It is written in the prophet, "behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.

among other things he said, there comes one after me, who is superiour to me, I am not worthy to stoop down and untie his shoes.

when this voice from heaven was heard, "thou art my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

now there was in their synagogue a demoniack, who cried out, ah,

what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to torment us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God.

where Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, who presently acquainted Jesus with it.

And there came a leper to him, who fell on his knees, and thus address'd him, "if you will, you can heal me."

then they came and presented to him a paralytic, who had four men to carry him.

who finding it impossible to come nigh Him because of the press, uncovered the roof where He was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the cradle wherein the paralytic lay.

but there were certain of the Scribes sitting there, who were dissatisfied in their own minds, and said to themselves,

why doth this man speak such blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God?

how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, who was afterwards high-priest, and did eat the shew-bread, giving some of it likewise to the company, though the law allow'd no body to eat of it but the priests.

Another time he entred into the synagogue, when a man was there who had a withered hand.

he said then to the man who had the withered hand, rise and stand there in the midst.

these were Simon, whom he sirnam'd Peter, James the son of Zebedee,

and John the brother of James, (whom he had named Boanerges, that is to say, sons of thunder.)

and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Some Scribes, who were come from Jerusalem, said, he is confederate with Beelzebub, the prince of the demons enables him to dispossess demons.

He answer'd, who is my mother? who are my brothers?

they who receiv'd seed by the wayside, are those in whom the word is sown, who no sooner have heard it, but satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

in like manner, they who receive seed on stony-ground, are such as upon hearing the word, do immediately receive it with joy.

as for those, who receive seed as among thorns: they are such as hear the word.

they who receive seed as on good ground, are such as hear the word and entertain it, and bring forth fruit, some in one degree, and some in another.

and they were exceedingly afraid, and said to one another, who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

and as soon as Jesus was come out of the ship, he met a demoniack, who came from among the tombs, where he haunted,

Now there was a woman, who had been affected with an hemorrhage twelve years:

Jesus conscious of the influence he had exerted, immediately turned towards the crowd, and said, who touched my clothes?

his disciples replied, you see the multitude press about you, and do you ask, who touched you?

however, he looked about to see who it was.

Before he had done speaking, messengers came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, who said, "your daughter is dead, why do you give the master any further trouble?"

when the sabbath was come, he preach'd in the synagogue, to the great astonishment of many, who upon hearing his discourse, said, how came he by all this? what strange endowment of knowledge is this, that he should work such miracles?

is not he the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, of Juda and Simon? are not these his sisters, who are here with us? and they were scandalized at him.

but Herod, from what he had heard, said, 'tis John himself, whom I caused to be beheaded, who is risen from the dead.

for Herod had given orders to seize John, and had confin'd him in prison, to gratify Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married;

at this the king was exceedingly concern'd; however, in regard to his oath, and to those who were at table with him, he would not refuse her;

accordingly he went, and beheaded him in the prison, and bringing the head in a charger, he presented it to the young lady, who gave it to her mother:

Jesus then having taken the five loaves and the two fishes, look'd up to heaven and gave thanks; then breaking the loaves, he gave them to his disciples to distribute among the people: for whom he likewise divided the two fishes.

It was now late in the evening, and the bark in full sea, when Jesus, who was ashore all alone,

no sooner were they ashore, but the people, who presently perceiv'd it was Jesus,

Afterwards Jesus went to Bethsaida, where they presented to him a blind man, whom they entreated Jesus to touch.

From thence Jesus went attended with his disciples to the villages of Cesarea Philippi. and ask'd them by the way, who do they say I am?

but who, said he, do you take me to be? Peter answered, you are the Messiah:

and one of the crowd answer'd, master, I have brought to you my son, who is possess'd with a dumb spirit,

in the mean time he gave his disciples this intimation, "the son of man is going to be delivered up into the hands of men, who will put him to death, and three days after he is put to death he shall rise again."

but if any one shall cause the meanest of those, who believe in me, to transgress, it had been better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.

When he was set out upon his journey, there met him one, who kneeling down before him, said, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? there is but one, who is good, that is God.

then Jesus looking round about, said to his disciples, how difficult a thing is it for those who have riches to enter into the gospel kingdom!

at this expression the disciples were much surpriz'd. but Jesus reassum'd the discourse, and said, how difficult a thing is it for those, who place their trust in riches, to enter into the divine kingdom?

Jesus answered him, I declare unto you, there is not a man who has forsaken his house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, out of love to me and to the gospel,

now, said he, we are going to Jerusalem, where the son of man will be delivered up to the chief priests, and to the Scribes, who will condemn him to die, and deliver him to the Gentiles.

or on my left, is not in my power to grant, except to those for whom it was designed.

who thereupon spoke to him, and said, what would you have me do for you? the blind man replied, Lord, I desire to have my sight.

and asked him, by what authority do you behave thus? and who gave you that authority?

then he sent another, whom they killed: and of several more, some they beat, some they killed.

at last, having one only son, whom he loved, he sent him to them; surely, said he, they will reverence my son.

Then the Saducees, who deny the resurrection, came and asked him,

for David himself, who was inspired by the holy spirit, has this expression, "the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand till I make thy enemies thy foot-stool."

in the sequel of the discourse, he said to them, beware of the Scribes, who affect to walk about in their long robes, to be saluted in publick places,

who yet devour widows estates under the shew of making long prayers, such shall receive greater condemnation.

and there came a certain poor widow, who threw in two mites, to the value of a farthing.

upon which he call'd to his disciples, and said to them, I declare unto you, that this poor widow has given more than any of those, who have given to the treasury.

Now when you shall see the-abomination of desolation, mentioned by the prophet Daniel, establish'd where it ought not to be (let the reader observe) then let those, who are in Judea, flee to the mountains:

unhappy the women who are pregnant, and those who nurse children at such a time.

the son of man is going indeed, according to what is written of him: but wo to that man, by whom the son of man is betrayed: it would be better for that man, if he had never been born.

All of a sudden, while he was yet speaking, appear'd Judas, one of the twelve, attended by a great number of people with swords and clubs, who were sent by the chief priests, the Scribes, and rulers.

there were indeed several, who depos'd what was false against him: besides, what they deposed was insufficient.

at last there appear'd some, who gave in false evidence against him,

then some began to spit on him, others cover'd his face and struck him on the head, crying out, divine, who it is. and the domestics slapt him on the cheeks.

Barabbas lay then confin'd with other seditious, who had committed murder in an insurrection.

and the Centurion who stood over-against him, observing that he expired with so great a cry, said, certainly this man was the son of God.

there were likewise several women, who were spectators at a distance: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the minor, and of Joses and Salome:

who had attended Jesus, and supply'd him with necessaries when he was in Galilee: besides many other women, who came up with him to Jerusalem.

one Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable senator, who was himself in expectation of the kingdom of God, ventur'd to come and wait upon Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

who taking down the body, wrapped it in a fine linnen cloth, which he had bought, and laid it in a sepulchre, which was hewn out of a rock, and roll'd a stone for a door to the sepulchre: and Mary Magdalene,

and they said to one another, who will remove the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre for us?

Now Jesus being risen early on the first day of the week, he appear'd first to Mary Magdalene, whom he had dispossess'd of seven demons.

immediately she went to those who frequented Jesus, and were then bemoaning themselves in tears, and acquainted them with it.

afterwards he appear'd to the eleven, as they were all sitting at table, and he reproved them for their incredulity and obstinacy in not giving credit to those, who had seen him after his resurrection.