4. By shewing him that man doth not live by bread alone, but by the power and blessing of God. Deut. viii. 3. 10 Q What was the second temptation?

A. The devil set him upon a pinnacle of the temple, and bid him cast himself down, for there was a promise, in Psalm xci. 11, that angels should bear him up, so that he should receive no hurt.

11 Q. How did Jesus resist that temptation ?

. By shewing that we must not tempt the providence of God any way, Deut. vi. 16, and therefore we must not venture upon dangers without necessity. 12 Q. What was the third temptation?

A. The devil promised to give him all the kingdoms of this world, if Jesus would fall down and worship him. 13 Q. How was this temptation vanquished?

A. By declaring that God only was to be worshipped.. Deut. vi. 13, and x. 20.

14 Q. Whence did Jesus derive his answers to these several temptations ?

A. From several texts of Scripture which he cited upon this occasion, and all out of the book of Deuteronomy.

15 Q. What token of honour from heaven did Christ receive in the wilderness ?

A. When the devil was disappointed and vanquished, and forsook him, the angels of God came and ministered unto him.

SECT. I. Jesus Christ's Appearance with the Characters of the Messiah.

16 Q. We are come now to the public life and ministry of Jesus Christ: let us hear what were the chief parts or designs of it?

A. The first design of his public life and ministry was, to appear in the world with the marks of a divine commission, and the characters of the Messiah upou him.

17 Q. How did Jesus fulfil this first design of his public life and ministry?

A. He healed the sick, he raised the dead, he preached the glad tidings of salvation to the poor, he set about the reformation of the world, and all this without noise or uproar; and he received several testimonies from heaven. See these characters of the Messiah foretold by the prophets, Isa. xxxv. 4, 5, and lxi. 1, 2, and xlii. 2. Mal. iii. 1, 2, 3, and exemplified in Christ, Matt. xi. 3-5, and chap. v. 17-20, and xii. 19.

18 Q. But did not Christ preach up his own character as the Messiah, or anointed Saviour?

A. Though he several times preached that he was sent from God; yet he very seldom declared plainly that he was the Messiah; and even forbid the men that knew it, to publish it at that time, nor would he suffer the devils to declare it. Matt. xvi. 20. Mark i. 34.

19 Q. Why did our Saviour so long abstain from declaring that he was the Messiah who should come into the world?

A. Partly that men might learn his office and character in a rational way, and infer that he was the Messiah by his doctrine and his works; and partly that he might not expose him to the rage of his enemies, and to death before his time. Luke vii. 19-23.

20 Q. What were some of the testimonies which Christ received from heaven in his life?

A. Voices from heaven at several times; once at his baptism, which was mentioned before; once among the people, in answer to his prayer; and once on the mount of transfiguration, when Moses and Elias came from heaven to attend him.

What was that voice which came in answer to

21 Q. his prayer?

A. When Christ prayed in public that God his Father would glorify his name; there was an answer came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. John xii. 28.

22 Q. What was the transfiguration?

A. Jesus went up into a high mountain with three of

his disciples, his countenance was changed all glorious, and his raiment shining like sun beams; Moses and Elias appeared and conversed with him, and from a bright cloud broke forth a voice, This is my beloved Son; hear him. Matt. xvii. 1-5.

SECT. II. Of the Subjects of his Preaching, his Parables and his Disputes.

23 Q. WHAT was the second part and design of his public life and ministry.

A. To preach and teach many necessary truths and duties to the people. Mark i. 38. Isaiah Ixi. 1. Luke

iv. 18.

24 Q. In what manner did our Lord Jesus Christ preach to the world, and teach mankind ?

A. He spake several things to them in public sermons or discourses, others in free conversation or dispute: sometimes he spake in plain language, at other times by way of parable, or similitude. Matt. v. 2, 3, &c. and chap. xiii. 3.

25 Q. What were some of the chief subjects of our Saviour's public preaching?

A. These that follow, namely,

1. He explained the law of God in its full latitude, as it reaches the thoughts, as well as words and actions, and rescued it from the grievous corruptions, the false glosses and mistakes of the Jewish teachers; and by this means he convinced his hearers of sin, and shewed them the need of a Saviour. Matt. v. 6, 7. chap. ix. 12, 13.

2. He taught them the vanity of depending upon any outward privileges, as being the children of Abraham; he shewed them the danger of putting ceremonies and forms of any kind, in the room of real and practical godliness; he severely reproved the scribes and Pharisees on this account; and assured men there was no salvation for them, no entrance into heaven, without being born again, or becoming new creatures. See John iii. 3-de

chap. viii. 33—41. Matt. vii. 24. chap. viii. 12, and xxiii.

13-33.

3. He corrected several sinful customs and practices, with other foolish traditions among the people; and reproved the teachers of the law for mingling their traditions and the inventions of men with the pure appointments of God. Mark vii. 1-13. John ii. 13-17. Matt. v. vi. and vii.

4. He called the people aloud to repentance of every sin, because the kingdom of the Gospel was at hand. See Matt. iv. 17. Luke v. 32.

5. He gave particular directions for the practice of many duties, namely, spiritual worship, prayer, dependence upon God, hearing the word, giving alms, loving our neighbours, forgiving our enemies, &c. Matt. v. vi. vii. and xiii.

6. He preached the Gospel, or the glad tidings of pardoning grace, to sinners who repented of their sins, and believed in him; he promised the assistance of the Holy Spirit to them that asked it of God; he represented himself as sent of God, and invited all men to come to him, and trust in him, that they might be saved. Luke iv. 18, 21, 22, and xi. 9-13. Matt. v. 3-12, vii. 7, &c. and xi. 28. John v. vi. vii. and viii.

7. He revealed the things of the future and invisible world, the resurrection and the day of judgment, heaven and hell, beyond what the world had ever known before. 2 Tim. i. 10. Matt. v. 8, 12. chap. xiii. and xxv. &c.

8. He often foretold that the Jews would reject him and his Gospel, and should be terribly punished for it; and he declared that the Gentiles would receive his Gospel; and said many things to prepare the way of the Gentiles into the church or kingdom of the Messiah, because the Jews had such violent prejudices against their admission into it. Matt. viii. 12, and xx. xxi. Luke XV. Matt. xx. 40, 41, and xxiii. 38.

9. He several times foretold his own death, his resurrection, and his future glory, and his coming to raise the dead, and to judge the world. Matt. xxi. xxiv. and xxv. John v. 27-29, xii. 23-34. Matt. xii. 40.

26 Q. Did Jesus Christ foretel all these things plainly and openly?

A. What he spake by way of prophecy, in private to his disciples, he spake plainly; but what he spake of this kind in public to the multitude, was often (though not always) delivered in parables and similitudes. Mark iv. 11, 32, 34. Matt. xx. 18-28.

27 Q. But did not Christ teach the great and glorious doctrine of his own death as a sacrifice or ransom for sinful men, in the course of his public ministry?

A. He taught this privately to his disciples, to whom he spoke more freely of his death and resurrection toward the end of his life. Matt. xvi. 16-22. But, as for wise reasons he did not preach publicly and plainly to the people of his own death or his resurrection, so he scarce ever preached in public and in plain language those great doctrines of Christianity that depend upon his death or his resurrection: these things were wisely reserved for the ministry of his apostles, after he was actually dead and risen, and ascended to heaven, and had poured out on them the promised Spirit. Matt. x. 27, and Luke xxiv. 45-59.

28 Q. What were some of the most remarkable among the parables of Jesus Christ?

A. The parable of the sower and the seed; of the tares in the field; of the merciless servant; of the good Samaritan; of the labourers in the vineyard; of the wicked husbandmen; of the ten virgins; of the improvement of talents; of the prodigal son; of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar.

29 Q. What is the parable of the sower and the seed?

A. As the seed that is sown, falling on different sorts of ground, brings forth more or less fruit, or no fruit at all; so when ministers preach the Gospel, the word becomes more or less fruitful, or unfruitful, according to the good or evil hearts of the hearers. Matt. xiii. 1—23. 30 Q. What is the parable of the tares in the field? A. As the enemy had sowed tares where the husbandman had sown wheat, and they were both suffered to