2. Because a sufficient reason may perhaps be assigned in his wish to avoid a premature notoriety, which might have drawn upon him too soon the enmity of the authorities of the country; before he had accomplished the time he appears to have proposed to himself for making known his doctrine and his character.

He returns to Capernaum, and there, in the face of the doctors of the law (Luke v, 17), prepared to pass a rigorous judgment on this new teacher and what he taught,-moved by a striking instance of belief in his power, on the part of the friends of a man affected with the palsy, he is stated to have healed him, with the remarkable expression; "Thy sins are forgiven thee:" which could not fail to excite the indignation of some who heard him, as asserting a power they justly considered appropriate to God only: yet he not only repeats to them the words, but calls their attention to the miracle which was to ensue, as a proof that

was the case of a dead person restored to life, and the others were miracles of that kind which it had been predicted by Isaiah that the Messiah should perform, and which were therefore especially characteristic of Him. The same observation may be extended to all, or nearly all, the cases of prohibition on the part of our Lord; which it appears important to remark, as it is probable that He designed, by repressing their notoriety, to delay the open declaration of Himself as the Messiah,

He had on earth that power which they considered the privilege of the Divinity.

This conduct is remarkable, not only because it shews a fearlessness which deserves to be noticed when coupled with many instances of caution and consideration; but because the words are expressive of the very highest power and authority, and must have appeared the more extraordinary when used by one of such humble parentage and education, and such simplicity of life and demeanour. On the same principle, as it would seem, we find him, though by no means forward to declare himself that Great Personage which at the last he allowed himself to be, to have constantly used such expressions as the above, which were consistent with that character, and that only; and which betrayed, as it were, and divulged his true nature beforehand. This gradual disclosure of himself, while his words and actions never belied the greatness of his nature, but became more and more expressive of it as he drew nearer the end of his ministry, is very consistent with other particulars of his conduct I have to notice.

For a parallel instance, see Luke vii, 47--50; "Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth

. sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace*." Other instances of the like assumption of Divine authority we may have occasion to mention hereafter.

He goes up to Jerusalem, to another Passover (the second recorded), and at that public time and in a very public place, on the sabbath-day, is

* This instance is so far stronger than the former inasmuch as there was in this case no bodily infirmity, the remission of which might be confounded, according to Jewish notions, with the remission of sins: the remission, therefore, which our Lord's words here implied, was purely spiritual, and therefore more indisputably the privilege of the Divinity. The mental remark of those present, "Who is this that forgiveth sins also?" shows the importance attached, by those who heard it, to the declaration (which on this occasion likewise is, as if purposely, repeated by our Lord); yet he adds another expression no less forcible and characteristic:

Thy faith hath saved thee." These words were frequently used by Him to denote the remission (and its cause), of bodily infirmity; and here applied to signify the same of spiritual guilt; designedly perhaps, inasmuch as both, we believe, were equally remissible by His authority, and the healing of the one was a palpable symbol of the removal of the other.

y See (mentioned above) John ii, 16; ib. 19, 21. In the latter instance in particular, the expression "this temple" is highly significant (in the sense in which Christians understand it), yet not openly declaratory of His character.

stated to have cured an infirm person; commanding him at the same time (as a trial of his faith) to take up his bed; which excited (as of course both these circumstances would) the displeasure of the stricter portion of the Jews (John v, 12, 16) to such a degree, that they are stated to have desired to take away his life. We find that he had retired from among the crowd so instantaneously that the man he had healed is said not to have known his benefactor, till Jesus, finding him in the temple, addressed to him a charge "to sin no more." In a discourse of his, which is given immediately after this transaction, and which refers to it, we find him using expressions which naturally excited the attention, and opposed the prejudices of those who heard him: For instance, when he refers to the testimony of John, John v, 33; "Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth." To that of Moses, ibid. 46;

z This warning, addressed to one so recently cured of a long infirmity, and ending with a reference to that infirmity "lest a worse thing come unto thee," is obviously said in conformity with the opinions of the Jews, who attributed personal defects and ailments to the crimes of those who suffered under them. It does not, however, at all necessarily set the seal of our Lord's authority to this belief (which other expressions of His would appear to condemn), but may signify those worse things" which we believe are appointed for irreclaimable offenders in another life.

"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me."

To that of

their scriptures generally, ibid. 39; "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me;" particularly by the use of that strong (incidental) expression, ver. 23; "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father:" the context leaving no doubt that he meant himself by "the Son." In the same manner, at the beginning of his discourse, he had said, vv. 17, 18; "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."

I quote these passages because they show great fearlessness, and intimated to his countrymen what

Christians believe to be his true charactera; at the same time that he appears to have avoided notoriety in the transaction which gave rise to the discourse from which they are taken, ver. 13; "And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place."

Notwithstanding the offence which the above cure on the sabbath-day is reported to have given, we find that in their journey through the country shortly after, his disciples having drawn

a See above, p. 15, line 3, and note.