"The Spirit of the Lord JEHOVAH is upon me; Because JEHOVAH hath anointed me To bring good news to the humble: He hath sent me to bind up broken-hearted ones, And emancipation to the fettered; To proclaim the year of grace from JEHOVAH (Delitzsch), To comfort all that mourn; To put upon Zion's mourners (gladness), To give them a beautiful crown instead of ashes (Lowth), A garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; And they shall be called Terebinths of righteousness, The plantation of JEHOVAH, for His glory. Joyfully I rejoice in JEHOVAH, My soul shall exult in my God; For He hath given me garments of salvation to put on, As the bridegroom decketh himself with a priestly crown (Alexander), And as the bride arrays herself with her bridal ornaments. For as the earth puts forth its tender shoots, And as the garden causes the things sown in it to germinate; So the Lord JEHOVAH will cause righteousness to sprout, And renown before all nations." ISAIAH lxi. 1-3, 10, IL XXVIII. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek: He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Messiah's —ISAIAH lxi. 1-3. THAT these are the words, not of an evangelist, but of the great Lord of whom Isaiah specially spake, we have the most conclusive of all testimonies. The introductory utterance of the Divine Speaker is this "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." As kings and prophets of old were officially consecrated by having anointing-oil poured on their heads, so was Messiah publicly set apart for His mediatorial work, when, emerging from His baptism in Jordan, this Holy Spirit spoken of here, was poured upon Him without measure. The descent of the Divine agent was symbolised by the form of a dove, accompanied with the attesting voice, "This is my Beloved Son." Immediately after, we find Jesus inaugurating His public ministry in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke iv. 17). He does so, by taking these very words as the text of His opening sermon, and appropriating their reference to Himself. For, having read them from the Jewish Scriptures, it is added, "He closed the Book" (or wound up the roll) with the comment, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." The first public speech or utterance of a great man on earth is regarded with peculiar interest. It is the key of subsequent utterances. What sublime interest must attach to the opening sermon-the initial manifesto-of the Prince of Prophets, the Lord of glory, of whom it was declared, "Never man spake like this Man!" He who is the true Teacher of His Church and people, is here brought successively before us, under the varied names and representations of Evangelist, Healer, Liberator, Messenger of Jubilee, and Comforter of the Mourner. Let us consider these in their order; and in doing so, may that same Spirit of the Lord be upon us, and enable us to listen to the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.* This entire chapter follows, in beautiful sequence and contrast, the preceding one. That, we found, contained an impressive representation of the Church militant and triumphant "in the summit of its glory" (Delitzsch), like a mighty temple covering the whole earth, and whose songs are yet to fill the everlasting ages. Here we are conducted, so to speak, into the * The well-known engraving in the frontispiece of this volume, is a grand embodiment, in visible form, of the great truths of this whole prophetic utterance. porch or vestibule of this Temple, and behold it adorned with five varied Pictures, each signally illustrative of the work of Him who "loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish" (Eph. v. 25–28). The first picture which arrests our attention, is that of a divine Evangelist or Teacher, with a group of learners at His feet, docile and of childlike spirit, looking up with the eye and stretching out the hand of faith,—with minds prepared, as the furrows of early spring, for the reception of the immortal seed. That Holy Spirit has anointed Jesus, in the first instance, "to preach good tidings unto the Meek." We are forcibly reminded of the parallel commencement in the great Beatitude sermon, when He opened His mouth and taught the expectant listeners, saying, |