Jesus to this afflicted woman. Alas! it had been wholly in vain to bid her refrain from tears, who had lost her only child, the sole consolation of her age, without administering the balm of comfort to heal her broken spirit. This our compassionate Redeemer well knew; and, therefore advancing immediately towards the corpse, he touched the bier: the pomp of the funeral was instantly stopped, silence closed every mouth, and expectation filled the breast of every spectator. But this deep suspense did not long continue; that glorious voice, which shall one day call our dead bodies from the grave, filled their ears with the remarkable words, "Young man, Young man, I say unto thee, arise." Nor was this powerful command uttered without its effect. "He spake, and it

was done:" he called with authority, and immediately "he that was dead sat up, and began to speak; and he restored him to his mother." He did not show him around to the multitude; but, by a singular act of modesty and humanity, delivered, him to his late afflicted, now astonished and rejoicing mother; to intimate, that in compassion to her great distress he had wrought this stupendous miracle.

A holy and awful fear fell on all who heard and saw this astonishing event: "and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is

risen up amongst us; and, that God hath visited his people."

Here it must be observed, that as this miracle is liable to no objection, it therefore abundantly proves that the power of the blessed Jesus was truly and absolutely divine. He met this funeral procession apparently by accident. It was composed of the greatest part of the inhabitants of the city, who bewailed the disconsolate state of the afflicted widow, and therefore well knew that the youth was really dead. The powerful word which called the breathless body to life, was delivered in an audible voice, before all the company, and even at the very gate of the city, the place of public resort.

This miracle, with others amply attested, abundantly evinces the truth of our Saviour's divine mission, and that he was indeed the Son of God, the Redeemer of mankind.

CHAPTER XI.

THE CHARACTER OF JOHN THE BAPTIST CLEARED AND JUSTIFIED BY THE BLESSED JESUS.-HE VISITS SIMON THE PHARISEE.DISPLAY OF OUR LORD'S HUMILITY AND CONDESCENSION.

We have taken notice, in a foregoing chapter, that Herod, incensed at the honest freedom of the Baptist, in reproving his adulterous commerce with Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, had cast him into prison; and in this state he still continued, though his disciples were suffered to visit and converse with him. In one of these visits they had given him an account of our Saviour's having elected twelve apostles to preach the gospel, and of his miracles, particularly of his raising to life the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow of Nain.

On hearing these wonderful relations, the Baptist immediately dispatched two of his disciples to Jesus, to ask him this important question, "Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?

Accordingly, the disciples of John came to

Jesus, and proposed the question of their Master at the very time when he "cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and to many that were blind he gave sight." Jesus, therefore, instead of directly answering their question, bade them return and inform their master what they had seen: "Go," said he, "and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk ; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them."-Matt. xi. 4, 5. Go, tell your master that the very miracles the prophet Isaiah so long since foretold should be wrought by the Messiah, ye yourselves have seen performed.

It appears from the Scripture, that the Baptist, through the whole course of his ministry, had borne constant and ample testimony to our Saviour's divine mission; that he exhorted those who came to him to rest their faith not on himself, but on "him that should come after him;" and that as soon as he was acquainted who Jesus was, by a visible descent of the Holy Ghost, and a voice from heaven, he made it his business to dispose the Jews in general, and his disciples in particular, to receive and reverence him, by testifying everywhere, that he

was the "Son of God, the Lamb of God, who came down from heaven, and spake the words of God, and to whom God hath given the Spirit not by measure.'

The Baptist, therefore, well knew who Jesus. was; and, consequently, he did not send his disciples to ask this question, to solve any doubt in his mind concerning the Saviour of the world.

But it may be asked, what else could induce the Baptist to put such a question? To this some answer, that he had no other intention than to satisfy his disciples that Jesus was the Messiah so long expected among the Jews; and to engage them to follow a more perfect master, especially as he himself was now on the point of leaving the world.

This solution is doubtless partly right; but to some it does not remove the whole difficulty, as they think it is plain, from the very account recorded by the evangelist, that the question had actually some relation to himself; and therefore they remove the difficulty by another method. In order to which, they say, it must be remembered, that John had been long confined in prison; that he was persuaded it was necessary for him to preach the gospel, and prepare men to receive the kingdom of the Messiah; and for