that," they trampled on all the rights of men, derided the divine laws, and scoffed at the oracles of the prophets." It was a matter of high importance to provide against this pernicious error; accordingly, our divine Master availed himself of an incident to repeat and enforce the moral law, as the only foundation for eternal life, "And behold! one came, and said, Good master, what good shall I do, that I may obtain life eternal; but he said to him, Why callest thou me good, no one is good, except God who is one. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandents. He said to him, Which, and Jesus said, Thou shalt not murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; honour thy father and thy mother, and love thy neighbour as thy self."

Our Lord spoke with authority, and not as the Scribes; but neither the people, nor even his own disciples, thought him any other than a man acting with the power of God. Peter solemnly denied him; and this event shews, that he had not the most distant idea of his divinity. "And when Peter was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man," Mat. xxvi. 69. The same inference is to be drawn from the agonies and language of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and from his sufferings on the cross. "Then

saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.-Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," Mat. xxvi. 38, 39, "And

about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And when he had thus cried with a loud voice, he expired." xxvii. 46. 59. These representations clearly evince the simple humanity of Jesus; nor can we conclude otherwise, unless we are so preposterous as to see reasons for the divinity in the sufferings of Christ; and to infer his perfections as a God, from those qualities which prove him to be a man.

When our Lord was terminating his ministry in Galilee, he wisely contrived to render manifest the general impression, which his doctrine and miracles had produced on the minds of the people. This contrivance is thus related by the evangelist Matthew (xvi. 13) "When Jesus came to the coast of Cæsarca Philippi, he asked bis disciples saying, Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, and whom say ye that I And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Our Lord made this enquiry not to be himself informed, for he did not need to be told in what light he was regarded by the people, but in order to draw forth into one point of view the opinions of those who had the best opportunities to judge of him, and thus to furnish the historian of his life with a fact which, when recorded, might be a guide to all men in distant ages and countries, as to the proper opinion they should form of his person and claims,

The passage first proves to us what Jesus was not. Among the multitudes who were personally acquainted with him, who heard his words, and saw his works during his ministry, there was not one who thought him an impostor or a magician. Believing without doubt the reality of his miracles, his countrymen were forced by that belief, on the most improbable suppositions, to account for them, after disappointment had compelled them to abandon the fond and mistaken hope, that he was to be their deliverer from the Roman yoke.

Secondly, the people who saw the miracles of Jesus, heard him also declaring, in solemn and distinct language, that he did them in the name, and with the power of his heavenly Father. There was therefore not one in all Galilee who supposed that he was himself a God, come down from heaven and supernaturally born among them. And this is a sufficient proof, that no intimation to this effect had ever dropped from his lips, during the whole course of his ministry in that country.

Thirdly, in this passage we have the opinion of Peter, which was doubtless the opinion of all his disciples, as to what Jesus was, namely, that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God; meaning, that he was a man descended from David, and endued with the Spirit of God to be the Saviour of mankind. Peter had the baptism of Jesus in his mind, which was probably introduced by the previous mention of John: and it is observable, that he does not say merely, that Jesus was the Christ, but he adds the Son of God.

This was the language with which

the voice from heaven had designated him; and the Apostle here repeats it, in order to shew that he had a correct opinion of the character and person of his Master.

Lastly, it is remarkable that Jesus, when he asked whom the people thought him to be, gives his own opinion as to his person and character: "Whom do men say that I the Son of the man am?" thus, in a formal and solemn manner, holding forth to the world, that he was not a divine, but a human being, not born of a virgin, but the son of a man, and of the man whom his countrymen supposed to be his father. Thus it appears not only, that the divinity and miraculous conception of Jesus Christ are not taught in Matthew, but the contrary are taught, namely, his simple humanity and natural birth. Our divine Master foresaw certain doctrines introduced as the means of defeating his religion; and throughout the whole of his ministry he wisely provided materials to set them aside and the first of his historians, we see, has faithfully recorded these provisions. Nevertheless, two or three passages in this Gospel have been interpreted by the orthodox as favouring or asserting these doctrines. I shall here briefly notice them.

"Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always ⚫ to the end of the age. Mat. xxviii. 19.

Much has been written by modern divines on the subject of baptism; and yet the principal reason why the apostolic teachers enjoined this

ceremony on those who embraced the faith, seems to me to have escaped their attention. Christ enjoined, and his Apostles required this rite, of the initiated as an unequivocal method of declaring to the world, that they received the Christian doctrine, and received it too as taught by them, and not as corrupted by the antichristian teachers. This observation is necessary to be known, in order to see the above passage in its full force and propriety; and its meaning is simply this, "Go and preach the Gospel not only to the Jews, but to all other nations; and teach them to believe in my Father as the Supreme God, as the only object of faith and worship; in me as his Son, as the last and best authorized teacher from him; and in the Holy Spirit, as a power given you to work miracles, in attestation of my divine mission, and of my resurrection from the grave. Let those be the fundamental principles of the Gospel you teach; and encourage those who embrace it, to avow their faith by being publicly baptized."

These may be considered as the last words of our Lord's ministry; and they are the sum and substance of that religion which was to enlighten and reform the world. This summary is so expressed as to meet and preclude the tenets of those false teachers, who were on the watch for opportunities to corrupt and defeat it. The reference which Jesus here had to the antichristian system, is evident from the Formulary of faith, which its base authors had artfully planned, and which is happily preserved by Ire næus. They lead," says that writer," the disciple to the water, and on baptizing him they