Jesus says, John v. 39, “And the Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me; ye have neither heard his voice at any time,” &c.  But how does this agree with Moses, who says, Deut. iv. 33, “Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard?”—­“And we heard his voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day, that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.”  Deut. v. 24.

Luke, ch. 4, 17, “And they gave to Jesus the Book of Isaiah the Prophet, and he opened the Book, and found this place, where it was written, ’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, therefore hath he anointed me to preach the Gospel; to the poor hath he sent me, that I should bind up the broken in heart, proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight to the blind; that I should preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’  And shutting the Book, he gave it to the minister, and afterwards addressed them, saying ’This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”  Here you see the words which gave offence; and by turning to Is. in loco. ch. lxi. you may see the reason why the inhabitants of Nazareth arose up in wrath against him.  For these words alledged in Luke, are somewhat perverted from the original in Isaiah; for these words, “and sight to the blind,” are not in Isaiah, but are inserted in Luke for purposes very obvious.  And 2. he neglects the words following, “and the day of vengeance of our God, and of consolation to all who mourn.  To give consolation to the mourners of Zion; to give them beauty instead of ashes, and the oil of joy instead of grief; a garment of praise instead of a broken heart,” &c. to the end of the chapter.  From this it is very clear, that this prophecy has no reference to Jesus:  but Isaiah speaks these things of himself; and the words " the Lord hath anointed me,” signify, “God hath chosen, established me to declare”—­what follows.  This exposition of anointing is confirmed from these passages;—­1 Kings, xix ch.

“Anoint a prophet in thy stead,” where the sense is, “constitute a prophet in thy place.”  Again, “touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm,” i. e.  “Touch not my chosen servants”; and so in several other places.  The meaning, therefore, of Isaiah is, that God had appointed, and constituted him a prophet to announce these consolations to the Israelites, who were to be in captivity, in order that they should not dispair of liberation; and that they should have hope, when they read those comfortable words spoken by the mouth of Isaiah, at the command of God.  For he calls the subjects of his message “the broken in heart,” “the captives,” " the mourners of Zion,” &c. all which terms are applicable only to the Israelites.  That this is the true interpretation, will be made further evident to any impartial person, by reading the context preceding, and following.