he pleased, and probably curiosity now induced him to offer it to his townsman. The prophecy of Isaiah was the portion of Scripture delivered to him, and he turns to the passage in which the Messiah announces the year of jubilee, but closes the book without proceeding to the mention of the day of vengeance. The passage is descriptive both of the nature and manner of the Messiah's teaching, and of the signs by which he confirmed it. And Jesus plainly tells his countrymen that it is fulfilled in himself. They admired his discourse, and were astonished at his abilities, knowing that from his education as a carpenter's son he had not enjoyed the same opportunity of improving them as other teachers. But their prejudices were not subdued, and they reproached him with not healing the diseased at Nazareth, his own city, as he had done among comparative strangers, as at Cana and Jerusalem. He replied, that they were not worthy, as they did not receive him as a Prophet; and he justified his conduct by the example of Elijah and Elisha, who had worked miracles even on heathens, in preference to their own ungrateful and persecuting countrymen. They were so enraged by his reproof, that they hurried him to the brink of the precipice on which Nazareth stood, to throw him down. He eluded their fury by rendering himself invisible, and passed unseen through the crowd. He declined working a miracle, because they had already had sufficient evidence to satisfy any candid mind; and it is not in accordance with the Divine wisdom, to grant what would be irresistible. Our Lord is sometimes reproached by objectors, for not always informing the people explicitly of his office; this transaction proves the wisdom, and indeed necessity, of his caution. He here publicly avowed himself to be the Messiah, and the service was hastily terminated by their fury. We may suppose, that if in other places he had been equally open, his ministry would have been disturbed by

b According to the present order of lessons which the Jews maintain to have prevailed then, this sixty-first chapter is to be read on the day before the Feast of Tabernacles; but it is remarkable that it omits this passage, not commencing till the tenth verse.

similar interruptions. Jesus now chose Capernaum as his ordinary abode, where, according to Luke, he taught regularly on the Sabbath days, and thus the neighbourhood of the lake of Galilee became, as Isaiah had foretold, the chief scene of his public life. Several reasons might determine his choice, as its populousness, and distance from Jerusalem, the seat of the Scribes and Pharisees; for when in the beginning of his ministry he made many disciples in Judæa, they took such offence, that he found it prudent to retire into Galilee. He had also here Peter's house for a home, and the countenance, it may be presumed, of the officer of Herod's court, whose son he had cured, and of other leading inhabitants; the lake also afforded him an easy passage to the neighbourhood, and would facilitate a hasty retreat, whenever the jealousy of Herod, or the impatience of the multitude to proclaim him king, should render it expedient.

26. The miraculous draught of fishes. Luke v. Mark i.

THE curiosity and interest that Jesus excited in a populous country, exposed him to great inconvenience; he often therefore taught from a boat, which, while it kept the multitude from pressing upon him, was near enough to the shore for them to hear him. On the first of these occasions recorded, when he had finished, he desired Peter, in whose boat he was, to launch out into the deep water, where he might fish. Peter, though unsuccessful the preceding night, obeyed, and his obedience was rewarded by so extraordinary a draught, that the net brake, and the boat, and that of the sons of Zebedee, who came to assist, were ready to sink with the weight of the fish. He required them to give up their trade and follow him. The demand, and their immediate compliance, appear extraordinary; but we learn from John, (i. 40.) that Simon and Andrew, who were with the Baptist, had already become the disciples of Jesus, on hearing their former master's testimony to him as the Lamb of God; and probably when he

had ordered Philip to accompany him into Galilee, he had also required their attendance. They were, we may conclude, with him at the wedding at Cana, but they seem to have been only in occasional attendance, and to have pursued their occupations till he chose twelve to be with him constantly. We are apt to consider them as poorer than they really were: Simon and Andrew were in partnership with Zebedee and his sons James and John, and had hired servants under them. Peter, who was married, had a house; and his speech, "Lord, we have left all and followed thee," indicates that he must have had some property, at least the boat by which he gained a livelihood. If with most harmonists we consider the call in Matthew to be the same with that which Luke connects with the miraculous draught of fish, that event, emblematical of their future success as fishers of men, would be a powerful encouragement to them to follow a Master, who thus proved himself to be at least a divinely commissioned teacher. Peter, however, was satisfied that he was more, for his speech, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,” seems to mark his conviction of his divine nature; and neither then, nor on any future occasion, does our Lord reject or condemn such an acknowledgment. In the fisherman's

calling are required a certain dexterity, much patience, and a readiness to bear hardships; and the habits formed in it would be useful to the disciples, when they became fishers of Their faith in him that called them was confirmed by a succession of miracles, in which he demonstrated his power, not over fish and natural diseases only, but also over the world of invisible spirits.

men.

27-30. Jesus works all manner of miraculous cures: those of a demoniac, Peter's wife's mother, a leper, and a paralytic man, are specified. Matt. viii. Marki. Luke v.

In the synagogue Jesus delivered a man from the dominion of an unclean spirit, who acknowledged him to be the Holy One of God; and the miracle, though wrought on the Sabbath day, did not give offence, as happened afterwards on similar occasions. There might be no Pharisees present, or they might be glad to be freed from the annoyance of the demoniac. The congregation were astonished, but their astonishment produced no salutary effects. He immediately retired into Peter's house, where he cured his wife's mother, who was confined to her bed with a fever, and she arose and waited upon them at their meal. This seems to be mentioned to show that her recovery was so complete as not to have left the usual lassitude. At sunset, when the Sabbath was ended, all the sick, and persons possessed with demons, were brought to him, whom he cured; and such was the sensation that this excited, that he found it expedient to leave the town before day-break for a desert, and afterwards to move about through Galilee, not making any long stay in one place. As wherever he went he taught in their synagogues and cured every disorder, his fame spread far and wide, not only in the Holy Land, but in the whole of Syria; and multitudes followed him, not merely from Judæa and Galilee, but even from Decapolis, and from beyond the river.

There are modern writers who endeavour to explain away demoniacal possession, because there are no instances of it in their own times, and because in subsequent ages the belief in it has been abused by impostors. In this they contradict the uniform doctrine of the Church from the beginning, and have been confuted by the most approved commentators, who show that greater difficulties embarrass their scheme than the original opinion. They assume that the Evangelists wrote under the influences of Jewish prejudices; and that as under

the old dispensation the authors spoke on philosophical subjects like their contemporaries, being ignorant of the discoveries of modern science, so our Lord accommodated himself to the language and notion of the Jews. These writers, however, forget the distinction between natural and moral subjects, and the different effect of false opinions on them: a man who believes that it is the sun and not the earth that moves, may, in moral and religious knowledge, be equal to him who has the most perfect knowledge of astronomy; but it is obvious that a belief in demoniacal possession, if false, must lead to errors of a practical nature; and we cannot suppose that our Lord would humour madmen by adopting their language, especially after their restoration to a sound mind. If the demoniacs had been mad, though some worshipped, others might have reviled him; but all these afflicted persons, or rather the demons who spake through their organs, believed and trembled, and evinced a knowledge of his nature and office, which was hidden from the wise and prudent of the nation. He abhorred and disdained their testimony; he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him to be the Christ; and he argued against those who charged him with casting out demons, through the cooperation of their prince, in a manner which assumes the reality of possession. This is also established by the specification of their number in particular cases. Thus Mary of Magdala had been tormented by seven; the two demoniacs of Gadara by two thousand. The Evangelists discriminate between diseases and possessions, even enumerating among the former lunacy. Still, ingenious persons may render this modern opinion probable in many of the cases recorded; but that of the herd of swine admits only a literal interpretation.

Matthew represents these miracles as the fulfilment of Isaiah's prediction, which we interpret of the removal of the penalty of sin. We learn from him, that it applies also to the cure of bodily diseases, which are likewise consequences of Adam's transgression; and our Lord connects the two together in his speech to the paralytic man.