^is 0^^ Tmes}: OCT 4 1951 xS \83S /■ A/< ^^^ V * THE NEW TESTAMENT . ,,:'^offni««f^ oc. OF OUU LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST TUB TSXT CAREFULLY PRINTED FROM THB MOST CORRECT COPIES OF THE PRESENT AUTHORIZED VERSION INOLDDING THB MARGINAL REA4DINGS AND PARALLEL TEXTS. COMMENTARY AND CRITICAL NOTES. DESIGNED AS A HELP TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SACRED WRITINGS. BY ADAM CLARKE, LL. D. F. S. A. M. R. I. A. FOR WHATSOEVER fltlNGS WERE WRITTEN AFORETIME, WERE WRITTEN FOR OUR LEARNING; THAT WB TUROUOU FATIBMal AND COMFORT OF THE SCRIPTDRES MIGHT HAVE BOFB. — Epist. Rom. NEW EDITION, IMPROVED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. PUBLISHED BY PETER. D. MYERS, AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 1835. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHARACTER AND DESIGN OF THIS WORK. In my General Pre/ace prefixed to Genesis, I gave a suc- elnct account of the Plan 1 pursued in preparing this Work for the press : but as this plan became necessarily extended, and led to much farther -eading, examination, and discus- •ion, I judge it necessary to give my Keadei-s a general Summary of the whole, that they ma" be in possession of my mode of proceeding, and be enabled more fully to compre- hend the reasons why the Work has been so long in passing through the press. My eJucation and habits from earlv youth led me to read and study the Bible, not as a text-hook to confirm the :irticles of » preconceived creed, but as a revelation from God to man, (of His will and purposes, in reference to the origm and de- signation of His human offspring,) which it was the duty and interest of all the inhabitants of the earth, deeply to study, and earnestly to endeavour to understand ; as it concerned their peace and haupiness, eind the perfection of their being in re- ference to botn worlds. Conscious that Translators in general must have had a par- ticular creed, ..» reference to which they would naturally consider every text ; and this reference, however honestly intended, might lead them to glosses not always fairly de- ducible from the original words ; I sat down with ti heart as free from bias and sectarian feehng as possible, and carefully read over, cautiously weighed, and literally translates, every word, Hebrew and Chaldee, in the Old Testament. And as I saw that it was possible, even while assisted jy the best trans- lations and best lexicographers, to mistake the import of a Hebrew term, and considering that the cognate Asiatic lan- guages would be helps of great importance in such an en- quiry, I collated every verse, where I was apprehensive of any difficulty, with the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Persian, and the jEthiopic In the Polyglott Translation, as far as the Sacred Writings are extant in these languages : and I did this with a constant reference to the Various Headings collected by Houbigant, H. Michaelis, Kennicott, and De Rossi, and to the best editions of the Septuagint and Vulgale, whicli are the earliest translations of the Hebrew Text which have reached our times. Nor have I been satisfied with these collections of Various Readings ; I have examined and collated several ancient He- brexD MSS. which preceding scholars had never seen, with many ancient MSS. of the Vulgate equally unknown to bibli- cal critics. This work reqviired much time and great pains, and necessarily occasioned nmch delay : and no wonder, When I have often, on my plan, been obliged to employ as much time in visiting many sources una sailing down tiieir streams, in order to ascertain a genuine reading or fix the sense of a disputed verse, as would have been sufficient for some of my contemporaries to pass whole sheets of their work through the press. Had I not followed this method, which to me appearea absolutely necessary, I should have completed my Work, such as it would have been, in less than one half of^the time. These previous Readings, Collations, and Translations, pro- duced an immense number of Notes and Observations on all parts of the Old Testament; which, by the advice and en- treaty of several learned and judicious friends, I was induced toextend in the form of a perpetual comment on evei-y Book in the Bible. This being ultimately revised and completed as far as the Book of Judges, v.'hich formed, in my purpose, the boundary of my proceedings on the Hebrew Scriptures, I was induced to commit it to press. Though my friends in general wished me to go forward with the Old' Testament ; yet, as several of thtni were appre- hensive, from the then infirm state of my health, that I might not live long enough to finish the whole, they advised me strongly to omit for the present the Old Testament, and begin with the New. This was in conformity with my own feel- ings on the subject ; having wished simply to add the Jour Gospels and Acts of the Apostlen to the nee Books of JMoses and the Books of Joshua and Judges ; as these two parcels of Divine revelation, carefully illustrated, would give a full view of the origin and final settlement of the church of the Old Covenant, and the" com.nencement and completion of thai, of the New. And thus I proceeded. After having literally translated ev-"ry word of the New Testament, that last best irift of God to man ; comparing the whole with all the anrieril Versions, and the most important ofthe modem ; coHating^ll with the Various Rerd''ngs eol- lecled by Stephens, Cmrccl, i'ti:, Gtierard of Maesiric/it, Bengel, Mill, Wetstein, and Griesbach ; actually examining many SISS., either cursorily or not at all examined by them ; illustrallng the whole 1 quotations from ancient authors, liabbinicnl, Grecian, human, and Asiatic ; I exceeded my previous design, and brought down the Work Vrt the end of the Apocalypse : and passed the whole through the press. I should mention lieic a urerioi/s work, "(without whicli any man must be ill qnulilieu to ui. >rtake the illiistriition o( the New Testament,) vis. a careful examination of the Sep- tuagint. In Hiis the phraseology of the New Testament is' contained, and ..om this the import of that phraseology is alone to be derived. This I read carefully over to the end of the Book of Psalms, in the edition of Dr. GraJ>e, from the Co- dex Alexandrinus ; collating it occasii'iially with cdKioiis taken from the Vatican Mr*., and particularly that printed by /YeW, at Cambridge, 1665, ISino. with the I'anEnetic Preface of the learned Bisiiop Peaison. Without this previous work, who did ever yet properly t omprehend the idi(/inand phrase- ology of the Greek Testament 1 Nrw, all these are paits of my labour which t .nmon readers cannot conceive ; and which none can properly appreciate, as to the pains, dilli- culty, and time which must be expended, who have not themstives trodden this almost unfrequented path. When the New Testament was thus prepared and finished at press, I was induced, though with great reluctance, to re- commence the Old. I was alrerdy nearly worn down by my Frcvious worK, connected with other works and duties winch could not omit ; and though I had gone through the most important parts of the Sacred Uccords,'yet I could easily fore- see that I had an ocean of difficulties to'wade through in thos'e parts that rem"'ned. The Historical Books alone, in their chronology, arrangement of fads, concise and often oliscure phraseology, presented not a {t\i : — the books of Solomon, and those of the Major and Minor Prophets, a multitude. Not- withstanding all these, I hope I may say, that having obtairn'd help of God, I am cc.iic with some success, to the conclusion ; having aimed at nothing throughout the whole but the glory of God, and the good of ■men. But still something remains to be said conceniing the mo- dus operandi, or particular plan oi proceeding. In prosecu ting this work I was led to attend, in the first instance, more to xcords than to things, i:i order to find their tnie ideal moan- ing; together with those different shades of acceptation to which they became subject, either in the ciivuinslaiu-es of the speakers and those who were addressed, or in their ap- plication to matters which use, peculiarity of place and sitiia. tion, and the lapse of time, had produced. Il was my invari- able plan to ascertain first, the literal meaning o( every word and phrase ; and whrre there was a spiritual meaning, or re- feience, to see how it w;is founded on the literal sense. He who assumes his spiritual meanings first, is never likely to interpret the words of (>'«d either to his own credit or to the profit of his readers ; but in this track commentator has fol- lowed commentator, so that, in many cases, instead of a care- ful display of God's words and tiie objects of His proridenr.e and mercy, we have tissues of strange doctrines, human creeds, and confessions of faith. As I have said in another place, I speak not against compilations of this kind ; but let them be founded on the words of God, first properly under stood. As I proceeded in my work I met with other difflcultiee. I soon perceived an almost continual reference to tlie Litera- ture, Arts, and Sciences, of the Ancient World, and of tlio Asiatic nations in particular; and was therefore obliged to make these my particular suidy, having found a thousaud passages which I could neither illustrate nor explain, without somegcneral knowledge at ]easlof iheir jurispriidcnce, ustro- nomu, architecture, chemistry, chirurgery, medicine, metal- lurgy, pneumatics, &c. with their military tuclia, and the arts unS trades (as well ornamental as jiccca'sori/) which are carried on in common life. In the course of all this labour I have also paid particular at tentioD to those facts mentioned in the Sacred Writings, which have been the subjects of animadversion or ridicule by free-thinkers and infidils of all classes and in all times; aiuf I hone I myy say that no such passage is cither designedly passed oy or siiperficially considered ; that the strongest ob- jpclionsare fairly |,Voduced and met ;— that all such parts of these Divine writings.are, in consequence, exhibited in their own lustre ;— and, thai the truth of the doctrine of onr salva- tioa hua Uail us md- ylritimpk.^- as it has had attac/ci Uoia ib« 3 r.i^pi ration of the INTRODUCTION. sacred wrilef-9. nidest and most formidable of its antagonists : and on all such disputed points I humbly hope that the Reader will never c-onsult thes.e vnliimes in vain. And if tlioso grand doctrines which constitute what by some is called orlhodaxy ; that prove that fiod is lovin? to every man ; that from His innate, infinite, and eternal goodness. He to ills and has made ^roui- ■sio7i for the salvation of every human soul, be found to be those which alone have stood the rigid test of all the above sifting and examination ; it was not because these were sougln for beyond all others, and the Scriptures bent, in that way in order to favour them ; but because these doctrines are es- sentially contained in, and established by, the Oracles of God. I may add, that these doctrines, and all those connected with them, (such as the defection and sinfulness of man,— the in- carnation and sacrificial death of Christ,— His infinite, unori- ginated, and eternal Deity : justification by faith in His blood ; and the complete sanctification of the soul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,) have not only been shown to be the doc- trines of the Sacred Records, hut have also been subjected to the strongest test uf logical examination ; and, in the Notes, are supported by arguments, many of them new, applied in such a way as has not been done before in any similar or the- ological work. In this arduous labour I have haf' no assistants ; not even a single week's help from an amanuensis : no person to look for cominon places, or refer to an ancient autlior : to find out the place and transcribe a passage of Greek, Latin, or any otiier language, which my memory had generally recalled, or to verify a quotation ;— the help excepted which I received in the chronological department from my o^vn nephew. I have laboured alone for nearly tinenty-fine years previously to the Work being sent to press ; and Jifteen years have been employed in bringing it tlirough the Press to the public ; and thus ahrni forty years of my life have been consumed ; and from this the Reader will at once perceive, that the Work, 7oell or ill executed, has not been done in a careless or pre- cipitate manner : nor have any means within my reach been neglected to make it in every respect, as far as p > 3ible, what the title-page promises, — A Help to a better understand- ing OP THE Sacked Writings. Thus, through the merciful help of God, my labour in this fiield terminates ; a labour, which were it yet to commence, with the knowledge I now have of its difficulty, and my (in many respects) inadequate means, millions, even of the gold of Ophir, and all the honours that can come from man, could not induce me to imdertake. Now that it is finished, I regret not the labour ; I have had the testimony of many learned, pious, and judicious friends, relative to the execution and the usefulness of the Work. It has been admitted into tlie very highest ranks of society, and has lodged in the cottages of the poor. It has been the means of doing good to the simple oj heart; and the tnise m,an and the scribe, the learned and thu philosopher, according to their own generous acknowledg- ments, have not consulted its pages in vain. For these, and all His other mercies to the Writer and Rea- der, may God, the Fountain of all good, he eternally praised ! Adam Clarke. Eastcott, April 17, 1826. INTRODUCTION TO THE FOUR GOSPELS AND ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Tub Introduction, so long promised, giving an account of the .Manuscripts, Versions, &c. referred to in this Work, is at Just before my readers ; and could not with any propriety, have bfeen published sooner, as the Gospel History could not be considered complete till the Book of the Acts was finished. As the chronology of the New Testament ends with the two years' imprisonment of Paul at Rome, it may be thought need- less to carry it any farther down : but as there is some reason to believe, tliat he visited Rome a second time, and svtffered martyrdom there about A. D. 64 or 65 ; and as learned men have agreed that the Apocalypse, which completes the canon of the Ni'W Testament, was not written till about the year 96 ; I have thought it necessary to carry down the Chronology through the whole of Ihe first century o( the Christian era; that, if I should not have "health or life to proceed any farther in tbis work, that important part should be left in a state of tolerable perfection. I ha\'e proceeded on the same plan with the four (rospels, and the Bonk of the Acts, as I have done with the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua ; and have rea- son to thank God that he has spared me to go through (in the manner I first proposed) with these iwo most important pa^Zs of that Revelation, which his mercy has granted to man. In the first, (the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua,') the history of ilie world and its original inhabitants, and the history of the church, are brought down from the creation, to the final settlement of the Israelites in the Promised Land. In the se- cond, {the four Gospels and Book of Ads,) I have deduced the important events of tlie Christian dispensation from six years before the vulgar era. down to the year 100. This chronology is as rich in the necessary eras, as that which is attached to the Bookof Deuteronomy ; and has, I hope, left nothing unno- ticed that belongs to such a work. The account of MSS., Ver- this description, without involving mucli of that sort of Bibli- cal C'riticis?n which could not be advantageous to general readers. I have, therefore, only introduced what I deemed necessary for a proper understanding of the references to be found in the Commentary itself. I have purposely avoided the question concerning the au- thenticity of the Sacred Writings in general. On a thorough conviction, I assume the fact, that they are a Divine record, a revelation from God. This has been so amply proved, that the Christian cause has had a complete triumph. I consider, therefore, tlie question to be for ever at rest. As to the parti- cular books, scriptures, or scripture facte, to which objections have been made, I have carefully considered them as they occur in their respective places ; and I hope, I have fully re- moved every such objection, and have exhibited the doctrines of the Gospel, and the facts of the evangelical history, in their own certain and steady light : at least, I have carefully labour- ed to do it, and, like the woman in the Gospel, 1 have done what I could. When the great difficulty of my work is considered, no one will suppose thai mistakes wexe avoidable: general consist- ency and correctness are all that candour can require. I liave met with difficulties in every part of my undertaking, such as a commentator only can feel and estimate. On the Acts of the Apostles alone, I have spent many months of almost in- cessant labour. Difficulties occurred in every page ; and I could not proceed till I had made the way plain before me, and left it open to tliose who might come after. This alone is sufficient to account for the delay in this part ; and for any casual mistakes into which I may have fallen : mistakes, if such tliere be, over which the candid reader will find little difficulty gently to draw the pen of correction : remembering, that it is much more easy to find faults than to mend them. sions, &c. is necessarily short : 1 could not proceed farther in Inspiratimi of the Sacred Writers, Varimts Readings, and account of Manuscripts and Versions, etc. referred to in this work. % I. Concerning the 7nanner in which Di- viw. Inspir'Mion wa.5 s^ranted to the sacred 70?-/fcrs,— The manner in whicb tlie Divine Inspiration has been granted to tlie sacred writ.ns, is a (lucstiou of more ttian mere cu- riosity. As every work of God is done in an orderly, rational manner, so niu.st tliis also : but we must take heed not to confine hira to one particular form, and sriy, it must lie thus ?i\\A thus, or not at all. God is sovereign of his own ways -, and so dops hi.s wondrous works, that they ui,'>' !.r li.n' hi cverla-sting remembrance. A n ■ '• m at sundiy fMHC.sto our fallifi-: 'i,> v i - sot.s, bythe prophets and othr-r uvi' ^ l n ii; so has he done this in divers iiuuiners, ever -adapting the inanner to tinte, place, circumstance, &c. Hence we are not to look for a uniformitx/ in the inanner of communicatiiiE his inspira- tions, any more lliaii we are to look iOT iden- tity of tinw, place, a art persons. He ha.s done great things; and l.r l'.asdonealUhing.5jre«. On the inspiration ot Uie Hcriptures tliem- selves, I must therefore refer my reailers to those who have written professedly on the subject; hut on the moieo! communicating that i(ispiration, 1 hoc leave to maito a few extracts from Dr Wlutby, who has written e>:cellently on this point. After asserting that the apo3tles and evangelists indited these Scriptures by the assistance of the Holy Ghost ; and that as the immediate succeedin? ages did, so we at present securely may, rely upon thorn as a nile of faith, he proceeds to sliov/, " I. How this assistance may fitly be ex- plained. " For eyplication of this divine assistance, let it he considered, "1. That prophecy is somotiraes represented as t)ie word OJ tlie Lord, and lie is said to spe;il; to the prophet ; ;ind suitably to this metaphor. some illustration of rhe assistance of the Holy .Spirit may be made from the analogy it bears to human conversatio;i ; thus, that as we con- vey our thoughts one to another by such -vords as, by tlie organs of hearing, make such a motion on their brain to whom we speak, as gives themnnidea of the words Tve utter, and by them of the things which hy tho.?e words p<-e sicrnifiod, and so it is, theim- pre.s>ion mai.^: upon their biaiii, wliiCh doth comraiuiicutc our thoughts to them ; so, wlicn it pleased "ioil to reveal his will to;i.iy person, it *ems only necessary that he talk inward- ly witli tlKUi, thai is, t;.at he mak': mc.. j :.io- tion on their brain as gives them a deep and Clear idea of that which he intended to make known unto them ; only the impression must then be m:ide in such a manner and degree, and with such circumstances as may make it certain to the inspired person that it derives from God. Now seeing, when we hear the voice of any one, or receive a letter from him, we may he certain from the knowledge we have of his voice, or his hand- writing, that it is he indeed who speaks or writes to us ; we may very well conceive, tliat God can easily give such distinctive marks of what he in- wardly speaks to us, or urrites upon tlie ta- bles of our hearts, as shall enable us to dis- cern v.'hat he inipiiiits upon them, from any impression that shall otherwise be made upon thom. " 2. Sometimes the prophet is in Scriptufe stvlsd a aeer, and his word, a vision ; and then the parallel, or the ;malogy, runs thus : As wc see, by \irtue of a light reflecting the siiecies of lhing.< upon the retina, of the eye, e:ni' thiMicn deriving a pec;ihar motion to, and luakiii.'' a distinct Imprt'S.'ion on, the brain; so may tie pr phet hi suppo?;ed to see what God reveals unio him, by a like motion of the Holy Spirit made upon his brain concerning Inspiration nf the INTRODUCTION. sacred wrilvt'^. iii\ slionUl so rniimU. iL \iiil as U is as e:*.-'*' to prinxise a iiuilori.il cit.- tlieiii to indite tliose tilings, iMui ol)l<»a to tiie view, as' to descnlK; it by our , Circfully i)resideovcr,anddiifCt tiii words ^ must it i« as e;.sv for Go-.l to djirt ' wl,ll.-^l writing, as to su??est, or Dvip.- into Kucli ail impression or inward lij'lit iij"'" the ; their mpiiiorifs, such thnigs .w his wlsdoin l)niin of the prophtr, or spirimal u ' tliouL-lit titwliewriiien; andslioulii not suf to err in llie delivx-o' ol" wlial was f.liall "ive liim'aniorehri^'ht'undsousilileiA'a I ler tliii -,_.,., , , of thing's tiwn if lie did |K;rc(ipntiiaU prediction of sometliing future and (■0ii:in2ciit, exactly verilie,rr.;ri, mystervoi ine calling 01 wie uewHraimu.u A.ldtl,.s,.saltlthefl;,««^•^ astto ^^ pdvileg?s with the bclicvin i„g a.nliimed to the woild; (.od healing ^^^,^^ -^^.^^,g known unto tliem ; forGoi:cm to be a)inpreliundi:il under thesi! loiu' heatls, vix. either ilie pinphr.ts re- c.ived thfir revelatiim in a,n or trcnce, o.- in a c/v«oji, or by a vnke. from heaven, or In- the .iiiTcl suggcslionsof the Holy (ihosf. ■'Now some of tlie apuitlti hacf their vi- iioiis. isl. either by day, iis Peter ; for an ec- 1 "f,,-,."l',rr,Wtinii i f the nualitv of the ^'•■'•>- T" "V?: '^l'^. f::^^^^^ ! ^u^' m*%i^^ a^^h:^r;?:^'ol^t°Uu; A'''fi:.'' iC, 1, M »,, P r- Acti X II And I ^11 <'!'" 0"'" spe'-i^'l circumstances mention- Ailse. Pete) kill and eat, Acts x. II. And , ^ , ^ ^^^ ^^ i Xhess. iv. and the apontaaj of tli> Is^jUHnI ^ou.u«, « lAiJ'Ort, voree 17 And , j^^ ,.,„gr mn^s; • for the Spirit speaketh ex hy this, saith he, G0.I taught me to call no ,,1.^3^1 ^.. ^aith the aposUe, ' that in the latter inau cximnion, or unclean, virse -iS. t)r by '. ■' .... '^ . .. ,..,,..,.:.. n.-u'A/; thus a vision oil hi I me the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known, as it is now re- vealed to his holy apostles and prophets by i the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow- lieirs and of the same body, and partakers of his pronii.se in Christ, by the Go.'^pel,' Eph. lii I 3, 4, 5, 6. chap. i. 9. vi. 19. Col. i. -26. -rt. ii. 2. Iv I 3, 4. So they knew the mystery of the recall ing of the Jews, Knm. xi. 25, 26. The mystery Vv ■ Jon V i 't:>^s '"'^n shall depart from the fail .. i^, ii,„ ,'i tv. I . This inspiratiem of suggesi th/ 1 Tim. t'llvl,Mv\ a nian sjH-akiMg to Inm, i" the vi- j ^li^i^iVlVoVed to^StVjohn.tT.^author of the n; lilJl^iUi!*;^^.^ w tiiem I'fbf tS m- i •^-•e'-tions ; ,br he, speaking only what was ,e bpuii siie.ik!ng to them ; lor tftc spi- 1 represented to him in visions, or by angelical d to Pc!ev,JJeI.ojd,_three_ meii^^seok ^ (,iic„„rses, or apparitions, must have that as- sistance which suggested these ideas to him "Thirdly. As forlhose things which they did know already, either by natural reason, education, or antecedent revelation, they rii sill' I hoe: arise, l.ieiefore, and go with them r St Paul, .My grace is sufticiei t loi thee, | ^1,^.,^ reasonings, or in their confirmation of y«,se 9. Here then are three kinds of levela- , , ^ doctrines bV passages contained in the «.na granted to he apnttles; but the^n these | q,^ j. „^ - J,,, therefore, a con^J«!/a/ thsiigs v.ere mostly ocxutswiiai, anil arcidontal .,.„„,.,«,m „,„',, he' here necessary And tc, ,.,en., in rosixxi of their apostolical t""<> r^Jmf,o1?e great w^ Uieii^ I hands, both in preaching the Gospel, and liocis. •• only the c;tse of the apo.stle Paul must here admit of an exception ; for it being ne- cessiirv lor an apoille, that is, a witness of Cliri.si'? resurieciion, to liave seen the Lord risen fnim the dead, according to those words, ' Am I not an aiwistle .> Htive I not .seen the f^rd';' 1 Cor. ix. 1 ; 'and for an aiKistle, not writing: these Gospels and epistles, beiii": (o convince the unbelieving Jew, or to confirm the wavering Jeir, or rectify the errors of the Jiulaiz'n^ Christian the gift of knowledge of the Scriptures of the Old Testament was ver>- neee.- s:irv for them, and therefore is deser- veiUv reckoned among the primarj' gifts of ■™ :■ : -• , -.•.,,'.;., •_;,,,, Aeuiv rccxoneu among uie piiuiaiy j;iiu> ui 01 man. iieithei by man, but In Jesus Christ, 1 , j]oiy Ghost; and, Wing so, we have rea Ual. 1. I. t' "> ''?^e been done ; but it is not nece^- tuinou'h &c See Nuni xii T ' ■■*■ "^'*' ""-">' should be related in that order " nut yet, that which enableii them for the I "f "';'«■/" whi^i they were performed, un- inditing of these writings. ;us a rule of faith ! l'-'>> '">' "]^°,^A^™^'^'' "^ H"V "r,,. if to all succeeding ages. w;is the iPtenial and >"''■* ''•" """J.'^'e"' ? ^^^^'^ "^ '^^ ^^^ '™"' °f powerful .xssistance of the Holy Spirit •' To proceed, then, to the cjinsideration of the distinction m;ide by .some, viz. Of inspi- ration by sus'o^'f'o". and inspiration of di- rection only : I sa.v, then. what they thus delivereit " Moreover, in writing the discourses con taiiieil in these books, it is not neces.saiy that the very iron'* should be suggested, or re- )ord(d, in which they were first spoken, but First SVhcre 'tlierc Is no antecedent W>;rt,oiily tliat the true intent and meantne of or knowledge of the things written f.^- the them should lie related, though in diversity pooil of others, to lie ol>i;iined from reason, or of words. Though the promise made to the a former rcvehstion, there, an inspiration of 1 apnulles by our Lord, ' that the Holy Spirit tugsestion must lie vouch.-;afed to the iipos- 1 should bring to their remembrance, n-nvra, Ue.s.'to PiKib'.e them to m;ike them known unto, ;ill things whiclr he had said unto them,' the world. But where there is ;m :iiileredent ; John .\iv. 20. doth fairly plead for this exact knowlc' th.at God should, eiilic .. ss ill wl.;it they have delivereit of our S,-i ' viour's sermons :' it being scarcely im.-.glna mediately, or by some siiecial oci-asions, ex- 1 blc thai their memorj-, without Oiviue assist- Vol. .V . 3 iUice, should e.\aclly give us all tliat was sjioken in such long discour.'^cs. " And lience we niay account for the ob-ec- tions against this Divine a.ssistance, aiisim; from the s«>\ enlh of Ads, for, thougii 1 h,i\e showed in the note on verses 15, 16. tliat ihero is no real mistake in the words of the froto- martyr, >'et were it granted, that there is an enor in his account of the sepulchres of tl.u patriarch, that aflects not the authority of .St Luke at all, provided he have exactly re- lated what was then said by St. Stephen^ who w;ls not chosen to be a penman of the Holy Scriptures. " Lastlv, from what is thus discour.sed. it may appeiir, that I conteml only for such a« insiiiralion, or Divine assistance of the sacred writers of the ISe-w Testament, as will assure us of the truth of what they wrote, whether bv inspiration of suggestion or direction only ; but not for such an inspiration as im- plies, that even their vorda were dictated, or tlieir phrases suggested to them by ihe floly Ohost : this, in some matters of great moment, might be so; St. Paul declaring, that they ' spake the things which were given them of Gotl in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth.' 1 Cor. li. 13. if tlwt reWite not to what the Holy Ghost had taught theiii out of the Old Testament. But that it was not alwavs so, is evident, both from tlie con- sideration that they were hagiogiaphers, who are sup|)Osed to lie left to the use ot their own words, and from the variety of th« style in whicli they write, and from liie sole- cisms, which are sometimes visible in their compositions ; and more especially from their own words, which manifestly show that, in some cases, they had had no such sug-esiion from the Holy Ghost as doth imply, that he had riietated those words unto them. Kor instance, wiien St. Paul iieclares his will or purjjose to do what he was hindered by the providence of God from doing ; as, wlien ha says to the Romans, • When I go into Spain, I will come to you,' chap. xv. 24. ' I will como by you into Spain,' verse ss. For though he might, after his enlargement, go into the west, where St. Clement (P.p. ad Cor. § 6.) s;iys he preached. And even iiitoS|iain, as Cvril, (C'atechis. 17. p 204. C.) Epirihaniiis, (Hser. 27. p. 107 C.) and Tlieodoret, fin 2Tini. iv. 17. and Prajfat in Psalm cxvi.) say he did ; vet it is certain he did not designedly go to 'Rome, in order to aii inteniiod journey into Spain ; and when he says to the Corin- thians, ' I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia,' 1 Cor. xvi. 5. and j'et confesses in his second epistle. 2 Cor. i. 1.5, 16, 17. that he did not perform that journey ,- for it is not to be thought the Holy Ghost should incite him to oroiiiise, or even to pur- ;(Ose, whiit He knew" he would not perfomi. This also we learn from all tho.se places in which they do express their ignorance, or louhtfulness of that which they are siieak- ng of; as when St. I'aul says, ' 1 know not whether I baptized any other.' 1 Cor. i. 16;. And again, rvx"" Jrapanevo), ■ perhaps 1 will abide, yea, and winter with you,' 1 Cor. xvi. 6. And when St. Peter s;iith, 'BySylvanus, a faithful brother, as I suiipose, have I written to you,' 1 Pet. V. 12. for these words plainly show, that. In all these tilings, they luiil no inspiration, or Divine assistance. This, last- ly, may be gathered from all tho.sc pl;ices in which they only do express their hone, and that conditionally, of doing this or that ; as in these words, ' I hope to see you in my journey,' Rom. xv. 24. ' I will come unt'o vou quickly, if the Lord will.' 1 Cor. iv. I9. ■ I hope to stay some time with you, if the Lord permit.' 1 Cor. xvi. 7. ' [ hone in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy quickly 10 you,' Phil. ii. 19,23. 'And I tms» that I my.self ;dso shall come quickly,' ver. 24. ' These things 1 wri'.'^, hoping to come to thee quick- ly, but if 1 should tarry, tliat thou mayest know how to liehave thyself in the church nf God,' 1 Tim. Hi. 14, 15. ' I hope, by your pravers, to be given to you,' Philemon 22. • This will we do, if the Lord iiemiit,' Heb. vi. 3. ' I hope to come to you.' St. Jolin. 2irit of GckI ; and, therefoie, were eoidiled to deliver to us an unerriiig n.ile of fiiilh. " And, l.st. I argue for the Diviiic assi.^t:u;f9 Inspiration of the sacred writers.^ INTRODUCTION. Various Readings, jfr. of the inditers of these sarretl tiecorris from what they do assert concerning their own writings ; and what they say touching the declarations made, the doctrines deli\'ered, and the directions given in them. " As for the writers of the Gosiwl, St. Lake declares he writes his Gospel to Theoi^hilns, that ' he might know the certainty o( those things In which he had been Instnicted;' and St. John declares, his Gospel was writ- ten, ■ that they might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God :' now, it is plaiai, that neither 'rhetrohikis could be certain of the truth of what he had been taught by any writing which was not ab.selutely certain in itself; nor could others >» iwkiced, by what St. John had written, to believe, that Jesuits leas tlie Chriit, unless they could be certain that he spake the truth throughout his Gospel. Now, if wo do consider how many things contained in the beginning of St. Luke's Gos- pel he must have by hearsay 1 and how many long discourses, both he, St. Matthew, and St. John, deliver as spoken by our Lord and others ; of which we can have no a.ssurance, after so many years before the writing of them, on the mere strength of liuman memo- ry, so as to ground an article of Divine laith upon the very words in which they were de- livered ; we must be forced to conclude, that, tipon this account, we cannot depend upon the very letter and minute circumstances of every discourse related by them ; unless, ac- cording to Christ's proinise, Ihey had the as- sistance of the Hcriy Ghost, to brin^ these things to their remembrance .- wherefore this promise is made to them in very general and comprehensive terms, viz. ' the Holy Ghost shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you,' John xiv. 26. And then there being nothing considera- ble in St. Mark, which is not also in St. Mat- thew or St. Luke, or both, the certainty of all that is contained in them, must make us also certain of the truth of what St. Mark delivers in his Gospel. TVIoreover, the word spoken and indited by them, is styled the word of God: men, saith the apostle, could not be- lieve the Gospel, unless they heard it preach- ed to them ; nor could they hear it preached, unless some were cominissioned to preach the Gospel ; for ' faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,' "Rom. x. 14, 15, 16, 17. And, ' for this cause,' says he, ' thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ve received it not as the word of men, but as ft is in truth, the word of God,' 1 Thess. ii. 13. ' I am made a minister of Christ,' sailh he, 'according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me to fulfil, (i. e. fully to preach) the word of God,' Coloss. 1. 25. 2. It is called the commandment of God ; ' for my .Gospel,' says St Paul, ' and the preaching of Jesus Christ, is made manifest, and, accord- ing to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known unto you for the obedience of faith,' Rom. xiv. 25. 28. which faith is al- ways built on a divine testimony. And, again, ' If any man be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord,' I Cor. xiv. 37. 3. It is declared to be the wisdom of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. For, ' we preach Christ to you that are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God, and the wisdom of God ; we speak the wisdom of G«xl in a mys- tery, even that wisdom which God has re- vealed to us by his Spirit,' 1 Cor. ii. 7. 10. 4. It is tlie Testitnony of God, for ' I came not to you,' saith he, ' in excellency of speech de- claring to you the testimony,' 1 Cor. ii. l. 5. It is the Gospel ofGoi ; for St. Paul styles himself the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God to them, Rom. xv. 16. ' We preach,' says he, • the Gospel of God freely,' 2 Cor. xi. 7. ' We were bold to preach to you the Gospel of God ; we were willing to have imparted toyou, not the Gosoel of God on\y, but also our own tives,' 1 rhess. ii. 2, 8, 9. even ■ the glorious Gospel of the blessed God committed to my tnist,' I Tim. i. 10. 6. It is the Gospel of Chriit ; 'for I came,' says he ' to Troas, to preach Christ's Gospel,' 2 Cor. ii. 12. ' We sent TitTvotheus, our fellowlaliourcr in the Gospel of Christ,' 1 Thess. iii. 2. 7. It is the fnystenj of his will, Bph. i. 9. ' The mvstery of God the Father, and of Christ,' Col. ii. 2. ' The mind of Christ, made known to the apostles,' 1 Cor. ii. 16. ' And the word (rf Christ which must dwell richly in believers,' Col. iii. 1ft. " Now, certainly, it cannot rationally be conceived, that the apostles should be igno- rant of that assistance by which they were enabled to indtto these records ; if then they were assured of that asMStance of the Holy Spirit, which they challenged, then must the Gospel, which they both preacht-d and iudi- tf;d, bo recei\'Od as the word of and and and Christ, the mystery of God Die Fatha-, and, of Christ, the comnMndmtnt and the testinmny of God, which is the thing I am concerned to make gfwd ; and then it highly must concern all persons, to be mindful of the comnKindments of the apostles of our Lord and S;iviour, 2 Pet. iii. 2. If they had no such assurance of the assistance of the Holv Spirit, they did grossly impose upon the world, in thus pretending that Ihey preaclied the Gospel by the assistance of the Holy Spi- rit sent down from heaven. If they were not assured that in those writings they de- livered only those doctrines which God re- quired all men to believe, those precepts he required them to do, they must be very con- fident in daring to make this the preface to some of their epistles, ' Paul, an apostle, ac- cording to the will and commandment of God,' 1 Cor. i. 1. 2 Cor. i. 1. Eph. J. 1. Col. i. 1. 2 Tim. i. 1. and saying, with so much assur- ance, ' If any be a prophet, let him ackno\v- ledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments ot God,' 1 Cor. xiv. 37. and much more, in declaring to all Christians thus—' We are of God ; he that knoweth Goil , heareth us ; he that is not of God, heareth not us ; by this we know the spirit of tnith and the spirit of error,' 1 John iv. 6. For this seems efjual to what their Master himself smA in the like words, ' Why do you not believe me ? He that is of God heareth the words of God; you therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God,' John viii. 46, 47. Yea, they must be false witnesses of God, by sty- ling human writings the tpori, the Gospel, the command, the testimony, the mind, the mystery of God and Christ ; and by requiring others to receive it, not as tlie word of man, but as the ii^ord of God, even that word ' by which they must'be judged at the last day,' Rom. ii. IS. which again runs as high as tliose words of Christ, ' The word that i have spoken shall judge him that believes it not at the last dav,' John xii. 48. " 2dly. They who, when they indited these writings, were assisted by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, indited these records by Divine assistance ; for the things God spake to his servants the prophets, are styled the things wliich I commanded, f.v mevixart fiov, by my Spirit, Z;)ch. i. 6. but the tiposlles were thus assisted ; this they in teniis, or by just consequence, assert. For St. Peter says of them all, in general, that ' they preached the Gospel by the Holy Ghost sent down from lieaven,' l Pet. i. 12. And is not this as much as he said of the prophets of the Old Testa- ment, when he declares they spake as they ' were moved by the Holy Ghost V 2 Pet. i. 1. St. Paul asserts, in the same general expres- sion, that those great things belonging to the Gospel, which neither 'eye had seen, nor ear had heard, nor heart was able to conceive,' God had revealed to them by the .Spirit, 1 Cor. ii. to. that they had ' received not tlie spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that they might know the things which were freely given to Christians of Goil;' and that these things they taught, ' not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual,' verses 12, 13. In which place the very design of the apostle is to prove, against the Greek philosophers, how unreasonable it was to reject the Gospel, be- cause it came not in the way of demonstra- tion to human reason, but by way of revela- tion from God ; and so required faith, as of necessity it must do, since it contained such things concerning the design of Christ's salu- tary passion, his resurrection, ascension, and a future judgment at the general resurrec- tion, which no natural man could know by the utmost imi)roveinent of his human rea- son ; and such discoveries of the coimsel of God, concerning man's justification, which depended upon his good pleasure; which was knov/n only to that Holy Spirit which searcheth all things, even the deep things of God. Ii is this .Spirit, says ho, that we have received, and by tins Spirit hath God revealed these things unto us, and we accordingly do teach them to the world, not in the words which human wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing the reve- lations made to us by the Spirit, with the re- velations made to the projihets in the Old Testament, hy the same Spirit; and finding that tlie revelations mjule to us do far exceed what w;is discovered to them ; for, what the eye of those prophets had not seen in vision, or their ear neard in dreams, nor can the heart of man conceive, without a revelation, even these things hath God revealed to us by his Spirit. Thus did they speak the word of God >nde)nonstrati.onof the Spirit ; whence he declares, that if any man despise their tes- timony or instnictions, he despised not man only, but God also, who had ?iven them his Spirit, I Thess. \v. 8. Iliry being not suflRrienl ciency was of God ; who, by this ministra- tion of the Spirit, had made them able minis- tei-s of the New Testament, 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6, And thus, says he, ' that God who command- ed the light to shine out of darkness, (and who illuminated the prophets by shining up- on their imagination and their understand- ing) hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,' 2 Cor. iv. 5. In his Epistle to the Ephesians, he declares, that the mysterj' of Christ was made known to him by immediate revelation, and not to him only, but to the rest of the apostles and prophets of the New Testnment ; for God, says he, ' hath made known this revelation to us, the apostles and prophets, by the Spirit,' Eph. iii. 3, 5. And hence he speaks to the Corinthians in this language, ' If any man Ik a prophet, or spfrj- tuai, let him acknowledge that the things ! write tmto 3"0U are the coiHjnandmcnts of God,' I Cor. xiv. 37. Here, then, the argtnuent runs thus ; " They who had a like assistance to that of the prophets under the Old Testament, must write by the direction of the Holy Ghost, for holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; and the Scriptures they in- dited were of Divine inspiration ; and their words are cited in the New Testament, as spoken by the Holy Ghost. But the apostles had a like assistance, for, in the words now cited, they style themselves ;ipostles and pro- phets ; they challenge a like illumination, or shining of God upon their hearts, a like reve- lation of their Gospel by the Holy Spirit; and they pretend to teach it to others, in wortls taught them by the Holy Ghost. In all which sayings, they must be guilty of a fal.^e testi- mony concerning God, and riiust impose upoa the church of Christ, if no such assistance of the Holy Ghost was impaned to them. " 3dly. These sacred records, which were indited to be a standing rule of faith lo Christians throughout all ;iges of the world, the Gospel contained in these Scriptures Iieing made ' known to all nations for the obc:lience of faith,' Rom. vi. 26. they must in all thine.? propounded in them, to o«ir fatth, contain a rti- vine testimony, or a revelation of the will of God. For as human faith depends upon the testimony of man, so divine faith is Ihnt which depends upon the testimony of God. And as obedience to men consists in doing the will of men, so our obedience to God con- sists in conformity to the will of God. Again, if we must all ' be judged by this law M liber- ty,' James ii. 12. if Chiist at the last day will judge the secrets of men's hearts according to the Gospel of St. Paul. Rom. ii. 16. 'If he will come in fl;miing fire, taking vengeann; of all that obey not his Gospel,' then nui.-t this Gospel, and this law of liberty, lie a rule of faith until Christ's second coming ; for, upon that account alone, can men be bound under this dreadful penalty, to yield obedi- ence to It, and be judged by it." The whole of Dr. Whitby's impoilant Genf- ral Preface, from which the above is extract- ed, is well worth the attention of the reader. V!iTls!, Cfi^ miiul -^f Chris' , the Oospu fi/'a- rilv apiiear. 7. As some of these readings wxJuld appear irreconcileable or contradicto- ry. subsequent scribes would alter or avwnd from conjecture, where they could not have access to the original MSS. and this wcuUl pive birth to another class of various reartinss. 8. When, after the invention of printing, the S.icred Writings were multiplied by means of the press, the copy, thus prepared, must be one of those MSS. or one containing a col- iition of various MSS. and the printed edi- tion must, of course, give the text of one only MS or a text fanned from the various re;»d- in^.-i of -several. 9. As, at the epoch of the in- vention of printing, great ignorance prevail- Cil l)oth in literature and religion, it was not tikely that the l)est helps, even had they been at hand, would have been critically used ; 3Uid, iherefore, tho.se primitive editions must nxessarily have been, in many respects, i7n- fierfect; and these imperfections could only be removed in sub.sequent editions, by a care- ful ooU.ilion of the most ancient, most au- tlientic, and most correctly written MSS. 10. As such MSS. exist in different places, widely remote from each other, in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, it must be ri work of considerable time to find them out, oollnte, and extract, their various readings; romniunicate them to the public in separate e litions, or in critical dissertations; and much tune must . necessarily elapse before the public would feel the necessity of having one authentic edition of the original texts formed from such separate editions and criti- cal dissertations, ii. AH Versions, or trans- Itilions of the Scriptures into the language of llie different nations which had received the word of God as the rule of their faith and practice, must have been made, previously to ll)e inverition of printing from a MS. or MSS. such as the translator had at hand ; therefore, puch Versions could be no more than a faith- ful translation of such MS. or MSS. 12. As the MSS. differ among themselves, from the reasons assigned above, so that different MSS. would exhibit different readings in certJdn cases, though the text, in the wmn, was the same in all; so the Versions must differ among themselves, according to the particular MSS. from which they were taken. Hence, both the MSS. and the Versions would neces- satiiy contain various readings; and these readings must he important aiid valuable, in Iiroportlon to their agreement with the auto- graph from which they were all originally de- rived : and, upon the wlwle, the most ancient and carefully written MS. might be consider- f il as conutining the purest text. 13. All the Versions of all countries differ, less or more, nmong thi'mselves ; which is a proof that tliev verc fonned froin different MSS. and that those Versions exhibited the readings which were cont;uned in those MSS. H. Aiid it may ■tx! added, that the most ancient Versions were likely to cont;iin the purest text, be- cause made from the most ancient MSS. N\hich, we may fairly presiuiie, were the mo.st accurate O0])iesofti« original; as, in That case, the stream could not be rendered "turbid, by a long and circuitous flow from the fountain. This the reader may conceive to have been theoriein of \'arious readings, both in the MamtscrlptsTinA ancient Versions, pre- viously to the invention of printine. Most copies of the Hebrew Bible have been taken from the s«;hc ..If.SS. as the subsequent editions have generally copied the preceding ones, with very little alteration in any thing that could be considered essential to the text. The first editions of the Greek Testament, viz. Ihe Complutensian. and the first ofErasnivs, were taken from different MSS. ; but these sources were, in general, not the most pure and correct, as the text fonned fiom them suf- ficiently proves : and hence, most succeedin? editors have found it necessary to make a va"- riety of alterations and amendments In the editions which they have published from such MSS. as theyhaA the opixjrtunity of collating. Hence, very few of these editions agree per- fectly ammig themselves; consequentlv, the necessity of forming one general and authen- t'ceiitton, from a carefXil , judicious, and con-i ecientious collaU&n of ail Uw aiiciem MSS. I an4 Versions known ioexi.st. Preparations for such an edition of the Hebrew Bible have been muile by Kennicott and De Rossi. For the Septuaglnl, by Wechel, (i. e. in the edition ■printed by him,) Lambert Bos, Dr. Holmes, and his present Continuators at Oxford. For the Greek Testament, by Robert Stephens, Bp. Foil, Dr. Mill, Bengel, Wetstein, Birch, Alter, Matlhai, and Griesbach. We therefore possess, at present, materials from which nearly inniiaculatc editions of the Sacred Writings may bo fomied ; so that Ihe Hebrew and Greek. Originals, and. indeed, all Ver- sions faithfully deduced from thejn. may ap- pear in all their simplicity, energ}', ami splen- dour. It is to these materials, as they e.xist in the aljove collections, that I am indeWed for the various readings of Hebrew and Greek MSS., supported by the ancient Versions, which I have introduced in these Notes. Notwithstanding all the helps which the va- rious MSS. and ancient Versions afford for the illustration of the Sacred Text, the reader must not imagine that in those MSS. and Versions which do contain the whole of the Sacred Text, there is any essential defect in matters that relate to the faith and practice, and, consequently, to the salvation, of the Christian :— tliere is no such MS., there is no such Version. .So has the Divine Pro\idence ordered it, that although a number of mis- takes have been committed by careless copt/- ists, as well as by careless printers, not one essential truth of God has been injured or su,ppre.ssed. In this respect, all is perfect ; and the way of the Most High is made so plain, even in the poorest copies', that the way- faring man, though a fool, utterly destitute of deep learning and critical abilities, need not err therein. All the omissions of the ancient Manu- scripts put together, would not countenance the omission of one essential doctrine of the Gospel, relative to faith or morals; and all the additions countenanced by the whole mass of M.SS. already collated, do not intro- duce a single point essential either M faith or manners, beyond what may be found in the most imperfect editions, from the Cmnplu- tension Editors down fo the Elzevirs. And thoujh for the beauty, emphasis, and critical perfection of the letter of the New Testament, a )ww edition of the Greek Te.'^tament, form- ed on such a plan ;is that of Professor Gries- bach, is greatly to be desired ; yet from such a one Infidelity can e.vpect no help ; false doctrine no support ; and even true Religion no accession to its excellence ; though a few beayns may be thus added to its lustre. TJie multitude of various readings feund in MSS. should no more weaken any man's faith in the Divine word, than the multitude of typographical errors found i^i printed edi- tions of the Scriptures. Ner, indeed, can it he otherwise, unless God were to inten'ose, and miraculously prevent every scribe from makin? n false, letter', and every compositor from mistaking a word in the text he was co- pying. It is enough that God absolutely pre- serves the iDlwle truth, in such a way as is consistent with his moral government of the world. The preservation of the^oM and tit- tles in o\ery transcriber's copy, and in every printer's form, by a miraculous act of Al- mii!hty power, is not to be expected ; and is not necessary to Ihe accomplishment of the purposes of providence and srace. On this sul)iect, the intelligent reader will be pleased with the opinion of that very emi- nent criUc Dr. Bentley ; spe.ikingin reference to tliose who were needlessly alarmed at the multitude of various readings collected by Or. Mill, and s;\id to amount to 30,000, he savs, " Not frighted with the present 30,000 vario'us readings,!, for my own part, and, as I believe, many others, would not lament, if, out of the old I\I.SS. yet untouched, lo,ooo more were faithfully collected : some of which, without question, would render the text more beauti- ful, just, and eract. though of no consequence to tlie main of Religion t nay, perhaps wholly synonynious'm the view of common readers; and quite insensible In any modern Version." Philalcuth. Lipsiens. p. 90. After such a testimony as this, from one of the greatest scliolars and critics of his ace, it is hoped that no minor person will hazard a contr.ary assertion; and that prejudices against the collation of MSS. and collections of various readings, will not be entertained by the honest .and weli-meaning : as such may see at once, iiotb the propriety and na- cessity of such mo.if^urcs. In the MSS. of the Greek Testament, critics have noticed several which have an affinity to each other. This affinity has been denomi- nated/n?n«/?ff. fiunily. by Bengel ; Rccensio, Revision, by Griesbach : and' Edition, by Mich;ielis. Tliese editions depend on the di- versity of time and place ; and are divided by Griesbach into three .- 1. The Western Edition, or that fbniKrty used where the Latin language was spoken : with this agree the old Itala, the Vulgate, and the quotations found in the Latin Fathers. 2. The Alexandrian, or Egyptian Edition ; with this agree the quotations found in the works of Origen; and the Coptic Version. 3. The Byzantine, or Eastern Edition ;— that in general use in Constantinople, after this cityliail become the capital of the Eastern Einpire. The greater number of the many MSS. written by the monks on Mount Atlios are evidently of this edition. To this edition may be referred the quotations found in St, Chrysostom, SL Theophylact, Bishop of Bul- garia, and tlie Slavonic or Russian Version. Tlie readings of this edition, are those which are generally found in the printed te.vt of the Greek Testament. All these Rece.nsiones or Editions, belong to ages prior to the eighth century, according to Griesbach. To these Michaelis adds ^fourth, called, 4. The Edessene Edition, which compre- hends tho.se i\I.SS. from which the Peshito, or old Syriac Version, was made, though no MS. of this edition now remains. The Phi- loxenian Syriac Version was corrected from MSS. found in the library at Alexandrlx Any reading supported by the authority of these different editions, possesses the highciil degree of probability ; and may be, in gene- ral, fairly Uiken for the word written 1^ the inspired penman. This Is a general rule, l« which there will be found very few excep- tions. The propriety of this classification is (}ues- tioned in a very able pamphlet just published by Dr. Richard Laurence, •intituled, " Re- marks on the Systematical Classification of MSS. adopted by Griesbach, in his Edition of the Greek Testament," 8vo. Oxford, 1814. To this pamphlet I must refer the ci4ticd reader. i Elmll now proceed to give an account of the most ancient Manuscripts and Version* whirti have been colloted fer the four Gospels and Acts of tlie ApoRtles. § III. Account of MSS. in Uncial charac- ters, referred to by the letters ABCD, Ac. in this Work.—X. The Codex Alexandrinus , now in the British ftlu.seum, sent, in 1628, from CV- 1-il Liicaris, Patriarch of Constantinople, by Sir Thomas Roe, as a present to Charles L It is one of the most reputable MSS. known to exist ; and is stated to have been written .so early as the fourth century ; though others assign it a much later date, and bnn^it so low as the seventh. Besides the New Testa- nient, it aintains the Septuagint Version of the Old, formerly edited by Dr.'Grabe. A fac- simile of the New Testament part has been published by Dr. Woide, London, 1766, foL And lately, a fac-simile of the Psalms, by tha Rev. H. H. Baber, of the British Museum, fol. 1812, who is now preparing the Pentateuch for the press. It is worthy of remark, that this M.S. fol. lows in the Gospels the Byzantine edition; in the Epistles of St. Paul, the Alexandrines and in tlie Acts and Catholic Epistles, the Western edition. With this MS. the Syriac, Coptic, iuid iEthiopic Versions, have a re- mark.able coincidence. B. The Codex Vaticanus, No. 1209, contain* ing the Greek Version of the Septuagint, which was published at Rome by Cardinal Caraffa, fol. 1.587. The second volume of this MS. contains the New Test.ament II is a most .ancient and valuable MS. and Is sup- posed to be older than the C he various v ■ i- in^'S of these versions, both in tho.se MsiS. edited by these learned men, and in the wri- tings of the Latin Fathers, are of ereat utility in ascertaining the readings of the anci( n't Greek text, from w hich lliCy were m:ide ; lor m;iny e.xcellont reavlinirs alwiind in tlicse versions, which agree not only with the most andent Greek WSS. but also with the best versions, p;irticul:irly the Syrinc and the Coptic. It was out of these versions that .SI. Jerome formed the Vulgate. See Vulgate. THE PKIiSIAN. We have no very ;uicifnt version of the New Teslament in Pursian. Hitherto we li;ive had only the foi'r Gfaptls in this lan^uairc. which are printed with the L;itin translation of Dr. Siuuuel Clarke, in the lifih volume o:' the London Polyelott. This translation w;is finished about il.e year 1341, by Simon ibn Yuseph ibn Abr:dicim al T;direev.y ; who is saifl to have taken it immediately from tlie Syriac. 'J'his version was niade, iiio>t evi leiitly, by a Christian of the Koni;in Catholic persujision. who acted under the most pn do- ininatiiiL' influence of his own peculiarcreed for it is not only interpolated with readings from the Vulgate, but with re;idings from ri- tuals and legends. The Persian Gospels do not api>ear to have been carefully collated by Mill, Wetstein, or Griesbach, scarcely any of the manj- peculiarities of this version having been noticed. To satisfy myself of its nature and origin, I have read the whole of it over turice. and shall extract from the remarks I then made such proofs as apije;ired to me to warrant its Calholicoriuin ; and how little the translator regarded the text on which he formed his version, e. g. M it igation of YwmshmeM promised to Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment. "Now I say unto you, O cilns. that in the dav of judgment, to Tyre and Sidon , Jii}( f;« luij there shall be repose, u-hich shall not 'e to ijov." Matt. xi. «>. The supreiiKicy of Peter most fonnallv as- .serted. and the text corrupted to support it : A7id I say tiiito thee, cjr^ ^.^^ ^J,io «,..^> Thou art the rock of my relision (that is, a stone.) and the fuiinJdtion of my church shall be a building upon thee, Matt. xvi. 18. To weaken the reproof given bv our Lord 10 Peter, which the translator probably thought Ico deirrading, the ofTensive epithet Satan, is omitted, Matt. xvi. 23. Jeius turned bach; and said vnto Peter Get behind me, ^.jU->i t^. O titou unbeliever I Popish snyins about hell, INIark ix. 46. for, Inhere their irorm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. AJ Tabreezy translates, *<> cj,,»»j ^lv, Wheeloc designed to lie tlie foundaiion Iii more diftu.se ob.-ervations, are ail piinlea ut the conclusion of ilie woik. It appears that neither Wheeloc nor W:d- lon knew of pioi e than three i\iSS. of the Pf i - sian Gospels; one of oxford, one oi « ani- bridffe, and one lieloi'-'iiiL' lo Dr. Pocock. It has been sujiijosed, 1 ll.in.k, wiilim.t .■-uiicicM'. evidence, tliat WheoliK- c cock. In a few cases, he intro;luces in bi-ack- ets, or with an ;isierisk. a various reading from the Cambridge M.^. rarely irom thai vi Pocock : hut in his comment or critical notes, he refers often to both these 3ISS. givins thft most remarkable readings where Ihev difier from the Oxford MS., which he has niosi evi dently followed as his text Th.at tlie MSS. of Pocock, from w hich Mr. Wheeloc i:ives the princiiial various readings, was tiie fame which Walton printed in Ihe fifth volume of the Polyglott, is demonstrable fioni a collation of those various readinas extracted bv Whee- loc from Ihe Pocock MS. which are iound to l)e precisely the same with tliO.se in the if\t and rubri'-s of that printed in the Polvloit And lh;it Wlieeloc look the Oxford .MS. "for hi.s te.xt. is evident from this, that his various readings are ext.;icli'd onlv from the Cani- bridseand Pocock IMSS. collated wiih that of Oxford. The text, therefore, of Wheeloc, is not a corrupted text, or one made up from ditl"ercnt MSS. It is much more simple aiiJ much purer than that in the Polyglott, anil api)e;irs to have been m;idc by one not waqjeU by any religious system, as Al Tabreezy cer- tainly was; and hy one who better under. stood the genius and composition of the Per- sian language.— As far as 1 have had the op. portunity of examining this version, it ap- liears to me to be taken verbatim from the Latin VuUaie, and not from the Greek, as some, or the Sjriac, as others, have supposed. Jefonynio Xavier, missionaiT to the Indi- ans, was commanded by the emperor .\kbar to translate the four Gospels into Persian, that he niisht examine their imponance as h system of religion. Xavier undertook this work, and by the .xssistance of a person named Motdanee aIkxis Sitar, a native of Lalioor, made a lifsiory of Uie life of our Lord, com- piled out of the Gospels, and from ix>pish le- tie shall be forgiven to him, who has litriel ^emU. and presented it to the emper-jr in 7nei-ir. Luke vii. 47. I'he same doctrine is| len-^, who is said to have smiled at it- and tausrht chap. xvi. 9. well he might, as the genuine history was Ihe doctniie oi supererogation is glanced I disgraced wiUi fables. The JlS. forroeJ for 9 tarioui f^ersiona. INTRODUCTION. List of primitive fathers, df'C, the emperor's use is now h"l'ore me ; hut such a version can l)e of no imporumce in Biblical criticism. The work of Xavier was iiuljlished witli a iranilaliou and notes by L. Dj Dieu. THE SAHlDiC. Upper Egypt, o/ tlie part that lies between Cahira and Assuan, had a particular dialect, which in many respects ditfered from that spolcen in Loivcr Egypt. As this Upper Egypt was calleu in Arabic '•Ma saeed, the dialect has been called Sahidic. See Michaelis. a very early period, a translation of the New Testiuuont was made into this dialect; but the remains of this venerable version have long been confined to perishing MSS. till Muiiter published some fragments of the Epis- tles of Paul to Timothy, 4to. Hafniaj, 17S9. And Geo;"i.'ius, in the same year, printed at Rome, a fragment of tlie Gospel of John^ in the same dialect ; whicli the reader will hnd (le-;cribod under Codex T. in the account of tlie MS.S. in uncial characters. f)r. Woide, lafe of the British Museum, had prepared an edition of several frasments, con- taining about one third of the New Testa- m MU, which he did not live to finish : but the task, lias b,!on ably e.tecuted by Dr. Ford, of ociord, who has printed it at the Clarendon j),e.-:s, 1799, fol. as an Appendix to the Cofex Ali'.xaiiiriatis, by Dr. Woide. This work, which is done with elesance and correctness, lias rhree copper-plates, on which there are ti'iii'.ter.iif(f;-.iim>les of the McJS. from which Dr. Ford has printed these fragments. In carefully co.isiaering this venerable version, t'l'T.! appear lo be argumenis to prove its very hi.'li antiquity, which Dr. Woide refers even to the beginning of the second centur.v. The parts already published exhibit some invalu- able readings ; and these prove that it has a striking alfinity to the Codex Bezre. It is do;il)tless one of the oldest versions in exis- t''nc»; and it is to be hoped that every frag- m 'nt of it will be collected and published, till, if posiiblR, we get the whole of the New Testament in this mo.st ancient and invalu- able version. The Coptic and Sahidic are in- dep'nleiit versions, both made from the Greek, and probably at different times: and both contJiin i'lferent readings. See Coptic. THE SAXON, OR ANGLO-SAXON. tt is said that Alfred the Great translated tU". greater part of the New Testament into llie .A.nglo-.Saxon. The four Gospels in this liuL'uage were published under the direction of Archbishop Parker, with a dedication to (iueen Eliiiabeth, by Mr. John Fox, the Mar- tvrolojist, 410. London, 1571. William Lisle published frasments of the Old and New Tes- tament, London, 4to. 16H8. Mr. T. Marshall published the Gospels with the Majso-Gothic version, Dodrecht, 4to. 166.5, which was re- printed at Amsterdam in 1684. .See Gothic. The Savon version appears to have teen made fro, n MS.S. of the old Itala version, (.see Ttala,) some time in the seventh or eighth century. S.:e the account in the General Preface to the Book of Genesis. From this version I have nude many extracts, in the.se notes ; as may \ii seen in different parts of the four Gospels. The use I have madeof Thwaite's Octateuch, may be seen in the notes on the five Books of iNIoses. No part of the New Testament, be- sides the four Gospels, has been published in this laneuaee. THE SLAVONIAN, OR RUSSIAN. This version, the importance of which in the criticism of the New Testament, has been but lately known, was made in the ninth cen- tury, by two l)rothers, Methodius and Cyril, natives of Thessalonica, and apostles of the Klavonians. It was taken Immediately from tlie Greek, of which it is a literal version, and first primed in 1581. In the Catholic epistles, and in the Apocalyp.se, it agrees generally with the Codex Alexandrinus. It is remark- .able, that of the readings which Griesbach has adopted in his edition of the Greek Tes- t.am"nt, the Slavonian version has at least three fourths. Where the united evidence of .ancient M.S.S. Is against a common reading, the Slavonian agrees with these MSS. There is ample proof that It has not been altered from either the Vulgate, or any other version. The learned Dobrowsky has given an excel- lent description of this version, an extract from which mav be seen in Dr. Marsh's Notes to Michaelis, V. III. p. 634. As it appears that this version has been taken from ancl- f;nt and valuable Greek MS.S. it deservesto be better known and more carefully colated. THE SYRIAC. There are two principal versions which go under this name. I. The Peshito, which sig- nifies literal or correct, and is the most an- cient, and the most Important. 2. That which is called Philoxenian, from Philoxenes, bi- shop of Hierapolis or Mabug ; who employed Polycarp, his niral bisliop, to make this ver- sion, which he finished A. D. 508. The Peshito was first known in Europe by Moses of Mardin ; who was sent by toiatius, 10 patriarch of the IMaronite Christians, in the year 1552, to Pope Julius HI, to acknowledge, in the name of the Syrian church, the supre- m;v.y of the Roman I'lontiff ; and to have tlie New Testament printed in Europe. The em- peror Ferdinand I. bore the exiiense of the impression, and Albert Widmaiistad, in con- junction with Moses and Postel, edited the work ; which was printed at Vienna, I55S, 4to. This edition, from which all succeeding edi- tions have been taken, contains the four Gos- pels, the Acts, all St. Paul's Epistles, the first Epistle of John, the first of Peter, and the Eiiistle of James. The second and third of Jolm are wanting; the second of Peter, the Epistle of Juile, and the Revelation. None of these is acknowledged by any copy of tlie ancient Syriac version. This version was made probably between the second and third centuries. The Philoxenian, we have seen, was made in the lieginning of the sixth century, by Po- lyciirp, the rural bishop of Philoxenus, or Xeiiyas, Ijishop of !\I,ibug ; and we find that Tliamis of Charkel, or Heraclea, about the yea- file, corrected thisver.sion and compared it with some principal MSS. in the Alexan- drian library; hence it has been called the Ileraclean, as well as the Philoxenian ver- sion. This version has been printed from Dr. Ridley's MSS. by Dr. White Of Oxford, 4to. 1778, &c. The Piiilo-venian version con- tains all the canonical boolcs of the New Tes- tament, even those omitted by the Peshito version, from which it differs not only in the language, but in many otlier respects. These who wish for further information on this point, must consult Michaelis's Lectures, Vol. II. 11. 1, &c. and the notes of his learned annotator, Dr. Herbert Marsh. THE VULGATE. We have alre;idy seen, under the article Itala, that in the earliest ages of Christianity, the New Testament had been translated into Latin. These translations were very nume- rous, and having bsen made by a variety of hands, some learned, and others not so ; they not only disagreed among themselves, but appeared, in certain cases, to contradict each other. This induced Pope Damasus to em- ploy St. Jerome, one of the most learned of the primitive Latin Fathers, to correct the an- cient Itala. Though, in the Old Testament, he is supposed simply to liave collated the Itala with the Hebrew, yet in the New he asserts. Novum Testamentum Grcecis Jidei reddidi, " I have translated the New Testa- ment according to the original Greek." How- ever, it appears, that in many cases he altered the Itala for the worse, as the remaining frag- ments of that version sufficiently testify. This important work, which, in process of time, supplanted the Itala, was finished A. D. 384, and was called Versio Vulgata^ the Vulgate, or Common Version, because received intog-«- neral use. No version of the Sacred Writings was more generally received than this ; and copies of it were multiplied beyond calcula- tion. And perhaps scarcely any book has been more corrupted by frequent and careless transcription, than the Vulgate, from the year 384, till the invention of printing, about the middle of the fifteenth century. The first edition of this version was printed by Gut- tenburg and Fust, at Mayence, in larse fol. sine titulo, et sine iilla nota, somewhere be- tween 1450 and 1457. By the order of Pope Sixtus ftuintus, a complete edition of the Vulgate was printed at Rome in 158S, but not published till 1593. This, though stamped with the infallible authority of the pope, apos- tolica nobis a Domino, tradita aiictoritate ; to be the authentic Vulgate, which he styles perpetuo valituram constitutionem, a decree that shall for ever remain in force ; yet, on examination, it was found to be so excessively erronf.ous and self-contradictory, that ano- ther corrected edition was undertaken by the authority of Pope Clement VIII. widely differ- ins from that of Sixtus. This is the edition from which all those were formed which are now in common use. I have already stated that copies of this ver- sion have been often corruptly transcribed, and hence the amazing disagreement be- tween different MSS. 'rhis version being so much in request, and so many persons being copuera by trade, in order to save time and vellum, they wrote the words in contractions wherever it was possible : and by this means the origiiKil reading, in various instances, was lost. All these causes conspired, with the ignorance of the original ton.eues, which al- most universally prevailed in the middle ajes, ill the Latin chiuTh, lo briuir lliis viiii.vable vrrsion into a slate of great iinpfiir'rtiou ; from which it has not as .vet wliolly i.iiicr<_'ed. I have several MSS. of this -work, written from the twelfth to the fiftcfiilli rentnin-, whichareexceedingl.vdiscordaiit;uiioiii.'ihPiii- solves. Pope Clement VIII. has cerudnly iloiie much to restore il to Us primitive purity ; but much still remains to be done. The te.xt should be settled by a further collation of the most ancient MSS. When this is done, the Latin church may be vindicated in that boast- ing In the Vulgate, which at present, is but incautiously applied to this version. 1 have often quoted this version, which I consider to be equal to a MS. of the fourth century. I must, however, add, that with all its imperfections, there is nothing essential to the faith or practice of a genuine Chiistian, that may not be proved by it ; but il ceilainly can never come into competition with the ori- ginal Greek text ; nor, indeed, with several of the ancient versions. An account of versions, as far as concerns the Old Testament, may be seen in the General Preface to the Book of Gene.sis. I have some- times quoteil these versions collectively, with VV. by which 1 mean the versions in general. An Alphabetical List of the Primitive Father* and Ecclesiastical ll'o^'fcs referred to in the various Readings quoted occasionally in these Notes. Ambrosius, ArchbLsliop of Blilan, bom A. D, 340 i died A. D. 397.— Ambrosius, deacon of Alexandria, and intimate friend of Origen, died A. D. U50.—Ambrosiaster : this writer is supiiosed to be author of a commentary on St. Paul's Epistles; and to have flourished about A. D. 'i5i.—Athana.iius, was bishop of Alexandria, A. D. 326 ; died in 315.— Athena- goras, a Christian philosopher of Athens, flourished in A. D. 178. Basil the Great, bishop of Cesarea, born in Cappadocia, A.D. 329 ; died 319.— Basil, bishop of .Seleucia, flourished in 450.— JScdc the Ve- nerable, born at Wennoutli, in the diocese of Durham, A. D. 613.— Clemens Alexandrinus, Clement of Alexandria, the preceptor of Ori- gen, died A. D. ZW.— Clemens Romanus, Cle- ment of Rome, supposed to have been fellow- labourer with Peter and Paul, and bishop of Rome, A. D. 91. Chromativs, bishop of Aquileia, and friend ot St. Jerome, flourished about A. D. 370.— Chro- nicon Pascale, the Pa.schal Chronicle: tliis Chronicle extends from the creation to the twentieth year of Heraclius, A. D. 630.— Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, born A. D. 344; died iai .—Constitutions of the Apostles, certain canons for the government of the Christian church, formed at different times, and certainly long posterior to the times of the apostles.— Cj/pj'jaw, bisliop of Carthage, in 248 ; was martyred A. D. 258.— Cyrillus Alexandrinus. This Cyril was pa- triarch of Alexandria A.D. 412; died 444.— Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, was born A. D. 315 ; died 386. Damascenus Joannes, John of Damascus, born about A. D. 676— Dionysius Alexan- drinus, Dionysius, patriarch of Alexandria, flourished iii 'Zil.— Dionysius Areopagita, Dionysius, the Areopagite, falsely so called, flouri.shed about A. D. 490. Ephraim Syrus, Ephraim the Syrian, was deacon of Edessa, and died about A. D. 379. —Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, born about A. D. 3-20.—EuseUus, bishop of^ntioch, flou- rished in 331.— Euthalius : this writer flou- rished about A. D. 458, and wrote a critical work on the Acts of the Apostles. He is supposed to have been bishop of Sulca, in Egypt.— £Mf/(2/m«ws Zigabenus, a monk who flourished in the twelfth century. Gaudentitis, bishop of Brescia, flourished in iW.— Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, flourished in 590.— Gregoi-y Thaumaturgus, was a disciple of Origen, and bishop of Neo- Ccesarea in 2io.— Gregory Nazianzen, born A. D. 328 ; died 389.— Grcg-o?-?/ Nyssen, born in Cappadocia, A. D. 331 ; died 396. Hieronymus. See Jerome.— Hilary Picta- vensis, Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, flourish- ed A. D. 350.— Hippolytus, a Christian bishop, flourished A. D. 230. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was mart.vred about A. D. 107.— Irenieus, disciple of Poly- carp ; born in Greece about A. D. 130, martyr- ed 20S.-Isidore,of Pelusium, flourished in 431. Jerome, one of tlie most eminent of the Latin Fathers; author of the translation of tlie Scriptures called the Vulgate; born about A. D. 342 ; and died i^O.— Justin Martyr, a Christian Philosopher, martyred A. D. 167.— Juvencus, one of the first Christian poets, flourished about A. D. 329. Lucifer Calaritanus, Lucifer, bishop ol Cag- liari, in .Sardinia, died A. D. 370. Macarius, an EgjTUan monk, bom at Alex andria, A. D. 300.— Maximus, a native of Con st;intinople : he died aliout A. D. 652.— JVferi 'niu.'i Taurinensis, Maximus of Touars, !iie!ona, died AD. 390 — PtuEbailiuii, or Vha^sradiwi, w;is ol tin- pro- vince of A(|Uit;un, of which hu was tiisliop ; he rtouiishcd alx)ut A. I). 359.— PhotiuJi, pa- triarch 01 (. oii.-st;uiliiio|ile, A. I). 857.— f(«- deiifitw, (CliMiK'Hs Aiavliu>) of Surat'ossa, in Sp,-un, flourished alioiit A D. 405. Riifiniis, Presbyter of Aquileia, an eminent translator of Greek aiiUiors into Latin : he (lied A. D. J 10. ScholUi, or Scholiasts, marginal notes in some ancient MSS. &c. Tertullian, a inost eminent Latin Father, died alwut K. 0. "iie—TheophUi/s, bishop of Anii- och, flourished about A. n. l»o. -T/ieop/njlact. archbishop of Aciis, in Bulgaria, di'.il A. D. UOO.—Theophams Vnamcus, bishop of 'I'au- romine, in Sicily, nourished in tlic lltli cen- tury — Titus Bo-itreiisis ; he was liisliop of Bostrla some time in the fourtli centur.w Victor Aiitiocheniis, flourishedaboutA.il. iOO: lie wrote on St. Mark's Gosi)el, and on tlie Catholic Epistles.— Kec/o;- Tuniinensis, bi- shop of Timis, in Africa, flourished about 355. — Victorinus AJer, (C. M.) was an African, and flourished in A. D. i^.— Visclllus Tap- aeiisis, bishop of Tapsum, in Africa, fioatish- cd al)out A. D. '184. For fjirther information coiicorning tliese and other writers nientioned in tlie work, see Cave.'K Historia Lileraria, and Dr Lardner's works. GF-NERAL OIis:ERVA'nON.S. The above writers are only referred to for the quotations from the Sacred 'Writings found in their works. The Latin fatliers, before the lime of Jerome, i. e. Iwfore the fourth centu ry, quote from the It;ila version. Tiio.se after his time, generally make their quotiitions from the Vulgate. The Greek Fathers quote from the difterent editions of the Greek text in their res|iective countries, fiphraim Synis, nnil probalMy some others, from tlie ancient Syriac version. Of the fathers in general, it maybe s;ud, they often quote from memory ; not gi\iii£.' the exact words of the s;icred writers, but the Hensc ; and often rendering a wori I liy anot I i't equivalent to it, in the same lan;;uagc. This sort of quotation h;LS given ri-.e to a Viust nnm- iKjr of various readings, wliidi sliould mver encumber the margins of our critical editions of tlie Greek text; tliough many of them niay be of use, as fixing the sense in which the wri- ters understotxl the original text. Tho.se fa- thers who coinnient on tlie Siicrcd Wrilings are most valualile, such as Origen, Ambrosi- astcr, EulluUius, Chrysostom, Jerome, 'i'heo- phylact, &c. because it may lie always sup- posed they had the copies before them, from which they quoted ; and that these copies were such as were held to be autlientia in the cliiirches to which they respectively Ijelongcd. But even here we find the same father inrn/i^ aiitetU with himself in repfared quotations of the same words; which is |)crhaps not .so much to be attributed lo quoting from in3. di'scribed p. \. xi. becauso 11 lia,s nut l«'/^ii ipioti'd hy Gri'\sl):ich, not bein? piililislu-u wiien the lirst voUinie of hisTeeta- luiiLt went to the press. The work in which Dr. Barrett has de.sciiljed this, 1 have quoteJ largel3' in the notes on the gcmsilogy of our LoiM at the end of Luke, chap. iii. Every biblical student, in consulting the s;»cred writings of the New Testament, should have .-it hand, if possible, the second edition of (iiiesbach; I mean that printed at Halle, two volumes 8V0 179S, &c. On the late London edition of tliat woik, equal depend- ance cannot bo placed. 'i'bose who h;i\e not a polyglott, lo refer to the Syriac version, will find'Scbaaf 's edition to answer every punwse ; it is genendly very conecl and very vtduable. A new edition of ihe Syriac 'I'e.stament is now in the pre.ss, at tlie expense of the British and Foreigji Bible .'■ocictj", under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Claudius BuchaJian, wiio has made this text Ids particular study ; and lias brought from the east some valuable MSS. of this import;in; and ancient version. While the eriticid inquirer is availing him- self of e\ery help Hithin I. Is reach, let hinr, not forget humbly and fervently lo implcru the help and teaching of Almighty God ; with- out whom, nothing is wise, nothing strong. It is only when He o|x?ns our eyes that wi' behold wonders in his law. He who docs not pray, is not humble; and an unhumbled seaicher after truth never yet found it to the s;dvalion of his soul. In such a work, tho ' following inimitable iira.ver cannot bo u.sid in vain : '■ Blessed Lord, who hast ciu.sed all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learn- ing, grant thiit we may in such wis<' hear them, read, m;irk, teirn, and inwardly digest ihem, that by patience and comfort of thy Holy word, we in.ay embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed lioiic of everhisting life, which thou hast given us In our Saviour Ji^-us Clirist." Allien. Collect for tlie second Huit- day of Ai^vtnt London, Feb. 21, 1S1I. PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW. The general title of this latter collection of Sacred Books, ■which, as well as the former, all Ciiristiaiis acknowledge to have been given by iiiiinediatc inspiration from God, is in tVie Greek H KAINH AIAUIIKII, which we translate The NKW TESTAMENT ; but which should rather be translated The NEW COVEN.\NT ; or, if it were lawful to use a perip4ira- pis, The N'ew Covenant, including a Testum'rntary Declara- tion and Bequest: for this is precisely tlie meaning of this system of justice, holiness, goodness, and truth. f>t. Paul, "2 Cor. iii. 14. calls the J^acred Books before the time of Christ, H riAAAIA AIAeilKH, The OLU COVENANT ; which is a very proper and descriptive title of tlie grand i^iliiect of those Books. Iriis apostle evidently considers the Old Testaments and the New, as tiro Covenants, Gal. iv. 24. and in comparing these two together, he calls one, ■itaXai.av iiaOnxni', the old co- venant, the other KOtvriv, the neui ; one irowrijc, Ihcjirst, the other vcav, that which is recent ; in opposition to theold cove- nant, which was to terminate in the new, he calls this Kptir- Tova, better, more excellent, Heh. vii. 22. viii. G. and atuviov, everla.stinff, Ileb. xiii. 20. because it is never to be changed, nor tenniiiale in any other : and to endure endlessly itself. The word Covenant, from con, together, and venio, I come ; signifies a contract or agreement, made between two parties ; to fulfil the conditions of which, lluy are mutually bound. The Old Covenant, in its essential p;irts, was vei7 simple. I WILL BE YOUR CiOl) : Ye SHALL BE MY PEOPLE — the Spirit of which was never changed. The people were to take Jeliovali as the sole object of their religious worship, put their whole tiiist and conlidcnce in Him ; sene Ilim in lits own way, ac- cording to the pi-escribetl forms which He should lay before them. This was their jiart. On His side, God was to accept them as His people, give them His Spirit to guide thetn. His mercy to pardon them, His providence to suppoit them, and }lis grace to preserve them unto eternal life. But all this was connected with the strict observance of a great variety of rites and ceremonies, at once expressive of the holiness of God, the purity of the Divine Justice, and tho exceeding sinfulness and utter helplres state of man. A great part of tiie tnur latter Books of^ ^[oses, is employed in prescribing and illustrating these rites and ceremonies . and what is called the New Cure- nant, is the complement and perfection of the whole. The word Aiatir}KT], from Jia, and riOqfti, I lay doicn, signi- fies not only a covenant agreement, but also that disposal which a man makes of his secular matters during his life, ■which is to take place after his death. It ans-.v-ers to the He- brew n^ia berith, from "^a bar, lo purify, because in making covenants, a sacrifice was usually ofiereil to (Jod for the puri- fication of the contracting parties; and hence the word n'-i3 berith, is frequently used to express net only the covenant it- self, but also the sacrifice ofTercd on the occasion, i^ee below under Gospel; and see tlie notes on Gcii. vi. IS s\. IS. Exod. xxix. 45. Lev. xxvi. 15. and Dent. xxix. 12. where every thing relative to this subject is largely handled. The term New Covenant, as used here, seems to mean, that grand plan of agreement or reconciliation which God made between himself and mankind, by the death of Jesus Chri.st ; in consequence of which, all those who truly repent, and iin- feignedly believe in the great atoning sacrifice, ai-e pnri.-d from their sins, and united to God. Christ is called rm Aiu- OrjKrii Katvrjs jjieatrris. The Mediator of the New Covenant, Heb. ix. 15. And referring to the ratification of this New Co- venant, or agreement, by means of his own death, in the cele- bration of his last supper, Christ calls the cup, to rortiptov, ij Kaivrj AtaOr/Kri cv no u(//ari piiv. This cup is the A'eic Cove- nant in my blood :' \. c. an emblem or representation of tho New Covenant, ratified by his blood. See Luke xxii. 20. And from these expressions and their obvious meaning, the whole Christian Scrmtnres have obtained thi.^ title, The New Tes- TA.ME.N'T, ou Covenant, op our Lord and s-aviour Ju.srs Christ. Those writings, and the grand subject of them, which, pre- viously to the New Testament times, were termed simply The C'orenant ; were, after the Incarnation, called The Oi.DCore- nant, as we have already seen, to distinguish them from the Christian Scriptures, and their grand subject, which wero called 'J'he New Covenant ; not so much because it was a new agreement, but rather a renetcal of the o'd, in which the spirit, object, and design of that primitive Covenant wera more clearly and fully manifested. The particular title to each of the four following Books, in- most taeek MSS. and printed editions, is ETATPEAION Kara -MATBAION— MAPKC>N— AOYKAN— lOANNHN, which we translate, 2'lie Gospel according to Matthew — Mark— Luke — John ; i. e. the (lospel or history of our blessed Lord, as writ- ten and transiniltpcl to pi-steri'y by each of these writers. Our word GosPEi, which should always be written godsptl or godespel, comes from the Anglo-Saxon jofcrpel, and is coin- poiuuud of gob, good, and rP^l, history, narrative, doctrine, mystery, or secret ; and was applied by our ancestors, to sig- nify the revc'alion of that glorious system of truth, which had been, in a great measure, hidden or kept secret from the foun- dation of the world. Among ?-'axon scholars, the word Gospel has been variously explained. Mr. Scnnner, who writes it xob-rpell, explains it thus, Sermo Dei mysticits ; Dei historia. " 'Jrlie mystic word of God ; the liistory of God." But he supposes that it may be compounded of gob, good, and rp^l'i a message: and very jiroperly observes, that gobrpeliian, signifies, not only to preach or proclaim the Gospel ; hut also to foretel, or pre- dict ; to prophesy, to divine : and in this latter sense, the word rpcll, spell, was anciently used among us, and still sig- nilics aa incuntalion, or a charm : which implies a peculiar 11 Preface. ST. MATTHEW. Prcfacf.. collocation, and repetition of certain words which Avere sup- posed to produce supernatural ffferta by means of spiritual influence, or agency : which agency was always attracted and excited by such words, throui;li some supposed corres- pondency between the words, and the spiritual aj;ency to be employed. The word in this sense occurs in King Alfred's Saxon translation of Boethius, De Consolatin7ie Philosophire, chap. 38. Dfi ongunnon leafe men pyjtcan fpell, The7i deceit- ful men began to practise incantations. It is possible that our ancestors gave this title to the preaching of Christ cruci- licd, from observing the astonishing effects produced by it, in changing the hearts and lives of sinners. And very innocently might tliey denominate the pure powerful preaching of the death and resurrection of Christ, God's charm : that wonder- ful word, which, accompanied with the demonstration and power of the Holy Ghost, produced such miraculous etTects among men. As the word j-pellian, sjyelUan, signifies to teach or instruct ; hfnce our word to spell, i. e. to teach a person by uniting \owels and consonants to enunciate words ; and thus learn to read. And hence the book out of which the first rudiments of language are learnt, is termed a spelling-book, exactly answer- ing to the ypellboc, spell-book, ol our ancestors, which signi- fied a hook of homilies, or plain discnurses, for the instruc- tion of the common people. We have already seen, (note on (■Jen. i. 1.) that job, among our ancestors, not only signified ('CD, the Supreme Being ; but also good or goodness, which is his nature: 3ob)'pell, godspell, therefore, is not only God's history, doctrine, or plati of teaching ; but also the good his- tory, the good doctrine ; and hence fpelhan, to preach or pro- claim this doctrine : rpellboc, the sermons that contained the rudiments of it, for the instruction of men ; and j*pel-boba, spel-boda, the orator, messenger, or ambassador, that an- nounced it. The Greek v.-ord 'E.vayye'Xtov, from tv, good, and ayye\ia, a message, signifies good news, or glud tidings in general ; and is evidently intended to point out, in this place, the good mes- sage, or the glad tidings of great joy, which God has sent to all mankind, preaching peace and reconciliation by Christ .Trsus, who is Lord of all : proclaiming that He, as the pro- mised M(a!siah, has, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man — for he has died for tlteir offences, and risen again for their justifiwition : and that through His grace, every sinner under the whole heaven may turn to God and find mercy. 'I'liis is good news, glad tidings, a joyful message ; and it is i>uch to all mankind, as in it every human spirit is interested. But besides tltis general meaning, the word EvayyeXiov, has other acceptations in the New Testament and in the Greek writers, which may be consulted here with great propriety and effect. 1. It signifies the reward given to those who brought good news. Thus Homer represents the disguised Ulysses claiming a reward, tvayye^im', a vest and mantle, should he verify to Kimieus, the gltid tidings of his master's safety. E«a)'j'tXioi'^e/;oi £?-'''• I-el me have a rewardfor my good news,OJiyss. xiv. v. 152. To uliichEumeus, who despaired of his master's return, replied, Jl ; rpnt', our' ap' tyijv Ev ay y c\ i o v roSe tiuw, Ovr' Odvnircvi cti oikov eXcvccrai. lb. v. 266. Old friend ! nor cloak nor vest thy gladsome tiews Will ever earn; Ulysses comes no more! Cowper. And on the word, as thus tised, Eustathius gives tVie fol- Inv.'ing comment: V^v a y y s\i ov, Swpov wcp ayadeg evay- ) cXias. " Euangelion signifies the reward given for bringing good news." St. Chrysostom, in his xixth Homily on the Acts, gives this as a common meaning of the word, "The Gospel is this: Thou shalt receive good things : as men are accustomed in their common conversatiim to say to each other, ri fioi tuv cvay ] F.\i o)v; What reward wilt thou give me for my good ■news," &c. It is >ised in the same sense by the Septuagint, li Sam. iv, 10. Wlien one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is (lead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took him and slew him in Ziklag, tcho thought co eiti pc Snvvai Ev ay yc- A I a, that I ipouldhave given him a kewap,d_/07- his tidings. CicEKO uses it in the same sense, see his Epistles to Atticus, lib. 2. Ep. 3. O suaves Epistolas tuas uno tempore mihi datas dnas : quibus Evay y c'Kia qucB reddam nescio, de- heri quidem, plane fate'jr. " O how delightful are your Epis- tles! two of which I have received at one time, for which I know not what recompense to make: but that I am your debtor, I candidly confess." 2. It is used also to srgnify the prayers, thanksgivings, and sacri/jces, ofl'ered on the arrival of good news. i?o Aristo- phwiec, Moi SoKCi — Evayyc\ia Bvciv tKarov 0ovs, Trjdco), I think I should sackifice a hecatomb to the goddess for this intelligence. Aristoph. in Ecjuit. v. 653. Isocrates (Areopag. initio) is supposed to use the word in ^the son of Oavid, ° the son of Abrahom. 2 1* Abraham begat Isaac; and ^ Isaac begat Jacob; and ' Jai'x)b beg.it Judas and his brethren ; 3 And B.Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thainar; and ^ Phares begat Esrom ; and Esrom begat Aram ; 4 And Aram begat AJninadab ; and Aminadab begat Naas- (>:in ; and Naasson begat Salmon ; NOTES. — Verse 1. The hook of the generation of Jesus Christ.] I suppose these words to have been tlie original title to this Gospel ; and that they signify, according to the Hebrew phraseology, not only the account of the genealogy of Clirist, as detailed' below, but the history of his birth, acts, suffer- in;s, death, resurrection, and ascension. The phrase, book of the generation, n'n'7^n*^SD sephertole- doth, is frequent in the Jewish writings, and is translated by the Septuagint/yc/?Xos jEj/tirEajf, as here, by the evangelist ; and regularly conveys the meaning given to it above; e. g. This is tlie book of the generations &f Adam, Gen. v. 1. That is, the account of the life of Adam, and certain of his immediate desi-endants. Again : These are the generations of Jacob, Gen. xxxvii. 2. that is, the account or history of Jacob, his son Joseph, and the other remarkable branches of the family. And again : T7itse are the generations of Aaron and Moses. Num. iii. 1. That is, the history of the life and acts of these pi'rsons, and some of their immediate descendants. The same form of expression is also used, Gen. ii. 4. when giving the history of the creation of heaven and earth. Some have translated ffi/3\os yevcacojs, JTie book of the ge- nealogy ; and consider it the title of this chapter only ; but the former opin.bn seems better founded. Jesus Christ] See on verses 16, and 21. The son of David, the son of Abraham.] No person ever born, could boast, in a direct line, a more illustrious ancestry than Jesus Christ. Among his progenitors, the regal, sacer- dotal, and prophetic offices, existed in all their glory and tp>endour. David, the most renowned of sovereigns, was king and prophet : Abraham, the most perfect character in all antiquity, whether sacred or profane, was priest and prophet : but the three offices were never united except in the person of Christ ; he alone was prophet, priest, and king ; and possessed and executed these offices in such a super- eminent degree, as no human being ever did or ever could. As the prlrfcipal business of the prophet v/as to make known the will of God to men according to certain partial commu- nications received from heaven ; so Jesus, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and who was intimately and thoroughly acquainted with all the mysteries of the eternal world, came to declare the Divine nature, and its counsels, to mankind. — See John i. 18. As the business of the priest was to offer BacriftcestoGod, to make atonement for the sinsof the people; so Christ WEis constituted a high-priest, to make by the sacri- fice of himself, an atonement for tne sins of the whole world ; see 1 John ii. 2. and the whole Epistle to the Hebrews. As the office of king was to reign over, protect, and defend the people committed to his care by the Divine Providence ; so Christ is set as a king upon Sion, having the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his pos- session, Psa. ii. 6. 8, &c. Of the righteousness, peace, and increase of whose government, there shall be no end, Isa. ix. 7. This threefold office, Christ executes not only in a general sense, in the world at large ; but in a particular sense in every Christian soul. He is first a prophet, to teach the heart the will of God ; to convict the conscience of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and fully to illustrate the way of salvation. He is next a priest, to apply that atonement to the guilty conscience, the necessity of which as & prophet, he had previously made known. And lastly, as a king he leads captivity captive, binds and casts out the strong man armed, spoils his goods, extends the sway of the sceptre of righteous- ness, subdues and destroys sin, and reigns Lord over all the powers and faculties of the human soul ; so that as sin reign- 4d unto death, bvbn so does grace reign through righteous- ness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. v. 21. It is remarkable, that the evangelist names David before Abraham, though the latter was many generations older ; the reason seems to be this, that David was not only the most illustrious of our Lord's predecessors, as being both kirig and prophet ; but because that promise, which at tirst was 6 .' And Salmon bpffat Booz of Rachab ; and Booz begat Obfd of Ruth ; and Ohed begat .lesse ; 6 And i Jesse hrgat David the king; and k David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the tcife of Vrias ; 7 And 'Solomon begat Roboam ; and Roboam begat Abia and .\hia hptfat Asa ; 8 And Asa begat Josapliat; and Josaphat begat Joram* and Jorain begat 07.i;is ; given to Abraham, and afterward, through successive gene- rations, confirmed to the .lewish people, was at last determin- ed and restrictr-d to the family of David. So7i of David, was an epithet by which the Messiah was afterward known among thi* Jews : and under this title they were led to expect him by prophetic authority. See Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4. cxxxii. 10, U. compared with Acts xiii. 23. and Isa. xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. .'). Christ was prophesied of under the very name of David. See Ezek xxxiv. 23, 24. xxxvii. 24, 25. 2. Abraham begat Isaac] In this genealogy, those persons only, among the ancestors of Christ, which formed the direct line, are speiified ; hence no mention is made of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, nor of Esau, the son of Isaac ; and of all the twelve patriarchs, or sons of Jacob, Judnh alone is mentioned. 3. Phnrez and Zara] The remarkable history of these twins, may be seefi Gen. x.xxviii. Some of the ancients were of opinion, that the evangelist refers to the mystery of the youngest being preferred to the eldest, as prefiguring the exaltation of the Christian church over the synagogue. Con- cerning the women whose names are recorded in tlus genea- logy, see the note at the end of the chapter. 8. Joram begat Ozias] This is the Uzziah, king of Judah, who was struck with the leprosy for his presumption in entering the temple to offer incense before the Lord. See 2 Chr. xxvi. 16, &c. Ozias was not the immediate son of Joram: there were three kings between them, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, which swell the fourteen generations to seventeen : but it is observed, that omissions of this kind are not uncommon in the Jewish genealogies. In Ezra vii. 3, Azariah is called the son of Merajoth, although it is evident from 1 Chr. vi. 7—9, that there were six descendants between them. — ^This circumstance the evangelist was probably aware of; but did not see it proper to attempt to correct what he found in the public accredited genealogical tables ; as he knew it to be of no consequence to his argument, which was merely to show that Jesus Christ ns surely descended in an uninterrupted line from David, as David did from Abraham. And this he has done in the most satisfactory manner : nor did any person in those days pretend to detect any inaccui-acv in his statement; though the account was published among those very people whose interest it was to expose the fallacy, in vindication of their own obstinate rejection of the Messiah, if any such fallacy could have been proved. But as they were silent, modem, and comparatively modern unbelievers, may forever hold their peace. The objections raised on this head are wortliy of no i-egard. St. Matthew took up the genealogies just as he found them in the public Jewish records, wliich, though they were in the main correct, yet were deficient in many particulars. The Jews themselves give us sufficient proof of this. The Talmud, title Kiddushim, mentions ten classes cf persons who returned from the Babylonish captivity : 1. ■>:n3 cohaney, priests. II. ''i'^ levky, Levites. III. 'jNiffi''' yishraei, Israelites, IV. '*y>^T\ CHDUTLEY, Common persons, as to tlie priesthood ; such whose fathers were priests, but their mothers were such as the priests should not marry. V. ^iij girey, prose- lytes. VI. '>-\'nn cHARrREY,/reed-TOen, or servants who had been liberated by their masters. VIL 'ns NBTBiNEY, Nethinims. IX. ''pT\& shetukey, bastards, per- sons whose mothers, though well known, could not ascertain the fathers of theirchildren, because of their connexions with different men. X. '>biok asuphev, such as were gathered up out of the streets, whose fathers and mothers were utterly unknown. Such was the heterogeneous mass brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem : and although we learn from the Jews, that great care was taken to sepai-ate the spurious from the true bom Israelites, and canons were made for that pur- pose ; yet it so happened, that sometimes a spurious family had got in to high authority, and therefore must not be meddled with. See several cases in Ligh.lfoot. On this account a faithful 9 ST. MATTHEW. S'umber of generations. 9 And Ozias begai Joatham ; aiidJoatham begat Achaz ; and Achaz begat Ezekias; 10 And *Ezekias begat Manasses ; and Manasses begat Amon ; and Anion begat Josias ; 11 And b Josias ° begat Jechonias and his brethren, about tlie time they were =■ carried away to Babylon : 1^ And after tliey were brouglit to Babylon, " Jechonias be- gat Saluthiel ; and Salathicl begal f Zorobabel ; 13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Ehakim ; and Eliakim begat Azor ;» 14 And Azor begat Sadoc ; and Sadoc begat Achim ; and Achim begat Eliud ; iiaKcs.SO. ai. lChr.3. 13.— b Some rend, Josias be-nt Jakim, and J^vkim bejal Jcchonlus— c See I Chr. 3. i:<, Ifi.— d-" h'gs. 34. 14, 15, 10. &,!S.1I. flChr. Jb. W,a). Conception of Chnst. 15 And Eliud begat Eleazar ; ^ and Eleazar begat Mattlian ; and Matthp.n begat Jacob ; 16 And h Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17t50 all the generations from Abraham to David, are four- teen generations ; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon, are fourteen generations ; and from the carry- ing away into Babylon, unto Christ, are fourteen generations. IS ii Now the ' birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise : Wliea as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came to;;elher, site was found with child ''of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not Jcr. S7.20. &, 39.0. & 5-2.11, ir.,13,a9,:a. Uin. 1.2.— e 1 Chr. 3. 17. 19.— f Ei. 3. •3.& 5.2. Neh.lil. Hq-.I.I.— sLk.3.24.— h Ver.21.&Ch.l3.55.&.27 6G.-il.k.l.27.— kLk.l.r](Te tuv lix"^"^"- And Josias begat ^EHOiXKm, or Joakim, and .Ioakim begat Jechonias. For this reading see the authorities in Griesbach. Josiah -was the immediate father of ye/io/aAi'.'jt, (called also Eliakeiin and yoaA/wj) and his brethren, who were Johanan, Zedekiuh, and l^lialtani : see 1 Chr. iii. 15. Joakim was the father oijoaclun or Jecho- nias, about the time of the first Babylonisli captivity : for we may reckon three Babylonish captivities. The^rai liappened in the fourth year of Joakim, son of Josiah, about A. M. 3398. In this year, Nebuchadnezzar having taken Jerusalem, led a great number of captives to Babylon. The second captivity happened under Jechoniah, son of Joakim ; who having reigned three months, was taken prisoner in .3405, and was carried to Babylon, with a great number of the Jewish nobility. The ZAtrfZ captivity took place under Zedekiah, A.. M. 3416. And thus, says Caiiuct, the llth verse should be read : Josias begal Joakim and his brethren ; and Joakim begat Jecho- nias about the time of the lirst Babylonish captivity ; and Jechonias begat Salathicl, after they were brought to Baby- lon. Thus, with the necessary addition o( Joakim, the three classes, each containing _/oMr;irim'<'st rontidence in God, cimld have supported tier in ' circumstances, whore herrcputution, her honour, kiid her life, were at sUike. What conversation passed be- twc'-n lier and Joseph, on this discovery, we are not informed ; hut the issue proves, that it was not satisfactory to 'iim ; nor t-MuKl lie resolve to consider her as his wife, till God had sent hi< au"el to bear the most unequivocal testimony to the vir- eiii'-' innocence. His whole conduct, on this oi-casion, was Exceedingly benevolent and humane. He 'i"'R')t =1^ "'""'•: Ji.ivi' taken the advantage of the law, Deut. xxii. 23, 24, and h.id her stoned to death. 1') 'J'o make her a public rrample.] Uaoar\€tyiiaTi(rat, to ex- n.^',• her to public infamy; from rrapa, near, and deiKfvuai, I shore, or e.r/>o.5e.— Though Joseph was a rishteoua man, i^KUi'i and knew that tlie law required that such persons u< h- .-iuppiised his wife to be, should be put to deatli ; yet .as J •>A/eui/s.'»-v« is ever directed by mercy, he deteriniiu'd to l.ilt her away or divorce her privateli/, i. e. without af-sigii- iiig anv cause, that her life might be saved : and as the oi- f.u.-e was aaainst himself, he had a right to pass it by it le cho-^e Some have supposed that the term diKuioi should be ti-ansl.-ited mercij'ul, and it certainly often has this signiUca- lion, but here it is not necessary. , .-, ,„ r .i ^i '>(! Thnt irhich is conceived (or formed) tnher.] So 1 think ytvvn'iiv .should be translated in this place: as it appears that the human nature of Jesus Christ was a real cicahuii in the womb of the virgin, by the power of the Holy hpirit. 1 he amret r.f the Lord mentioned here, wa-s proluihly the angel Gabriel, wlio, six montlis before, had been sent to Zaclianas and Klizalieth, to announce the birth of Christ's forerunner, Jo.'<;i Ihe napti.it. See Luke i. 36. ,. , , oi JEST^S'] The same^as Joshua, V~in> i ehoahua, Irom y l. vn.t.Vi he saved, de.lirrred, put in a state of sajc.l;/. i^(P on Exod. xiii. 9. Num. xiii. 16. and in the preface to Jo'thiin. lie shall save hi.i people f coin their .viH.f,1This shall be Uis treat business in the worUl: the great enaml on which he is come viz.. to make an atonement for, and to destroy, sin : de- liverance from all the power, guilt, and pnlluliun of siii, is tl,.- privilese of nverv believer in Christ Jesus. Less than ih s. Is not spoken of in the Gospel : and less than this, would be unbecominc the Go.spel. The perfection of the Gos-^.el system i« not that it makes allnrraitcei for sin, but that it makes an alouemeiit for it :-not that it tolerates sin, but that it rf";''.'"'/;* il In ver 1, he Is called Jesus Christ, on which Ur. l.iglit- f.Ml nroperly remarks, "Th.it the name of Jesus, so oltcii added I.) Ihe nameof Christ in the New Testament, is not only that ("lirist might betherebv pointed out as the .SVifioHC. but ■tlsii that JesMS luiuhl be pointed out as the true Christ, or Me''- jf/nA. against the unbelief of the .lews." This observatinu will be of great use in numberless places of the New Testament. Hee Acts ii. 36. viii. .35. 1 Cor. vi. '22. 1 .lolin ii. 22. iv. 1-'. '^'V '>o Bii the Prophet.} Isaiah is added here bv several M». VeTsions, and Fathers. The prophecy is taken from Isa. yu. 11. "3 Behold a virgin shall he trith cliild.]\Vn have already seen from the preceding verse, that this prophecy is taken from Isa. vii. 11, but it may be necessary to consuler the cir- cumstances of the orii^iual promise more particularly. At the time referred to, the kingdom of Judah, under the go- vernment of Ahaz, was reduced very low. Pelcah king of Israel, had sl.iin in Judea l-2i1,0tX) persons in one dav ; and carried awav captives 20(l,0ai. including women and children, together with much spoil. To add to their distress. Jiezrn king ofSvria, being confederate with PeA-a/i, had taken tJlolh, ' -a fortified city of Judah, and carried the inhrthitants away captive to Dam.ascus. In this critical cou-uncture, need we wonder that Ahaz was afraid that the enemies who were now united against him, must prevail, destroy Jenis.alcm, end the VinEdoni of Judah, and annihilate the famriy of l>avid-! 1 o meet and remove this fear, apparently w.-tl srmmded Isaiah is sent from the 1-ord to Ahaz, swallowed up now both by «orrow and by unbelief, in order to assure lum that the coun- sels of his enemies should not stand ; and that they shwuld b« utterly di.«comfited. To encourage Ahaz, he commands him It. as^ n si"-n or miracle, which should be a pledge in hand, that God should, in due time, fuUil the predictions of his ser- vant as related in the context. On Ahaz humbly refusing to nsk any sign, it is immcdialelv added. Therefore the Lord him- selfsliall !.'irc you, a sign : liehnld, a virgin shall conceive and bear a .ion ; and shell call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shallheeal, itc. IJuttherfiruieand human nn\.\iT« of our Lord, as well as the miraculous conception, appear to be pointed out in the prophecy quoted here by the evangelist: —He shall be called UN-iJOy Im-meno'-ki-; literally, 7/icsTROSa Gon wmi fs: similar to those words in the New Testameut — The uord which teas God—iras m^de flesli and dtcelt among us, full of graee. and truth: John i. \. 14. And, Gorf teas manifested'in the flesh: 1 Tim. iii. 16. So that we are to understand, God irithtis, to imply, GoA incarnated— Uod in human nature. Tliis seems further evident from the word* of thcinoplKt, ver. 15. Butter and honey shall he en/— lie shall be truly man, grow up, and be nourished in a human, natural iray ; which refers to his being with rs, i. c. incar- nated. To wliich the prophet adds, tliat he may know to re- fuse the evil and choose the good : or rather. According to hi* knowledge, inV""? ledanlo, reprolmting the evil and choosing the good^:-Vh\R refers to him as God; and is the same idea given by this prophet, chap. liii. U. By (or in) /as knnrledge, (the knowledge of rihristcrucilicd, inyni be daato) shall my righteous servant justify many ; for he shall bear their of- fences Now this union of the divine and human nature, la termed a sign or miracle, riiKo//i, i. e. something which ox- ceeds the power of nature to produce. And this miraculou* union was to be brought about in a m/racw/oKs if ny; Behold, a vmni.N shall coucefve : the word is very emphatic, no^V'^ < ha-dlmah, the virgin ; the only one that ever was, or ever shall be, a mother in this way. But the /firs, and some called Christians, who have espoused their desperate cause, assert, that " the word na'?)J dhuah does not signily a virgin only ; for it is applied, Prov. xxx. 19, to signify a young marrifd wo- man." I answer, that this latter text is no proof of llic con- tran- doctrine : t he words nT^VV^i ■'^^ T^"" ''«'«c geber-bealmah, the icaii of a man trith a maid, cannot be proved to mean that for which it is produced: besides, one pf De Rossi s MSS reads i^nSyn bc-almaiv,i\\eir marriage. This is not correct: see the case of Uebecca. Gen. xxiv. 43, and my note there : that of Kachel, Gen. xxix. 6, 9, and the note there also: and see the ca.se of Miriam, the si.stcr of Moses, Exod. ii. «, and also the Ghaldee paraphrase on Lam. i. 4, where the virgins are repivsented .'is going out in the dance. And see also the Wlinie nisiory ui i\.iiin. i iii= u^...^ t^. ...■—•, -- *.'7', "', ^ „ .• (HI wliich so much stress is laid, is purely fanciful, for we liiKl tliat yoiim: unmarried women drew water, kept sheep, .'lea'md in'iblicly in the fields, &c. &c., and the same works Uiey periorm among the Turcomans to the present day. Thte ivason, therefore, docs not account for the radical iiieanin'' of the word : and we must seek it elsewhere Ano- ther well known and often used root in the Hebrew tongue. will cast light on this subject. This is n^J galah,whieh sig- nilics to reveal, make manifest, or uncorer, and is often ap- plied to matrimonial connexions, in different parts ot tlie Mosaic law : =■:>' «'"'", therefore, may be considered ^sim- plyiii.' the concealment of the virgin, as such, till lawful marrhige had taken place. A virgin vvas n"tcalledno^> dlmah because she was concealed by being kept at home in her fXr's house, which is nottri^e, but >''^ rally ^"^^IphysicaUy because, as a woman, she had not been ,<«core erf-she bud not known man. This fully applies to I'f blessed virgin see Luke i. 34. '■ How can this be, seeing, / know '<""«" ? and this ex^ throws much light on the subject before us. This al 'o is in perfect agreement with the ancient prophecy "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the ser- pent," Gen. lii- 15, for tlK person wlw was lo destroy the The birth of CHAPTER II. Jesus Christ. work of the devil was to be the progeny of the ?coni(7n with- out any concurrence of the man. And hence the text in Ge- nesis speaks as fully of the virgin stale of tlie person, from whom Christ, according to the flesh, should come, as that in the prophet, or this in the evangelist. According lo the origi- nal promise, there was to be a seed, a human being, wlio should destroy sin; but this seed, or human being, must come from the woman alone: and no ujoman alone could pioduce such a human being witliout being a virgin. Heiice,^ virgin shall bear a son, is the very spirit and meaning of the original text, independently of the illustralinn given by the prophet: and the fact recorded by the evangelist, is tlie proof of the whole. But how could that be a sign to Ahaz, which was to take place so many hundreds of years alter f I answer, the meaning of the prophet is plain : not only Reziii and Pe- kah should be unsuccessful against Jerusalem at that time, which was the fact; but Jerusalem, Judea, and the house of David, should be both preserved, notwithstanding their de- pressed state, and the multitude of their adversaries, till the time should come, when a virgin should bear a son. This is a most remarkable circumstance— the house of David could never fail, till a virgin should conceive and bear a son— nor did it; but when that incredible and miraculous fact did take placi}, the kingdom and house of David became extinct ! This is an irrefragable confutation of every argument a Jew can offer in vindication of his opposition to the Gospel of Christ. Either the prophecy in Isaiah has been fultilled, or the kingdom and hoJise ofDavid are yet standing. But the kingdom of Uavid, we know, is destroyed : and where is the man, Jew or Gentile, that can show us a single de.scendant of David, on the face of the «arth 1 The prophecy could not fail— the kingdom and house of David have failed— the virgin, therefore, must have brought forth her son— and this son is Jesus, the Christ. Thus Moses, Isaiah, and Matthew, concur ; and facts the most une- quivocal, have confirmed the whole ! Behold the wisdom and providence of God ! Notwithstanding what has been said above, it may be asked, In wliat sense could this name Immanuel be applied to Jesus Clirist, if he be not truly and properly GODI Could the Spirit of truth ever design tlta't Christians should receive him as an angel or a mere man, ;ind yet in the very beginning of the Gospel history, apply a character to him, v/hich belongs only to the Most High God ; Surely no. In what sense, then, is Clu-ist GoD WITH US'? Jesus is called Immanuel, or God with us, in his incarnation. — God united toour nature — Gud with man — God in man. — Gud with us, by his continual protection. God with us, by the injl.uences of his Holy Spirit — in the 'loly sacrament — in the preaching of his word — in private prayer. And God with «.s, through every action of our life, that we begin, continue, and end, in his name. He is God with us, to comfort, enlighten, prmect, and defend us in every lime of temptation and trial, in the hour oi death, in the day oi judg- ment: and God with us, and mus, and we with and in him, to all eternity, 25. Her first-born son.'\ Tovxnov avrt}q rov npwToroKOv.yMe- rally, That son of her' s, the first-horn' one. That Mary might have had other children, any person may reasonably and piously believe ; thalslie had others, many think exceedingly probable, and that this text is at least an indirect proof of it. However this may be, iheperpetual Tirginity of Mary should not be made an article of faith. God has not made it one — in- deed it can hardly bear the light of several texts in the Gospels. lie knew her not.'\ Had no matrimonial intercourse with her — TILL she had brought forth that so7i of tier's, of whom the evangelist had been just speaking, the first-borit, the eldest of the family, to whom the birthright belonged, and who was miraculously born before she knew any man, being yet in a state of virginity, f-ee on chap. xiii. 55. The virginity of Mary, previously to the birth of Christ, is an article of the utmost consequence to the Christian system : and therefore it is an article of faith : her perpetual virginity is of no consequence ; and the learned labour spent to prove it, has produced a mere castle in the air. The thing is possible ; but it never has been, and never can be proved. He railed his name JESUS.]This name was given by the command of God, see ver. 16, and was imposed on Christ when eight days old; for then, according to the Jewish law, he was circumcised : thus he had the name of Saviour given when he first began to shed that blood, without which there can be no remission ofsitis. The goodness of God is manifested, not only in his giving his Son to save a lost world : but also in the choice of the person.i, who were his progenitors : among whom we find, First, SAINTS, to excite our courage: Abraham, remarkable for his faith; Isaac, for his obedience; amX Jacob, for his fervour and constancy. t- : and that, though stra7igers to his people, we are not on that account excluded from a salvation which God has designed tor all men. He is not the God of the Jews only ; he is also the God of tlie Gentiles. The state of the royal family of David, the circumstances of the holy virgin and her spouse Joseph, the very remarkable prophecy of Isaiah, the literal and circtfmstantial fulfilment of it, the names given to our blessed Lord, the genealogical scp.ill of the family, &c. &c. are all so many proofs of the wisdom, goodness, and providence of God. Every occurrence seems, at first view, to be abandoned to fortuitous influence, and yet the result of each shows that God managed the whole. These cir- cumstances are of the greatest importance ; nor can the Chris- tian reader reflect on them without an increase of his faith and his piety. CHAPTER II. Wise men come from, the east to worship Christ, I, 2. Berod, hearing of the hirth of our Lord, is greatly troubled, 3; and makes inquiry of the chief priests and scribes, where the Christ should be born, 4. They inform him of the prophecy relutire to Bethlehem, 5, 6, The wise men, going to Bethlehem, are desired by Herod to bring him word tchen they have found the child, pretending that he irinhed to dn him homage, 7, 8. The wise men are directed by a star to the place where the young cldld lay, adore him, and offer him gifts, 9 — 1 1. Being warned of God not to return to Herod, they depart into their own country another way, 12. Joseph and Mary ore dioinely warned to escape into Egypt, because Herod sought to destroy Jesas,'l3, 14. They obey, and continue in Egypt till the death of Herod, 1,5. Herod, finding that the wise men did not return, is enraged^ and orders all the i/onng children in Bethlehem, under two years of age, to he massacred, 16 — IS. Herod dies, and Joseph is divinely warned to return to the land of Israel, 19—21. landing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in place of his father Herod, he goes to Galilee, and takes up his residence at Nazareth, 22, 23. [A. M. 4001. B. C. 4. An. Olyuiji. CXCIV. 1.] I^f t)W when * .Tesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the X^ days of Ilenjd the king, behold, there came wise men b from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, "^ Where is he that is born King of the Jews '.' for we a [,ukea.4,i;,7.— bfien in.in fcSS.fi. I Kings 4. /O.-o. l.ukc S. 11. NOTRS.— Verse \.BethtehemnfJudea.]Th\s city is inention- ed in Jiul2..\;vil.7,and must l)e distinguished from another of the same name in the tribe of Zoluilon, Jo.sli. xix. 15. It Is likewise called Ephrath, Gen. xlviil. 7, or Ephratah, Mic. v. 2, and its inhabitants Ephratliites, Ru. i. 2. 1 Sam. xvii. 12. It is situated on the declivity of a hill, about six miles from Jerusalem. n''3 On^y Beth-lechem, in liehrew s'lsnifies the house of bread. And the name may be considered as very properly applied to that place where Jesus, the Messiah, the true broad that came down from heaven, was manifested, l^nr to give life to the world. Biil C3n^Za;ie»ialsosignifies7?es/(, and is applied tothat partof the sacrifice which was burnt upon tne altar. See Lev. ill. 1 1 — 16. xxi. 6. The word is also used to sianify a carcass, Zeph. i. 17. The Arabic version has ^5\3<-V» Beet lehem, and the Persic f3;>AH «^Aj* Beet allehem: but l»l. 3.7.-C MIc. 5.2. .Vnn 7. 42. I.u)ie2.4. having entered into a conspiracy against him. Arislol/ulus left three children, whom 1 shall notice hereafter. His third wife was Mariamrie, the daughter of *VOTon, a per- son of some note in Jeni.Kalem, whom Herod made high-priest in order to obtain his daughter. She was the mother of Jlernd P/iilippun, or Herod Philip, and .Salome. Herod, or Pliilip, married Iferodiax, mother to Salome, the famous dancer, who demanded the head of .lohn the Baptist, Mark vi. 22. Salome had been placed in the will of Henxl the Great, as second heir after Antipater; but her name was erased, when il was dis- covered that Mariamne her mother, was an accomplice in f lie crimes of Antipater, son of Herod the Great. Joseph, de Bello, lib. i. c. 18, 19, 20. His fourth wife was MaUhakf, a Samaritan, whose sons were Archelaus and Philip. The flrslenjoyed hah" his father's kingdom under the nameof letrarch, viz.'idumea, .Judea, and S.imaria: Joseph. Anliq. 1. .xvii. c. 11. He reigned nine years; but being accused and arraigned before the emperor Augus- tus, he was banished to Vienna, where he died: Jos. Antiii. I. xvli. c. XV. This is the Archelaus mentioned in verse 22. His brother P/i//i'p married Salome, the famous dancer, the daughter of Herodi.is ; he died without children, and she was ^ afterward married to Aristobulus. • The lifth wife of Herod the Great was Cleopatra of Jerusa- lem, r^he was the mother of Herod, surnamed Antipas, who married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, while he was etill living. Being reproved for this act by John the Baptist, Matt. xlv. 3. Mark vi. 17. Luke ill. 19. and having imprisoned this holy man, he caused him to be beheaded, agreeably to the promise he had rashly made to the daughter of his wife He- rodias, who had pleased him with her dancing. He attempted t(r seize the person of Jesus Olirist, and to put him to death. It was to this princp that Pilate s^nt our Lord, I,uk. xiii. 31, 32. He was banished to Lyons, and then to Spain, where both he and his wife Herodias died. Joseph. Antiu. 1. xv. c. 14 — de Bello, 1. ii. c. S. The sixth wife of Herod the Great was Pallas, by whom he had Phasaelus ; his history is no ways connected with the New Testament. The seventh was named Phep.dra, the mother of lioxana, who married the son of Pheroras. The eighth was Elpida^ mother of Salome, who married another son of Pheroras. With the names of twoother wives of Herod we are not ac- quainted; but they are not connected with our history, any more than are Pallas, Phmdra, and Elpida, whose names I merely notice, to avoid the accusation of inaccuracy. AnisTOBDU's, the son of Herod the Great, by Mariamne, a descendant of the Asmoneans, left two sons and a daughter, viz. Agrippa, Herod, and Herodias, so famous for her incestuous maxriiige with Antipas, in the lifetime of his brother Philip. ACBIPPA, otherwise named Herod, who was imprisoned by Tiberius for something he had inconsiderately said against nim, was released from prison by Caligula, who made him King of Judea; Jos. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 8. It was this prince who put St. James to death, and imprisoned Peter, as mentioned in xli. of Acts. He died at Ccsarea, in the way mentioned in the Acts, as well as by Joseph. Antiq. 1. xix. c. 7. He left a son named Agrippa, who is mentioned below. Hbrod, the second son of Aristobulus, was king of Chalcis, and after the death of his brother, obtained permission of the emperor to keep the ornaments belonging to the high-priest, and to nmuinate whom he pleased to that office: Jos. Antiq. 1. XX. c. 1. He had a son named Aristobulus, to whom Nero gave Armenia the lesser, and who married Salome, the famous dancer, dauglitcr to Herodias. Agrippa, son of Herod Agrippa, king of Judea, and grandson to Aristobulus and Mariamne ; he was at tlrst king of Chalcis and aftenvard tetrarch of Galilee, in the room of his uncle Philip : Jos. Antiq. 1. xx. c. 5. It was before him, his sister Be- renice, and Felix, who had married Drusilla, Agrippa's se- cond daughter, that St Paul pleaded his cause, as mentioned Acts XXV i. Herodias, the daughter of Mariamne and Aristobulus, is the person of whom we have already spoken, who married succes- Bively the two brothers Philip and Antipas, her uncles, and whooccasioned the death of John the Baptist. By her first hus- band, she had Salome, the dancer, who was married to Philip, letrarch of the Trachonltis, the son of Herod the Great. t>!a- lome having had no children by him, she was married to Aris- .tobulus, her cousin-german, son of Herod, king of Chalcis, and brother to Agrippa and Herodias : she had by this hus- band several children. This is nearly all that Is necessary to be known relative to the race of the Herods, in order to distinguish the particular ^rsons of this family mentioned in the New Testament. See ^asnage, Calmet, and Josephus among the princes of Juda : for out of thee shall conie a Go- vernor , fcc. There came wise men from the east] Or, Magi came from *''l'^\^'-'^ (countries. '^The Jews believed th?t there were propneta u» ih« yungdom of Saba and Araiia, who were of the posterity o^ Abraham by Ketvrah : and that they taught ill the name of God, what tliey liad received in tradition from the mouth of Abraham." — WniTnr. That many Jews were mixed with this people there is little doubt ; anil that these eastern Magi, or philosophei-s, astrologers, or whatever else they were, might have been originally of that class, there is room to believe. These, knowing tlie promi.se of the Messiah, were now, probably, like other believing Jews, waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Persic translator renders the Greek JAayoi by i^\^iMS>M mejou.teeun, whicli properly signi- tles a worshipper of fire ; and from which we have o>ir word magician. It is very probable that the ancient Persians, who were considered as trorshippers of fire, only honoured it as the symbolical representation of the Deity : and seeing this unu.'tual appearance, might consider it as a sign, that the God tlipy worshipped was about to manifest liiui.self among men. Therefore they say. We have seen his star—an(\ are come to worship him ; but it is more likely, that the (ireeks made their .Maj»(, Magi, which we translate wise men, from the Persian i-^ Mugh, and o)0«./0 Mughan, which the Kushuf ul Lughut, a very eminent Persian lexicon, explains by <-■*>'>-; 0~f ntuxii pere^t. a worshipper of fire ; which tlie Persians siipjiose all the inliabltants of Ur in Chaldea were, among whoin the pro- pliet Abraham was brought up. The Mohaminedans apj)ly thi.s title by way of derision to Christian mnnk.^ in tlii-ir as- sociate capacity : and by a yet stronger catachrctis, they ;ip- ply it to a tavern, and the people that frequent it. Also, to ridicule in the most forcible manner the Christian priesthoud they call the tavern-keeper O^^^ Ji^ peeri Miighan, the priest, or chief of the idolaters. It is very probable, that the persons mentioned by the evangelist were o sort of astrolo- gers, probulily of Jewish extraction, that they lived In Arabia Felix, and for the reasons above given, came to woisliip their new-born Sovereign. It is worthy of remark, that the .\nglo. Saxon translates the word Maj-oi by Cunjal plcejan. which signifies astrologers, from Ciincjol, o star, w planet, and piCen, to know or understand. 2. We hate seen his star] Having discovered an unusual lu- minous appearance or meteor in the heaven.s, supposing these persons to have been Jews, and knowing tlic piophecies rela- tive to the redemption of Israel, they probably considered Lliis to be tne star mentioned by Balaain, Num. x'xiv. 17. See the note there. In the east] Ev rri avaroXij, At its rise. Ai/aroAi; and (5yi7/ijj are used in the New Testament for east and wist. To worship him.] Or, To do him homage : TTpuaKwrjirai avri't. The word naouKvvtu), which is compounded of roof, to, ami KViov, a dog, signifies to cjoi/rA anu _/b!r/j, like a dog at his master's feet. It means, to prostrate one's self to another, ac- cording to the eastern custom, which is still in use. In this act, the person kneels, and puts his head helween his knees, his forehead at the same time touching the ground. Il w:is used to express both civil and religious reverence. In Hiii- dostan, religious homage is paid by prostrating the body at full length, so that the two knees, the two hands, forche.-id, nose, and cheeks, all touch the earth at the same time. Tliis kind of homage Is paid also to great men. Ayeen .^kbekv, vol. iii. p. 227. As to what is here called a star, some make it a meteor, others a luminous appearance like an Aurora Burealis ; others a cmnet! There is no doubt the appearance made was very striking ; but it seems to have been a simple meteor provi- ded for the occasion. See on ver. 9. 3. When Herod— heard these things, he was troubled] He- rod's consternation was probably occasioned bvtheairreenient of the account of the Magi, with an opinion pred'>iiilnant throughout the east, and particularly in Judea, that some great personage would soon make his appearance, for the de liverance of Israel from their enemies ; and would take upon himself universal empire. Suetonius and Tacitus, two Roman historians, mention this. Their words are very remarkable: Percrebuerat oriente toto, vetus et constans opinio, esse infatis, ut eo tempore Ju- dcbd profecti rerum potirentur. Id de imperatore Homano, ouantum eventu postea predictum patuit, Judai id se tra- henles, rebelldrunt. Scbton. Vesp. "An ancient and settled Sersuasion prevailed throughout the east, that the Fates had ecreed some to proceed from Judea, who should attain uni- versal empire. This persuasion, which the event proved to respect the Roman emperor, the Jews applied to themselves, and therefore rebelled." Tlie words of Tacitus are nearly si- milar : Pturibus persuasio inerat, antiguis sacerdotum Ute- ris contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret oriens, pro- fectique Judttd rerum potirentur. Quavc found him, bring me word asjain, that I may come and worship liim also. 9 H When tlicy had heard tlie king, they departed : and, lo, the Btar which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the youn? child was. 10 When they saw tlie star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. U 1 And when they were come into the honse, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and wor- shipped him : and when they had opened their tieasiues " tliey h presented unto him gifts : gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned of (Jod "= in a dream, that tliey should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country an- other wav. 13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the I/ird appeareth to .Toseph in a dream, saying. Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and llee into Egypt, and be •. I Kir.zi 10. 5. Ch. 21. 19. .lob 3. \1. Is. 44. CG.— b Or, nflVr.,!. Psa.. 72. 10. Is. fO. G. 4 beiuj; Thf. chief priests] Not only the high-priest for the time 4;, called "c'Nin in3 rohen ha-rosh, 2 Kings x.w. 18, and his (tfpiity, called n:C'D p3 cohen mishneh, with those who had fiirmerly borne t/te high-priest's office; but also, the chiefs or hciids of the ttcenty-four sacerdotal families, which David Jistributed into so many coitrses, 1 Ohr. xxiv. These latter are styled CJnan •<"\S' sarey ha-cohanim, chief of the priests, 2 t^hr. xx.xvi. 14. Ezra viii. 24. and D"':rDn vi-s-i roshey ha- ciihanim, heads of the priests, Neh. xii. 7. .losephus calls them bv the .same name as the writei-s of the New rcstamcut. In his lifif, sec. 8, he mentions noXXovi — TOiv ApxitpzMv, many of the chief priests. The word Is used in the singular in this Cist sense, for a chief of the priests, Acts xi.x. 14. Scrihrs] The word Fpn/ijiaTftif, in the Septuagint, is used for a political odiccr, who.se business it was to assist kings and civil magistrate.?, and to keep an account in writing of pub- lic art.s and occurrences, truch an officer is called in Ilebrcv.- "I^in ■>£3 seper ka-melech, h yfiaftiiajcvi tov 0aaiXcii)(, the king's scrihe, or secretary. See LXX. 2 Kings xii. 10. The word is often used by the LXX. for a man of learning, rsp"iially fur one skilled in the Mosaic law : and in the same Reuse it is used l>y tlio New Testament writers, rpn/i/iartnf \)i therefore lo be understood as always implying a man of let- ters, or learning, ciipable of instructing the people. Tlie de- rivation of the mime proves this to be the genuine meaning of the win-d ynnjifia, a letter, or character, in writing: or ypa^i- fjitra, letters, learriing, ervdition, and especially that gained from hooks. The Hebrew ■M}^' or -\ciir sopher, from saphar, to tell, count, cipher, signifies both a book, volume, roll, tic. and a notary, recorder, or historian ; and always signilies a vian of learning. The word is used,.\cts xix. 35, for a civil magistrate al Ephe- sus, probably such an one as \Ve would term recorder. It ap- p.^urs that Herod at this time gathered the whole sanhedrim, in order to get the fullest information on a subject, by which all his jealous fears had been alarmed. f). In Hethlehem ofJudea : for thus it is written by the pro- phet] As there have been several confused notions among the Jews, relative not only to the Messiah, and his character, but ali«o to tlic time of his birth ; it may be necessary to add to what has already been said on this subject, the following ex- fraetg from the Talmudists and Gemarists, quoted by Light- foot. At the close of a long dissertation on the year of o- singul.Tr. ami that the df ath of Ilerod alone is here intended. lint as Heroil'ij son Antipatcr was at this time heir apparent to the throne, and he had cleared his way to it by procuring the d-ath of bi.tli his elder brothers; he is probably alluded to here, a.- doubt- less he entered into his father's designs. Thkv are d-'ad — .\n- tipater was put to death by his father's command, five days before this execrable tyrant went to hi.s own place. See Jos. Antiq. xvi. 11. .xvii. 9. 22. When he heard that Archelans did reign .] Herod, h.ii inj; Sut Antipater his eldest son to death, altered his will, and thim isposed of nis dominions: he gave the letrarchy of (Jnliln- and Petrea to his son Antinas: the tetrarchy of (•.inloniti.*, Trachonitis, Batanea, and Paneadis, to his son Philip: and left the kingdom of Judea, to liis eldest remaining son, .\rchi-- laus. This son partook of the cruel and blood-thirsty disposi- tion of his father; at one of the passovers, he caused three thousand of the people to be put to death in the temple and city. For his tyranny and cruelty, Augustus deprived him of the government, and bani.shed him. Hischaracterconsidered, Joseph, with great propriety, forbore to settle under his juris- diction. He turned aside into ihe parts of Galilee.] Here Antipas go- verned, who is allowed to have been of a comparatively mild disposition: and being intent on building two cities, yit/m* and Tiberias, he endeavoured, by a mild carriage, and pro- mises of considerable immunities, to entice people from other provinces to come and settle in them. He was, besides, in a state of enmity with his brother Archelaus: ihi.s was a ni'j.«t favourable circumstance to the holy family; and though (iod did not permit them to go to any of the new cities, yet they dwelt in peace, safety, and comfort, at Nazareth. 23. 2'hat it might be fulfilled which teas spoken by Ihe pro- phets.] It is difficult to ascertain by what prophets' this wa« spoken. The margin usually refers to Judg. xiii. 5, where the angel, foretelling the birth of Samson, says, No razor shall come upon his head ; for the child shall be a naz.*ritk (1m> nezir) unto God from the tcomb. The second passage n.sually referred to, is Is. xi. 1. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch O^j netser) shall grotc hut of his roots. That this refers to Christ, there is no doubt: Jer. chap, xxiii. 5, is supposed to speak in the same language — I trill raise tinto David a righteous branch ; but here, the word la T^Dit tseniaeh, not "tttJ netser; and it is the same in the paral- lel place. Zee. iii. 8. vi. 12. therefore, these two prophets can- not be referred to: but the passages in Judges and Isaiah may have been in the eye of the cvangelistfi, as well as the whole institution relative to the Nazarite, (v»3 nezir) deli- vered at large, Num. vi. where see the notes. As the Nazarite was the most pure and perfect itistitution under the law, it is possible, that God intended to point out by it, not only the perfection of our Lord, but also the purity of his followers. .\nd it is likely, that before St. Matthew wrote this Gosnel, those afterward called Christians, bore the appellation of Aii- za rites, or Nazoreans, for so the Greek word, Nn^wpaiof, should be written. Leaving the spiritual reference out of the 15 CHAPTER III. John the Baptist begins question, the Nazarent, or Nazorean, here, may mean simply an inkahitanl or person of Nazareth ; as Galilean does a per- son, or inhabitant of Galilee. The evangelist evidently design- ed to state, that neither the sojourning at Nazareth, nor our Lorxl being called a Nazarene, were fortuitous events, but were wisely determined and provided for in the providence of God, and therefore foretold by inspired men, or fore-repre- sented by significant mslitutions. But how shall we account for the manner in which St. Mat- thew and others apply this, and various other circumstances, to the fulfilinentof ancient traditions! This question has great- ly agitate/l divines and critics for more than a century. Su- ren/iusius, Hebrew professor at Amsterdam, and editor of a very splendid and useful edition of the Mishna, in six vols, fol. published an express treatise on this subject, in 1713, full of deep research and sound criticism. He remarks great dif- ference in the mode of quoting, used in the Sacred Writings ; as, It hath been said— it is written— that it might be fulfilled tf/iich was spoken by the prophets— the Scripture says— see what is said— the Scripture foreseeing— he saith—is it not writtenl—the saying that is written, &c. &C. With great pains and industry, he has collected ten rules out of the Tal- mud and the Rabbins, to explain and justify all the quotations made from the Old Testament in the Mew. Rule I. Reading the words not accordirig to the regular vowel points, but to others substituted for them. He thinks this is done by Peter, Acts iii. 22, Zi. by Stephen, Acts vii. 42, &c. and by Paul, 1 Cor. XV. 54. 2Cor. viii. 15. RuleII. Changing the letters, as Aonehy ^l. Paul, Rom. ix. 33. 1 Cor. ix. 9, &c. Heb. viii. 9, &c. Heb. x. 5. Rule III. Changing both letters and vowel points, as he sup- poses is done by rit. Pa««, Acts xiii. 40,41. 2 Cor. viii. 15. Rule IV. Adding some letters, and retrenching others. Rule V. Transposing words and letters. Rule VI. Dividing one word into two. Rule VII. Adding other words, to make the sense more clear. Rule VIII. Changing the original order of the words. Rule IX. Changing the original order, and adding other words. Rule X. Changing the original order, and add- ing and retrenching words, which he maintains is a method often used by St. Paul. I,et it be observed, that although all these rules are used by the rabbins, yet, as far as they are employed by the sacred writers of the J\'ew Testament, they never, in any case, con- trydict what they quote from the Old, which cannot be said of the rabbins : they only explain what they quote, or accommo- date the passage to the facts then in question. And who will venture to say, tluit the Holy Spirit has not a right, in anysub- spqent period, to explain and illustrate his own meaning, by showing that it had a greater extension in the Divine mind, than could have been then perceived by men 7 And has He. not a right to add to what he has formerly said, if it seem right in his own sight f Is not the whole of the New Testament an addition to the Old, as the Apostolic Epistles are to the Nar- ratire of our Lord's Life and Acts, as given by the evangelists? Gusset, Wolf, Rosenmuller, and others, give/owr rules ; ac- cording to which, the phrase, that it might be fulfilled, maybe applied in the New Testament. Rule I. When the thing pre- dicted, is literally accomplished. Rule II. When that is done, of which the Scripture has spoken, not in a literal sense, but in a spiritual sense. Rule III. When a thing is done neither in a literal nor spiritual sense, according to the fact referred to in the Scripture ; but is similar to that fact. Rule IV. When that which has been mentioned in the Old Testament as for- merly done, is accomplished in a larger or more extensive sense in the New Testament. St. Matthew seems to quote according to all these rules ; and it will be useful to the reader, to keep them constantly in view. I may add here, that the writers of the New Testament seem often to differ from those of the Old, because they appear uni- formly to quote from some copy of the Septuagint version ; to preach and to baptize. and most of their quotations agree verbally, and often even literally, with 07te or other of the copies of that version wliicl subsist to the present day. Want of attention to the difference of copies in the Septuagint version, has led some divines and critics into strange and even ridiculous mistakes, as they liavo taken that for the Septuagint, which existed in the printed copy before them j which sometimes happened not to be the most correct. On the birthplace of our Lord, a pious and sensible man has made the following observations : "At first sight, it seems of little consequence to know the place of Christ's nativity ; for we should consider him as our Redeemer, whatever the circumstances might be which at- tended his mortal life. But, seeing it has pleased God to on- nounce, beforehand, the place where the Saviour of the world should be born, it became necessary that it should happen pre- cisely in that place; and that this should be on6 of the charac- teristics whereby Jesus Christ should be known to be the true Messiah. "It is also matter of small importance to us, where we may live, provided we find genuine nappiness. There is no place on earth, however poor and despicable, but may have belter and more happy inhabitants than many of those are, who dwell in the largest and most celebrated cities. Do we know a single place on the whole globe where the works of God do not ap- pear under a thousand different forms, and where a person may not feel that blessed satisfaction which arises from a holy and Christian lifel For an individual, that place is preferable to all others, where he can get and do most good. For a num- ber of people, that place is best where they can find the great- est number of wise and pious men. Every nation declines, in proportion as virtue and religion lose their influence on the minds of the inhabitants. The place where a young man first beheld the dawn, and the beauty of renewed nature, and with most lively sensations of joy and gratitude adored his God with all the veneration and love his heart was capable of ; the place where a virtuous couple first met, and got acquainted ; or where two friends gave each other the noblest proofs of their most tender affection ; the village where one may have given or seen, the most remarkable example of goodness, uprightness, and patience : such places, I say, must be dear to their hearts. "Bethlehem was, according to this rule, notwithstanding its smallness, a most venerable place ; seeing, that there, so many pious people had their abode; and that acts of peculiar piety had often been performed in it. First, the patriarch Jacob stopped some time in it, to erect a monument to his well-be- loved Rachel. It was at Bethlehem that honest Naomi, and her modest daughter-in-law Ruth, gave such proofs of their faith and holiness ; and in it Boaz, the generous benefactor, had his abode and his possessions. At Bethlehem the humble Jesse sojourned, the happy father of so many sons ; the young- est of whom rose from the pastoral life to the throne of Israel. It was in this country that David formed the resolution of building a house for the Lord, and in which he showed him- self the true shepherd and father of his subjects, when, at the sight of the destroying angel, whose sword spread consterna- tion and death on all hands, ne made intercession for his peo- ple. It was in Bethlehem that Zerubbabel the prince was bom, this descendant of David, who was the type of that Ruler and Shepherd, under whose empire IsraeJ is one day to assemble, in order »o enjoy uninterrupted happiness. Lastly, in this city the Son of God appeared ; who, by nis birth, laid the founda- tion of that salvation, which, as Redeemer, he was to purchase by his death for the whole world. Thus, in places which, from their fimallness, are entitled to little notice, men sometimes spring, who become the benefactors of the human race. Often, an inconsiderable village has given birth to a man, who, by his wisdom, uprightness, and heroism, has been a blessing to whole kingdoms." Sturm's Reflections, translated by A. C. v. 4. CHAPTER III. John the Baptist begins to preach, 1. The subject of his preaching, 2, 3. Description of his clothing and food, 4. The success of his ministry, 5, 6. His exhortation to the Pharisees, 7—9. He denounces the judgments of God against ike impenitent, 10. The design ofhis baptism, and that of Christ, 11, 12. Hebaptizes Christ in Jordan, Yi—\5; who is attested to be the Messiah by the Holy Spirit, and a voice from heaven, 16, 17. [A. M. 4030. A. D. 26. An. Olymp. CCL 2.] 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esalas, say- ing, * The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ' Prepare ye the Way of the Lord, make his paths straight. byt IN those days came " John the Baptist, preaching >> in the wilderness of Judea, 2 Andsaying, Repent ye: for 'the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ft Murk L 4,15. Luke 3.2,3. John 1.S9.— b Josh. 14. 10.— c Diin.2. 44. Ch.4.1?.&. 10.7. NOTES.— Verse 1. John the Baptist.] John, sumamed the Baptist, because he required those to be baptized, who profess- ed to be contrite because of their sins, was the son of a priest named Zacharias, and his wife Elizabeth, and was born about A. M. 3999, and about six months before our blessed Lord. Of his almost miraculous conception and birth, we ha.ve a cir- cumstantial account in the Gospel of Luke, ch. i. to which, and the notes there, the reader is requested to refer. For his fidelity in reproving Herod for his incest with his brother Philip's wife, he was cast into prison, no doubt at the suggestion of Herodias, the profligate woman in question. He was at last beheaded at her instigation, and his head given as a present to Salome, her daughter, who, by her elegant dancing, had highly gratified Herod, the paramour of her incestuous mother. His ministry was short : for he appears to have been put to death in the S27th or 28tti year of the Chrietian era. 16 dlsa.40.3. Mirk 1.3. Luke 3. 4. John I. 23.— e Luke 1. 76. Came — preaching.] Kripvcabtv, proclaiming as a herald, a matter of great and solemn importance to men ; the subject not his own, nor of himself; but from that God from whom alone he had received his commission. See on the nature and importance of the herald's office, at the end of this chapter. Kvpvacrciv, says Rosenmuller, de iis dieitur, qui in platbis, in cAMPis, in aere aperto, ut a multis auaiantur, vocem tollunt, &c. "The verb Kripvaactv is applied to those, who, in the streets, fields, and open air, lift up their voice, that they may be heard by many, and proclaim what has been commit- ted to them by regal or public authority ; as the kerukbs among the Greeks, and the precones among the Romans." The wilderness of Judea.] That is, the country parts, as dis- tinguished from the city ; for in this sense the word wilderness, ">aiD midbar, or ni'>"^3"iD midbarioth, is used among the rab- bins. Jolm's manner of life gives no countenance to the Ere- llic prQ)i}tt>'-y ronccrning John 4 And * the sainrt Jolin *> had his raiiuont ol eanirl's hair, and a leiithern girdle abuut his loins; and liis uicat was 'locusts and "* wild lioney. B M«ck I. 6.— b2 Kinss I. 8. Zcrh. 13. 4.-e l.fv.U.'S. ST. MATTHEW. tilt BaplLl—h'u inanncr ofVfe. 5 11 'Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and a.V the region round aljout Jordan, 6 f And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sin9 d 1 Sam. H. 25,06.— e Mark 1.5. Luke 3. 7.— f Aria 13. I, 18, mile or hermit's life, so strongly recommended and applauded by the Roman church. 2. Repent] M£rai>i)£ir£. This was the w«?/pr of the preach- ing. The verb iicravneio, is either compounded of f/trn, after, and vociv, to underflntid, which signilies, that after liearing such preaclting, the sinner iR led to understand, that the way he has walked in was the way of misery, deatli, and hell. Or the word may be derived fiom ;itru, after, and avuia, madness, which intimates, tliat the whole life of a sinner is no oilier than a continued course of imtdneSi nnA folly : and if to live in a constant opposition to all tlie dictates of true wisdom; tn wage war Willi his'own best interests in time and eternity; to provoke and insult the Living fJod ; and, by habitual sin, to prepare himself only for a state of misery, be evidences of in- .•taiiitt/, every sinner exhibits them plentifully. It was from tliis notion of the word, that the Latins termed repentance re- aipisceiilia, a growing tcise again, from re and sapere ; or, according to TertuUian, Resipiscentia quasi receptio mentis ad se, restoring the mind to itself: Contra ISlarcion, lib. ii. Repentance then implies, that a measure of divine ttisdom is comiMunicated to the sinner, and that he thereby becomes jcise to salvation. Tliat his mind, j)nrposes; opinions, and inclina- tions, arc changed; and that, in consequence, there is a total change in his conduct. It need scarcely be remarked, that, in this state, a man feels deep anguish of soul, because he has sinned .igainst Ood, unfitted himself for heaven, and exposed his soul to hell. Hence, a true penitent has that sorrow, wnere- by he fors.ikes sin, not only because it has been ruinous to his own soul, hut because it has been otl'ensive to God. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.] Referring to the pro- phecy of Daniel, ch. vii. 13, 11, where the reign of Christ among men is expressly firetold. This phrase, and the kingdom of Ood, mean the same thing, viz. the dispensation of infinite merey, and manifestation of eternal truth, by Christ Je.sus : pniduciiig the true knowledge of God, accompanied with that worship which is pure and holy, wortliy of that God who is its itistitntor and its object. But why is this called a kingdom ? Hecause it has its laics, all the moral precepts of the Gospel : its su/ijfcts, all who believe in Christ .tesus : and its king, the J*<»verergn of heaven and earth. N. B. Jesus Christ never saved a soul which he did not govern; nor is this Christ precious or estimable to any man who does not feel a spirit of subjec- tion to the Divine will. But wliy is it called the kingdom o/" heaven'! Because God d'>sigui'd that his kingdom of grace here, should resemble the kingdiiiii of glory alinve. And hence our Lord teaches us to pray, Tliy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. The king- dom (f heaven is not meat and drink, says St. Paul, Rom. xiv. 17. does not ccmsist in the gratilication of sensual passions, or ■R'orldlv ambition : hut is rig)i1eousness, peace, and joy, in the Ifoly Ohost. Now what can there be more than this in glory 1 Righteousness, without mixture of sin ; peace, without strife, Ol- contention ; joy in the Holy Ghost, spiritual joy, without mixture of miseri/ .' And all this, it is possible, by the grace of Ihe I.ord Jesus t^liri.st, to enjoy here below. How then does heaven itself differ from ttiis state ■? Answer. It makes the riuliteousness eternal, the peace eternal, and the joy eternal. This is the heaven of heavens ! The phrase, kingdom of hea- ven, DTiiy n'>3'?0 maktith shamayim, is frequently used by the rabbinical writers, and always means, the purity of the Divine worship, and the blessedness which a righteous man feels when employed in it. It is further added. This kingdom is ai hand. The dispen- sation of the glorious Gospel was now about to be fully opened, nnd the Jews were to have the first otTers of salvation. This kingdom is also at hand to us, and wherever Christ crucified is preached, there is salvation to be found. JK~*US is pro- claimed to thee, O man ! as infinitely able and willing to save. Believe in his name — cast thy soul upon his atonement, and enter into rest ! 3. 77(1° voice of one crying in the trildemess.'] Or, A voice of a crier in the wilderness. This is quoted from Isa. xl. 3. which clearly proves, that John the Baptist was the person of whom the prophet spoke. The idea is taken from the practice of eastern monarchs, who, Avhenever they entered upon an expedition, or took a journey through a desert country, sent Aar/^irtf-cra before them, to prepare all things for their passage ; and pioneers to open the pa-tses, to level the ways, and to remove all impediments. Theollicers appointed to superintend such preparations, were called by the Latins, stratores. DiodorusKt account of the march of Se/niramis into Media and Persia will give ns a clear notion of the preparation of the way for a royal expedilion. " In her march to Ecbatane, she came to the Zarcean mountain, which extendina many furlongs, and being full o{ craggy precipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without making a great compass about. Being, therefore, desirous of leaving an everlasting memorial of hei-self, as well as shortening the way, she ordered the pre- cipices to he digged down, and Ihe hnlloips to he tilled up : and, at a great expense, she made a shorter and more expeditious roiid, which, to this day. Is called fro.n her, The Road nf Scmi- ramis. Afterward she went jrito Persia, and all the other countries of Asia, subject to her dominion ; and wherever slie went, she ordered the mountains and precipices to be levelled, raised causeways in the plain country, and, at a great expense, made the ways passable." Diod. Sic. lib. ii. and Bp. Loiclh. The Jewish church was that desert country, to which John was sent, to announce the coming of the Messiah. It was des- titute at that time of all religious cultivation, and of the spirit and practice of piety ; and .John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, by preaching the doctrine of repentance. The desert is therefore to be considered as afTording a proper em- blem of the rude state of the Jewish cliurch, wliich was tha true jcilderness meant by the prophet, and in which John was to prepare the way of the promised Messiah. The awful im- portance of the matter, and the vehemence of the manner of the Ba])tist's preaching, probably acquired him the character of the crier, \ioo)v. For the meaning of the word John, see the note on Mark i. 4* 4. His raiment of camel's hair.'\ A sort of coarse or rough covering, which, it appears, was common to the prophets, Zech. xiii. 4. In such a garment we find Elijah clothed, 2 Kgs. i. 8. And as John had been designed under the name of this prophet, Mai. iv. 5. whose spirit and qualifications he was to possess, Luke i. 17. he took the same habit, and lived in tho same stale of self-denial. His meat was locusts.] AKpiSe;. Avpif may either signify the insect called the locust, which makes still a part of the food in the land of Judca; or the top of a pl.ant. M.iny eminent com- mentatorsare of the latter opinion; but the firet is the most likely. The Saxon translator has ja'jivCapan, grasshoppers. Wild honey] Such as he got in the rocks and hollows of trees, and which abounded in Judea; see 1 Sain. xiv. 2G. It is most likely that the dried locusts, which are an article of food in Asiatic countries to the present day, were fried in the ho- ney, or compounded in some manner with it. The Gospel ac- cording to tlie Hebrews, as quoted by Epiphanius, seems to have taken a simil.ir view of the subject, as it adds liere to the le.xt, Ol) ij yevaii r\v tov fiavva, wj cyKoi; cv eXato). And its taste teas like manna, as a siceet cake baked in oil. 6. In Jordan.] Many of the best MSS. and versions, with Mark i. 5. add -nuTauoj, the river Jordan ; but Ihe definitive ar- ticle, with which the word is generally accompanied, both iit the Ilebrcw and the Greek, is sufficient; and our article the, which should ever be used in the translation, expresses tho force of the other. 6. Were baptized.] In what form baptism was originally ad- ministered, has been deemed a subject worthy of serious dis- pute. Were the people dipped or sprinkled! for it is certain [iairroi and PaTTTt^oy mean both. They were all dipped, say some. Can any man suppose, that it was possible for Jolin to dip all tlie inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea, and of all the country round about the Jordan 1 Were both men and women dipped, for certainly both came to his baptism'? This could never have comported either with safety or with decency. Were they dipped in their clothes'! This would have endan- gered their lives, if they had not with them c/mw^-e of raiment : and as such a baptism as .John's (however administered) was, in several respects, a nexo thing in Judea, it is not at all likely that the people would come thus provided. But supix>se theoe were dipped, which I think it would be impossible to prove, does it follow, that in all regions of the world, men and women must be dipped, in order to be evangelically baptized ? In thij eastern countries, bathings were frequent, because of the heat of the climate, it being there so necessary to cleanliness ami health; but could our climate, or a more iiortherly one, admit of this with safety, for at least three fourths of the year? We may rest assured that it could not. And may we not presume, that if John had opened his commission in the north of Great Britain, for many months of the year, he would have dipped neither man nor woman, unless lie could have procured a te- pid bath 7 Those wlio are dipped or immersed in water in the name of the Holy Trinity, I believe to be evangelically bap- tized. Those who are washed or sprinkled with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I believe to be equally so : and the repetition of such ii baptism I believe to be profane. Othei-s have a right to believe tin; contrary, if they see good. After all, it is tlie t/ting signified, and not the mode, which is the essential part of the sacrament. See tho note on Mark x. 16. Confessing their sins.] E^onoXoyovntvot, earnestly acknow- ledging that their sins icere their own. And thus taking the whole blame upon themselves, and laying nothing to tho charge of God or man. This is essential to true repentance i and till a man take the lehole blame on himself he cannot fer.t the absolute need he has of casting his soul on tlie mercy of Gotl, that he may be saved. 7. Pharisees.] .\ vei-y inimeroug sect among the Jews, who, in their origin, were, vei-y probably, a pure and holy people. It is likely that thev got the name of Pharisees, i. e. Separa- tists, (from tp-i£ pliarush, to separate.) from their scp.ir^. ling theuiselvcB from the pollution of the Jewish iiraioqal wor.ship, dtul hence, llv: w-id in Ihe .\ng!o.Fa.\on VL»-sion it pi'.ibC'VW 17 Johnpreachet CHAPTER lit. 1 1 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadtlucees come to his baptism, he said unto them, * 0 generation of vi- pers, Who hath warned you to flee from bthe wrath to come 1 8 Bring forth therefore fruits ' meet for repentance : 9 And think not to say within yourselves, ^ We have Abra- ham to our father : for I say unto you, that God is able of these ■tones to raise up children unto Abraham. K Ch. 12. 34. fc 23. a3. Luke 3. 7, 8, 9.— b Rom. 5 9. 1 The3«. 1. 10 — c Or, Rii- •w.r»bl« 10 aircndinent of life.— d John 8. 33, 39. Acts 13. 3u. Rom. 4. 1, 11, 10. to the people. haljan, holt/ persons who stand apart, or by tliemselves : but, in process of time, like all religious sects and parties, they degenerated; they lost the spirit of their institution, they ceased to recur to first principles, and had only the forrn o{ godliness, when Jesus Christ preached in Judea ; for he bore witness that they did make the outside of the cup and platter clean— they observed the rules of their institution, but the spirit was gone. Sadducees.] A sect who denied the existence of angels and spirits, consequently all divine influence and iyispiration, and also the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees of that time were the Materialists and Deists of the Jewish nation. When the sect of the Pharisees arose cannot be distinctly ascertained ; but it is supposed to have been some time after the Babylonish captivity. The sect of the Sadducees were the followers of one Sadok, a disciple of Anligonus Socheeus, who flourished about three centuries before Christ. There was a third sect among the Jews, called the Essenes or Essenians, of whom I shall liave occasion to speak on chap. xix. 12. Come to his baptism.] The Ethiopic version adds the word privately here, the translator probably having read Xadpa in nis copy, which gives a very remarkable turn to the passage. The multitudes who had no worldly interest to support, no character to maintain by living in their usual way, came pub- licit/, and openly acknowledged that they were sinners ; and stood in need of mercy. The others, who endeavoured to se- cure their worldly interests by making a fair show in the flesh, are supposed to have come privately, that they might not be cxposea to reproach; and that they might not lose their repu- tation for teisdom and sanctity, which their consciences, un- der the preaching of the Baptist, told them, they had no right to. See below. O generation of vipers.] VcvvrjijiaTa cxi^t"^"- A terribly ex- pressive speech. A serpentine brood from a serpentine stock. As their fathers were, so were they, children of the wicked one. This is God's estimate of a sinner, whether he ibade in wealth, or soar in fame. The Jews were the seed of the serpent, who should bruise the heel of the woman's seed, and whose head should be bruised by him. Who hath warned you.] Or, privately shown you. Tif mi- Stt\ev — from v/ro, under, and iti^Kvvvai, to show. Does not this seem to allude to the reading of the Ethiopic, noticed above'? They came privately : and John may be supposed to address them thus: "Did any person give you a private warning 7 No, you received your convictions under tlie public ministry of the word. The multitudes of the poor and wretched, who have been convinced of sin, have publicly acknowledged their crimes, and sought mercy — God will unmask you^you have deceived the people — you have deceived yourselves — you must appear just what you are ; and, if you expect mercy from Gad., act like the penitent multitude, and bring forth fruit worthy of repentance. Do not begin to trifle with your convic- tions, by thinking, that because you are descendants of Abra- liam, therefore you are entitled to God's favour ; God can, out of these stones, (pointing probably to those scattered about in the desert, which he appears to have considered as an emblem of the Gentiles,) raise up a faithful seed, who, though not na- tural descendants of your excellent patriarch, yet shall be his ■ftrorthy children, as being partakers of his faith, and friends of his God." It should be added that the Greek word also sig- nifles plain or ample information. See on Luke vi. 47. The wrath to come 7] The desolation which was about to fall on the Jewish nation for their wickedness, and threatened in the last words of their own Scriptures. See Mai. iv. 6. Lest I come and smite the earth (V^Nn nK et ha-arels, this very land) with a curse. This wrath or curse was coming : they did not prevent it by turning to God, and receiving the Messiah, and therefore the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost. Let him that readeth understand. 10. And now also the axe is laid.] Or, Even note the axe lieth. As if he had said. There is not a moment to spare— God is about to cut off" every impenitent soul^you must therefore either turn toGodimmediatehj, or be utterly and linally ruined. It was customary with the prophets to represent the kingdoms, nations, and individuals, whose ruin they predicted, under the notion oi forests and frees, doomed to be cut down. See Jcr. xlvl. 22, 23. Ezek. xxxi. 3, 11, 12. The Baptist follows the same metaphor : the Jewish nation is the tree, and the Ro- mans, the axe, which, by tlie just judgment of God, was speedily to cut it down. It has been well observed, that there is an allusion here to a woodman, who, having marked a tree for excision, lays his axe at its root, and strips ofl' his outer garment, that he may wield his blows more powerfully ; and that his work may be quickly performed. For about sixty years before the coming of Christ, this axe had been lying at the root of the Jewish tree ; .ludca having been made a pro- vince to the Roman empire, from the time that Poinpey took fh« city of Jerusalem, during tho contentions of the two hro- 18 10 And n(jw also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: • therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn doWn, and cast into the lire. 11 fl indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that Cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : ^ he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: thers Hyrcanus and Aristohulus, which was about sixty-three years before the coming of Christ. See Joseph. Antiq. 1. xiv. c. 1 — 5. But as the country might be still considered as in the hands of the Jews, though sul)ject to the Romans, and God had waited on them now, nearly ninety years from the above time, expecting them to bring forth fruit, and none was yet produced; but he kept the Romans, cis an axe lying at the root of this tree, who were ready to cut it down the moment God gave them the commission. 11. But he that Cometh after me.] Or, Is coming after me who is now on his way, and will shortly make his appear- ance. Jesus Christ began his ministry when he was thirty years of age, Luke iii. 23. which was the age appointed by the Law, Numb. iv. 3. John the Baptist was born about six months before Christ, and as he began his public ministry when thirty years of age, then this coming after refers to six months after the commencement of John's public preaching, at whicli time Christ entered upon his. Whose shoes lam not zeorthy to bear.] This saying is expres- sive of the most profound humility jind reverence. To put on, take off, and carry ike shoes of their masters, was not only among the Jews, but also among the Greeks and Rmnans, the work of the vilest slaves. This is amply proved by Kypke, from Arrian, Plutarch, and the Babylonian Talmud. With the Holy Ghost, and tcith fire.] That the infl\iences of the Spirit of God, are here designed, needs but little proof. Christ's religion was to be a spiritual religion, and was to have its seat in the heart. Outward precepts, however well Diey miglit describe, could not produce inward spirituality. I'his was the pi-ovince of the Spirit of God, and of it alone ; there, fore he is represented here under the similitude of fire, be- cause he was to illuminate and invigorate tlie soul, penetrate every part, and assimilate the whole to the image of the God of glory. See on John iii. 5. With^re : — Kai irupi. This is wanting in E. S. (two MSS. one of the nintli, the other of the tenth century,) eiglit others, and many evangelistaria, and in some versions and printed editions ; but it is found in the parallel place, Luke iii. 16, ant) in the most authentic MSS. and versions. It was probably the different interpretations given of it by the Fathers, that caused some transcribers to leave it out of their copies. The baptis?n of fire has been dilTerently understood among the primitive Fathers. Some say, it means the tribulations, crosses, and afflictions, which believers in Christ are called to pass through. Hence the author of the Opus Imperfeclum, on Matthew, says, tliat there are three sorts of baptism, 1. That of water ; 2. That of the Holy Ghost ; and, 3. That of tribulations and afflictions, represented under tlie notion of fire. He observes furtlier, that our blessed Lord went through these three baptisms ; 1. That of icater, he received from tlir hands of John. 2. That of the Holy Spirit, he received from the Father. And, 3. That of fire he had in his contest with Satan in the desert. St. Chrysoslom says, it means the super- abundant graces ni the Spirit. Basil and Theophilus explain it of the^re of hell. Cyril, Jerome, and others, understand by it the descent of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost. Hilary says, it means a fire that the righteous must pass through in the day of judgment, to purify them from such de- filements as necessarily cleaved to them liere, and with which they could not be admitted into glory. Ambrose says, this baptism shall be administered at the gate of Paradise, by John Baptist ; and he thinks, that this is what is meant by the flaming sword, Gen. iii. 24. Origen and Laetantius conceive it to be a river of fire, at the gate of heaven, something similar to the Phlegethon of the heathens : but they observe, that when the righteous come to pass over, the liquid flames shall divide, and give them a free passage : that Christ shall stand on the brink of it, and receive through the flames all those and none but those, who have received in this world the baptism of icater in his name ; and that this baptism is for those who, having received the faith of Christ, have not, in every respect, lived conformably to it ; for though they laid the good foundation, yet they built hay, straw, and stubble upon it, and this work of theirs must be tried, and destroyed by this fire. This, they think, is St. Paul's meaning, 1 Cor. iii. 13 — 15. If any man buiid on this foun- dation, (yi?,. Jesus Christ,) ^(iW, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble ; every man's work shall be made manifest : — and the fire shall try every man's work^ of what sort it is. — If any man's inork be burnt, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be .saved ,• yet so, as by fire. From this fire, understood in this way, the Fathers of the following ages, and the school* men, formed the famoup and lucrative doctrine of purgatory. Some in the primitive church thought that fire sliould be, in some way or other, joined to the water in baptism ; and it is supposed, that they administered it by causing the persons to pass between two fires, or to leap through the flame ; or, by having a torch or lighted candle present. Thus have those Jesus is baptized CHAPTER III. by John in Jordan. 12 * Whose fan is in liis hand, and he will tliroughly pui-ge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will "bum up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 13 T " Tlien cometh Jesus <• from Galilee to Jordan unto Joliii, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me 1 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : called Doctors of the Cliiirck, trifled. The exposition wliich I have given, I believe to be the only genuine one. 12. Whose fan is i?i his hand.] The Kouians are here termed God's /"«n, a.s in ver. 10. Iliey were called his axe, and in chap, xxii, 7. they are termed his troops or armies. fSsjffoor.] Does not this moan the Uinil ofJudea, which had oeen long, as it were, the threshixg-floor of tlie Lord 1 God says, he will now, by the winnowing fan (viz. the Romans) througlity cleanse this floor — the icheat, those who believe in the l.,ord .lesii.s, he wiH gather into his garner, either take to heaven from the evil to come, or put in a place of safety, as he did ihe Cliristians, by sending them to PelLa in Cmtosyiia, previously to the destrnctinn of Jerusalem. But he will hum lip Ihe chnff—tiui disobeillent and rebellious Jews, who would not come unto Christ thnt they might liave life. Unijiienchable fire.\ That cannot be extinguished by man. 14. John forbad. hiin.\ Earnestly and pressingly opposed ttim- this is the proper import of the words ftitKw'Kcviv avruv. I have observed that (li«, in composition, moslfrcijuent!;/, if not tthrai/.t. strengthens the signification in classic authors. — Wa/i This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. M>rk 1. 11. Luk<9. 3S. £ph. I. 6. there can be no dispute. 1. The person of Jtstts Christ, bap- tized by John in Jordan. 2. Tltc person of the Holy Ghost in a/)orfi7(/s/inpe((7a)f3N abrek, which our translators, following the Vulgate, have rendered, Bow the knee ; but which the Sep- tuagint uiiderstoo50.)and delivered the sceptre into their hands, before they began their harangue. Uv 6'apa Kripv^ %cp(ji (TKrjTTTpov cdriKC (Ttoiniirat r' cKcXevirev. Iliad, xxiii. 507. 5. They were the carriers and executors of the royal conniiands, (Iliad, i. 320.) and went in search of tliose who were s>nnmoii- ed to appear, or whose presence was desired. 6. They were entrusted with the most important missions; and accompanied princes in the most difficult circumstances. Priam, wlien he went to Achilles, t»)ok no person besides a herald with him. (Iliad, xxiv. 674, 689.) Wnen Ulysses sent two of his com- panions to treat with the Leslrygons, he gent a herald at llie same time. (Odys. x. 102.) Agamemnon, when he wished to soften Achilles, joined Eurybates and Hodius, his heralds, to the deputation of the princes. (Iliad, ix. 170.) 7. Iienihts were employed to proclaim and pufilish whatever was to be known by the people. (Odys. xx. 276.) 8. They declared war and proclaimed peace. (Odys. xviii. 334.) 9. They took part in all sacred ceremonies : tliey mingled the wine and wa- ter in the large bowls for the libations, which were made at the conclusion of treaties. Tliey were the priests of the people in many cases; they led forth the victims, cut them in pieces, and divided them among those engaged in the sacrifi- ces. (Odys. i. 109, &c.) 10. In Odys. lib. xvii. a herald pre- sents a piece of Jlesh to Telemachus, and poui-s out his wine. 11. They sometimes waited on princes at table, and renden>il them many other personal services. (Iliad, ii. 280. Odvs. i. 1-13, &c. 1 16, 153. ii. 6, 38.) In the Iliad, lib. x. 3. Evrybates car- ries the clothes to Ulysses. And a herald of Alciiiuus conducts Demodocus, the singer, into the festive hall. (Odys. viii. 470.) Many others of tlieir functions, services, and privileges, the reader may see, by consulting Vamm's Homeric Lexicon, under K/iw. CHAPTER IV, Jesus, in the wilderness, is ieinpied by Satan, 1 — 11. lie goes info Galilee, 12; and Coper7taum, 13. The prophecy which was thus fulfilled, Ii — 16. He begins to preach publicly, 17. Calls Simon Peter, and his brother Andrew, 18 — 20. Calls also James and Jolin, the sons of Zebedee, 21, 22. Preaches and works miracles throughout Galilee, 23. Becomes famous in Si/ria, and is followed by multitudes from various quarters, among whom he works a great variety of miracles, 24, 25. .. [A. Si. 4031. A. Ii. 27. An. Olymp. CCI. 3.] THEN was * Jesus led up of t> the Spirit into the wilder- ness, to be tempted of the devil. 2 .^nd when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an himgered. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said. If thou be the Bon of God, command that these stones be made bread. 8. IS. Eick. 3. 14. & 8. 3. to NOTE.S. — Verse 1. Then icas Jesus led up of the Spirit.] This transaction appeal's to have taken place inunediately afler C'hrinfs baptism ; and this bringing up of Clu-ist was tlirough the inlluence of the Spirit of (5od ; that Spirit which Jiail rested upon him in his baptism. '/'o be leitipted.] The first act of the ministi-y of Jrsus Christ, was a coiobat witli Satan. Docs not this receive liglu fi-om Gen. Si I. 17. I leill put enmiity between the wotnan's seed and thy seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou slialt bruise his heel. 2. And when he had fasted forty days.] It is remarkable tlint J>Toses, the great lawgiver of the Jews, previously tolas receiv- ing the law from God, fasted forty days in the mount : that Elijah, the chief of the propliets, fasted also forty days : and that Christ, the giver of the new covenant, should act in the same way. Was not all this hitended to show, that God's king- dom on earth, was to be spiritual and divine l that it should -not consist in meat and drink, .but in riglUeousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost 1 Rom. xiv. 17. Relative to tlie forty days fast of Moses, there is a beautiful saying in the Talmu- disls. " Is it possible that any man can fast forty days and forty nights? To which Rabbi Meir answered. When thou lakt'st up thy abode in any particular city, thou must live ac- cording to its customs. I\Ioscs ascended to heaven, where they neitlier eat nor drink, therefore he became iissimilated 4.0 tliem. We are accustonusd to eat and drink, and when an- gels descend to us, they eat and drink also." Moses, Elijah, and nnr blessed Lord, could fust forty days and forty nights, becau-se they were in communion with God, and living a heavenly life. 3. And iohe7i the tempter.] This onset of Satan was made (jspeaking after the manner of men) judiciously : he came wlieii J.'sus, aflor having fasted forty days and forty nights, 'iii> iiuugi-y : now as hunger naturally duninishcs the strciiljib 520 4 But he answered and said, It is written, ' Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that procecdeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Tlien the devil taketh him up d into the holy city, and set- teth him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou he the Son of God, cast thyself 43. 2. & 52. I. Ch.a?. S3. Kev. 11. 2. Don. of the body, the mind gets enfeebled, and becomes easily irri- tated : and if much ipatcldng and prayer be not employed, the vmeasiness which Ls occasioned by a lack of food, may soon produce impatience, SinA in this state of mind the temjiter has great advantages. Thefollowingadviceof an .\rabianpiiilo- sophertohisson is wortliy of attention. ''Myson, neveigoont of the house in the morning, till thou hast eaten something: hy so doing, thy mind will be more firm ; and shouldest thou be insulted by any pereon, thou wilt (ind thyself more disposed to suffer patiently : for hunger drieB up, and disorders the brain." Bibliot. Orient. Suppl. p. 449. Ihe state of our bodily health and worldly circumstances, may afford our adversary many opportunities of doing us immense mischief. In such cases, the sin to which we are tempted, may bo justiv termed, as in Heb. xii. 1. rriv cvncpitrTaTOv af-iapriav, the well circum- stanced sin, because all the circumstances of time, p>lace, and state of body nmlmind, are favourable to it. If thou be the Son of God.] Or, a son of God, viof tov Qcov. Tios is here, and in Luke iv. 3. written without the article ; and tlierefore should U( ■ be translated the Son, as if it were h vios, which is a phnuse that isapplicable to Christ as the Mes- siah : but it is certain, whatever Satan might suspect, he did not fully kfioie that the person he tempted was the true Mes- siah. Perhaps one grand object of liis temptation was to find this out. Command that these stoves.] The meaning of this tempta- tion is: "Distrust the Divine providence and support, and make use of illicit means to supply thy necessities." 4. But by (or, upon, mt) every word.] ¥r\ita, in Greek, an- swers to 131 dahar in Hebrew, wtiich means not only a irord spoken, but also thing, purpose, appointment, &c. Our l.ord's meaning seems to be tliis : (;od purposes the welfare of his creatures — all his appointments arc calculated to promote this The devil continues CHAPTER IV. his fcynptaf!on)>. Jown : for it is written, " lit- sliull yivc his angc-Ks charge cou- ci'i-uing tlK-e : and in t/ieir li;iiids they shall btur thee up, lest at any "time thou dasli thy foot unainst a sIoiip. 7 jfsus said unto him, It is written again, bThou shall not tempt tlie Lord lliy CJod. 8 Again, the devil takcth him up into an exceeding hijh mountain, and showeth him all tlic kingdoms of the world, and the gUiry of tliem ; 9 And saith unto lum, All these things will I give thee, iftiiou V'ilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him. Get thee hence, Satan : for it al>s:i.91. 11, li-b Deu. 6, IC.-c Deu. C. 13.& 10. SO. .lo=h. 24, 14. 1 Sum. 7. 3. is written, ' Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only Shalt thou serve. 11 Then tlie devil leaveth him, and, behold, "i angels came and ministered unto him. 12 H ' Now when .lesus had heard that John was f cast into prison, he departed into Cahlee ; 13 And leaving Nazareth, he can - ind dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea-coast, in tlie borders of Zabulon and Nephthaliin : 11 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, dHch. I. 14.-eMurkl. 14. l,ukc 3. Hi). & 4. 14, 31. .Inlin 4. 43.— f Or, df livMcd up. end. iriome of them may appear toman to have a contrary ten- dency; but even/aKihigilavU, when used inconsequence of a divine injunction, becomes a mean of supporting that lile which it seems naturally calculated to impair or desti'oy. 5 Pinnacle of the temple.] It is very likely that this was what waiJ called the ariia liaaiXiKn, the king's gallery ; which, as Josephus says, "deserves to be mentioned among the most m.-ignificent things under the sun : for upon a stupendous di^p^th of a valley, scarcely to be fathomed by tlie eye of him that stands above, Ilerod erected a gallery of a vast height, from the top of which, if any looked down, he would grow dizzv, his eyes not being able to reach so vast a depth." — Ani'.X. XV. c. 14. Hee Dr. Liglitfoot ou this place. 6. Cast thyself doicn.] Our Lord had repelled the first temp- tation by an act of conlideiice in the power and goodness of Cod ; aiid now Satan solicits hiin to make a trial of it. Through the unparalleled subtlety of Satan, the very means we make use of to repel one temiitation, may be used by him as the ground w'ork of another. This method he often uses, in order to confound us in our confidence. He shall give his angels charge, &c.] This is amiililnted quotation of Psa. xci. 11. The clause, to keep thee in all thy trails, Satan chose to leave out, as quite unsuitable to his design. That Gud has promised to protect and support his servants, admits of no dispute; but as the path oi duty is the way of safely, they are entitled to no good, when they walk out of it. In their hands they shall bear thee up.] This quotation from Psa. xci. 11. Is a metaphor taken from a nurse's management of her child : in teacViing it to walk, she guides it aiong plain ground ; but wlien stones or obstacles occur, she lifts up the child, and carries it over them, and then sots it down to walk again. Thus she keeps it in all its ways, watching over, and guarding every step it tiikes. To this "St. Paul seems also to allude, 1 The.ss. ii. 7. TVe uere gentle among you, even as a -nurse cherishcth her children. Thus the most merciful God deals with the cliildren of men, ever guarding them by his eye, and defending them by his power. 7. Thou Shalt not tempt.] To e.\pose myself to any danger naturally destructive, with tlic vain presumption that God will protect and defend me from the ruinous consequences of my imprudent conduct, is to tempt Gud. 8. A)i c.rreeding high mounlui)i, and shoiccthhiin.] If the words, all the kingdoms of the world, be taken in a literal sense, then this must have been a visionary representation, as the highest mountain on the face of the globe could not suffice to make evident even one hemisphere of the earth, and the other must of necessity be in darkness. But if we take the trorld to mean only the land of Judea, and some of the siu-rounding nations, as it appears sometimes to signify, (see on Luke ii. 1.) then the mountain described by the Abbe Mariti (Travels through Cyprus, «S:c.) could have aHbrded the prospect in question. Speaking of it, he says, " Uecc wc enjoyed the most beautiful prospect imaginable. This part of the mountain overlooks the mountains of Ara- bia, the countn/ of Gilead, tlic country of the Ainorilcs, the j^lainsofAIoah, tlie plains of Jericho, the river Jordan, and the trhole extent of the Dead Sea. It was here that the devil said to the Son of'<-'od. All these kingdoms will I give thee, if thou iriltfall down and worship me." Probably St. Mattliew, in the Hebrew original, wrote yiNn haarets, which signifies ttie trorld, the earth, and often the land of Judea only. What renders this more probable, is, that at this time Judea was divided into several kingdoms, or governments, under the three sons of Ilerod the Great, viz. Arclielaus, Antipas, and Philip ; which are not only called elhnarchs, and tetrarclis, in the Gospels, but also [iaaiXui, kings, and are said fiaatXtvtip, to reign, as UoscumuUcr has properly remarked. See chap. ii. 22. xiv. 9. 9. If thou tcilt fall down and worship me.] As if he had said, "The whole of 'this land is now under my government, do me homage for it, and I will deliver it into thy hand." 10. Get thee hence.] Or hehind me, oTrio-w/tou. Tliis is added bv a multitude of the best MSS., Versions, and Fathers. This temptation, savouring of nothing but diabolic impu- dence, Jesus did not treat it as the others; but, with divine , authority, commanded the tempter to return to his own place. In the course of this trial, it .appeai-s that our blessed Lord was tempted, 1st, To distrust. Command these stones to he- come bread. 2dly, To PRE.snMPTioN. Cast thysef down, odly. To worldly ambition. All these will Igii^e. -if lily. To idolatry. Fall dotoi and worship me, or, do mc homage. There is pro- bably not a temptation of Satan, but is reducible to one or other of these four article.''. From the whole we may learn : I'irst, No man, howsoever holy, is exempted from temptation : for God manifested in the llesii, was tempted by the devil. Secondly, That the best way to foil the adversary is by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Eph. vi. 17. Thirdly, That to be tempted even to the greatest abominations, (while tlie person resi.'its,) is not sin : for (Jhrist was tempted to ii-orship the devil, ronnhly. That there is no temptation which is from its own nature, or favouring circuivislances, irresistible. God lias promised to bruise even Satan under our feet. As I wish to speak what I think most necessary on every subject when I first meet it, and once for all, 1 would observe, first, That tho fear of being tempted may become a most dnji- gerous snare. Secondly, That when God permits a temptation or trial to come, he will give grace to hear or overcome It. Thirdly, That our spiritual interests shall be always ailvanced, in proportion to our trials and faithful resistance. Fourthly, Th;it a more than ordinary measure of divine consolation shall be the consequence of every victory. 11. Behold, angels caine and ministered unto him.] That is, brought that food which w.as necessary to support nature. The name given to Satan in the third verse is very emphatic, 0 -Jipa^coi/, the tempter or trier, {romiretpo), to pierce I/trough. To this import of the name, there seems to be an allusion, Eph. vi. 16. Tlie fiery darts of the tricked one. This is the precise idea of the wonl in Deut. viii. 2. To huinhlc thee, and to vrorc thee, to know what was in thy heart : inD:^ liu- eS^'ca, ncipanr) ac, LXX. that he might bore thee through. The quality and goodness of many things are jiroved by piercing or boring l/iroiigh ; for this shows what is in tiie heart. Per- haps notiiing tends so much to discover trhat tec ar?, as trials either from men or devils. Shalt thou serve, or jiay religious veneration, >nr.ofi'irri?. This is Mr. Wakefield's translation, and I think cannot he mended. Aarpcta comes from Xa, very much, and rotto, I trem- ble. Wlien a sinner approaches the presence of God, conscious of HIS infinite holiness and justice, and of his own vileness, he willthenfuUy comprehend what this word means. See thi.* religious reverence exemplified in the case of Moses, when io the presence of God : I exceedingly fear, said he, and tremlile. Ileb. xii. 21. And yet this fear of God is the beginning of wis- dom. See the observations at the end of the chapter. 13. And leaving Nazareth.] Or, entirely leaving Nazareth, KaiKara^nroiv Tr]v Na^JiioEr, from Kara, intensire, and XtivM, I leave. It seems that, from this time, our blessed Lord made Capernaum his ordinary place of residence ; and utterly for- sook Nazareth, because they had wholly rejected his word, and even attempted to take away his life. See Luke iv. 29. Galilee was bounded by mount Lebanon on the north, by tlie river Jordan, and the sea of Galilee on the east, by Chison on the south, and by the Mediterranean on the west. Nazareth, a little city in the tribe of Znbulon in lower Gali- lee, with Tabor on ttie west, and Ptolcmais on the east. It is supposed that this city was the usual residence of our Lord, for the first thirty yeai-s of his life. It was here he became incarnate, lived in subjection to Joseph and Mary, and from which he took the name of a Nazorean. Capernauyn, a city famous in the New Testament, but never mentioned in the old. Probably it was one of those cities which the Jews built after their return from Ilabylon. It stood on the sea-coast of Galilee, on thebordei-s of Zab'ulou and Nephthaliin, as mentioned in the text. This W!is called his own city, ch. ix. 1, &c. and here, as a citizen, he paid the half shekel, chap. xvii. 21. Among the Jews, if a man became a resident in any city, for twelve months, he thereby became a citizen, and paid his proportion of dues and ta.xes. S«e Lightfoot. Capernaum is well known to have been the prin- cipal "scene of our Lord's miracles during the three years of his public ministry. Zabulon, the country of this tribe in which Nazareth and Capernaum were situated, bordered on the lake of Gennessa- reth, siretching to the frontiers of Sidon, Gen. xlix. 13. Neph- thalim was contiguous to it, and both were on the east side of Jordan, Josh. xix. 3-1. 15. Galilee of the Gentiles.] Or of the nations. Socalled, be- cause it was inhabited by Egyptians, Arabians, and Phxni- cians, according to the testimony ' of Strabo and others. The Hebrew D^iJ goyim, and the Greek cOvmv, signify na- tions ; and in the Old and New Testaments, mean those peo- ple who were not descendants of any of the txtelve tribes. The word Gentiles, from gens, a nation, signifies the same. It is worthy of remark, that it was a regular tradition among the ancient .lews, that the Messiah should begin his ministry in Galilee. See the prools in Schoeltgen. 10. The people tchisk sat in darkness.] This Is quoted from 21 He calls Peter, Andrew, Janipff, ST. MATTHEW. cm (I John, to be his disciples. l.'i*The land of Zabulnn, ami the land of Nephthalim, by the Way of the st»a, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 b The people which sat in darkness, saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. 1 7 II ■: From that time .Tesvis began to preach, and to say, <* Re- pent: for the kingdom of J eaven is at hand. 13 TI « And .lesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, .Simon f called Peter, and Andi-ew his brother, cast- ing a net into the sea : for they were fishers. . &. 10. 7 — Isa. i.\. 2. where in.'itead of silling, the prophet used tlie word walked. The evangelist might on purpose change the term, to point out tlie increased misery of the state of these persons. Sitting in darkness, expresses a greater degree of intellectual blindness, than ipalking in darkness does. In the time of ("hrisl's appearing, the people were in a much worse state than in the time of the prophet, which was nearly 700 years b.-fore ; as, during all this period, they were growing more ignorant and sinful. 77ie region and shadora of death.] These words are amaz- ingly descriptive. A region of death — death's cotmtry, where, in a peculiar manner. Death lived, reigned, and triumphed, subjecting all the people to his sway. ,'ihadow of death.] S/ciu Savarov, used only here and in l.uke i. 79. but often in the Old Covenant, wliere the Hebrew Is niO ^1 tsnl maveth. It is not easy to enter fully into the "deal moaning of this term. As in the former clause. Death IS personified, so here. A shadoio is that darkness cast upon a place by a body raised between it and the light or sun. Death Is here represented as standing between the land above- mentioned, and the Light of Life, or Su7i of Righteojisi,ess : in consequence of which, all the inhabitants were involved in B continual cloud of intellectual darkness, misery, and sin. The heavenly Stm was continually eclipsed to them, till this glorious time, when Jesus Christ, the true Light, shone forth in the beauty of holiness and truth. Christ began his minis- try in Galilee, and frequented this uncultivated place more than he did Jerusalem, and other parts of Judea : here his preaching was peculiarly needful; and by this was the pro- phecy fullllled. 17. Jesxis beganto preach, and to say, Repent] See on chap, iii. 1,2. Every preacher commissioned by God to proclaim salvation to a lost world, begins his work w-ith preaching the doctrine of repentance. This was the case with all the pro- phets, Jolin the Baptist, Jesus Christ, all the apostles, and all their genuine successors in the Christian ministry. The reasons are evident in the notes already referred to: and for the p.xplanatiori of the word Krtovuaeiv, preaching, or pro- claiming as a herald, see at the end of chap. iii. 18. Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother.] Why did not Jesus Christcall some of the eminentscn7)e.s or Pharisees, to publish his Gospel, and not poor iinlenrned fishermen, without credit or authority 1 Because it was the kingdom of heaven \.\\cy were to preach, and their teaching must come from above : besides, the conversion of sinners, though it bo etlected instrumentally by the preaching of the Gospel, yet the grand agent in it is the Spirit of God. As the instruments were comparatively mean, and the work which was accom- plished by them was grand and glorious, the excellency of the power at once appeared to be of God, and not of man ; and thus the glory, due alone to his name, was secured, and the great Operator of all good had the deserved praise. Se- minaries of learning, in the order of God's providence and grace, have great and important uses ; and in reference to such uses, they should be treated with great respect : but to make preachers of the Gospel is a matter to which they ai'e utterly inadequate : it is a prerogative that God never did, and never will, delegate to man. Where the seed of the kingdom of God is sowed, and a dispensation of the Gospel is committed to a man, a good education may be of great and general use : but it no more follows, because a man has had a good education, that therefore he is qualified to preach the Gospel, than it does, that because he has not had that, therefore he is unqualified : for there may be much ignorance of divine things where there is much human learning; and a man may be well taught in the things of God, and be able to teach others, who has not had the ad- vantages of a liberal education. Men-made ministers have almost ruined the heritage of God. To prevent this, our church requires that a man be inwardly mured to take upon himself tliis ministry, before he can be ordained to it. And he who cannot say that he tru.'its (has rational and scriptural conviction) that he is moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon himself this office, is an intruder into the heritage of God, and his ordination ipso faclo\'\iiMc<\. and of none eflect. See the truly apostolic Ordination ser- vice of the church of England. Fishers.] Persons employed in a lawful and profitable avo- cation, and faithfully discharging their duty in it. It was a tradition of the elders, that one of Joshua's ten precepts was, that all men shoidd have an equal right to spread their nets and fish in the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee. The persons men- tioned here, were doubtless men of pure morals ; for the mi- nister of God should have a good report from tiiem that are WitlKIUt. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and ^ I will make you fishers of men. 20 I' And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 ' And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, •lames the son of Zebcdee, and .John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets : and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 2-3 H And Jesus went about all Galilee, k teaching in their synagogues, and preaching 'the Gospel of the kingdom, "and 19. Folloipme.] Come after me, Sevre oiriaw pLov. Receive my doctrine, imitate me in my conduct — in every respect ba my disciples. We may observe, that most of the calls of God to man are expressed in a few solemn words, which alarm the conscience and deeply impress the heart. Iieillmakb youfi.shers'ofmen.] Ezek. ch. xlvii. 8 — -lO. casta .much light on this jslace : and to this prophet our Lord proba- bly alludes. To follow Christ, aixl be admitted into a part- nership of his ministry, is a great honour ; but those only who are by himself fitted for it, God calls. Miserable are those who do not wait for this call — who presume to take the name of fishers of men, and know not how to cast the net of the divino word, because not brought to an acquaintance with the saving power of the God who bought them. Such persons have only their secular interest in view, study not to catch men, hut to catch money: and though, for charity's sake, it may be said of a pastor of this spirit, he does not enter the sheepfold as a thief, yet he certainly lives as a hireling. See Quesneil. Following a persoii, in the .Icwish phrase, signifies being his disciple or scholar. See a similar mode of speech, 2 Kgs. vi. 19. 20. T'hey straightica;/ left their nets.] A change as far as it respected secular thing's, every way to their disadvantage. The proud and the profane may exultand say, "Such preachers as these cannot be much injured by their sacrifices of secu- lar property — they have notiiingbut nets, &c. to leave." Let such carpers at the institution of Christ know, that he who has notliing hut a net, and leaves that for the sake of doing good to the souls of men, leaves his all: besides, he lived comfortably by his net before ; but in becoming the servant of all for Christ's sake, he often exposes himself to the want of even a morsel of bread. See on chap. .rix. 27. 22. Left the ship and their father.] By the ship, to vXotov, we are to understand the mere fishing-boat, used for extend- ing their nets in the water, and bringing the halser or rope of the further end to shore, by which the net was pulled to land. But why should these he called to leave their employ- ment and their father, probably now aged 7 To this I answer, that to be obedient to, provide for, and comfort our parents, is the highest duty wo owe or can discharge, e.xcept that to God. But when God calls to the work of the ministry, father, and mother, and all must be left. Were we necessary to their comfort and support before 1 Then God, if he calls us into another work or state, will take care to supply to them our lack of service some other way ; and if this be not done, it is a proof we have mistaken our call. Again, were our parents necessary to iis, and in leaving them for the sake of the Gos- pel, or in obedience to a divine command, do we deprive our- selves of the comforts of life 1 No matter — we should prefer the honottr of serving the Most High, even in poverty and humility, to all the comforts of a father's house. But what an honour was the vocation of James and John, to old Zebe- dee their father. His sons are called to be heralds of the God of heaven ! Allowing him to have been a pious man, this must have given him unutterable delight. 23. Teaching in their synagogues.] Synagogue, avva- yMyri, fromcrvv, together, atid ayio, / ftrr/?^, a" public assembly of persons, or the place wiiere such persons publicly assem- bled. 'Synagogues among the .lews, were not probably older than the return from the Babylonish captivity. They were erected not only in cities and towns, but in the country, and especially by rivers, that they might have water for tlie convenience of their frequent washings. Not less than ten persons of respectability composed a sy- nagogue, as the rabbins supposed that this number of per- sons, of independent property, and well skilled in the law, were necessary to conduct the afTairs of the place, and keep up the divine worship. See Lightfoot. Therefore, where this number could not be found, no synagogue was built ; but tliere might be many synagogues in one city or town, provided it were populous. Jerusalem is said to have con- tained 480. This need not be wondered at, when it is consi- dered that every Jew was obliged to worship God in public, either in n synagogue or in the temple. The chief things belonging to a synagogue were : 1st, The ark or chest, made after the mode of the ark of the covenant, containing the Pentateuch. 2dly, The pulpit and desk, in the middle of the synagogue, on which ne stood who read or expounded the law. 3dly, The seats or petes for the men be- low, and the galleries for tlie women above. 4thly, The lamps to give light in the evening service, and at the feast of the dedication. And Sthly, Ajyartments for the utensils and alms-chests. The synagogue was governed by a covincil or assembly, over whom w^as a president, called in the Gospels, the ruler of the. synagogue. These aie somotimes called chiigo3, to examine by torture, such as colics, gouts, and rheumatisms, whicli racked every joint. Possessed with devils.] Demoniacs. Persons possessed by evil spirits. This is certainly the plain obvious meaning of demoniac in the Gospels. Many eminent men think, that the sacred writers accom- n\odated themselves to the unfounded prejudices of the com- mon people, in attributing certain diseases to the influence of evil spirits, which were merely the effects of natural causes; but that this explanation can never comport with the accounts given of these persons, shall be proved as the places occur. Our common version, which renders the word, those pos- sessed by devils, is not strictly correct ; as the word devil, iin0oXoi, is not found in tiv; plural in any part of the Sacred Writings, when speaking of evil spirits': for though tliere are multitudes of demons, Mark v. 9. yet it appears there is but one devil, who seems to be supreme, or head, over all the rest. AtaffoXos, signifies an accuser or slanderer, 1 Tim. iii. 11. 2 Tim. iii. 3. Tit. ii. 3. Perhaps Satan was called so, 1st. because he accused or slandered God in Paradise, as averse, from the increase of man's knowledge and happiness. Gen. iii. 5. John viii. 44. and 2dly, because he is the accuser of men, Rev. xii. 9, 10. See also Job i. 2. The word comes from Sia, through, and 0aXXciv, to cast, or shoot, because of the influ- ence of his evil suggestions : compared, Eph. vi. 16. io fiery darts: and thus it is nearly of the same meaning with o Trttpagwu, he who pierces through. See on ver. 3. iitna^e.) Persons afflicted with epileptic or other disorders, which are always known to have a singular increase at the c/iange a.iid full o( the moon. This undoubtedly proceeds from the superadded attraclire influence of the sun and moon upon the earth's atmosphere ; as in the periods men- tioned above, these two luminaries are both in conjunction ; and their united attractive power being exerted on the earth at the same time, not only causes thefiux and rejlux of the ocean, but occasions a variety of important changes in the bodies of infirm persons, of animals in general, but more par- ticularly of those who are more sensible of these variations. And is this any wonder, when it is well known, that a very slight alteration in the atmosphere causes the most uncomfort- able sensations to a number of invalids'? But sometimes even these diseases were caused by demons. See on chap. viii. 16, 34. and xvii. 15. Palsy.] Palsy is defined, a sudden loss of tone and vital power in a certain part of the human body. This may affect a limb, the whole side, the tongue, or the whole body. This disorder is in general incurable, except by the miracitlous power of God, unless in its slighter stages. Be healed them.] Either witli a word or a touch : and thus proved, that all nature was under liis control. 25. This verse is immediately connected with the oth chap- ter, and should not be separated from it. Great multitudes.] This even according to the .lews, was one proof of the days of the Messiah : for they acknowledged that in his time there should be a great famine of the word of and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he liealed them. 25 " And there followed him great mnltitudts of peoplc/rotrt b Galilee, anAfrom Uecapolis, and/roni Jerusalem, and from Judea, aiidyVo«! beyond Jordan. ■XI. 33. l.uke 6. 17. M»rk 5. Oft. God; and thus they understood, Amos viii. 11. Behold the days cume — that I irill send a famine in the land, not a fa- mine of bread — but of hearing the. words of the Lord. And as the Messiah was to dispense this word, the bread of life, hence they believed lliat vast multitudes from all pai1» shoiUd be gathered together to him. bee Schoetgenius on this place. Uecapolis.] A small country situated between Syria and Ga- lilee of the Nations. It was called Derapolis, A^jKan-oAij, from (]cKa, ten, and irnXii, a city, because it contained only ten cities , the metropolis, and most ancient of which, was Damascus. From beyond Jordan.] Or, from the side of Jordan. Pro- bably this was the country which was ocrui)ied anciently by the two tribes of ii'ei(6e;;. and Gad, and the half tribe ni Ma- nasseh ; for tlx; country of Uecapolis lay on both sides of the river Jordan. See Numb, xxxii. 5, 33. The account of our Lord's temptation, as given by the evan- gelist, is acknowledged on all hands, to lie extremely difficult. Two modes of interpretation have b'^en generally resorted to, in order to make the whole plain and intelligiVile : viz. the literal and allegorical. In all cases where it can possibly ap- ply, I prefer the first : the latter should never be used, unh'ss obviously indicated in the text itself; or so imperiously ne- cessary, that no other mode of interpretation cui possibly ap- ply. In tlie preceding observations, I have taken up the sub- ject in a literal point of view ; and it is hoped that most of the difficulties in the relation have been removed, or obviated by this plan. An ingenious correspondent has favoured me with some observations on the subjei-t, which have much more than the merit of novelty to recommend them. I shall give an ab- stract of some of the most striking; and leave the whole to the reader's further consideration. The thoughts in this communication proceed on this ground: " These temptations were addressed to Christ as a pji.blic per- son, and respected his conduct in the execution of his minis- try; and are reported to his church as a forcible and practi- cal instruction, concerning the proper method of promoting the kingdom of God upon earth. They are warnings against those Satanic illusions, by which the servants of Christ are liable to be hindered in their great work, and even stopped in the prosecution of it. " As our Lord had, at his baptism, been declared to be the Son of God, ;'. e. the promised Messiah, this was probably well known to Satan, who did not mean to insinuate any thing to the contrary, when he endeavoured to engage him to put forth an act of that power which he possessed as the Mr ssiah. The mysterious union of tile divine with the human n.iture, in our Lord's state of humiliation, Satan might think possible to be broken, and therefore endeavoured in the first temptation, Command these stones to be made bread, to induce our l/ord to put forth a separate independent act of power ; which our Lord repelled, by showing his intimate union with the Divine Will, which he was come to fulfil — Man shnll not lire hy bread alone, but by every word that proccrdcth out of the 7noulh of God. Thus showing, as he did on another occasion, that it was his meal and drink U> do the wilt of his Father. " 2. The ground of the temptation wa.s then changed : and Vnc fulfilment of the Divine ^Vill, in the completion of a pro- phetic promise, wa-s made the ostensible object of the next at- tack. Cast thyself down— for it is wuitten, }fe will give hia angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, &c. This our Lord repelled with — 'J'hou shaft not tempt the Lord thy God — as Satan had designed to indue* him to seek this public miraculous confirmation of (iod's pe- culiar care over him a.s the promised .Messiah ; of his being which, according to the hypothesis above, Satan had no doubt. Moses being appointed to a great and important work, needed miraculous signs to strengthen his faith ; but the sacred hu- manity of our blessed Lord -needed them not; nor did his wis- dom judge that such a sign from heaven was essential to the instruction of tlie people. " 3. The last temptation was the most subtle and the nio.st powerful — All these tcill I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall duirn and ivorshipmc. To inherit all nations, had been re- peatedly declared to be the birthright of the Messiah. Hi* right to universal empire could not be controverted ; nor could Satan presume to make the investiture. What, then, ^vas his purpose 1 Satan had hitherto opposed, and that with considerable success, the kingdom of God upon earth ; and what he appe.aas to propose here, were, terms of peace and an honourable retreat. Tlie worship wliich he exacted was an act of homage, in return for his cession of that asceiidency which, through the sin of man, he had obtained in the world. Having long established his rule among men, it was not at first to be expected, that he would resign it without a. combat: but the purpose of this last temptation appears to be an oflTer to decline any further contest ; and yet more, if his terms were accepted, apparently to engage his influence to promote the kingdom of the Messiah. And as the condition of this proposed alliance, he required not divine worship, but such. 23 Our Lord commences liis ST. MATTHEW. fcrmon on the monnt. an act. of homage, as implied amily and obligation ; and if this construction be allowed, he may be supposed to have en- forced the necessity of the measure, by every suggestion of the consr.quenccs of a refusal. The sufferi/igs which wcm\d in- evitably result from a provoked opposition, which would ren- der the victory, though certain to Christ himself, dearly bought ; added to which, the conflict he was prepared to carry on through succeeding ages, in which all his subtlety and powers sliould be employed to hinder the progress of Christ's cause in the earth, and that with a considerable degree of an- ticipated success. Here the devil seems to propose to make over to Christ the power and influence he possessed in this world, on condition that he would enter into terms of peace with him : and the inducement ofl'ercd was, that thereby our Lord should e-icape those, suffering.^ both in his oienperso7i, and in that of his adherents, which a provoked contest would insure. And we may suppose that a similar temptation lies liid in the desires excited even in some of the servants of Clu-ist, who may feel themselves often induced to employ irorUUy influence and power for the promotion of his king- dom, even though, in so doing, an apparent communion of Christ and Belial is the result: for it will be found that nei- ther worldly riches, nor power, can be employed in the ser- vice of Christ, till, like the spoils taken in war, Dent xxxi. 21—23. they have passed through the lire and water ; as, with- out a divine purification, tliey are not fit to be employed in the service of God and his church. " Hence we may conclude, that the first temptation had for its professed object, 1st, our Lord's personal relief and com- fort, through the inducement of performing a separate and independent act of power. The second temptation professed to have in view his public acknowledgment by the people as tlic Messiah: for should they see him work such a miracle as throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple witliout receiving any hurt, they would be led instantly to ac- knowledge his divine mission : and the evilof this temptation may be explained, as seeking to secure the success of his mis- sion by other means than those which, as the Messiah, he had received from the Father. Compare John xiv. 31. — The third temptation was a subtle atteiupt to induce Christ to acknow- ledge Satan as an ally in the cstablislimcnt of his kingdom." — E. M. B. The above is the substance of the ingenious thcoi-y of my correspondent, which may be considered as a third, mode of interpretation, partaking equally of the allegoric and literal. I still, however, think, that the nearer we keep to the teller in all such difficult cases, the more tenable is our ground, espe- cially where the subject itself docs not obviously require the allegorical mode of interpretation. Among many things wor- thy of remark in the preceding theory, the following deservc>t inost attention : That t>atan is ever ready to tempt the govern- ors and ministers of the Christian Church to suppose, that worldbj means, huinan policy, secular interest and influence, are all essentially necessary for the support a;id extension of that kingdom which is not of this irorldl h'uch persons can never long preserve hallowed hands — they bring the world into the c/iwrcA; endeavoin- to sanctify the bad means they use, by the good end they aim at ; and often, in the prosecu- tion of their object, by means which are not of God's devising, are driven into straits and difliculties, and to extricate them- selves, tell lies for God's sake. This human policy is from beneath — God will neither sanction nor bless it. It has been the bane of true religion in all ages of the world ; and in every countiy where the cause of Christianity has been established, such schemers and plotters in the church of God are as dan- gerous to its interests, as a plague is to the health of society. The governors and ministers of the Christian cluirch, should keep themselves pure, and ever do God's work in his own way. If the slothful servant slionld be cast out of the vine- yard, he that corrupts the good seed of the divine field, or sows tares among the wheat, should be considered as an ene- my to righteousness, and be expelled from the sacred pale as one who closes in with the temptation — " All these thing,'^, (the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,) will 1 give unto THEE, if thou wilt fall down and worship ■^lE." However necessary the church may be to the state ; and the state to the church, yet the latter is never in so much danger, as when the former smiles upon it. CHAPTER V. Christ begins his sermon on the mount, 1, 2. The beatitudes, 3—12. TT^e discijiles the salt of the earth, and light of the world, 13—16. Christ is not come to destroy, but confirm and fulfil the Law and the Prophets, 17—19. Of the righteous- ness of the scribes and Pharisees, 20. Interpretation of the precepts relalire to murder, anger, and injurious speaking, 21,22. Of reconciliation, 23—26. Of impure acts and propensities, and the necessity of mortification, 27—30. Of di- vorce, 31, "32. ty" oaths and profane swearing, 33—37. Of bearing injuries and persecution, 38—41. Of borrowing and landing, 42. Of lore and hatred, 43—46. Of civil respect, 47. Christ's disciples must resennble their heavenly Father, 48. [A. M. 4031. A. t). 27. An. Olymp. CCI. 3.] AND seeing the multitudes, " he went up into a mountain : 1 3 *> Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom and when he was set, his disciples came unto him : | of heaven. 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, » Mk. 3. !3, M.— b Lk. P. 20. Sec Ps. SI. 17. Pro. 16. 19. &. 29. 23. Is. 57. IE. & 6G. 5. Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted. CI. 2, 3. Luke S. 31. John 16. !^. 2 Cor, 1. 7. Rev. 21. 4. NOTES. — Verse L And seeing tlie multitudes.] Tuv; ox^ovc, (hr.te multitudes, viz. those mentioned in the preceding verse, which .should make the first verse of this chapter. He went up into a mountain.] That he might have the greater advantage of speaking, so as to be heard by that great concourse of people which followed him. And ichen he was set.] The usual posture of public teachers among the Jews, and among many other people. Hence sit- ting was a synonymous term for teaching, amongthe rabbins. Jlis -disciples.] The word ^laOnrni, signifies literally a scho- lar. Tliose who originr-Uy followed Christ, considered him in the light of a divine teacher, and conscious of their igno- rance, and the importance of his teaching, they put them- selves under his tuition, that they might be instructed in h'«-ven!y things. Having been taught the mysteries of the kingdom of God, they became closely attached to their divine Master, imitating his life and manners; and recommending his salvation to all the circle of their acquaintance. This is still the characteristic of a genuine disciple of Christ. 3. Blessed wee the poor in spirit, &c.] Or, happy, j.iaKaptni, from /(a, or jiri, not, and (tijo, futc, or death; intimating, that such persons were endued with inunortcdity, and conse- quently were not liable to the caprices of fate. Homer, Iliad, i. 339. calls the supreme gods, Qeoiv iiaKaptov, the ever happy and immortai, gods, and opposes them to OvnTuiv av- Vpomotv, mortal men. Toj 6' avTti) fxapTvpoi caruv n.ooj TC Otwi" naKapwv, Trpo; re OvrjTtov avBpwiTMv. " Be ye witnesses before the immortal gods, and before mor- tal men." From this definition we may learn, that the person whom Christ terms happy, is one who is not under the influ- ence of fate or chance, but is governed by an all-wise Provi- dence, having every step directed to the attainment of immor- tal glory, being transformed by the power into the likoiess of the ever-blessed God. Thougli some of the persons, wliose Btates are mentioned in these verses, cannot be said to be as yet blessed or happy, in being made partakers of the divine nature ; yet they are termed happy by our Lord, because they are on the straight way to tliis blessedness. Taken in this light, the meaning is similar to that expressed by the poet, ■When describing a happy man. Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas ' Alque metus omncs et ine.xorabiie, tatum 24 Subjecit pedibus ; strepitumque Acherontis avari ! Virg. Geor. ii. v. 490. \Vhich may be thus paraphrased. "Happy is he who gains the knowledge of the first cause of all things ! who can tram- ple on every fear, and the doctrine of inexorable fate ; and who is not terrified by death, nor by the threatened torments of the invisible world." Poor in spirit.] One who is deeply sensible of his spiritual poverty and wretchedness. Ilrcox'ii, a poor man, comes from n-TcoCTo-o), to tremble, or shrink with fear. Being destitute of the true riches, he is tremblingly alive to the necessities of his soul, shrinking with fear lest he should perish without the salvation of God. Such Christ pronounces happy, be- cause there is but a step between them and that kingdom which is here promised. Some contend, that jiaKaotui should be referred to irvtvpari, and the verse translated thus ; Hap- py, or blessed in spirit are the poor. But our Lord seems to have the humiliation of the spirit particularly in view. Kingdom of heaven.] Or, rct'v ovpavwv, of the heavens. A participation of all the blessings of the New Covenant here, and the blessings of glory above. See this phrase explained, chap. iii. 2. Blessed are the poor? this is God's word: but who believes it? Do we not say. Yea, rather, Blessed is the rich ? The Jewish rabbins have many good sayings relative to that poverty and humility of spirit which Christ recom- mends in this verse. In the treatise called Bammidbar Rab- ba, s. 20. we have these words : There were three (evils) in Balaam, the evil eye, (envy) the loitering spirit, (pride) and the extensive mind, (avarice.) Tanchum, fol. 84. The law does not abide tcilh t/wse w/io have the extensive mind, (ava- rice) but with him only who Itas a contrite heart. Kabbi Cha- nina said, "Why are the words of the law compared to wa- ter 7 Because, as waters flow from heights, and settle in low places, so the words of the law rest only with him who is of an humble heart." See Schocttgen. 4. Blcisedare they that mourn.] That is, those who, feeling their spiritual poverty, mourn after God, lamenting the ini- quity that separated them from the fountain of blessednes.'!. Every one flies from sorrow, and seeks after joy : and yet true joy must necessarily be the fruit of sorrow. The jrhole need not (do not feel the need of) the physician ; but they that are sick do ; i. e. they who are sensible of their disease. Ori- I ly such persons as arc deeply convinced of the sinfhlness cf 'Ilir merct/ul, pvre hi hrnrt, CHAPTER V. nii'J pcn'~c-makeTf>. nrc hlc!">e, * Blessed urn tho meek ; for ^' ttioy shrill inherit the earth. 6 IJlessed are they which do hunger and thirst alter riglile- •meness; " for they shall be filled. f Blessed are the merciful : '' for they shall obtain mercy. 8 • Blessed are the pure in heart : for i they shall see tJod. Bin, feel tlie plag\ie of their own heart, and turn with rlisgust from Jill worldly consolations, beca\ise of their insulHciency to render them /(a;)/N/, l\;ive (Jod's promise of solid comfort. They SHALf. BE cohifurtfrl, s;iys Christ, TTapaK'^r]tir)(TovTai, from ■nana, nr.ur, and (caAcw, / cull. lie will call them to himself, iind speak the words of pardon, pence, and life eternal, to their hearts. Sec this notion of the word expressed fully by Pur Lord; chap. xi. 2;;. come tnto me, all ye who are tceary hnd heary laiitn. and I will give you, rest. r>. lilea'sed are tM jnreA-.] Happy, oi vpacn;, from trnaoi, easy, ♦ hose who are of u quiet, gentle spirit, in opposition to the proud and supercilious scribes and Pharisees, and their disci- ples. We have a compound word in English, which once fully expressed the meanin;? of the original, viz. gentleman ; but" it has now almost wholly lost its original signification. Our word mee/c, comes from the old Anglo-Saxon meca, or meccea, a companion^ or eiiiial, because lie who is of a meek f^r gentle spirit, is ever ready to associate with the meanest of thf)se who fear God, feeling himself superior to none: and well knowing, that he has nt)thing of spiritual or temporal good, but what he has received from the mere bounty of God, having never deserved any favour froin his hand. For they shall inherit the earth.] Or, rriv yrii>, the land. Un- der this expression, which was conmionly used by the pro- phets to signify the la7id of Canaan, in which all temporal good abounded, .ludg. xviii. 9, Id. .lesus Christ points out t\nX abundance of spiritual good wliich was provided for meu in llie Gospel. Besides, (Canaan was a type of the king- rciful man enters into the miseries of his neiglibour, feete for, and mourns with him. They shall obtain mercy,] Mer'-.i' is nol purchased but at the 9 Blessed ore the peace-makers: for they shall be called tho childr'^n of TJod. 10 i"' Ble.ssad are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 h Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and perse- flCor. 13. la. 1 .loJin 3. 2, 3.— s 1 Cor. 4. 17. 2 Tim. 2.12. 1 P«. 3. U.— li Luk* 6,'ti. 1 Per. 4. 11. • price of mercy itself; and even this price is a gift of the mercy of God. What mercy can those vindictive persons expect, who forgive nothing, and are always ready to im- prove every advantage they have of avenging themselves % vVhatever mercy a man shows to another, GotTwill take care to show the same to him. The following elegant and nervous saying of^ one of our best poets, is worthy of the readcr'a most serious attention. " The quality of mercy is not strained ; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed; It blesseth him who gives, and him who takes : 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown. It is an attribute of God himself; And earthly pow'r doth then show likest God's, When mercy sp.asona justice. Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation. Wc do pray for mercy , And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. Why, all the souls that are, were forfeit once • And he who might the 'vantage best have took Found out the remedy. How would you be, If He who is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are? Oh I think on tliat, And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man new made. How slialt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring none 7" In the Tract Shabbath, ful. 151. there is a saying very lika this of our Lord. " He who shows mercy to men, God will show mercy to him ; but to him who shows no mercy to man, God will show no mercy." 8. Pure in heart.] In opposition to the Pharisees, who af- fected outward purity, while their hearts were full of corrup- tion and defilement. A principal part of the Jewish religion consisted in outward washijigs and cleansings : on this ground they expected to see God, to enjoy eternal glory; but Christ here shows, that a puriticatifin of the heart from all vile afTections and desires, is essentially requisite in order to enter into the kingdom of God. He whose sou! is not deliver- ed from all sin, through the blood of the covenant, can hdve no Scriptural hope of ever being with God. There is a re- markable illustration of this passage, quoted by Mr. Wake- field from Origen, Contra Cels. lib. vi. " God has no body, and therefore is invisible, but men of contemplation can dis- cern him with the heart and understanding. But a defiled HEART CANNOT SEE GOD : bUt HE MUST BE PURE WHO WISHES TO ENJOY A PROPER VIEW OF A PURE BEING." Shall see God.] This is a Hebraism, which signifies posses.? God, enjoy his felicity ; as seeing a thing, was used among the Hebrews for possessing it. See Psal. xvi. 10, Thou, wilt not suffer thy Holy One to snE corruption, i. c. he shall nol be corrupted. So John iii. 3. Ejrcept a man be bom again he cannot SEE the kingdom of God, i. e. he cannot enjoy it. So .John iii. 16. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, i. e. shall not be put in possession of eternal glory. Probably our Lord alludes to the advantages those had, who were legally pure, of entering into the sanctuaiy, into the pre- sence of God, while those whc had contracted any legal defile- 7nent, were excluded from it. This also was obviously typical. 9. The peace-makers.] Ei.oiji'rjipcoce, is compounded of tiprii/ icti) if, connecting into one ; for as war distracts and divides nations, families, and individuals from each other, inducing them to pui-suo difTerent objects and difTcrent interests : so PEACE restores them to a state of ttnity, giving them one ob- ject, and one interest. K pjcace-maker is a man who being endowed with a generous public spirit, labours for the public good ; and feels his own interest promoted in promoting that of others ; therefore, instead of ranning the fire of strife, he uses his influence and wisdom to reconcile tho contending parties, adjust their difTerences, and restore them to a state of unity. As all men are represented to be in a state o{ hostility to God and each other, the Gospel is called the Gospel of peace, because it tends to reconcile men to God and to each other. Hence our Lord here terms peace-makers the children of God: for as he is the Father of peace, those who promote it are reputed his children. But whose children are thi\v who foment aivisions in the church, the state, or amnns families 7 Surely they are not of that God, who is the Father of peace and lover of ccncord ; of that Christ, who is the sacrifice and mediator of it; of that Spirit, who is the HO«n's//er and bond of peace ; nor of that church of the Most High, whicl* is the kingdom and family of peace. St. Clement, Strom, lib, iv. s. 6. in fin. says, that "Some who transpose the Gospels, add this verse : Hanpy they who are persecuted by justice, for they shall be perfect : happy they rcho are persecuted on my aceovnt, for they shall have a place whore they thall not be persecuted'" 25 Cfemitne Christians are ST. MATTHEW. ike salt of the eanti. cute you, and shall say all manner of " evil against you i> false- ly, for my sake. 12 " Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for gVeat is your reward in heaven : for d so persecuted tliey the prophets which were before you. 13 It Ye are the salt of the earth : " but if the salt have lost his eavour, wherewitli shall it be salted ') it is theaceforth good for nothing, but to be castout, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 f Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. » 1 Pel. 4. 14.— b Gr. Iyin».— c Luke 6. 23. Ads 5. 41. Rom. 5. 3. .lames 1. 2. 1 Pet. 4. 13.— d Neh. 9. 26. 2 Chr. 36. IG. Ch. 93. 34, 37. Acts 7. ir^. 1 Thess. 8. 15.— • Mark 9. BO. Luke 14. 34, 33.— f Pro. 4. 18. Phil. 2. 15. 10. They which are persecuted.} AcSioiyiiCPOi, they who are hard pressed upon, and pursued with repeated acts of enmity. Parkhurst. They are happy who suffer, seems a strange say- ing : and that the righteous should suffer, merely because they are such, seems as strange. But such is the enmity of the hu- man heart to every thing of God and goodness, that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in one form or other. As the religion of Christ gives no quarter to vice ; so the vicious will give no quarter to this religion, or to its professors. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'] That spiritual king- dom, explained chap. iii. 2. and that kingdom of glory, which is its counterpart and consequence. 11. Wlien men shall revile you, and persecute.] The perse- cution mentioned in the preceding verse, comprehends all outicard acts of violence — all that the hand can do. This com- prehends all calumny, slander, &c. all that the tongue can effect. But as itinKtiv, which we render to persecute, is a forensic term, and signifies legal persecutions and public ac- cusations, which, though totally unsubstantiated, were the means of destroying multitudes of the primitive Christians, our Lord probably refers to such. No Protestant can tliink, without horror, of the great numbers burnt alive in this country, on such accusations, under the popish reign of her, who is emphatically called Bloody Q,ueen Mary. 12. Rejoice.] In the testimony of a good conscience; for without this suffering has nothing but misery in it. Be exceeding glad.] AyaWia^Sc, leap for Joy. There are several cases on record, where this wSlS literally done by the martyrs in Queen Mary's days. Great is your reward in heaven.] In the Talmudical Tract Pirkcy Aboth, are these words : "Rabbi Tarpon said. The day is short : the work is great : the labourers are slow : the REWARD IS great: and the father of the family is urgent." The followers of Christ are encouraged to suffer joyfully on two considerations. 1. They are tliereby conformed to the prophets who went before. 2. Their reward in heaven is a great one. God gives the grace to suffer, and then crowns that grace with glory ; hence it is plain, the reward is not of debt, but of grace ; Rom. vi. 23. 13. Ye are the salt of the earth.] Our Lord shows here what the preachers of the Gospel, and what all who profess to fol- low him, should be ; the salt of the earth, to preserve the world from putrefaction and destruction. See the note on Lev. ii. 13. But if the salt have lost his savour.] Tliat this is possible in the land of Judea, we have proof from Mr. Maundrell, who, describing the Valley of Salt, speaks thus : " Along on one side of the valley, towai"ds Gibul, there is a small preci- pice about two men's lengths, occasioned by the continual taking away of the salt ; and in this you may see how tiie veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of wliich that part that was ex- posed to the rain, sun, and air, tliough it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet xt had perfectly lost its savour : the inner part, which was connected to the rock, retained its sa- vour ; as I found by proof." See his Trav. 5th edit, last page. A preacher, or private Christian, who has lost the life of Christ, and the witness of his Spirit, out of his soul, may be likened to this salt. He may have the sparks and glittering particles of true wisdom, but without its unclioji or co?nfort. Only that which is connected icith the rock, the" soul that" is in union with Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, can preserve its savour, and be instrumental of good to othere. To be trodden underfoot.] There was a species of salt in Judea, which was generated at the Lake Asphaltitis, and hence called bituminous salt, easily rendei'ed vapid, and of no other use but to be spread in a part of the temple, to pre- vent slipping in wet weather. This is probably what our Lord alludes to in this place. Tlie existence of such a salt, and its application to such a use, Schoetgenius has largely proved in his Horce Hebrccicce, vol. i. p. 18, die. 14. Ye are the light of the world.] That is, tlie instruments which God chooses to make use of to illuminate the minds of icien, as he uses the sun (to which probably he poi'iited) to ,«^lSighten the world. Light of the uwrld, ch''^ "iJ ner olam, Was! a title applied to the most eminent rabbins. Christ trans- fers the title from these, and gives it to his own dis(;iples, who, by, the doctrines that he taught them, were to be tlie means of diffusifig the light of life throughout the universe. A citi) that is set on a hill.] Tfiis place may receive light from the following passage in Maundrell's Travels. "A few points towards the north (of Tabor) appears that which they call the Mount pf Beatitudes, a small rising, from which our Wessed SavloUr deli^vered his sermon in the fifth, sixth, and i36 15 Neither do men ^ light a candle, and put it under •> a bu- shel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all tlkat are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, i that they may sec your good works, and k glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17 11 1 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the pro- phets ; 1 am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For, verily I say unto you, "> Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. g Mark 4. 31. Luke 3.16. & U. 33.— h The word m ihc orijjnal sig-nifieth a mea- sure containing idmiit a y.int less than a peck.— i 1 Pet. 2. 13— k John 15. 8, 1 Cot 14. 25.— 1 Rom. :1. 31. St II). 4. Gal. 3. 24.- m Luke 16. 17. seventh chapters of Matthew. Not far from this little hill is the city Saphet, supposed to be the ancient Bethulia. U stands upon a very emineyit and conspicuous mountain, and is SEEN PAR and near. May we not suppose that Christ al- ludes to this city in these words of his, A city set on a hill cannot be hid 1^' p. 115. Quesnel remarks here : "The Chris- tian life is something very high and sublime, to which we caiv not arrive without pains ; whilst it withdraws us from the earth, and carries us nearer heaven, it places us mvieio, and as a mark to the malice of carnal men." 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel.] A bushel, lAodtos: — a measure both among the Greeks and Romans, containing a little more than a peck English. From some ancient writers we learn, that only those who liaa bad designs hid a candle under a bushel ; that, in the dead of the night, when all were asleep, they might rise up, and have light at hand to help them to effect their horrid purposes of murder, &c. See Wetstcin, Kypke, Wolf, &c. 16. Let your light so shine.] Or, more literally. Thus let your light shine, Outw Xaniparo) toi 00)?. As the sun is liglited up in the firmament of heaven to diffuse its light and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth ; and as the lamp is not set unde» the bushel, but placed upon the lamp-stand, that it may give light to all in the house; thus let every fol- lower of Christ, and especially every preacher of the Gospel, diffuse the light of heavenly knowledge, and the warmth of divine love, through the whole circle of his acquaintance. That they may see your good works.] It is not sufffcient to have light — we must walk in the light, and by the light. Our whole conduct should be a perpetual comment on the doctrine we have received, and a constant exemplification of its power and truth. And glorify your Father.] The following curious saying is found in Bammidbar Rabba, s. 15. "The Israelites said to the holy blessed God, Thou commandest us to light lamps to thee ; and yet thou art the Light of the world, and witli thee the light dwelleth. The holy blessed God answered, I do not command this because I need light; but that you may reflect light upon me, as 1 have illuminated you ; — that the people may say. Behold how the Israelites illustrate him, who illu- minates them in the sight of the whole earth." See more in Schoettgen. Real Christians are the children of God — tliey are partakers of his holy and happy nature : they should ever be concerned for their Father's lionour, and endeavour so to recommend him and his salvation, that others may be pre- vailed on to come to the light, and walk in it. Then God is said to be gloritied, when the glorious power of his grace is manifested in the salvation of men. 17. Think not tliat I am come to destroy the law.] Do 7wt imagine tliat I am come to violate the late — KaraXvaai, from Kara, and Xvm, I loose, violate, or dissolve — I am not come to make the law of none effect — to dissolve the con- nexion which subsists between its several parts, or the obli- gation men are under to have their lives regulated by its mo- ral precepts ; nor am I come to dissolv>e the connecting re- ference it has to the good things promised. But I am come, irXrip^wcrai, to complete. — to perfect its conne.xion and refer- ence, to accomplish every thing shadowed forth in the Mo- saic ritual, to fill up its great design ; and to give grace to all my followers, TrXripioaai, to fill up, or complete, every mo- ral duty. In a word, Christ completed the law : 1st. In itself, it was only tlie shadow, the typiccel representation of good things to come : and he added to it that which was neo«ssary to make it jjerfect, his own sacrifice, without which it could neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men. 2dly. He completed it in liimself by submitting to its types with an exact obedience, and verifying them by his death upon the ci-oss. 3dly. He completes this law, and the sayings of his prophets, in his members, by giving them grace to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and tlieir neighbour as them- selves ; for this is all the law and the j'i'ophets. it is worthy of observation, that the word -^ni gamar, among the rabbins, signifies not only to fulfil, but also to teach ; and, consequently, we may infer that our Lord intimated, that the law and the prophets were still to be taught or inculcated by him and his disciples : and this he and they have done in the most pointed manner. See the Gospels and Epistles ; and see e.?pecially this sermon on the mount, the Epistle of James, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. And this meaning of the word gives the clear sense of the apostle's words, Colo.ss. i. 25. Whereof I am made a minister, TrXrtftojaat tov Xoyov rov Beov, to fulfil the word of God, i. e. to teach the doctrine of God. IS. For verily I say unto you, tilt heaven,] In the vcrv ecm- Threatenings against those who CHAPTER V. break Christ's commandmertt. 19 * Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least corn- mandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoBocver shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, 20 For I eay unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed *//ie righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. s 2. 10.— b Rom. 9. 31. & 10. X- rilhcfn.— d Ex.20. 13. Df.i mencement of his ministry, .Tosiia Christ tetp^hes the insta- biliti/ of all visible things. "The heaven which you see, and which is so glorious, and the earth which you -inhabit and love, shall pass ineay ; for the things which are seen are temporal, jrpoCT/cai.oa, are for a lime ; but the things which arc not seen, are eternal, anovia, ex^er-during," 2 Cor. iv. 18. And the TvfORD of the Lord endureth for ever. Oil" jot or one til'le.] One yod, 0) the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet- One tiltle-, or point, Kspaia, either meaning those poitits wliich serve for vowels in this language, if they tiien existed; or the apices^ or points of certain letiei-s, such as -I renh, or "i daleth, 7i he, or n chelh, (as the cViange of any of these into the other. Would make a most essential alteration in the sense, or, as the rabbins say, destroy the World.) Tliaf this saying, one jot, or one little, is a proverbial mode of expression among the Jews, and that it exjircssed the meaning given to it above, is amply proved by tlie extracts in Light/out and Schoettgen. The reader will not be dis- I)lease yod, which is the smallest letter la the whole Law, they should not be able to effect it." In Vuyikra Rabba, s. 10. it is said : "Should any person in tlie woras of Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is inx achad, one Lord, change the T daleth into a ~i resh, he would ruin the world." [Because, in that case, the word inN tichar, would signify a strange, or false God.] " Should any oile, in the words of Exod. xxxiv. 14, TVwa shall worship no OTHER irw arliar, God, change 1 resh into 1 daleth, he would niin the world." [Because the command would thi'n run, lyton shall not worship the only or true God.] "Should any one, in the words of Levit. xxii. 32. ^'either shall ye profane ^i^i^nn techo.lelu, my holy name, change n cheth into n he, he would ruin the world." [Because the sense of the command- ment would then be. Neither shall ye praise my holy iiame.] "Should any one, in the words of Psr.l. cl. 6. Let even/ thing that hath breath praise, '^'^r^n tehalel, the Lord, change n I'le into n cheth, he wou.ld ruin the world." [Because the com- mand would then run, Let every thing that hath breath pro- fane the Lord.] " Should any one, in tlie words of Jerem. v. 10. They lied against the Lord, nino beihovah, change 3 lielii into 3 caph, he would ruin the world." [For then the words would run, they lied like the Lord.] "ShoiilJ any one, in the words of Ilosea v. 7. They have dealt treacherously, mn"'3 heihora'i, against the Lord, change 2 bcth into 3 caph, he would ruin the world." [For then the words would run, iriicy hare dealt treaclieronsly like the Lord.] " Should any one, in the words of 1 Sam. ii. 2. There is none holy as the Lord, change 3 caph into 3 bcth, lie would ruin the world." (For then the words would mean, There is no holiness in the Lord.] These examples fully prove that the jua Kcpnia, of our Lord rcfei-s to the apices, points, or cortiers, that distinguisli 3 beth from 3 caph ; n chefh from n he; and ~\ resh from t daleth. For the reader will at once perceive, how easily a 3 caph may be turned into a 3 beth; a n he into a n clieth; and a i res'h into a T daleth : and he will also see of what infinite conse- cjuence it is to ir.rite and print such lettere correctly. I'ill all be fulfilled.] Or, accomplished. Tliough all earth and hell should join together to hinder the accomplishment of the great designs of the Most Vligh ; yet it shall be all in vain — even the sense of a single letter shall not be lost. The words of God which point out his designs, are as unchangeable as his nature itself. Every sinner who perseveres in his iniqui- ty, shall surely be punished with separation from God and the glory of his power; and every soul that turns to God, tliroudi Christ, shall as surely be saved, as that Jesus himself hath died. 19. Wliosoevcr— shall break one of thfse least command- ments' The Pharisees were remarkable for making a dis- tinction between weightier and lighter matters in tlie I^iw, and between what has been called, in a corru])t part of tlie Christian church, moral and renial si7is. *ther in their degrees of guilt. Anger against a man, accom- panied with some injurious act. 2dly. Contempt, expressed by the opprobrious epithet raka, or shallow brains. 3dly. Hatred ^uA mortal enmity, expressed by the term moreh, or apostate, where such apostacy could not be proved. Now, pro- portioned to these three offences were th7-ee different degrees of punishment, each exceeding the other in its severity, as the offences exceeded each other in their diflerent degrees of guilt. 1st. The judg7nent, the council of .liich could inflict the punishment oi stoning. And 3dly. the b^ng burnt alive in the valley of the ;Son of Hinnom. This appeal's to be the meaning of our Lord. Now, if the above offences were to be so severely punished, which did not immediately aflect the life of another, how much sorer must the punishment of murder bel ver. 21. And as there could not be a greater punishment inflicted than death, in the above terrific fonns, and tliis was to be inflicted for minor crimes ; then the punishment of murder must not only have death here, but a liell of fire in the eternal world, attached to it. It seems that these diflerent degrees of guilt, and the punishment attached to each, had not been properly distinguislied among the Jews. Our Lord here calls their at- tention back to them, and gives them to understand, that in the coming world there are different degrees of punishment prepared for different degi-ees of vice ; and that not only the outward act of iniquity should be judged and punished by the Lord, but that injurious ii^ords, and evil passions, shoiild all meet their just recompense and reward. Murder is the most punishable of all crimes, according to the writteii law, in respect both of our neighbour and civil society. But He who sees the heart, and judges it.by the eternal lam, punish- ,os as much a word, or a dcsiie, if the hatred whence they proceed be complete and perfected. Dr. Lightfoot has some curious observations on this passage in the preface to his liariTiony of the Evangelists. See his works, Vol. II. and the conclusion of this chapter. 23. Therefore if thou bring thy gift.] Evil must be nipped in the bud. An unkind thought of anf>ther may be i\ie foun- dation of that which leads to actual murder. A Christian, properly speaking, cannot be an enemy to any man : nor is he 10 consider any man his enemy, without the fullest evidence : for surmises to the prejudice of another, can never rest in the bosorn of him wlio has the love of God in his heart, for to him all men are tjrethren. He sees all men as children of God, and members of Christ, or at least capable of becoming such. If a tender forgiving spirit was required, even in a Jew, whwi he approached God's altar with a bullock or a lamb, how much more necessary is tliis in a man who professes to be a follower of the Lamb of God ; especially when he receives the sym- bols of that Sacrifice which was offered for the life of the world, in what is commonly called the sacrament of the Lord's pupper 1 24. Leave there thy gift before Vie altar.] This is as much ■as to say, "Do not attempt to bring any offering to God whilst thou art in a spirit of enmity against any person, or hast any difference with tliy neighbour which thou hast not used thy tliligence to get adjusted." It is our duty and interest, both to bring our gift, and ofl'er it too ; but God will not accept of any act of religious worship from us, while any enmity subsists in our hearts towards any soul of man : or while any sub.sists in our neighbovu-'sheartlowards us, which we have not used the pi-opnr means to remove. A religion, the very essence of which is love, cannot suffer at its altars a heart that is revengc- Xul and uncharitable, or whtch does not use its utmost en- Ue:ivoui-s to revive love in the heart of another. Tlie original word, fr.\pnv, v.'hich we translate gift, is used by the rabbins ill Hebrew letters pii-i doron. which signifies not only a gift, jbutaKU(;i;/iie offered to Cod. See several proofs in ^choittgr-n. 23 to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and tiioH be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 27 II Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ^ Thou shalt not commit adultery : c Prov. 2P. 8. Lk. 12. 58, 59.— d See Pa. 32. 6. Is, Ki. 6.-e Ex. W. 14. Deil. 5. 18. Then come and offer thy gift.] Then, Avhen either thy bro- ther is reconciled to thee, or thou hast done all in thy power to effect this reconciliation. My own obstinacy and unchari- tableness must render me utterly unfit to receive any good from God's handt--, or to worship him in an acceptable man- ner; but the wioket33ip kontarik, and say, that two mOi~iB prutolh, make a kontarik, which is exactly the same witli those words in Mark xii. 42. Xtma Situ, o earl KoSpavTT]s, two unites, trhich are u7ie farthing. Hence it appears, that the Xeimiv, lepton, was the same as the prutah. The weight of the prvtnh was half a barley corn, and it was the smallest coin among the Jeirs, as the kodraiites, or farthing, was the smallest coin among the Romans. If the matter issue in law, strict justice will be dsiie, and your creditor be allowed the fulness of his just claim ; but if, while you are on the way, going to the magistrate, yfiu come to a friendly agreement with him, he will relax in his claims, take a part for the whole, and the composition be, in the end, both to his and your profit. This text has been considered a proper found^ition on which to build not only the doctrine of a purgatory, but also tluit ot universal restoration. But the most unwarrantable violence must be used before it can be pressed into the service of either of the above antiscriptural doctrines. At the most, tlie te.\t can only be considered as aOTe?a7)/?or!ca/representatior) of tlie procedure of the great Judge ; and let it ever be romemborf d, that, by the general consent of all, (except the basely interest- ed,) no metaphor is ever to be produced in proof of any doc- trine. In the things that concern our eternal salvation, we need the most pointed and express evidence on which taesta. Wish the faith of our souls. 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them ofo'd.] I?y the ancients, rots apxaioig, is omitted by nearly a hundred MSS. and some of thtin of the very greatest antiquity and autho- rity ; also by the Coptic, Ai^thiopic, Armenian, Gothic, and Slavonian versions ; hy four copies of the old Itala ; and liy Origen, Cyril, I'heophylact, Eiithymius, and Niiary. On this authority, Welstein and Griesbach have left it out of the text. 2S. Witosoererlooketh on a woman, to lust after her,] F.-mdit- lxr)rTai avTt)v, earnestly to covet her. The verb ejn9iu/!.h!, is un- doubtedly used here by our Lord, in the sense of coveting thrtiugh the influence of impure desire. The word is used in precisely the same sense, on the same subject, by IJerodo- ius, book the first, near the end. I will give the passnge, but I dare not translate it. To the learned reader it will justify my translation, and the unlearned must take my word. T/jt Eni6YMHSEI j-wi/aiA-oj Jiianaayerns avrip, ntcyerai afcoj;. Raphclius, on this verse, says, cmdvijciii, hoc loco, est turpi en- piditate mulieris potiujidce- fiagrare. In all these cases our blessed Lord points out the spirituality of the law; which M-as a matter to which the Jews paid very little attention, indeed it is the property of a Pharisee to abstain only from the outward crime. Meli are very often less inquisitive to know how far the will of God extends, that they may please him in performing it, than they are to know how far they may satisfy tlieir lusts without destroying their bodies and souls utterly, by an open violation of his law. Hath conimilled adultery tcith her already in his h.eart.] It is the earnest wish or desire of the soul, which, in a variety of cases, constitutes the good or evil of an act. If a man earnestly wish to commit an evil, but cannot, because GoJ puts tijne, place, and opportunity out of his power; he is fully chargeable with the iniciuity of the act, by that God who searches and judges tlie heart. So, if a man earnestly wish to do some kindness, which it is out of his power t" jierfoiiii, T'he offrnjivg eye,^ hand, if-r. CHAPTER V. Oflaxtfal and'unlaxcful dimrcei. 28 Bui I say unto you, 'Dial v\0io8oever * looketli on a woman, ^) lust after lier, liutli comuiitted adultei")' with her ah-eady in his lieart. 29 b And if thy ritjht eye ■= ofTend tliee, d plnck it out, and cast it from tliee : fur it is jjrofitable for thee that one of tliy mem- bers sliould perisli, and not that thy wliole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand oflTrnd thee, cut it ofi; and cast it from thee : for it is profitable for tliee that one of thy mem- bers should perish, and not that thy wliolo body should be cast into hell. 31 It hath been said, " Wliosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement : II. 2.— bCh. 18.8, 9. Mk.9.4S-4T. B Job .31. 1. Pro. 6. a. See tien M. 2. 2 aam e Or, do muse ihee ro offend.— d Sec Ch 19. Ii>. < Deu. 9t. 1. Jer 3. 1. See Ch. 19. 3, &c. Murk 10. 9, &< 1 Cor. 9. a?. Col. 3. i the art is considered as his ; because God, in tliis case, as in that above, takes the wi/l (or Die deed. If voluntary and deliberate loo/cs and de.xire.n make adullcrers and adulteresses, how many persons are there whose wliole life is one continued crime'? whose ei/es being full of aduliery, the)/ cannot cense from sin, 2 Pet. ii. 14. iS'lany would abhor to commit one external art before the eyes of men, in a temple of stone ; and yet they are not afraid to commit a multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in the sight of God ! 29. And if thy right eye offend thee.] The right eye and the right hand are u.'-cd here to point out tliose sins which aj)- jiear most pleasing and profilahle to us ; from which we must be separated, if we desire ever to see the kingdom of God. Offend thee.] TKavSaXt^nae. Te fait broncher, cause thee to stumble, French Bible. YKaviaXrfipn, is e.xjilahied by Sui- i But I say unto you, k siwear not at all ; neither by heaven ; for it is I God's tlirone : .3.) Nor by tiie earth ; for it is his footstool : neither by Jeru- salem ; for it is '"the city of the great king. 36 Ncitlier shalt thou swear "by thy iiead, because thoucansC not make one hair white or black. . f Ch. 19. 9. l-iikc IG. IS. Rom. 7. 3. 1 Cor. 7. 1(1, II.— e Ch. a. 16.— h F.t. m. 7. 1 Ps. -18. 2. & 37. 3. i Deu. 08. 2!.— k Ch. 33. IG, IS, i Gilend, Witness.' fn?v5?''l'^'"°'' 'I"® •'^''' *° prevent a greater; and, perhaps, to tvp,^, his repudiating the Jews, who were his first spouse! <>-. ixiving jor the cause of fornication.] Aojvv rropwia;, 071 account of irhoredom. As fornication signifies no more- than the unlawful conne;jion of unmarried persons, it can- not be used liere witli propriety, when speaking of those who are mnrried. I have therefore translated hiyov -nopvcia?, on account oj whoredom. It does not appear that there is any other case in which Jesus Christ admits of divorce. A real Christian ought rather to beg of God the grace to bear patient- ly and quietly the imperfections of his wife, than to think of the means ol being parted from her. " But divorce was al- lowed by Moses ; yes, for the hardness of their hearts it was permitted: but what was permitted to an uncircumcised lieait among the .Jews, should not serve for a rule to a heart in which the love of God lias been shed abroad bv the Holy Spirit. Tliose who form a matrimonial connexion hi the fea'r aiid love of God, and under his direction, will never need a (/; Korce. But those who marry as pa.ssion or money lead the way, may bo justly considered adulterers and adulteresses as long as tliey live. 33. 7'hou .shalt not forsteear thyself] They dishonour thft great God, and break this commandment, who use frequent oaths and imprecations, even in reference to things that are true: and those who make vows and promises which they either cannot perform, or do not design to fulfil, are not less criminal. Sicearing in civil matters is become so frequent, titat the dread and obligation of an oath are utterly lost in it. In certain places, wliere oaths are frequently adiiiinistered, people have been known to kiss their thumb' ov pe", instead of the book, thinking tliereby to avoid the sin of perjury ; but tins IS a shocking imposition on their souls. See the iiotas on Deuf. iv. 26. vi. 13. Perform tmto the Lord thine oaths.] The morality of the .Tews on this point was truly execrable: they maintained, that a man might swear with his lips, and annul it in the same moment in his heart. Rab. Akiba is quoted as an ex- ample of this kind of swearing. See Schoettgen. •34. Sicear not at all.] Much has been said in vindication of the propriety of swearing in civil ca.ses before a magistrate, and much has been said against it. The best wav is to have as little to do as possible with oaths. An oath will not bind a knave nor a liar ; and an honest man needs none, for his character and conduct swear for him. On this subject tlie advice of Epictetus is very good: "Swear not at all, if possi- ble ; if you cannot avoid, do it as little as you can." Eiichir. c. 4^1. See on Deut. iv. 20. vi. 13. 34, 35. Neither by heaven, &c.] It was a custom amoii" the Scythians, when they wished to bind themselves in the most solemn manner, to swear by the king's throne ; and if the king was at any time sick, they believed it was occasioned by some one's having taken the oath false! v. Herod. 1. iv Who is titere among the traders and people of this world who obey this law'? A common swearer is constantly per- juring himself; such a person should never be trusted. \V nen we make any promise contrary to the command of God, ta- king, as a pledge of our sincerity, either God, or something belonging to him, we engage that which is not oui-s, without the Master's consent. God manifests his glory in heaven an upon his throne; he imprints the footsteps of his perfections upon the earth, his footstool ; and shows, that his holiness and his grace reign in his temple as the place of his residence. Let it be our constant care to seek and honour God in all his works. 36, Neither shalt thou swear by thy head.] For these plain reasons ; 1st. God commands thee not to do it. 2dlv. Thou ha-st nothing which is My oicn, and thou shouldst no't pkidge another's property. 3dly. It never did, and never can, an- swer any good purpose. And 4thly. Being a breach of the law of God, it is the way to everlasting misery. 'i7. Let your communication be. Yea, yea; Nay, nay.] That is, a positive affirmation or negation, according to your knowledge of the matter concerning which you are called to testify. Do not equivocate ; mean what you assert, and ad- here to your assertion. Hear what a heathen says on this subject : "Exdnoi yap ijoi kcivos b/tus aiSao jrvXriaiv, O; ■x^trepov pcv kcvQci evi (ppetrii/ aXko Sc fia^ci. „ „ , Horn. n. ix. 312. He whose words agree not witli his private thoughts, is as detestable to me as tlie gates of hell." See on Josli. ii. dt the end. See the subject of stnearine particularly considered in the note at the conclusiuii of UeUt. chap. vi. 29 Against revenge, and ST. MATTHEW. resentment of injuries. 37 • But let your communication be, Vea, yea ; Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than these coineth of evil. 38 II Ye have heard that it hath been said, ^An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : 39 But I say unto vou, '' That ye resistnot evil : ^ but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. nr-ol. 4. 6. Jamas 5. 12— b Ex. 51. at. Lev. 24.20. Dcu. 19 21.— r. Pro. 211. £2. &. 84.29. Luke 6 29. Rom, 12. 17, 19. 1 Cor. «. 7. 1 Thess. 5. 1a 1 Pel, 3. a Whatsoever is more than these.] That is, more than a bare affirmatioH or negation, according to the reriuirements of Eternal Truth, cometh of evil; or, is of the wicked one—ZK Tov TTovrjoov tariv, i. e. the devil, the father of siiperjluities and lies.' One of Selden's MSS. and Gregory Nyssen, a com- nienlator of the fourth century, have « tov diajioXov eariv, is of the devil. That the .lews were notoriously guilty of common swearing, for which our Lord particularly reprehends them, and warns his disciples against; and that they swore by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, by their head, &c. the following extracts, made by Dr. Lightfoot from their own writhigs, amply testify : " It was customary and usual among them to swear by the crea- tures. ' If any sioear by heaven, by earth, by the sun, SfC. although the mind of the swearer be, v,nder these u-ords, to swear by Him who created them, yet this is not an oath. Or if any sicear by some of the prophets, or by some of the books of the Scripture, although the se)ise of the swearer be to su-ear by Him that sent that prophet, or that gave that book, never- theless this is not an oath.' Maimonides. If any adjure another by heaven or earth, he is not guilty. Talmud. They swore by hba%'EN, Nin p □•'Olfn hashshamayim, cenhti, ' By heaven, so it is.' Bab. Berac. ^'hey stcore by the temple. ' W'hen turtles and young pigeons icere sometimes sold at Jerusalemfor a penny of gold, Rabban Simeon ben Gama- liel said, nin inron By this habitation, (that i.s, by this tem- ple) / Jcill not rest this night unless they be sold for a penny of silver.' Cherituth, cap. i. H. Zechariah hen Ketsab said, TTin pynn ' By this tejiple, the hand of the woman de- parted not out of 7ny hand.' — R. Jochanan said, «S3^n, ' By the TEMPLE, it is in our hand,' &c. Ketuboth and Bab. KiDCSHi.v. Bava ben Buta swore by the temple, in the end of the tract Cherithuth, and Rabban Simeon ben Gama- liel in the beginning, Sn"!!:'^^ i7\m nn — And so icas the custom in Israel. Note this, so 2vas tlie custom. JucAS. fol. 56. They su'ore by the city Jerusalem. Ra b. Judah sa.Hh, 'He that f.iith, By .lERrsALEM, saiih nothing, unless with an intent purpose he shall vow towards Jerusalem.' Where also, after •wo lines coming between those forms of swearing and vow- ing, are added, V^TiD hy^S V^Ti n'7tri-\''3 o'jtyi-i-'S D'7tt'i-\i 'Jerusalem, For Jerusalem, By Jerusalem. — The Temple, fhrthe Temple, By the Temple.— The Altar, For the Altar, By the Altar. — 7'he Lamb, For the Lamb, By the Lamb. — The chambers of the Temple, For the chambers of the Temple, By the cha^nbers of the Temple. — The Word, For the Word, By the Word. — U'he Sacrifices on fire, For the Sacrifices on fire. By the Sacrifices on fire. — The Dishes, For the Dishes, By the Dishes. — By all these things that I will do this to you.' Tosaph. ad Nedarim. They swore by their own heads, ' One is bound to swear to his neighbour, and he saith, yvH-\ ^Tii^'^ niT Vow (or swear) to me by the life of thy head,' &c. Ranhedr. cap. 3. " One of the holiest of their precepts relative to swearing was this ; ' Be not much in oaths, although one should swear concerning things that are true : for in much sreearing it is impossible not to profane.' Tract, Demai," — See Lightfoot's Works, Vol. II. p, l'49. They did not pretend to forbid all common swearing, but only what tliey term much, A .lew might swear, but he must not be too abundant in the practice. Against such permission our Lord opposes his Swear not at all! He who uses any o ith, except what he is solemnly called by the magistrate to make, so far from being a Christiaii, he does not deserve the reputation, either of decency, or common sense. In some of our old elementary books for children, we have this good maxim : " Never .iwcar : for he that swears will lie; and he. that lies will steal ; and if so, what bad things will he not do," Reading made Easy. 3R. An eye for an eye.] Our Lord refers here to the law of re- taliation mentioned Ex. xxi, 24. (see the note there, and on Lev, xxiv, 20.) which obliged the offender to suffer the same inju- ry he had committed. The Greeks and Romans had the same law. So strictly was it attended to at Athens, that if a man put oTit the eye of another who had but one, the offender was condemned to lose botli his eyes, as the loss of one would not be an equivalent misfortune. It seems that the Jews had made this law (the execution of which belonged to the civil magistrate) a ground for authorizing private resentments, and all the excesses committed by a vindictive spirit. Ko- venge was often carried to the utmost extremity, and more evil returned than what had been received. This is often the case among those who are called Christians, 39. Resist not evil] Or, the evil person. So, T am fully persuaded, tm ttovtipm, ought to be translated. Our Lord's meaning is, " Do not repel one outrage by another," He that does so, makes himself precisely what the other is, a wicked person. ^y-rn to himthe other also.] That is, rather than avenge thy- «elf, M r«ady to auflVr patiently a repetition of the same in- 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take awaj thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 41 And wliosoever ' shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain, 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and < from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away, (ilsa. so. 6. Lam, 3, 30. -e Ch. £7. 33. Mark.15. 21.— f Dou. 15. B, 10. Loke 6. 30, ?.-!. Rom, 12. 20. jury. But these exhortations belong to those principally who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Let such leave the judgment of their cause to Him for whose sake they suffer. The Jews always thought that every outrage sliould be resent- ed : and thus the spirit of hatred and strife was fostered. 40. And if any man will sue thee at the laic] Every where our blessed Lord shows the utmost disapprobation of such litigations as tended to destroy brotherly-kindness and cha- rity. It is evident he would have his followers to suflTer rather the loss of all tlieir property, than to have recourse to such modes of redress at so great a risk. Having the mind averse from contentions, and preferring peace and concord to tem- poral advantages, is most solemnly recommended to all Chris- tians. We are great gainers when we lose only our luoney or other property, and risk not the loss of our souls by losing the love of God and man. Coat.] 'S.iTwva, upper garment. — Cloak, luariov, under gar- meyit. What we call strait coat, and great coat. See on Luke vi, 29. 41. Shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."] \yya- ptvaci. This word is said to be derived from the Persian-^, among whom the king's messengers or post^, were called Ayyapoi, or Angari. This definition is given both by Hesy- chius and Suidas. The Persian messengers had the royal authority fortress- ing horses, ships, and even men, to assist them in the business on which they were employed. These, Angari are now termed Chappars, and serve to carry despatches between the court and the provinces. When a chappar sets out, the master of the horse furnishes him with a single horse, and when that is weary, he dismounts the first man he meets, and takes his horse. There is no pardon for a traveller that refuses to let a chappar have his horse, nor for any other who should deny him the best horse in his stable. See Sir J. C'hardin's and Hanway's travels. For pressing post-horses, &c, the Persian term is (^■p^ Hjs^^ut , Sukhreh geriften. I find no Persian word exactly of the sound and signification of Ayyapof ; but the Arabic s,>ti(, agharet, signifies spurring a. horse, attack- ing, plundering, &c. The Greek word itself is preserved among the rabbins in Hebrew characters, H'^'^i^H angaria, and it has precisely the same meaning; viz. to be compelled by violence to do any particvilar service, especially of the public kind, by the king's authority. Lightfoot gives several instan- ces of this kind in his Horce, Tabnudica. We are here exhorted to patience and forgiveness : FHrst, when we receive in our persons all sorts of insults and afl^'ronts, ver, 39, Secondly, When we are despoiled of our goods, ver. 40. Thirdly, When our bodies are forced to undergo all kinds of toils, vexations, and torments, ver, 41. The way to improve the injustice of man to our own advantage, is to exercise under it meekness, gentleness, and long-sufTering, without which disposition of mind, no man can either be happy here or hereafter : for he that avenges himself, must lose the mind of Christ, and thus suffer an injury ten thousand times greater than he can ever receive from man. Revenge, at such an ex- pense, is dear indeed, 42. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow.] To give and lend freely to all who are in need, is a general precept from which we are only excused by our inability to perform it. Men are more or less obliged to' it as they are more or less able, as the want is more or less press- ing : as they are more or less burthened with common poor, or with necessitous relatives. In all these matters, both pru- dence and charity must be consulted. That God, who makes use of the beggar's hand to ask our charity, is the same from whom we ourselves beg our daily bread : and dare we refuse HIM ! Let us show at least mildness and compassion, when we can do no more : and if we cannot or will not relieve a poor man, let us never give him an ill word nor an ill look. If we do not relieve him, we have no right to insult him. To give and to lend, are two duties of charity which Christ joins Together, and which he sets on equal footing, A rich man is one of God's stewards, God has given him money for the poor, and he cannot deny it without an act of injustice. But no man, from what is called a principle of charity or geije, rosity, should give that in alms which belongs to his credit- ors. ' Generosity is godlike, h\x\. Justice has ever, both in Law and Gospel, the'first claim, A loan is often more beneficial than an absolute gift ; first, because it flatters less the vanity of him who lends : secondly, it spares more the shame of him who is in real want : and thirdly, it gives less encouragement to the idleness of him who may not be very honest. However, no advantage should be taken of the necessities of the borrower ; he who does so, is at least An// a murderer. The lending which our Lord here inculcates, is that which requires no more than the restora- tion of the principal in a convenient time : otherwiBe to IJV8 upon trust is the sure way to pay dofible. tVe must love CHAPTER V. onr enemies, >and hatetlilne enemy. 44 But I say unto you, '^Lovc your enemies; ble^s them that ciu-se you ; do good to them that hate you ; and pray tual war upon you, and constant- ly harassing and calumniating you. Pray for them— This is another exquisitely reasonable precept. I cannot change that wicked man's heart; and while it is unchanged he will continue to harass me : God alone can change it : then I must implore him to do that which will at once secure the poor man's salvation, and contribute so much to my own peace. And persecute you.] Ak.jkoi/tow, those who press hard on and pursue you whh hatred and malice, accompanied with repeated acts of enmity. In this verse our Lord shows us that a man may be our en- emy in three different ways. First, in his heart, by hatred. Secondly, in his words, by cursing or using direful impreca- tions (Karap wi^cfovi) against us. Thirdly, in his actions, by continually harassing and abusing us. He shows us also how we are to behave to those. The hatred of Ihe first, we are to meet with love. The cursings or er(7 words o{ the second, we are to meet with good words and blessings. And the repeated iyijnrious acts of the third, we arc to meet with continual prayer to God for tlie man's salvation. ^ 45. That ye may be the children of your Father.] Instead of Dial, children, some MSS. the latter Persic version, and seve- ral of the primitive Fathers, read Snotot, that ye may be like to or resemble your Father who is in heaven. This is certain- ly our Lord's meaning. As a man's child is called his, be- ^ cause a partaker of his own nature, so a holy pijrson is said 'to be a child of God, because he is a partaker of the divine nature. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil.] "There is nothing preater than to imitate God in doing good to our enemies. All the creatures of God pronounce the sentence of condemnation on the revengeful : and this sentence is written by the rai/s of the sun, and with the drops of rain, and indeed by all the natural good things, the use of which C^d freely gives to his enemies." if God had not loved us while we were his cne- 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for ' he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good ; and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 4(J f For if ye love them which lave you, what reward hare ye ) do not even the publicans the same 1 d Lk. S3. 34. Acts 7. CO. 1 Cor. 4. 12, 13. I Pel. 2. 23. & 3. 9.— e .lob 25. 3.-f Lk. 6. 33. niies, we could never have become his children : and we shall cease to be such, as soon as we cease to imitate him. 46. For if ye love them ivhich love you.] He who loves only his friends, does nothing for God's sake. He who loves for the sake uf pleasure or interest, pays himself. God has no enemy whicli he hates but sin ; we should have no other. The publicans.] Thatis, tax-gatherers. reXui/at, from TtAof, a tar, and diveofiat, Ibuyorfarm. A farmer or collector o{ tlie taxes or public revenues. Of these there were two classes ; the superior, who were Romans of Uie equestrian order; and tlie inferior, tliose mentioned in the Gospels, who it appears were mostly Jews. This class of men was detestable among the Romans, the Greeks, and the Jews, for their intolerable ra- pacity and avarice. They were abhorred in an especial man- ner by the Jews, to whom the Roman government was odi- ous; these assisting in collecting the Roman tribute, were considered as betrayers of the liberties of their country, and abettors of those who enslaved it. They were something like the tithe farmers in a certain country — a principal catise of the public burthens and itiscontent. One quotation, of the many produced by Kypke, will amply show in what detesta- tion they were held among the Greeks. Theocritus being asked. Which of the wild beasts were tlie most cruell answered, Ei' lav tou opcatv, apKToi Kat Xtwrts' ev Sc rais troXeaivTEAil'SAl xai uvKuipiwrat. Bears and lions in the mountains ; and tax-gatherers and calum- niators in cities. 47. And if ye salute your brethren only.] Instead of aieXipovi, brethren, upwards of one hundred MSS., and seve- ral of them of great authority and antiquity, have )i/, alm-^, or i^iKaioavvrtv, righteousness. I answer, " 1. That our Saviour certainly said npnx tsidekah, right- eousness, (or in Syriac unpnt zidkatha) I make no doubt at all ; but that that word could not be otherwise understood by the common people thanof a'w*-, there is as little doubt to be made. For although tlie word ■r\p^i tsideka/t, according to the idiom of the Old Testament, signifies nothing else than right- eousne.9s : yet now, when our Saviour spoke tliese words, it signified nothing so much as alms. " 11. Christ used also the same word snpit zidkatha, right- eousness, in the three verses next following, and Matthew tised the word cXcriiiocwriv, alms : but by what right, I beseech you, should he call it ^«caia