profess the gospel, is a certain indication, that the report of it is but little credited, and its influence but little felt. And, if any further proof were necessary, the total absence of all the fruits of faith would demonstrate the want of that vital principle in our hearts.

Let this subject then lead us to self-examination.

It is not without reason that the apostle says, Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your ownselves. All imagine themselves believers, because they have been educated in a Christian land. But, if we have no other faith than what has been instilled into us in the course of our education, we have yet to learn, what true faith is. We might profitably enquire into the fruits of faith, in order to ascertain its existence in our souls: but the text leads us rather to enquire, How did we obtain our faith? Was it wrought in us by the mighty power of God? Was his arm stretched forth to slay our pride, our self-righteousness, our unbelief; and to form this divine principle within us? Let us carefully distinguish between a living and a dead faith; between a speculative and a saving faith; between the faith of God's elect, and the faith of devils. The question will be of infinite importance in the day of judgment, Who among you believed our report? let it then appear to us of importance now; and, while the gospel yet sounds in our ears let us cry, "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.""

If we have indeed believed, let us abound in thankfulness to God."

The gift of faith, next to the gift of God's dear Son, is the greatest that God himself can bestow; because, with that, every other blessing flows down into the soul. Has God made bare his arm, and shewn the exceeding greatness of his power in enabling us to believe? there is nothing else which we may not expect him to accomplish for us. Why is it said that "all things are possible to him that believeth?" The believer is, in himself, as weak as other men: but he has Omnipotence engaged for his support: and whatever Omnipotence can effect, that shall be effected for him, provided he earnestly desire, it, and

$ 2 Cor. xiii. 5.

t Jam. ii. 19, 20. u Mark ix. 24.

it be conducive to his best interests. While therefore we aspire after the highest degrees of faith, let us be thankful for the lowest. If we have ever so little faith, if it be only as a grain of mustard seed," yet, provided it be genuine and of divine origin, "it shall remove mountains:" all our guilt shall be cancelled; all our lusts shall be subdued; all our graces shall be perfected; and, in due time, faith shall be turned into sight, and hope into enjoyment.

* Matt. xii. 20.

CLXXXVI.

THE CHARACTERS AND TREATMENT OF

THE MESSIAH.

Isai. liii. 2, 3. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and, when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him: he was despised, and we esteemed

him not.

WE find in almost every branch of science, that truth can be discovered only by deep and serious investigation. If we rest in superficial enquiries, we shall be led into numberless and fatal mistakes. In what relates to religion more especially, an impartial examination is necessary, because the doctrines of revelation are confessedly repugnant both to the prejudices and passions of mankind. Yet, strange as it may appear, there is no other science, wherein men form their opinions on such slender information, as in that. The generality adopt the notions that are current in their day, without ever considering whether they be right or wrong: the natural consequence of which is, that, in many instances, they embrace error in ference to truth. This was too much the habit of the Jews in reference to their Messiah. Our Lord had cautioned them not to judge according to appearance, but to judge righteous judgment; nevertheless they paid more

pre

more attention to received opinions, than to the oracles of God. Had they searched the scriptures, they might have found that their expected Messiah was to suffer as well as to triumph: but they, thinking only of a temporal deliverer, despised the low condition of Jesus, and made his humiliation a ground of rejecting him. That such would be their conduct, the prophet had foretold in the words before us; wherein he assigns the low estate of Jesus as the very ground, on which the united testimony of prophets and apostles should be discredited.

In the words themselves he sets forth,

First, Some marks and characters of the Messiah, and, secondly, The treatment he should meet with in the world.

I. The marks and characters given of the Messiah were not only exceeding various, but apparently inconsistent with each other; and they were multiplied in the prophetic writings, in order that, when the Messiah should appear, there should be no room to question his divine mission; since the marks themselves could not have been combined by chance, nor would have been invented by any one, who had desired to impose upon the world.

Confining ourselves to those specified in the text, we observe, that he was to be obscure in his origin. This is intimated under the figure of "a root out of a dry ground." The house of David had once flourished as the cedars of Lebanon; (he himself having been one of the most powerful Monarchs upon earth) but now his family was reduced; insomuch that it was like "a root" or mere stump of a tree. Its situation too, like a root "in a dry ground," was such, as not to afford any prospect that it should ever revive again. Our Lord, like a weak and tender sucker, sprang from this root, and was, to all outward appearance, unworthy of notice. Notwithstanding the prodigies that attended his birth, and the regard paid to them for a little while, "he grew up before him," that is, before the Jewish people, in obscurity, working at the trade of his reputed father as a carpenter. This circumstance proved an offence, and a stumbling-block to the carnal Jews: when they heard his discourses, and saw the wonders that he wrought, they said, "Whence hath this man these things? and

what wisdom is this which is given to him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter? And they were offended at him." But, if they had duly considered their own prophecies, they would have seen, that his parentage and education were precisely such as had been foretold, and consequently were arguments in favour of his high pretensions.

Another mark exhibited in the text is, that he was to be mean in his appearance. The Jews expected a Messiah who should come with pomp, and whose magnificence should equal, if not surpass, that of any potentate on earth: and if Jesus had appeared in this manner, he would soon have been caressed and followed by the whole nation. But he neither possessed himself, nor promised to his followers, any of those things which are so captivating to a carnal heart. Instead of abounding in wealth, and having the great and nobles of the earth as his attendants, he was followed only by a few poor fishermen, and sometimes wanted the common necessaries of life, and even a place where to lay his head. Instead of affecting honour, he declined it, and withdrew himself, when they would have invested him with royal authority. Nor did he give his disciples reason to expect any thing in this world but reproaches, persecutions, imprisonments, and death. Thus was he destitute of all external recommendations; "there was no form nor comeliness in him, nor any beauty for which he was to be desired." Now the Jews did not know how to reconcile his claims to Messiahship with his low condition: they could not divest themselves of their prejudices: they expected a temporal Messiah, and consequently concluded, that the meanness of his appearance was a very sufficient reason for considering him as an impostor. They therefore contributed to make him still more contemptible in the eyes of men, and thus, by reducing him to the lowest state of infamy, unwittingly fulfilled the counsels of God concerning him.

A third mark and character of the Messiah was, that he should be afflicted in his person; he was to be "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." To none were these words ever so applicable as to Jesus Christ. His whole life was a continued scene of labours, trials, temp

tations, sorrows. We read only once in the whole scriptures, that he rejoiced in spirit; but frequently that he sighed, and groaned, and wept. The four last years of his life were almost wholly spent in sorrow. Not to mention his bodily labours and fatigues, or his watchings and fastings (though inasmuch as they exceeded all that ever were voluntarily endured by man, they might well be taken into the account) his other trials were greater than we can conceive. "The contradiction of sinners against himself" must have been inexpressibly painful to his benevolent mind. He had come down from heaven to give his own life a ransom for them; and was continually endeavouring to lead them to the knowledge of himself, that they might obtain salvation through him: he was working a series of the most stupendous miracles in confirmation of his word: he was labouring day and night for their sakes, making it his very meat and drink to accomplish the grand ends and purposes of his mission: yet, how were his labours requited? they cavilled at his words, ascribed his miracles to satanic influence, and rejected the counsel of God against themselves. How grievous must this have been to him, whose whole soul was bent on their salvation! This caused him frequently to groan in spirit, and even to weep in the midst of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But there were yet other sources of grief, more afflictive, if possible, than this. Whence arose his agony in the garden, when his body was bathed in a bloody sweat? Whence those "strong cryings and tears," with which he supplicated the removal of the bitter cup? Whence the heart-rending cry, which he uttered on the cross under the hidings of his Father's face? Surely the vials of his Father's wrath were poured out upon him; the debt which he had incurred, was exacted of him as our surety; the penalty due to sin was inflicted on his risghteous soul; "the arrows of the Almighty stuck fast in him, and made his heart within him like 'melting wax." There was yet another thing which must of necessity greatly aggravate his sorrows; namely his perfect foresight of all that should come upon him. In mercy to us futurity is hid from our eyes; so that, however great our calamities be, we are comforted with a hope, that our state will soon be ameliorated. He on the contrary, saw the crisis gradually approaching, and