. 46.

Never man spake like this man.

So said the officers, whom the Pharisees and chief priests had sent to take Jesus Christ into custody, assigning this as a reason why they had not executed their commission: but before we attend to what they say, we will make two observations on the officers themselves, and the offices they held.

Observe, first, how dangerous it is to a man's virtue to hold places in some times, under some governments. It is impossible to be truly happy without being truly good and virtuous; it is impossible to be good without being free; and it is impossible to be free without being independent; for he, who depends on a master for his whole support, and who hath the misfortune to serve an unjust master, cannot obey some orders without giving up either his integrity or his livelihood, and few men have goodness enough to give up the last for the sake of the first. These officers of the board of priests were in this dangerous condition. They were kept for the sake of executing such orders as their unjust mas ters thought fit to issue. It was on the day of a great religious festival, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were performing their devotions, that these priests held a council, and, having determined to seize the person

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of Christ, sent these officers to take him. When they returned without him, their masters reproved them, and gave them a very just notion of their condition, by say ing, "Have any of the rulers believed on him?" To which the officers made no reply, for they thoroughly understood that underlings in office are not supposed to have any sentiments of their own, but receive their salaries for doing only what they are bid.

These men might have known this by reading their own Bible. There the punishment denounced against the family of Eli is described. "Every one shall come and crouch to the high priest for a piece of silver, and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee,, into one of the priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread." It was not the poverty, but the cringing slavishness of the family, that was intended in the threatening, a part of which was, "they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." There also, in the tenth Psalm, are fully described the practices of those who make slaves, and the misery of those poor people, who submit to slavery for the sake of worldly advantages. The first are said to be men of "strong parts," whose "mouths are full of deceit," who "sit in the lurking places of the villages," and who "crouch like lions in their dens to catch the poor in a net." The last are said to be "poor, fatherless, and oppressed, taken in times of trouble, in the devices imagined" by their betrayers.. O the ingenious devices! O the goodly pretences, which both sides use to carry on this " merchandise of slaves and souls of men." Let us learn to live by our own industry, then we shall be independent: let us live within our income, then we shall be virtuous: let us never fix our attention on public money, then we shall be free, at least we shall never be obliged by a pretended duty of office to violate an actual duty of religion. Some miserable parents train up their children at a great expense, and with great guilt; and having at length taught them to be very expensive themselves, and not having a fortune to support luxury, they are obliged to sell them to the highest bidder, and expect to be repaid by turning these hungry wolves out upon the public. What

a beggarly ambition, to be a Pharisee's man! How much better, because how much more innocent, is it to be an honest day-labourer! Little do labouring men think what Pharisees and task-masters and Pharoahs say to their officers in private, and how well the officers of such men are trained up to understand looks, and hints, and half-words, where no express orders are given! Some officers of these priests, perhaps the same men who uttered the text, " took Jesus and bound him ;" and one of them, perhaps to make peace with his masters for not having done his duty before, "struck him with the palm of his hand" in open court, and said, " Answerest thou the high priest so?" For Jesus Christ, had just said to the high priest, "Ask them which heard me what I said; behold they know what I said ;" referring very likely to this very saying in the text, " Never man spake like this man."

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. However, let charity expound this history; and let us observe in the next place, and let us hope for the honour of human nature it is true, that there are upright men, who dare not execute some unjust commissions, though they seem bound by office to do so. Such instances are rare; but there have been instances of men, who have quitted offices, and all the wealth and honours annexed to them, rather than do an unjust thing. It is said to the honour of two women, who held a useful office in Egypt, that they did not commit murder " as the king commanded them;" and to their integrity we owe that eminent servant of God, Moses. How many such as Moses we have been deprived of by such orders, "the day shall declare."

When these officers went to take Jesus Christ, he was "standing in the temple and speaking boldly of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, when the Holy Ghost should be given, after he was glo rified." Very likely our Lord was expounding some of the prophecies, for he said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water." It must have been very delightful to hear Jesus Christ explain the prophecies, and

particularly such as are contained in the thirty-fifth and forty-fourth of Isaiah, the second chapter of Joel, and other places, where the Holy Spirit is spoken of under the similitude of a well, or a spring in the minds and hearts of inspired men. "The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life," and Christian knowledge is a "well of water springing up into everlasting life."

"Many of the people, when they heard this" discourse, were persuaded that the speaker was an extraordinary person, and others thought, he was the promised Messiah. "Many said, of a truth this is the Prophet," that is, the Prophet spoken of by Moses; others said, "This is the Christ." The officers ventured to say in general, "Never man spake like this man." We unite these opinions, and affirm, Jesus is the Prophet like Moses, he is the Christ, he is the man who spoke as no man but himself ever did speak; and we are going to show you this evening that Jesus Christ is the most excellent of all teachers. They who were so hap、 py as to attend his ministry, as it is written in the Prophets, were "all taught of God ;" and they who are so happy as to hear his doctrine now, though not honoured to hear it from his own lips, may truly say, "Mas ter, we know that thou teachest the way of God in truth." "Blessed is the man, O Lord, whom, thou teachest out of thy law," though not out of thine own mouth.

Our Divine Instructer excelled all others in that eminent qualification of a public teacher, a "perfect knowledge of what he taught." Jesus Christ understood the subject of religion: Jesus Christ understood the whole of religion and Jesus Christ understood the whole perfectly. I say our instructer understood religion, and herein he differed from many who have pretended to instruct mankind; but who, to use the language of an apostle, have taught "fables and questions, which have turned men aside unto vain jangling, understanding neither what they said, nor whereof they affirmed." The heathens pretended to teach religion; but what they taught for religion was superstition founded upon fable, and their instructions concerning worship and devotion, all led an ignorant multitude after their ignorant teach

ers up to "an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.'" None of these men ever saw God at any time; but it was the only-begotten Son, who was 66 in the bosom of the Father," who declared him to us. Το be in the bosom of any one, signifies to know that person thoroughly in this sense Jesus Christ was in the bosom of the Father, and hence this expression, "No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." And again, "No man hath seen the Father, save he, which is of God, he hath seen the Father." I said, Jesus Christ understood the whole of religion and herein he differed from all the Prophets, who searched" what the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify," and from all the apostles, who knew only in part, and prophesied only in part." The understanding of Jesus Christ comprehended the past, the present, and the future; and this is one reason for his saying to his servant John, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; what thou seest, write in a book, and send unto the seven churches." Further, I said Jesus Christ understood the whole of religion perfectly. His understanding of religion was clear, complete, full, without any defect, and there is not in all the instructions given us by him a single line of guess work. He hath built the whole of the Christian religion on certain principles, beyond all conjecture and peradventure. On this account the Scriptures are called the "lively oracles of God," the first principles of which were committed to the Jews, carried to perfection by the apostles, and given to us with this express charge, "Minister one to another as good stewards; if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." "Never man spake like this man" in regard to a perfect knowledge of the subject.

He knew the perfections of God, the nature of man, the laws of Providence, which govern this world, and all the distributions of happiness and misery, which will take place in the next. Wisdom in him was natural, perfect, and eternal, and " of his fulness have all inspired writers received, and grace for grace." What a mind, what an astonishing mind was that of Jesus Christ! If