John xiii. 18. That the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with vie, hath lifted up his heel against me.
THERE was scarcely any circumstance relating to the death of our blessed Lord which was not the subject of prophecy. That to which my text refers, was the betraying of our blessed Lord by one of his own Disciples. This event was shadowed forth by the treachery of Ahithophel at the time of Absalom's rebellion. He was the intimate friend and counsellor of David : yet, in the hour of David's extremity, he forsook him, and by his counsel laboured to effect his destruction. Of this David complains, saying, " Mine own familiar friend, whom I trusted, who did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against mea." But, under these circumstances, David was a type of Christ, as Ahithophel was of Judas: and the complaint which, in its primary sense, was a mere historical record, in its secondary and subordinate sense was a prophecy relating to the manner in which our blessed Lord should be delivered into the hands of his enemies.
In considering this prophecy, I shall shew, I. In whom it may be said to be fulfilled —
We need not confine our attention to Judas : we may well extend it generally to all who partake of God's mercies, and requite them only with ingrati- tude. It may be considered, then, as fulfilled in,
1 . The Atheist—
[God, in the works of creation, has loaded us with bene- fits ; so that, whether we survey the heavens or the earth, we cannot but acknowledge, that his mercies have greatly
abounded towards us But what is the return which
many make? They endeavour to shut him out, as it were, from the universe, saying, " Depart from us ; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." They deny that he takes any cog- nizance of the affairs of men ; saying, " Pie seeth us not ; the thick clouds arc a covering to him: He regardeth us not;" " nor will he do to us either good or evil." They even go
il Ps. xli. 9.