To this irrefiftible force of reafoning our bleffed Lord adds another argument of confiderable weight: "If ye had known, fays he, what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not facrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." The quotation is from the prophet Hofea; the words are fuppofed to be those of God himself; and the meaning is, according to a well-known Jewish idiom, I prefer mercy to facrifice; that is, when any ceremonial inftitution interferes with the execution of any charitable or pious defign, the former must give place to the latter; as in the present inftance, a ftrict obfervance of the fabbath muft not be fuffered to deprive my difciples of that refreshment which is neceffary to fupport them under the fatigue of following me, and dispending to mankind the bleffings of the gospel. We fee then with what fuperftitious rigor the Jews adhered to the letter of their law refpecting the Jewish fabbath; and with what fuperior wisdom and dignity our Lord endeavored to raise their minds above fuch trivial things to the true spirit of it, to the life and foul of religion.

The fault however here reproved and corrected is not one into which we of this country are likely to fall, nor is there any need to warn us against imitating the Jews in this inftance. There is no danger that we fhould carry the obfervance of our fabbath too far, or that we fhould be too fcrupuloufly nice in avoiding every the minutest infringement of the reft and fanctity of that holy day.— The bent and tendency of the present times is too evidently to a contrary extreme, to an exceffive relaxation instead of an exceffive ftrictness in the regard fhewn to the Lord's day. I am not now fpeaking of the religious duties appropriated to the Lord's day, for these are not now before us, but folely of the rest, the repofe which it requires.This reft is plainly infringed, whenever the lower claffes of people continue their ordinary occupations on the fabbath, and whenever the higher employ their fervants and their cattle on this day in needlefs labor. This, however, we fee too frequently done, more particularly by felecting Sunday as a day for travelling, for taking long journies, which might as well be performed at any other time.

This is a direct violation of the fourth, commandment, which exprefsly gives the fabbath as a day of reft to our fervants and our cattle.

This temporary fufpenfion of labor, this refreshment and relief from inceffant toil, is moft graciously allowed even to the brute creation, by the great Governor of the universe, whofe mercy extends over all his works. It is the boon of heaven itself. It is a fmall drop of comfort. thrown into their eup of misery; and to wrest from them this only privilege, this fweetest confolation of their wretched existence, is a degree of inhumanity for which there wants a name; and of which few people I am perfuaded, if they could be brought to reflect seriously upon it, would ever be guilty.

These profanations of the fabbath are however fometimes defended on the ground of the very paffage we have been juft confidering. It is alledged, that as our Lord here reproves the Jews for too rigorous an attention to the rest of the fabbath, it conveys an intimation that we ought not to be too exact and fcrupulous in that refpect; and that many things may in fact be allowable which timid minds may confider as unlawful. But it should be observed, that Jefus condemns nothing in the conduct of the Jews but what was plainly abfurd and fuperftitious; and he allows of no exceptions to that rest from labor which they obferved on the fabbath, except fimply works of necessity and charity; fuch for instance as those very cafes which gave occafion to the converfation in this chapter between Chrift and the Jews, that of the disciples plucking the ears of corn on the fabbath-day to fatisfy their hunger, and that of our Saviour's reftoring the withered hand. It is lawful, in fhort, as our Saviour expreffes it, to do well on the fabbath-day; to preferve ourselves, and to benefit our fellow creatures. Thus far then we may go, but no farther. In other refpects, the rest of the Lord's day is to be observed; and those very exceptions which our Saviour makes are a proof, that in every other cafe he approves and fanctions the duty of refting on the fabbath-day. It is alfo remarkable, that our own laws, grounding themselves no doubt on this

declaration of Christ, make the fame exceptions to the reft of the fabbath that he does; they allow works of neceffity and charity, but no others. To thefe, therefore, we ought to confine ourselves as nearly as may be; and with thefe exceptions, and these only, confecrate the fabbath as a holy reft unto the Lord.

This reft the Almighty enjoined, not, as is fometimes pretended, to the Jews only, but to all mankind. For even immediately after the great work of creation was finished, we are told, "that God ended his work that he had made, and he rested on the feventh day from all the work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and fanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and madef." It is evident, therefore, that the seventh day was to be a day of rest to all mankind, in memory of God having on that day finished his great work of creation; and this seventh day, after our Lord's refurrection, was changed by his apostles to the first day of the week, on which our Lord rose from the dead, and rested from his labors; fo that the rest of this day is now commemorative of both these important events, the creation and the refurrection.

I now proceed to confider the confequences of this converfation between our Lord and the Pharifees on the fubject of the fabbath. One should have expected that fo wife and rational an explanation of the law refpecting that day, releasing men from the fenfeless severities impofed upon them by the fervile fears of fuperftition, but at the fame time requiring all that respite from labor which is really conducive to the glory of God and the happiness of man; one should have expected, I fay, that fuch wifdom and fuch benevolence as this would have triumphed over even pharifaical obftinacy, and extorted the admiration and applaufe of his hearers. But stubborn prejudices, and deeprooted malignity, are not so easily fubdued. For fee what actually followed. "The Pharifees went out," fays the evangelift," and held a council how they might destroy him." Destroy him! for what? Why for giving eafe to

* See the Statute of 29 C. 2, c. 7. † Gen. ii. 2, 3.

timid minds and fcrupulous confciences, and for restoring the withered hand of a poor decrepid man. And were thefe deeds that deferved destruction? Would it not rather have been the just reward of those inhuman wretches who were capable of conceiving fo execrable a project: and would not our Saviour have been justified in calling down fire from heaven, as he eafily might, to confume them? But his heart abhorred the thought. He purfued a directly oppofite conduct; and inftead of inflicting upon them a punishment which might have destroyed them, he chose to fet them an example that might amend them. He chofe to fhew them the difference between their temper and his own, between those malignant vindictive paffions which governed them, and the mild, gentle, conciliating difpofition which his religion inspired; between the spirit of the world, in short, and the spirit of the Gospel. He withdrew himself filently and quietly from them; and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; and, to avoid all irritation and all conteft, he charged. them that they fhould not make him known. "Thus was fulfilled," fays the evangelift, that which was fpoken by Efaias the prophet, faying, " Behold my fervant whom I have chosen ; my beloved, in whom my foul is well pleafed. I will put my fpirit upon him, and he fhall fhew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry; neither fhall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed fhall he not break, and smoking flax fhall he not quench, till he fend forth judgment unto victory*." A moft fublime paffage; which may thus be paraphrased. Behold my fervant whom I have chofen, my beloved, in whom my foul is well pleafed! I will put my fpirit upon him, and he shall teach true religion, not only to the people of Ifrael, but to the heathens alfo ; and this he shall do with the utmost tendernefs, mildnefs, and meeknefs, without contention and noife, without tumult and disturbance. A bruifed reed fhall he not break; he shall not bear hard upon a wounded and contrite, and truly humble and penitent heart, bowed down with a fenfe of its infirmities. And smoking flax fhall he not quench; the

Haiah xlii. I- -3.

fainteft fpark of returning virtue he will not extinguish by feverity; but will cherish and encourage the one, and will raise and animate and enliven the other; till by these gentle conciliating means he fhall have triumphed over the wickedness and malevolence of his enemies, and completely established his religion throughout the world. What an amiable picture is here given us of the divine Author of our faith and how exactly does this prophetic defcription cerrespond to the whole tenor of his conduct in the propagation of his religion !

The next remarkable occurrences which prefent themfelves in this chapter are those of our Saviour casting a devil out of a man that was both blind and dumb; the reflections which the Pharifees threw upon him in consequence of this miracle, and the effectual manner in which he filenced them, and repelled their calumny.

The paffage is as follows: "Then was brought unto him one poffeffed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, infomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and faw. And all the people were amazed, and said, is not this the Son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they faid, this fellow doth not caft out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jefus knew their thoughts, and faid unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to defolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan caft out Satan, he is divided against himself, how shall then his kingdom stand?"

This paffage affords room for a variety of obfervation.

In the first place, it is evident from this, as well as from many other paffages of holy writ, that at the time when our Saviour promulged his religion, there was a calamity incident to the human race, of which at present we know nothing, and that is, the poffeffion of their bodies by evil fpirits or devils (as they are ufually called in fcripture) which occafioned great torments to the unhappy sufferers, and often deprived them both of their fight and hearing, as in the present inftance. Such poffeffions having long