SERMON XII*.

LUKE Vii. 22.

THEN JESUS ANSWERING, SAID UNTO THEM, GO YOUR WAY, AND TELL JOHN WHAT THINGS YE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD; HOW THAT THE BLIND SEE, THE LAME WALK, THE LEPERS ARE CLEANSED, THE DEAF HEAR, THE DEAD ARE RAISED, TO THE POOR THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED.

You

OU will immediately recollect the occasion on which these words were spoken. They make a part of the answer which our Saviour gave to the two disciples whom John the Baptist sent to him, to ask whether he was the Great Deliverer that was to come, or they were to look for another.

The whole passage is a remarkable one, and

* Preached at the Yearly Meeting of the Charity Schools, in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, May 2, 1782.

affords

affords ample matter for observation; but the particular circumstance to which I mean to draw your attention at present, is the last clause of the text, in which we are told, that "to "the poor the Gospel is preached."

That our Lord should appeal to the miracles which he had wrought before the eyes of the two disciples, as an incontestible proof that he was the Messiah, will be thought very natural and proper; but that he should immediately subjoin to this, as an additional proof; and a proof on which he seems to lay as much stress as on the other, that " to the poor the

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The ob

Gospel was preached," may appear, at the first view, a little extraordinary. We shall, however, soon be satisfied that in this, as well as in every other instance, our divine Master acted with consummate wisdom. He was speaking to Jews. His object was to convince them, that he was the MESSIAH. vious way of doing this was to show, that he corresponded to the description which their own prophets gave of that great personage. Now they speak of him as one, who should not only give eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, feet to the lame, and speech to the dumb,

but should also "preach good tidings to the "meek and the poor*" These were two distinct and separate marks by which he was to be known, and it was therefore as proper and necessary for our Saviour to refer to the one as to the other. Whoever pretended to be the MESSIAH, must unite in himself these two great discriminating peculiarities, which, taken together, form one of the most illustrious and beneficent characters that can be imagined; a character distinguished by the communication of the greatest of all earthly blessings to two descriptions of men, who stood most in need of assistance, the diseased, and the poor. To the former, the promised Saviour of the world was to give health; to the latter, spiritual instruction. In this manner was the great Redeemer marked out by the prophets, and this glo rious distinction did Christ display and support in his own person throughout the whole course of his ministry.

That he was infinitely superior to every other teacher of religion in the number, and the benevolent nature of his miracles, is well known; and that he was no less distinguished

Isaiah xxix. 18, 19.; xxxv. 5, 6.; lxi. 1.
S

VOL. II.

by

by the circumstance of " preaching to the

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poor;" that there was no one either before or after him, who made it so much his peculiar business to instruct them, and paid such constant and condescending attention to them as he did, is equally certain. The ancient prophets were usually sent to kings and princes, to the rich and the great, and many of their prophecies were couched in sublime figurative language, beyond the comprehension of the vulgar. There were, indeed, other parts of the Jewish scriptures sufficiently plain and intelligible, and adapted to all capacities; but even these the rabbies and the scribes, the great expounders of the law among the Jews, contrived to perplex and darken, and render almost useless by their vain traditions, their absurd glosses, and childish interpretations. So far were they from showing any particular regard or tenderness to the common people, that they held them in the utmost contempt; they considered them as accursed*; because they knew not that law, which they themselves took care to render impenetrably obscure to them. They took away the key of

+

"knowledge; they entered not in themselves, " and those that were entering in they hin"dered *." It was even a proverbial saying among them, "that the Spirit of God did not

rest but upon a rich man." So different

were the maxims of the great Jewish teachers from the sentiments and conduct of that hea venly Instructor, who openly declared, and gloried in the declaration, that he came "to "preach the Gospel to the poor+."

Nor did the lower ranks of mankind meet with better treatment in the heathen world. There were among the ancient Pagans, at different periods, and in different countries, many excellent moral writers of fine talents and profound knowledge; but their composi tions were calculated not for the illiterate and + Grotius on Matt. xi. 5.

the

Luke xi. 52.

It may be alleged, that by the poor, to whom our Lord preached the Gospel, the sacred writers meant not poor in circumstances, but the poor in spirit, The truth is, they meant both; by our Saviour's conduct both senses were equally verified; and these two sorts of poverty are so frequently found united, that it is scarce necessary, at least in the present instance, to distinguish between them. For more complete satisfaction on this and some other points (of which but a very imperfect view is given here) see Bishop Hurd's admirable sermon on Matt, v. 3. s. 8.