are delivered by the other evangelifts. And I think the ancient account of this difference to be the true one, viz. that St. John wrote after the reft, and to fupply what he thought. omiffions in their narratives, of which the principal were our Saviour's conferences with the Jews of Jerufalem, and his difcourfes to his apostles at his last fupper. But what I obferve in the comparison of thefe feveral accounts is, that, although actions and difcourfes are ascribed to Chrift by St. John, in general different from what are given to him by the other evangelifts, yet, under this diverfity, there is a fimilitude of manner, which indicates that the actions and difcourfes proceeded from the fame perfon. I fhould have laid little ftrefs upon a repetition of actions fubftantially alike, or of difcourfes containing many of the fame expreffions, because that is a fpecies of refemblance which would either belong to a true history, or might easily be imitated in a false one. Nor do I deny, that a dramatic writer is able to fuftain propriety and diftinction of character, through a great variety of feparate incidents and fituations. But the evangelifts were not dramatic writers; nor poffeffed the talents of dramatic writers; nor will it, I believe, be fuf pected, that they ftudied uniformity of character, or ever thought of any fuch thing, in the perfon who was the fubject of their hiftories. Such uniformity, if it exift, is on their part cafual; and if there be, as I contend there is, a perceptible resemblance of manner, in paffages, and between difcourfes, which are in themselves extremely diftinct, and are delivered by hiftorians. writing without any imitation of, or reference to one another, it affords a juft prefumption, that these are, what they profefs to be, the actions and the discourses of the fame real perfon; that the evangelifts wrote from fact, and not from imagination. The article in which I find this agreement most strong, is in our Saviour's mode of teaching, and in that particular property of it, which confifts in his drawing of his doctrine from the occafion; or, which is nearly the fame thing, raifing reflections from the objects and incidents before him, or turning a particular difcourfe then paffing into an opportunity of general instruction.

It will be my business to point out this manner in the three first evangelists; and then to inquire, whether it do not appear alfo, in feveral examples of Christ's discourses, preserved by St. John.

The reader will obferve in the following quotation, that the italic letter contains the reflection, the common letter the incident or occafion from whence it fprings.

Mat. xii. 49, 50. "Then they faid unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, defiring to speak with thee. But he answered, and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands towards his difciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the fame is my brother, and fifter, and mother."

Mat. xvi. 5. "And when his difciples were come to the other fide, they had forgotten to take bread; then Jefus faid unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the pharifees, and of the fadducees. And they reafoned among themselves, faying, it is because we have taken no bread.--How is it that ye do not understand, that I fpake it not to you concerning bread, that ye fhould beware of the leaven of the pharifees and of the fadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the DOCTRINE of the pharifees and of the fadducees."

Mat. xv. 1, 2, 10, 11, 17-20. "Then came to Jefus fcribes and pharifees, which were of Jerufalem, faying, Why do thy difciples tranfgrefs the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.—And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.—' -Then anfwered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jefus faid, Are ye alfo yet without understanding? Do ye not yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is caft out into the draught? but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, falfe witness, blafphemies; thefe are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwafhen hands defileth not a man.' Our Saviour, upon this occafion, expatiates rather more at large than ufual, and his difcourfe also is more divided; but the concluding fentence brings back the whole train of thought to the incident in the first verfe, viz. the objurgatory quetion of the pharifees, and renders it evithat the whole fprung from that circumftance.

Mark x. 13, 14, 15. "And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them, and his difciples rebuked those that brought them; but when Jefus faw it, he was much difpleafed, and faid unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of fuch is the kingdom of God: verily I say unto you, whofoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”

Mark i. 16, 17. "Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he faw Simon and Andrew his brother, cafting a net into the fea, for they were fifhers; and Jefus faid unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fibers of men.'

Luke xi. 27. "And it came to pafs as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and faid unto him, Bleffed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou haft fucked; but he said, Yea rather, bleffed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

Luke xiii. 1-5. "There were present at that feafon fome that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their facrifices; and Jefus anfwering, faid unto them, Suppofe ye that thefe Galileans were finners above all the Galileans, because they fuffered fuch things? I tell you nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewife perish."

Luke xiv. 15. "And when one of them that fat at meat with him, heard these things, he faid unto him, Bleffed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then faid he un

to him, A certain man made a great fupper and bade many," &c. The parable is rather too long for infertion, but affords a ftriking inftance of Chrift's manner of raising a difcourfe from the occafion. Obferve also in the fame chapter, two other examples of advice, drawn from the circumftances of the entertainment, and the behaviour of the guests.

We will now fee, how this manner difcovers itself in St. John's hiftory of Christ.

John vi. 26. "And when they had found him on the other fide of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jefus answered them, and said, Verily I fay unto you, ye feek me not because ye faw the miracles, but because did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perifbeth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man fhall give unto you."

ye

John iv. 12. "Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his chil

dren, and his cattle? Jefus anfwered and faid unto her, (the woman of Samaria) Whofoever drinketh of this water fhall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, fhall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life."

John iv. 31. "In the mean while, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat; but he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore faid the difciples one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? Jefus faith unto them, My meat is, to do the will of him that fent me, and to finif his work."

John ix. 1-5. "And as Jefus paffed by, he faw a man which was blind from his birth; and his difciples asked him, faying, Who did fin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jefus anfwered, Neither hath this man finned, nor his parents, but that the works of God fhould be made manifeft in him. I must work the works of him that fent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world."

66

Thou hast

John ix. 35-40. Jefus heard that they had caft him (the blind man above-mentioned) out; and when he had found him, he faid unto him, Dot thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and faid, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jefus faid unto him, both feen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. faid, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. faid, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which fee not might fee, and that they which fee might be made blind."

And he And Jefus

All that the reader has now to do, is to compare the feries of examples taken from St. John, with the series of examples taken from the other evangelifts, and to judge whether there be not a vifible agreement of manner between them. In the above quoted paffages, the occafion is ftated, as well as the reflection. They feem therefore the most proper for the purpose of our argument. A large, however, and curious collection has been made by different writers,a of inftances, in which it is extremely probable, that Chrift fpoke in allufion to fome object, or fome occafion then before him, though the mention of the occafion, or of the object, be omitted in the hiftory. I only ob

a Newton on Dan. p. 148. note a. Jortin Dif. p. 213. Bishop Law's Life of Chrift.

ferve that these instances are common to St. John's gospel with

the other three.

I conclude this article by remarking, that nothing of this manner is perceptible in the fpeeches recorded in the Acts, or in any other but those which are attributed to Christ, and that, in truth, it was a very unlikely manner for a forger or fabulist to attempt; and a manner very difficult for any writer to execute, if he had to fupply all the materials, both the incidents, and the observations upon them, out of his own head. A forger or a fabulift would have made for Christ, discourses exhorting to virtue and diffuading from vice in general terms. It would never have entered into the thoughts of either, to have crowded together fuch a number of allufions to time, place, and other little circumstances, as occur, for inftance, in the fermon on the' mount, and which nothing but the actual prefence of the objects could have fuggested.a

b

;

II. There appears to me to exist an affinity between the hiftory of Christ's placing a little child in the midft of his difciples, as related by the three firft evangelifts, and the history of Chrift's washing his difciples' feet, as given by St. John. In the ftories themselves there is no refemblance. But the affinity, which I would point out, confifts in these two articles first, that both ftories denote the emulation which prevailed amongst Christ's difciples, and his own care and defire to correct it. The moral of both is the fame. Secondly, that both ftories are specimens of the fame manner of teaching, viz. by action; a mode of emblematic inftruction extremely peculiar, and, in these paffages, afcribed, we fee, to our Saviour, by the three first evangelifts and by St. John, in inftances totally unlike, and without the fmalleft fufpicion of their borrowing from each other.

III. A fingularity in Chrift's language, which runs through all the evangelifts, and which is found in those difcourfes of St. John, that have nothing fimilar to them in the other gofpels, is the appellation of "the Son of Man ;" and it is in all the evangelifts found under the peculiar circumftance of being applied by Chrift to himself, but of never being used of him, or towards him, by any other perfon. It occurs feventeen times

a See Bishop Law's Life of Christ.

b Mat. xviii. 1. Mark ix. 33. Luke ix. 45.

c xiii. 3.