These answers, indeed, are not recorded; but many others are, in the course of his ministry; answers to nice, insidious, and concerted questions of the ablest men among the Jews, in critical circumstances, and on the most trying emergencies. And to these questions he always replied with a presence of mind so unshaken, with a judgment so infallible, with a dexterity and prudence so conciliating, and at the same time with an integrity so pure and perfect, that no advantage could in any degree be taken against him. His adversaries came again and again to the charge; whom yet he repelled with so triumphant a superiority over all the efforts of their wit and malice, that he forced them in the end, to marvel and hold their peace[127]. His divine responses came out so contrary to their hopes and their interests, that they were discouraged and deterred from provoking any more of them—they durst not ask him any more questions[128].
The limits of this discourse will not give room for a detailed account of these questions and answers. But they are thick sown in the Gospels: And ye will understand me to point more especially at those, that respected his divine character, and kingly office[129]; in which conversations the danger was, lest he should drop something that might be made a handle against him before the Jewish Consistory, or the Roman Tribunals; while yet he was not to betray his cause, or bely his pretensions. The danger was instant, and, if he had fallen under it, must have been fatal. For, in withdrawing his claim of being the Messiah, the King of Israel, he must have owned himself an impostor; in asserting it, at this time, clearly and openly, he would have given his enemies a pretence for treating him, as a criminal of state; an imputation which could not consist with the truth or dignity of his mission. He came into the world to suffer death, indeed; but not as convicted of any crime, not as colourably condemned by any legal sentence. His innocence was to be conspicuous, and his honour unimpaired[130].
In this respect, then, it seems, as if it might be truly affirmed, that never man spake as this man. And, if this much must be allowed, we are, methinks, but a little way from a further conclusion, That, therefore, he spake by a divine spirit.
If it be said, that this conclusion does not hold, for that the same faculties of the human mind, which make us capable of SEEING this wisdom, may have PRODUCED it, the ground of the observation is neither likely, nor true. Not likely in the present instance, where the wisdom in question appears to be exquisite and constant: qualities which we are not accustomed to find united in the efforts of human wisdom. But neither, in general, is the position true: For then, the power of perception and invention would be the same; then, the divine intellect would be levelled with the human; then, the wisdom of God himself, so far as it was acknowledged and understood by us, would be our wisdom. Whereas, common sense tells us, that to discover a truth and to apprehend it, to project a measure, and to conceive the fitness of it, are two things[131]: And, though men differ widely in their capacities from each other, yet there is a capacity, which no man may claim, as there is a wisdom, to which no man pretends. The sublime views of God in the system of nature are comprehended, to a certain degree, and justly magnified and unfolded by many men, who, yet, have not the presumption to suppose that they were themselves capable, of planning such a system. In like manner, we may see and adore the wisdom, with which Christ spake, and yet conclude, upon good grounds, that as no man ever did, so no man ever could, speak with such wisdom.
IV. A fourth circumstance (and the last I shall mention) which distinguished Jesus, as a Speaker, was the penetrating influence of his discourses, or the divine ENERGY, with which they were accompanied.
Other speakers have thought it enough to convince their hearers by cogent arguments; to excite their passions by lively images; to touch the general springs of humanity, or to practise on the peculiar foibles and prejudices of the party addressed. But Jesus had the singular art to convince without reasoning, and to persuade without rhetorick. Few and simple words, from that mouth, attained their end with ease: they struck the soul with more than all the effect of that eloquence, which hath been compared to lightning: they needed no help from tropes and figures, from the acquired knowledge of human nature, or from the information of others, but went directly to the heart by their own proper and irresistible virtue. In a word, Jesus saw what no art could divine, he saw intuitively the naked conscience, the secret individual thoughts of those, with whom he had any concern; and being able, withal, to possess their minds with a consciousness of this intuition, his least word, his look, nay his silence must needs speak beyond the eloquence of other men.
There are many instances of this sort, recorded in the Gospels. He saw the malice of the Scribes and Pharisees[132], while it was yet latent in the heart, and only forming itself into secret purposes and mental propositions; and he surprized them by his answers, into shame and madness[133]. He saw the seeds of ambition putting forth in the minds of his disciples: and by a word or two, he prevented the growth of them[134]. By only looking upon Peter[135], he struck him into remorse and tears. And by answering nothing, he astonished, at once, and convinced the Roman Governor, who sat in judgment upon him[136].
This inspection of the heart, was that which confounded the officers, whom the chief priests had sent to apprehend him, and drew from them, on their return, the advantageous report of the text—that never man spake like this man. For, by what he said in their hearing, he gave them to understand that he knew their commission before they had opened it: and so disarmed their rage, by only signifying his acquaintance with their design.
The effect of what he said and did was, in many conjunctures, wholly disproportioned to his words and actions: and is only to be accounted for, from the clear insight he had into the mind, and from the secret influence which he knew, by an apt sentence[137], or by an expressive emblem[138], to inject into the conscience of his hearers. And what resistance can, indeed, be made to such a speaker, who hath the hearts of men in his hands, and turneth them whithersoever he will[139]?
In all views, then, whether we consider the matter, the authority, the wisdom, or the effect of Christ’s discourses, we must needs be convinced that the text is amply verified, and that never man spake like this man.