fcibrarjp of Che t:heological ^eminarjo PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY Rev. J. C. Backus, DD, LL.D. Baltimore, Md. AN EXPOSITION OF THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD; SHOWING THEIR CONNECTION WITH HIS MINISTRY, THEIR PROPHETIC CHARACTER, THEIR GRADUAL DEVELOPEMENT OF THE WITH A PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION ON THE PARABLE. BY THE REV. B. BAILEY, M.A. DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LOUD TORPHICHEN. Scilicet Deus Pater, quemadinodum per Filium suum Mundum primitus condidit creavitque ; ita per eundem Filium se deinceps Miindo patefecit. BuLLi Episcopi Defeimo Fidei NicenoB. ^ '( LONDON: 'printed for JOHN TAYLOR, 30, UPPER GOWER STREET, Bookseller and Publisher to the University of London ; AND SOLD BY JAMES DUNCAN, PATERNOSTEK HOW, J. A. HESSEY, FLEET STREET, AND JOHN HATCilARD AND SON, PICCADILLY. 1828. LONDON : IRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, Dorset Strccl, Tlcet Street. TO THE EPISCOrAL CONGllEGATION OF AliERBllOTHWICK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED THE FOLLOWING EXPOSITION OF THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD BY THEIR LATE PASTOR THE AUTHOR. -fTvOPLfj/y cf PBIITCETOIT HtC. AI0V1881 THaOLOGIC.:& MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, The substance of the present Volume was ori- ginally composed for your use, and, in sermons or lectures, was delivered in the Episcopal Chapel, in Arbroath, during the period that I was your Pastor. It afterwards occurred to me that, by some such arrangement as I have attempted to make of these inestimable portions of the Sacred Oracles, I might compile a work, though humble, yet of more ex- tensive usefulness than discourses delivered only once from the pulpit. But as the several expo- sitions were, with very few exceptions, first com- posed for your use, I have tliought it but jus- tice to you, as it is a pleasing office to myself, to inscribe the whole volume to you. With regard to the work itself it becomes me to say little. It is before the public ; it is beyond the Author's province to decide upon it, as it is out of liis power to recall it. In this, as in every VI age of the Republic of Letters, no one is justified in coming before the Public Tribunal, unless he at least supposes his Work to be in some respects new, either in its matter, or in its arrangement. The Arrangement of the Parables of the New Testament, in this Work, is all that can be claimed as original. The Author may indeed, as will be dis- covered by the intelligent Reader, have formed opi- nions for himself on some points : but the substance of the Exposition lies within the reach of every Bib- lical Scholar, — not to say of every Clergyman, — who is tolerably skilled in Christian Theology. That which may perhaps recommend it to my former parishioners, — the form, which some of the expo- sitions still retain, of their original character, as delivered from the pulpit — rather injures the work as a whole. But it is difficult, as all who are accustomed to literary composition must know, to alter the first form of matter, when it is wished to be prepared in a form more suited to the press. If the present arrangement be not, as I humbly think it is, original, I must throw myself upon the mercy of the public ; and, rather than be dishonest, I must confess my ignorance, which indeed is no excuse. I am aware that, partially, the Parables Vll have been considered as in this Exposition. Some of them have been — and must always have been — considered as prophetic. But I know not that there has been a total arrangement of them, which professes to show their connection with the ministry of our Lord, as well as their prophetic character, and their gradual developement of the Gospel Dis- pensation. Diffident, as I feel myself, as to the details of the work, the arrangement itself, though it should in some respects be found erroneous, may, I humbly think, lead to discussion which cannot fail to be useful. If it show, in a novel — and surely a pow- erful— light, the Divinity of the Redeemer, much indeed will be accomplished ; and this is the main subject, which has never been out of the Author's mind throughout the whole of the follow- ing Exposition. The Parables, more than any other parts of the New Testament, prove, almost to de- monstration, the substance of what is prefixed in the title-page of this work, from the profoundly learned Bishop Bull — " That as the Father ori- ginally framed and created the world by His Son ; so by the same Son he afterwards manifested himself to the world." VIll One other subject very naturally suggests itself, in the inscription of this small work to you who, for some years, were under my pastoral charge. This is the character of sermons, which is best adapted to the people, and best fitted to keep to- gether a congregation, especially in Scotland, the difficulties of which I never experienced until I had a charge in that country. In an age, too much addicted to preaching, in preference to prayer and the practical duties of re- ligion— in a country, surrounded by tliose who, to speak most mildly, are by no means friendly to our cause and to our church — unprotected as we are, by the State, except as a Sect of Dissenters from the establishment — an English Clergyman finds himself placed in a much more arduous situation than in the southern part of the Island, — a situa- tion which is the more difficult, because it is en- tirely new to him, — a situation which demands all his ability and all his prudence. Under such circumstances he must comply with the temper of the times without compromising his duty. While, as a conscientious Pastor, he will place the highest value upon the prayers and the sacraments of the Church, and upon those offices IX which are properly pastoral, he must provide liis people with such discourses as, both in matter and manner, will not induce, or rather will not tempt them, to wander elsewhere for instruction ; he must combine pleasure with profit. Christian principles with the manner and language of a public speaker. The demand, likewise, of two sermons in every week not only augments the labour of the preacher, but very considerably increases the difficulty of sa- tisfying his audience with that variety of subjects, and of the manner of handling them, which may instruct the mind without fatiguing the attention. With these views, as to the usefulness of our public discourses, my usual habit has been to preach on some doctrinal point of our holy religion, ge- nerally connected with some part of the services of the day, in the morning, addressed indeed to all classes of people, but chiefly adapted to the better educated among the higher, and to the more thoughtful among the lower. The evening dis- course has been, generally, practical or expository. It is upon this last species of sermon, or lec- ture, that I wish to say a few words. The com- mon subjects of practical usefulness, when singly handled, are soon exhausted ; and a few paragraphs, at tlie close of an expository or a doctrinal ser- mon, which has been confined to the doctrines or the language of the Holy Scriptures, will be fre- quently more efficacious than a single discourse, however eloquently composed or energetically de- livered, upon a solitary subject. For this purpose, I humbly suggest to my cle- rical brethren that expository discourses on chosen portions, either of the Old or New Testament, will be found in a high degree useful. The cha- racters, for instance, of the Hebrew Scriptures are so infinitely varied ; there is a truth and simpli- city about the manners of the patriarchs, and in the narratives of the sacred historians ; there is an vinveiled exposure of the vices, as well as a natural and almost unconscious display of the vir- tues, of men who were the chosen instruments of the Divine dispensations ; — all which, exhibited in action and painted to the life, cannot fail to strike an audience much more forcibly than many ela- borate moral discourses against the vices, or in favour of the virtues, thus held out, in the charac- ters of human beings like themselves, for their praise, or for their reprobation. Such discourses, moreover, give the preacher an opportunity of correcting, as he goes along, many XI vulgar errors respecting various passages of the Scriptures, which have been handed down from generation to geneiation without contradiction, or which may have been more recently infused into the public mind by the insidious sneers of the infidel scoffer. Much moi-e rises to my mind on this interesting, and, I must think, important subject than it befits me to write in this address. But I need no further argument to enforce my opinions than the authority of the justly admired Bishop Home, who, in the elegant preface to his Commentary on the Book of Psalms, speaking of himself, writes thus : — " The Author has frequently taken occasion, in the course of his ministry, to explain a Psalm from the pulpit ; and wheresoever he has done so, whe- ther the audience were learned or unlearned, pohte or rustic, he has generally had the happiness to find the discourse, in an especial manner, noticed and remembered."* The following Exposition of the Parables of our Lord was first, as you, my friends, must be aware, preached, with very few exceptions, in separate evening discourses, upon each parable : and if, as I hope, they were neither uninteresting nor uniii- * Piefacc to Home's Commentary on the Psalms, ^). Ixxi. xu structive to you from the pulpit, I trust that they will not fail to excite some interest, and be pro- ductive of some instruction, as proceeding from the press. Circumstances, over which I have no control, have removed me from my pastoral charge over you. The bodily affliction of one most near and dear to me transports me to a foreign country and to a milder clime. I pray God, and I cannot doubt, that your souls' health will prosper in other hands. But although it is most probable that you will see my face in the flesh no more, I trust that my ministry among you, imperfect as I must painfully feel that it has been, has, nevertheless, not been wholly without fruits. And while I pray that God may preserve your bodies, and souls, and spirits unto the Coming of the Lord Jesus, and, at the same time, entreat your prayers for myself, I present to you this Volume as an humble but sincere testimony of my regard, and of my affection for the flock, over which 1 have been, for some years, the appointed Overseer, and as the best pledge that I can give that I am, and shall ever remain. My dear friends, Your faithful and affectionate servant. London, May 12, 1828. CONTENTS. Preliminary Dissertation on the Nature and Origin of" the Parable Page CHAPTER I. Parables introductory to the more direct Pro- mises AND Descriptions of the Kingdom of God. Sect. I. The Penitent Sinner, in which is introduced the ParableoftheCreditor and two Debtors . 43 II. The Sower . . . .58 CHAPTER n. Parables descriptive of Christ's Kingdom Sect. I. The Tares II. The Grain of Mustard Seed III. The Leaven . . - IV. The Hidden Treasure . —— V. The Pearl of Great Price . VI. The Net VII. The Householder VIII. The Patched Garment, and the New Wine 75 99 103 105 109 112 115 117 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. Parables setting forth the Graces and Duties which are necessary to, and vices which ex- CLUDE FROM THE Kingdom of God. Page Sect. I. The Unmerciful Servant . . 125 II. The Good Samaritan . . . 142 III. The Rich Glutton . . .1G2 IV. The Highest and Lowest Rooms at Feasts . 170 V. The Unjust Steward . . .176 VI. The Rich Man and Lazarus . . 192 CHAPTER IV. Parables on the Efficacy of Repentance. Sect. I. The Lost Sheep . . .216 ■ II. The Lost Piece of Money . . 226 III. The Prodigal Son . • . 231 CHAPTER V. Parables on the true nature of Prayer. Preliminary Remauks on Prayer . . . 2jI Sect, 1. The Importunate Widow . . 259 II. The Publican and Pharisee . . 270 CHAPTER VI. Parables foretelling the Destruction of Jeru- salem, the End of the Jewish Polity, and the Preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Sect. I. The First Parable of the Fig-tree . .281 II. The Labourers in the Vineyard . • 291 . HI. The Two Sons . • .310 IV. The Vineyard . . • 312 V. The Marriage Feast . . -359 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER VU. Parables whereby Christ designates himself. Page Sect. I. The Good Shepherd . . .380 II. The True Vine . . .408 CHAPTER VHI. Parables preparatory to the Day of Judgment. Sect. I. The Second Parable of the Pig- tree . . 420 ■ II. The Wise Householder, the Faithful and Wise Servant, and the Evil Servant . . 438 CHAPTER IX. Parables descriptive of the Day of Judgment. Sect. I. The Wise and Foolish Virgins . . 449 U. The Talents . . .465 III. The Sheep and the Goats , . 477 Conclusion ..... 494 Appendix ..... 512 ERRATA. Page 1, — 1. 5, 6. for " in which words are used instead of colours," read " in which colours are used instead of words." Last line of Notes, for " c. 6. s. 20." read " c. 20. s. 6. p. 279. 5th Edit." — 18, — Note. 1. 2. after " Cicero Tuscul." instead of '• Lucret." read " Quaest." — 70, — 1. 2. for " to the exclusion, but to the abatement," read " to the abatement, but to the exclusion." — 74, — 1. 8, 9. for " which this world, as he passes through it, presents to the eyes of every man," read " which this world presents to the eyes of every man, as he passes through it." — 154, — 1. 14. /or " them," read "• it." ^ - 224, — Note. 1. 5, 6. for " fxtravoias," read '■'■ fifTavoia." — 245,— Note, for "verses 15— 19," read " Eph. ii. 14, 16, 18, 19." PEIITGETOIT REC. NOV 1881 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION ON THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. The Parable is a species of allegory, and has been accurately defined, a figure which, under the literal sense of the words, conceals a foreign and distant meaning.* An allegory has been com- pared to an hieroglyphical painting, in which words are used instead of colours. They produce the same impressions upon the mind. An hieroglyphic excites two images ; one seen, which represents one not seen. An allegory describes the subject in- tended to be rej)resented by such figures as lead the mind to compare the resemblance, and to apply the description to the subject represented. The figure, as the name implies, regards the expres- sion, not the thought ; and therefore, though the words are to be taken in a literal sense, they con- ceal, and are intended to convey a meaning alto- gether distinct from that which is j)roper to them.f * Lowth's Praelect. x. f Karnes's Elements of Criticibin, vol. ii. c. 6. s. 20. Ji 2 ON THE NATURE AND As for instance, in that fine allegory of the Jewish State, in the eightieth Psalm, which commences in these words :— " Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt ;" the word " vine," and the other figu- rative expressions throughout the allegory, are to be taken in a literal sense ; but the meaning which they convey is not that a vine was really trans- planted from Egypt into Palestine, but that the Jewish people were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, and removed into the land of Promise, where they flourished in. freedom and prosperity. The parable is that kind of allegory which con- sists in a continued narration of a fictitious event, applied, by way of simile, to the illustration of some important truth. It is in short a fable, to which, in addition to the allegorical resemblances of facts or natural truths, is affixed a moral meaning. A celebrated critic remarks, that " What we call fables or parables, are no other than allegories ; where, by words and actions attributed to beasts or inanimate objects, the dispositions of men are figured ; what we call the moral is the unfigured sense or meaning of the allegory."* The allegory which symbolizes facts is indeed, as the rhetoricians have justly designated it, an aenigma or riddle, in which the resemblances are darkly con- trived in order that they may exercise the ingenuity of the reader to unfold them. Such is the well-known allegory of Solomon, which so pathetically, though obscurely, depicts old age by the gradual debility * Blair's Lectures, xv. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 3 of the mind and body, by the torpor of the senses, and by the gradual decay and insensible decline of the whole machine. All the images are derived from facts incidental to our common nature, the resem- blances of natural phenomena ; and by this a^nigma, after the manner of the Oriental sages, did Solomon choose to exercise the acuteness of his readers. The resemblances, indeed, are so obscure, that they have employed the learning and ingenuity of succeeding ages to resolve the riddle. But the parabolic kind of allegory is not only the comparison of things together by means of fictitious resemblances, which indeed is the meaning of the woi'd Parable ; but it is this comparison, when it conveys some important moral truth, which is the unfigured sense or meaning. The figurative re- semblances of this species of allegory, which is the Parable, should not be too dark. " The meaning shoidd be easily seen through the figure employed to shadow it. Such compositions require a proper mixture of light and shade, and exact adjustment of all the figurative circumstances with the literal sense, so as neither to lay the meaning too bare and open, nor to cover or wrap it up with too many or too obscure resemblances."* Of this character are the Scriptural allegories, par- ticularly the beautiful one, already referred to, in the eightieth Psalm. The Vine is made to represent God's own people, the Jews. The leading events of the history of the Divine dispensations respecting that * Blair'h Lectures, xx. B 2 4 ON THE NATURE AND people are beautifully shadowed ; and the moral truth of their ingratitude and unwortbiness is art- fully insinuated, by the fact that the justice of the Divine Being has punished them in withdrawing from them his distinguished favour. This is more clearly shown by the literal expression of the Psalmist's prayer at the conclusion : — " Return, O God of Hosts ; look down from Heaven, and behold, and visit this Vine." The antiquity of this species of composition ex- cites our veneration, while it adds keenness and ardour to our inquiry into its origin. " Whoever," says an ingenious writer, " enters into the learning of antiquity, or, if already learned, recollects what he has met with, will soon discover that theologians, moralists, politicians, philosophers, astronomers, all who have made any pretensions to wisdom, have used the language of symbols : as if the mind were turned by nature to this kind of expression, as the tongue to sounds ; and indeed this language of signs is, properly speaking, the language of the mind ; which understands and reasons from the ideas, or images of things imprinted upon the ima- gination."* It is likewise the remark of the profound Lord Bacon, " That in the infancy of learning, and in rude times, when those conceits which are now trivial were then new, the world was full of para- bles and similitudes ; ' for else would men either have passed over without mark, or else rejected * Jones's Lectures on the Figurative Language of the Holy Scriptures, Theol. Works, a^oI. iii. p. 183. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 15 " Such a general concurrence," says Warburton, " in the method of recording the thoughts, can never be supposed the effect of chance, imitation, or par- tial purposes ; but must needs be esteemed the uniform voice of nature, speaking to the first rude conceptions of mankind : for the reader may be subjoin the following translation, by M . Letronne, of a celebrated passage on Egyptian writing, from the Stromata of Clemens Alexandrinus, ' which/ says a modern writer, 'was strangely mis- understood by Warburton, though his sagacity showed him what it ought to signify.* — " Ceux qui parmi les Egyptiensre9oivent de I'instruction, apprennent d'abord le genre d'ecriture Egyptienne qu'on appelle Epislolographique : [ils apprennent] en second lieu I' Hieratique, dont se serve les hierogrammates ; et enfin I'Hiero- glyphiquc. L'hicroglyphique [est de deux genres], I'un exprimant an propre les objets par les lettres, I'autre les representant par des symboles. L'hicroglyphique Symbolique [se subdivise en plusieurs especes] : I'une represente les objets an propre par imita- tion ; I'autre les exprime tropiquement; la troisieme, aucontraire, les rappelle au moyen de certains allegories enigmatiques. Ainsi, d'apres lamethode de representer les objets au prnpre,lesEigY^tiens veulent-ils ecrire le Soleil, ils font un cercle ; la lime, ils tracent la figure d'un croissant. Dans la methode tropique, ils representent les objets au moyen d'analogies [ou de proprietes semblables], qu'ils transportent dans I'expression de ces objets, tantot par des modifications ^de forme], tantot, et plus souvent, par des trans- formations totales. Ainsi, ils representent par des anagli/phes [bas-reliefs allegoriques], les louanges de leurs rois, quand ils veulent les faire connaitre au moyen de mythes religieux, Voici un exemple de la troisieme especc [d'ecriture hieroglyphique], qui emploie des allusions enigmatiqnes : les Egyptiens figurcnt les astres [planetaires] par un serpent, h. cause de I'obliquite de leur course ; mais le soleil est figure par un scarabee." " M. Letronne has shown in his commentary on this passage, (Precis, 329 — 401.) that the three kinds of writing mentioned by Clemens, the Epistolographic, Hieratic, and Hieroglyphic, cor- respond exactly with the two named by Herodotus, Diodorus, and the Rosetta Inscription j for the first, which ' expressed ob- 16 ox THE NATURE AND pleased to observe, tlmt not only the Chinese of the East, the Mexicans of the West, and the Egyptians of the South, but the Scythians likewise of the North, (not to speak of those intermediate inhabi- tants of the earth, the Indians, Phcenicians, Ethio- pians, Etruscans, &c.) all used the same way of jects as they are, without figure or metaphor, by means of the letters of the alphabet, is manifestly the Demotic of Herodo- tus and Diodorus, and the Enchorial of the Rosetta Stone : the second and third, which are ' the sacred letters' spoken of by the two historians, are the hieroglyphics of the Inscription. He also proves by a passage from Plutarch, (Symp. ix. 3.) that by ' the first letters of the alphabet,' Clemens means those borrow- ed from the Phoenicians by Cadmus, which are the very letters for which M. Champollion's researches have found hieroglyphical representatives in the Egyptian papyri and inscriptions." — British Critic and Quarterly Theological Review, No. I. p. 150. I shall add Warburton's version, with the original Greek of Clemens, with which both versions may be compared by the learned reader. — " Now those who are instructed in the Egyp- tian wisdom, learn first of all the method of their several sorts of letters ; the first of which is called Epistolic {_Epislologra- phic'\ ; the second Sacerdotal {^Hieratic^, as being used by the sa- cred scribes ; the last, with which they conclude their instruc- tions, Hieroglyphical. Of these different methods, the one is in the plain and common way of writing by the first elements of words, or letters of an alphabet ; the other by sijmhols. Of the symbolic way of writing, which is of three kinds ; the first is that plain and common one of imitating the figure of the thing represented ; the second is by tropical marks ; and the third, in a contrary way, of allegorizing by enigmas. Of the first sort, namely, by a plain and direct imitation of the figure, let this stand for an instance : — To signify the sun, they made a circle; the moon, a half circle. The second, or tropical way of writing, is by changing and transferring the object with justice and pro- priety : this they do, sometimes by a simple change, sometimes by a complex multifarious transformation ; thus they leave en- ORIGIN OF THE PAKABLE. 17 writing by picture and hieroglyphic. — But," adds this learned and ingenious author, " to show still clearer, that it was nature and necessity, and not choice and artifice, which gave birth and continuance to these several specieses of hieroglyphic writing, we shall now take a view of the rise and progress of its sister art, the art of Speech ; and having set them together and compared them, we shall see with l)leasure, how great a lustre they mutually reflect upon one another ; for, as St. Austin elegantly ex- presses it, Sigjia sunt vekba visibilia ; verba SIGNA AUDIBILIA."* We need not follow the learned prelate through graven on stones and pillars the praises of their kings, under the cover of theologic fables. Of the third sort, by enigmas, take this example : the oblique course of the stars occasioned their representing them by the bodies of serpents ; but the sun they likened to a scarabaeus." Div. Leg. ut supra, p. 142, 400. 'AuTixa oj Trap' hlywurion; 7Tai^suoiJ,BVOi TtpooTOV (xsv Travrcov twv AlyuTTTiMV ypafx.fj.uTMV fxeSo^ov ex[ji,uvSuvov(ri, xr/V EOlSTOAO- rPA4>lKHN xaXouixsvYiV dsuTspov de, tyjv 'lEPATIKHN, fj xp^v- TUi qI ifpoyp«ju,ju.«T£«j" v(TT(XTT,v Ze xut TeXsvTaiciv Tfi'j 'lEPOrAT- ^IKHN, ^j r) u^BV s; /x?v KVfioXoysirai xarx |«,«/x>j(r»v, Yj Is MCTTTsp TPOHIKflS ypafsTUi, rj 8s uvTixpv; a,\Xrjyo- pehoii xuTU Ttvui AINirMOT2- 'HAjov youv ypa^ai /3ooAojtx.evo» xuxAov TTOiotJcrj, (XsKti'i/riV Ss (Tx^,[j.ci jarjvosjSej, xutcc to xvpioXoyov[JiE~ vov eiZog' TpOTtixMc, Is xolt oixeJoVrjTa jU-srayovTrj x«j /xeTaTiSsvTej-, xa 8' e^aXXaTTOVTef, ra Ss ttoXAixwj ^zTv.eautiful apo- logue, which was delivered on that occasion, was to paint, in the most vivid colours, the folly of tlie Shecheiiiites, and to foretell their ruin in choosing Abimelech for their king. This apologue I shall in- sert in tins place. * See Warburtou's Div. Leg. ut supra^ p. 133 ; and the in- stiii'ces lie adduces from Scripture of this mode of conversation. ORIGIN OF THK PARABLE. 23 " The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them ; and they said unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees ? And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig-tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees ? Then said the trees unto the vine. Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees ? Then said all the trees unto the bramble. Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees. If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow : and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon."* " Thus," says the learned author of whom I have made sucli free use, " we see the common foundation of all these various modes of writing and spmkingy was a picture or image, jDresented to the imagination through the eyes and ears ; which being the simplest and most universal of all kinds of information (the first reaching those who could not decipher the ar- * Judges ix. 8 — 15. See note to Chap. VII. Sect. 2. for an explanation of the words — " Should I leave my wine which cheereth God and man" — in this apologue, which has excited much scoffing in the infidel. — The reader will naturally call to mind the exquisite paralde of "the little ewe-lamb," (2 Sam. xii. 1.) by Avhich the prophet Nathan reproves David for his sin in the matter of Uriah the Hittito. 24 ON THE NATURE AND bitraiy characters of an alphabet ; and the latter in- structing those who were yet strangers to abstract terms), we must needs conclude to be the natural in- ventions of rude necessity.*'* I shall conclude this introductory Dissertation with some remarks on the parables of the New Testa- ment, which are attempted to be arranged and ex- pounded in this work. But before I take leave of the allegorical parts of the Old Testament, I cannot refrain from observing, and, as far as I am able, re- futing, a very dangerous notion, cherished at all times by infidels, and occasionally entertained by believers both among the ancients and moderns. This is, that the Garden of Eden, and indeed all the circumstances of the Creation and Fall of our first parents, are not real, but allegorical. This no- tion has been recently revived by an author, eminent indeed for his learning, and in the highest degree * " How nearly the apologue and instruction hy action are related, may be seen in the account of Jeremiah's adventure with the Rechabites, (ch. xxxv.) ; an instruction partaking of the joint nature of action and apologue. This was the birth of the Fable ; a kind of speech which corresponds, in all respects, to nn'iting hy hieroglyphics, each being the symbol of something else understood. And, as it sometimes happened, when an hie- roglyphic became famous, it lost its particular signification, and assumed a general one ; as the Caduceus, for instance, which was at first painted only to denote the pacific office of Hermes, became in time to be the common symbol of league and amity : So it was with the Apologue ; of which, when any one became celebrated for the art and beauty of its composition, or for some extraordinary efficacy in its application, it was soon converted and worn into a Proverb." — Div. Leg. ut supra, p. 138, MO. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 25 imitable for his faith and veneration of the inspired writings.* Without presuming to cope with this writer in erudition, for wliich, as well as his genius, I have the highest respect, I shall state my reasons for believing this opinion as unfounded as, I think, it is dangerous. The history of the Creation and Fall of man is indeed very remarkable ; and the great conciseness and brevity of the history, and the very wonderful circumstances of tlie formation of the woman, and her temptation l)y a speaking serpent, and the other particulars of this narrative, have induced some in- genious persons, who have been firm believers in tlie inspiration of Moses, to consider the whole as an allegory, or fable, representing certain moral truths by images and figures. " Divines," says Mr. Cole- ridge, " of the most unimpeachable orthodoxy, and the most averse to the allegorizing of Scripture his- tory in general, have from the earliest ages of the Christian church adopted or permitted it in this instance. And, indeed," he continues, " no unpre- * See Mr. Coleridge's " Aids to Reflection," page 250, where, in a long and elaborate note occupying some pages, the doctrine of original sin, held by Bishop Jeremy Taylor, is attempted to be overthrown by the revival of Origen's opinion of tlie allego- rical nature of the Mosaic history of tlie Fall. Without entering into the controversy of original sin, and with all my respect for the genius and learning of JMr. Coleridge, I cannot but remark, that the doctrine, wliich he substitutes for Bishop Taylor's, and for all others with which I have ever met, on original sin, can be entertained by no sound churchman, nor, I think, by any con- sistent and reasoning believer in the Christian religion. But the examination of this doctrine is not the purpose, nor the proper business, of the author of this work. 2G ON THE NATURE AND judiced man can pretend to doubt, that if in any other work of Eastern origin he met with trees of life and of knowledge ; talking and conversible snakes ; * Inque rei signum serpejiiem serpere jussum ;' he would want no other proofs that it was an allegory he was reading, and intended to be understood as such.^ Nor, supposing him conversant with Oriental works of any thing like the same antiquity, could it surprise hiin to find events of true history in con- nection with, or historical personages among the actors and interlocvitors of, the Parable." That believers have entertained this notion is in- disputable ; but the infidel has availed himself of this admission to the detriment of the religion revealed by the whole Bible. Allegories were, as we have seen, the common expression of moral truths in the earlier nations of the East ; but when used by in- spired authors, they must be compared with the same species of composition used by other inspired authors, and not with the fanciful allegories of other writers. If so compared, this opinion falls to the ground ; for the allegories or parables of the Old and New Testament, the nature of whicii cannot be disputed, bear no resemblance whatever to the his- * Mr. Belsham likewise says, that " certainly no reasonable person in modern times can regard the Mosaic history of the Fall in any other light than as an allegory or fable." By much the greater proportion of the Christian world, and the most learned and reasonable men, have, however, believed it to be a real history. See Christian Remembrancer for September 1827, No. 105, p. 500. ORIGIN or THK PAKABLE. 27 tory, detailed in the second and third chapters of Genesis, of the creation and fall of our first pa- rents, nor of the Book of Jonah, which is likewise interpreted, by Mr. Colei idge and others, to be alle- gorical. But this history is altogether inconsistent with the nature of the allegory, as a distinct species of composition. An allegory is the vehicle of certain truths under fictitious images : but every image is fabulous, and none is real. Such was Jotham's apo- logue, or allegory, of the trees choosing a king, which is cited above. Such are our Lord's pai-ables, which are allegories. If any thing, in these fables, be called by its real name, as Egypt in the Psalmist's beautiful allegory pf the Vine, it is so distinctly marked as to admit of no doubt whatever. Every image of these sacred allegories is fabulous, but conveys moral truth. But this is not the case of the Mosaic history of the Garden of Eden and of the fall of man. This narrative is so connected and consistent with itself, that, as Bishop Horsley* has oljserved, it " must be either all plain matter of fact, or all allegory. It cannot be matter of fact in one part, and allegoiy in another. For no writer of true history would mix plain matter of fact with allegory in one continued narrative, without any in- timation of a transition from the one to the other. If, therefore, any part of this narrative be matter of fact, no part is allegorical. On the other hand, if any part be allegorical, no part is naked matter of * Biblical Criticism, vol. i. ]). 9. 28 ON THE NATURE AND fact ; and the consequence of this will be, that every thing in every part of the whole narrative must be allegorical. If the formation of the woman out of man be allegory, the woman must be an allegorical woman. The man, therefore, must be an allegorical man ; for of such a man only the allegorical woman will be a meet companion. If the man is allegorical, his Paradise will be an allegorical garden ; the trees that grew in it, allegorical trees ; the rivers that watered it, allegorical rivers : and thus we may ascend to the very beginning of the creation ; and conclude at last, that the heavens are allegorical heavens, and the earth an allegorical earth. Thus the whole history of the creation will be an allegory, of which the real subject is not disclosed ; and in this absurdity the scheme of allegorizing ends." This reasoning, which, as it respects the creation, is unanswerable, may be, and must be transferred to the fall, the history of which is related with it. But respecting the fall, and the temptation of the woman by the serpent, there are other considerations which render it quite unnecessary to resort to allegory for the explanation and elucidation of this very impor- tant part of the sacred history. The chief cause of the fall of man, or rather the instrument in effecting his fall more speedily than it might otherwise have happened, appears by the Mo- saic account, as well as by the subsequent Scriptures of the Old and particularly of the New Testament, to have been Satan, the chief of the fallen angels, a higher order of Spirits, who, though at first made like other celestial Spirits, had fallen from their high ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 29 and happy stations into the depths of misery and moral degradation. This wicked Spirit assumed, or shrouded liimself under the form of a serpent. Not- witlistanding the objections urged against the literal interpretation of this narrative by the believer, and the sneer of the infidel, there really appears nothing incredible in this, certainly to us, wonderful circum- stance. That man should assume, or conceal him- self under, the form of any animal, were indeed in- credible, because it is contrary to our experience of the power of man ; and with his present powers over nature it is utterly impossible. Over animate nature man possesses no such power as to assume the form, or in any way change the nature, of an animal. But over iriammate nature, the progress of science plainly proves that man possesses a power, which, comparatively speaking, is almost unlimited ; for, within these few years, discoveries have been made in various departments of physical science — with the results of which, such as those of Steam, tlie most illiterate persons are acquainted — which our ancestors would have considered as absurd and as impossible as for a man to assume the form of a brute. If then an inferior rational being, like man, possesses such unquestionable power over inanimate nature — a power so great, and so capable of increase by new scientific discoveries, that we are not able to assign limits to it — is there any thing incredible in the power permitted by God to a superior order of intellectual creatures, such as the angels, to be exercised over animate nature, over the bodies of brutes and of men, wliich the Devil exercised over 30 ON THE NATURE AND the body of the serpent, in whose form he tempted the woman to taste of the forbidden fruit ? In this history, wonderful as it certainly is, the truly rational mind of an enlightened believer, nay, the mind of any thinking man, unprejudiced by sys- tem and unseduced by infidelity,* may see abun- dant cause of reverence and of faith. To the Chris- tian this should afford not the least difficulty ; be- cause up to the time of our blessed and Divine Re- deemer, who came " to destroy the works of the Devil," Satan, and other apostate Spirits, exercised the same power over the bodies of men : for the devils, who possessed the demoniacs, made use of the faculties of men for their own purposes. To the question of Jesus, " what was their name ?" the devils replied, in human language, " Legion /"f On another occasion they addressed Christ in human language and with human organs : — " Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come to torment us before the time ?" i The only difference between these demoniacal possessions of men, and the Devil assuming the form of a ser- pent, and conversing with Eve, was, that he used human language and organs under the form of a * " A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism ; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion : for when the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no farther ; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity." — This golden maxim of the great Lord Bacon is universal in its application to every shade and every species of infidelity. See his Essays — Works, vol. ii. p. 290 ; and Advancement of Learning, vol. i. p. 9. t Luke viii. 30. J Matt. viii. 29. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 31 brute. But this is a difference of the circumstances and exercise of the power, not of the power itself, which was exercised in tlie only possible manner : for there was no otlier human being, except the first pair ; and it were in the highest degree incredible that he should have assumed the form of Adam to have tempted Eve, or the form of Eve to have tempted Adam. She did indeed tempt her husband, but in her own form and nature, and by means, for which her previous temptation by the Devil satis- factorily accounts. The following remark of Mr. Tovvnsend must therefore, I think, be acceded to by all rational be- lievers : — " The history of the Fall, and the account of the Garden of Eden which precedes it, must be taken literally. There is no proof or appearance of allegory ; and that they were always so understood, is sufficiently evident from the remains of the tradi- tions of the ancient nations."* The word Parable is used in various senses in Scripture. No less than ten '\ different meanings, in * Townsend's Arrangement of the Old Testament. t Dr. Adam Clarke has inserted, from Glassias, a very good dissertation on the nature and use of parabolical writing, at the end of his notes on IMatt. xiii. He finds the following ten sig- nifications in Scripture. 1. The word parable means a simple comparison^ Matt. xxiv. 32 — 3. 2. An obscure similitude. Matt. xv. 13 — 15; where Phari- saism is represented as a j)lant, &c. 3. A simple allegory, as in Matt. xiii. 4. A maxim, or wise sentence, as the corresponding Hebrew word Vtt?o is used in 1 Kings iv. 22. S2 ON THE XATUllE AND which this word is used, have been collected from the Sacred Volume. But the most frequent and common sense of the word Parable in the New Testament is that which is generally understood of our Lord's parables, which are in fact sacred allegories, and are confined exclusively to the conveyance of moral and religious truths. Many of the parables delivered by our Lord are to be found in the writings of the Jewish Rabbis which are still extant, and were ap- plied by Christ to the mysteries of his kingdom. They were at once the most popular and the most appropriate means of instruction, which could have been devised for the temper of the Jews. 5. A by-word, or proverb of reproach, 2 Chron. vii. 20. Ps. xliv. 14. and Ixix. 11 ; Jerem. xxiv. 9. 6. A frivolous, uninteresting discourse, or a disregarded and despised address, Ezek. xx. 49. 7. A simple proverb, or adage, Luke iv. 23. 8. A type, illustration, or representation, Heb. ix. 9 ; where the first tabernacle is said to have been a figure, a parable, to last only for a time. 9. A daring exploit, an unusual and severe trial, a case of imminent danger and jeopardy. It may be doubted whether this part of Dr. Clarke's criticism is managed with equal judg- ment. The instance he adduces, Heb. xi. 19, where Abraham is said to have received his son from the dead, sv ■Kapu^oXr^, " he being in the most imminent danger of losing his life," does not seem satisfactory ; the common translation being un- doubtedly preferable. 10. The word parable signifies also a very ancient and ob- scure prophecy, Ps. xlix. 4. ; Prov. i. 6. ; Matt. xiii. 35. — Town- send's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 224. The word Parable signifies any kind of prophecy, as is evinced by the story of Balaam, who, when he prophesied^ is said " to take up his parable." Numb. ch. xxiii. xxiv. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 33 But the object of our Lord's parables has been misapprehended by many ; and it is necessary that this misconstruction should be set right in these introductory remarks, before we proceed to the ex- position of these simple and beautiful compositions. When our Saviour delivered the paralile of the Sower to the assembled multitude, his disciples pri- vately inquired its meaning, which they had not understood. '* And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God : but to others in parables ; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand." This text of St. Luke, and the parallel one in the Gospel of St. Mark,* have been very generally misunder- stood. The common notion is, that our blessed Lord spoke in parables that people might not un- derstand him, and that their condemnation might be increased. This interpretation is, however, as un- founded as it is blasphemous, and degrading to the Divine attributes, and the preaching of Christ, who came as " the light of the world, as a city that is set on a hill, and cannot be hid ; and not as a candle put under a bushel."f He came to save, and not to condemn the world. The apparent harshness of these texts will be removed, if, as learned men have suggested, the particles iva, ' that,' in one part, and /xJiTroTt, " lest," in the other, be rendered ' because,' and * if per- adventure.' They may then be thus read : — " Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the king- * Luke viii. 10, IMark iv. 11, 12. See the next note, t Matt. V. 14, 18. D 34 ON THE NATURE AND dom of God, but to othei's in parables ; becavise see- ing they have not seen, and hearing they have not understood." — The Jews, by reason of their pre- judices, not being able to understand the great mysteries of the Gospel, our Lord, out of love to their souls, accommodated himself to their capaci- ties by speaking to them in parables. — Then follows the continuation of St. Mark — " If peradventure they may be converted, and their sins be forgiven."^ * Luke viii. 10. 'Iva /SAsttovtsj ja>j jSAeTrcocrj, x«< axouovTsj ^>3 cruvjwo-iv. " That seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand," Mark iv. 12. " That seeing they may see, and not perceive, and hearing, they may hear, and not un- derstand, lest they should be converted, and their sins forgiven them." See Whitby. The particle iva, in these passages, has not the force of a final cause, but of a certain event — Vim habet non causae finalis, sed eventiis certi. Vide Valpy's Test. Grsec. in Luc. viii. 10, et IVTare. iv. 12. See the texts quoted in Schleusner's 4th meaning of the word Iva. See like- wise Stackhouse's History of the Bible, new Edition, vol. iii. p. 155 ; and IMacknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 297- Our Saviour's forbearing to explain the parables to the mul- titude, must by no means be understood as proceeding from any unwillingness in him to give them all necessary instruction ; but it was plainly only his putting in practice that rule himself which he afterwards gave in direction to his disciples, that they should not " cast their pearls before swine," that is, before pre- judiced and unworthy persons ; lest thereby they should expose themselves to injuries, and their doctrine to contempt. It is the very same case, as in the instance of his forbearing to work miracles in his own country ; not that he was more unwilling to convert those of his own country than others ; but because the unreasonable prejudices and obstinacy of those particular per- sons made them unworthy, and would have rendered the mira- cles themselves useless. This seems to be the true account of our Saviour's forbearing to interpret the parable to the mul- titude ; and it shows how dangerous a thing it is to raise doc- ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 35 This completely rescues these texts from the blas- phemous interpretation, that Christ spoke in para- bles that the people might not understand him, and might not be converted, and might not have their sins forgiven. On the contrary, he used this para- bolic mode of speech that the people might under- stand as much as, with their prejudices, they were able, *' if peradventure" this should, under the Di- vine Providence, create the desire in them to know more of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, that thus they might be converted, and then* sins for- given. St. Luke and St. Mark, who wrote their Gospels for the Gentiles and the converted Jews at Rome, appear moreover to have omitted, as unnecessary for their purpose, the latter part of the speech recorded by St. Matthew. But St. Matthew, who wrote his Gospel for the Jews in Palestine, records the fact that this blindness of the Jews was the ful- filment of a prophecy of Isaiah, which was that day completed. "And in them — the common people of the Jews — is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not un- derstand ; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive : for this people's heart is waxed gross ; and their ears are dull of hearing ; and their eyes they have closed ; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should under- trines from particular and single texts of Scripture, without comparing them with other parallel places, which more fully represent the same sense under different expressions. Dr. S. Clarke's Sermons, vol. v. p. ,300. Dublin, 1751. J) 2 36 ON THE NATURE AND Stand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."* But in whatsoever sense these texts are verbally understood, it becomes a matter of minor impor- tance when it is considered that it is a common mode of speech in the Scriptures, to express a fact, brought about by the waywardness and perverseness of the human heart, as the determination of the Di- vine will-t Thus Jehovah is said, in the Old Tes- tament, to harden Pharaoh's heart ; which merely expresses that Pharaoh's heait was hardened, not by God, though with his permission, but by Pharaoh himself, who, like other headstrong and wicked men, followed the dictates of an obstinate will in direct opposition to the will of God. His hardness of heart became his own punishment, which God permitted as the just retribution of his impious blasphemy and infidelity. In the same manner the hardness of heart, and grossness of perception in reference to spiritual things in the Jews, were the consequence of their previous iniquity, the cause of their present rejection of the Messiah, and of their judicial punish- * Matt. xiii. 14, 15. f " The design of our Lord's speaking to the people in para- bles was, as himself declares, " because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand;" which words, both in sacred and profane authors, are a proverbial ex- pression concerning men so wicked and so slothful, that either^ they attend not to, or will not follow the clearest intimations and convictions of their duty ; and therefore, to awaken their attention, and make the stronger impression upon them, our Sa- viour was forced to have recourse to parables." Stackhouse, vol. iii. p. 155. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 37 iiient for such previous iniquity and present infi- delity. But it was, like Pharaoh's, the voluntary dictate of an obstinate and self-willed disposition. To those who read the Scriptures with attention these expressions so continually occur that they ex- plain themselves. From the minds, however, of such pious persons as are perplexed with these dif- ficult passages, false impressions should be wiped away ; that, on future perusals of the Sacred Vo- lume, their progress in religious knowledge may not be impeded ; and they will perceive the meaning, and understand the will of a gracious God.* To such persons it may be said, in the beautiful words of our Lord to his disciples — " Blessed are your eyes, for they see ; and your ears, for they hear : for veri- ly I say unto you. That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." t That it was " given" to the disciples " to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but vmto them — the people — it was not given," does not there- fore imply that the parables, in which our Lord ad- dressed and instructed the people, were dark and ob- scure sayings, which it was impossible that they could • " Hence we may learn the power and efficacy of the Word, Avhen it is heartily believed, and seriously attended to, to work in those that hear it, conversion to the salvation of the soul ; it being only through the want of seeing and understanding, that is, of believing and considering the importance of it, that it hath not this effect upon men." Whitby's Additions to the Annota- tions upon St. Luke, No. 13. t Matt. xiii. IG, 17. 38 ON THE NATURE AND comprehend. This would have rendered his teach- ing a mockery of the people, a sentiment whicli cannot be entertained for a moment. Christ conceal- ed nothing from the people which it was neces- sary and useful for them to know, and which in- deed they could understand ; but he communicated to his disciples many things concerning the myste- ries of the kingdom of heaven, which were contain- ed in his parables, and which it was not proper, for many reasons, that the people should be told. The disciples' desire to be made acquainted with such mysteries, and the aversion of the people, who were under the dominion of the Scribes and Phari- sees, from the knowledge of any truths which op- posed their rooted prejudices in favour of tradi- tions ; these constituted the difference between the disciples and the people. The knowledge of divine things in the East, and particularly among the Jews, was very much evinced by parables. This mode of instruction, which was adopted by our Lord in compliance with the customs of his country, was not without the greatest use and advantage for his peculiar pur- pose. It was a means of ascertaining those who had an ardent love of divine things, and who were qualified for the reception of the light of the Gos- pel. It was, moreover, the only way of reasoning which could be apprehended by the people gene- rally ; for the philosophy of Greece and Rome was by much too abstract to arrest the attention of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. " The only me- thod of reasoning, therefore, which was agreeable to ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 39 the Jewish taste, was to usher in an handsome si- mile or story apposite to the matter in hand ; to ap- ply a smart saying of some ancient worthy ; or to bring good proof from their law or ancient tradition ; but to go to prove morality to them, as Plato or Tully do, from the eternal rules of justice, from the rectitude and honourableness of virtue, and the pravity and turpitude of vice, would have been such a way of talking as the wisest men of their way of education would have greatly desj)ised ; and therefore our Blessed Saviour, who was well ac- customed to the temper and customs of the people with whom he conversed, took care that his way of instructing them should be such as was most agree- able to their education, and consequently such as would tend more to their edification than if he had introduced the philosophic method of morality, which was only in use in such nations as were destitute of the benefits of a Divine Revelation."* * Stackhouse's History of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 155. The Jews, above all nations, delighted in this way of reason- ing. Their books at this day are filled with such parables as our Saviour used. IMany of these, which were taken from the Talmudical writings, have been noticed in the subsequent exposition. Had the author had access to more books of this description than were within his reach, he might have made his exposition more perfect, and more satisfactory to himself than it now is. **' No scheme of Jewish rhetoric was more familiarly used than that of parables : which perhaps, creeping in from thence, among the heathen, ended in fables. It is said in the Talmud, ' From the time that R. INIeri died, those that spake in pa- rables ceased :' not that that figure of rhetoric perished in the nation from that time, but because he surpassed all others^ in 40 ON THE NATURE AND A custom of the disciples of the Jewish doctors, who went to their Rabbis for an explanation of such parts of their parables as they did not under- stand, accounts for the circumstance of the disciples resorting to our Lord to know " what his parables might be." The rest of the people, who heard our Lord's parables, were, in compliance with their com- mon custom, at liberty to have done the same : but they clung to the errors aud prejudices of the Scribes and Pharisees. In compliance therefore with the customs of the Jews, as well as for other cogent reasons, Christ taught the people in parables. One reason, and per- haps the strongest that can be adduced, has been given for his adoption of this parabolic mode of in- struction. The time was not yet come that he should offer himself up as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. We find him, therefore, at first very cau- tious not to enrage the rulers of the Jews. On this account, in the earlier part of his ministry, he taught the people, and wrought his miracles rather in the covmtry parts of Judea than at Jerusalem. His parables are more dark and obscure at his first preaching than at the close of his ministry. In- deed his last parable of the Sheep and the Goats, depicting the Day of Judgment, is so plain and per- spicuous, that it could hardly be misunderstood by any of his hearers. But had he delivered many those flowers. — The Jewish books abound every where with these figures, the nation inclining, by a kind of natural genius, to this kind of rhetoric."— Lighlfoots Works, vol. ii. p. U>3. folio. ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. 41 of his parables, which describe hiinselF as the Mes- siah and the Son of God, — which the Jews esteemed blasphemy ; had he delivered those which contra- dicted their traditions, and those which foretold the destruction of the Jewish church and polity in plainer language ; had the people been more plainly told — as the first parables delivered, and now to be found in the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, in- timate— that the Gospel, which he was then preach- ing, would so rapidly increase as that in a few years it would be diffused through the whole civilized world, and be preached to every creature under heaven ; the Scribes and Pharisees would have ex- cited the people to destroy him long before his three years' ministry had expired, and before the fulness of time was come that the sacrifice should be offered. But this parabolic mode of teaching was appro- priate in another point of view. The parables do not contain the doctrines and fundamental precepts and principles of the Gospel, which Christ taught in his Sermon on the mount, and on other occasions, with great plainness to the people. But they con- tain a prophetic view of the mysteries, and of the progress of the Gospel, and of the event of it among both Jews and Gentiles. Such prophecies, according to the Jews themselves, were always veiled in allegory. Hence our Saviour uses the allegory of the Vineyard, which had been employed by David, Isaiah, and other prophets, to represent the church of God, and to de- pict, by way (jf prophecy, the progress and events of the Jewish church. It is the object of the following 42 ORIGIN OF THE PARABLE. work to expound the parables with this view, and to show that they are a series of prophecies depict- ing the progress and events of the Christian church. Hence our Lord himself designates the truths veiled in his prophetic parables, " the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven/' and regards the disciples' knowledge of them as a high and peculiar privilege, — AN INSPECTION OF THE PAGE OF PROPHECY.* * It is worthy of remark that our Lord did not begin to teach the people in parables until the Scribes and Pharisees had ac- cused him of performing his stupendous miracles by the power of an Evil Spirit — through the power of Beelzebub, the Prince of the Devils. The Messiah then in mercy and compassion, and not in condemnation of his hearers, began to teach them in parables. This is well expressed by a very old translation of the passage, cited above from St. Matthew's Gospel, — " There- fore speak I to them in parables ; because they overlook what they see ; and are inattentive to what they hear ; neither will they comprehend." Townsend's Arrangement of the New Test, vol. i. p. 224. 43 CHAPTER I. PARABLES INTRODUCTORY TO THE MORE DIRECT PROMISES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE KING- DOM or GOD. SECTION I THE PENITENT SINNER, IN WHICH IS INTRODUCED THE PARABLE OF THE CREDITOR AND TWO DERTORS. The beautiful incident in the life and ministry of our blessed Lord, in which the short parable of the Creditor and two Debtors is introduced, I shall parti- cularly examine, — not so much for the sake of the parable, as that it presents an admirable introduction to the following work, by placing the personal cha- racter of our Redeemer, if I may be allowed the ex- pression, in the most attractive colours of that Divine Love which the inspired Apostle hath declared to ex- ceed all other Christian graces. As this section will introduce to us the personal character of our Re- deemer, the next, which contains the parable of the Sower, will present us with his doctrine. The event, which the Evangelist hath so exqui- sitely related, happened at the city either of Caper- naum or Nain in Galilee, at both which cities our Lord 44 THE PENITENT SINNER. had just wrought miracles ; and this parable was the first which he delivered, and is therefore appro- priately placed at the head of these discourses. At Capernaum he had healed the centurion's servant ; and at Nain he had raised to life a dead man, the son of a widow, whom they were carrying on a bier to the grave. It was therefore most probably from that city in Galilee, and between the second and third passover, not long before he left Galilee and went to Jerusalem, that this woman came to see Jesus. The event is thus related by the inspired Evange- list :— " And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him: and he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. And behold, a wo- man in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him : for she is a sinner. And Jesus, an- swering, said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors : the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly for- gave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them THE PENITENT STNNEH. 45 will love him most ? Simon answered, and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet : but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, l^'hou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint : but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman. Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace."* Commentators are not agreed as to the identity of the person so signally favoured and forgiven by her Lord and Saviour in this beautiful narrative of St. Luke. A similar incident is related by all the four Evangelists-! The person, alluded to by the three other Evangelists, is generally agreed to be Mary, the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, as related by St. John. But it is thought that the person, so prominently set forth in this narrative of St. Luke, was either of Nain or Capernaum, the * Luke vii. 36— .50. t jMatt. xxvi. (5. Mark xiv. .3. Jolm xii. .3, and Luke as abwve. 46 THE PENITENT SINNER. only cities mentioned ; and she is designated " a wo- man in the city :" whereas Mary and Lazarus were of the village of Bethany, near to Jerusalem. In the eighth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, and immediately subsequent to the feast at which this incident oc- curred, it is related that Jesus " went throughout every city and village preaching, and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." But after that he had raised Lazarus, we are told, he walked no more openly. Mary's unction, moreover, was made for Christ's interment only six days before the last passover, when he continued in Bethany.* The identity of this favoured woman is not, I ap- prehend, a very important circumstance. The exa- mination, however, of such points may reward itself by the habit which it teaches of accurately weighing what we read ; and in perusing the Holy Scriptures this habit is invaluable. The Gospels are written with such brevity that much is left to be supplied by our diligence of research and our most attentive meditation, though every thing, which is necessary to be known for our salvation, is abundantly record- ed. Perhaps this mode of narrating the events, con- tained in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, was so wisely ordered by the Divine Pro- vidence, that we might be compelled to pay a more close attention to those invaluable records of our salvation, than if the narrations were more full and * John xii. 7- See Townsend's Arrangement of the New Test. vol. i. p. 215, 375, and the Commentators, Hammond, Whitby, and others. THE PENITENT SINNER. 47 perspicuous ; and that, in the beautiful words of the sweet Psahuist of Israel, " our delight should be in tlie Law of the Lord, and that in his Law we should meditate day and night.' The human mind is so constituted that the very imperfection of our know- ledge, the dim obscure which remains to be pene- trated by our faculties, gives an elasticity and incite- ment to the understanding, without which the lives even of studious men would become the " pedlars' packs which bow the bearers down." But while we still " add knowledge to knowledge," the soul never flags, but is fired with " that ambition" which, as Addison well expresses it, " is natural to the mind of man." Thus the concluding sentence of St. John's sublime Gospel — that "if all the things which Jesus did should be written every one, even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" — this sentence fills the soul of a think- ing man with more sublime apprehension of the power of this Divine Being, and strikes the mind with infinitely greater admiration and awe, than if all had been recorded. A vast space remains to be filled up by the imagination ; and the soul, while it reposes itself upon the wonderful power and wisdom of the Deity, almost pants with a restless anxiety for the unfolding of the magnificent mystery in a future state. Something of this pleasing mystery hangs about the i)resent narrative. Whence, we naturally inquire, could this woman— whose story is so aft'ectingly told by the Evangelist — have derived so much know- ledge of the Divine Pow er and the Divine Love ? 48 THE PENITENT SINNER. She must have believed that he was a Divine Being — that he was more than man — that he was the Son of God, and had power to forgive sins ; for her ho- mage was much more than was warranted even by the manners of the East to superior persons. But we are no where informed that she had ever before seen our Lord. The story abruptly tells us, that " a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment." The fulness of faith, the remorse, the penitence, and yet the confiding and almost affectionate adora- tion of this humbled sinner, and indeed the numer- ous cases of a nature equally extraordinary which occur in every page of the Gospels, we can scarcely conceive, though to our understanding they appear natural and proper. But we cannot appreciate the feelings of such persons until we see our glorified Lord at the Day of Judgment. We must, however, infer from the whole action, that this humble and penitent woman had both seen and heard the won- derful words and works of the blessed Jesus. He had been long going about Galilee ; and this sinner might probably have witnessed, and certainly had heard of one or both of the miracles, which he had wrought in the cities of Nain and Capernaum, upon the widow's son and upon the centurion's servant. The Evangelist indeed records no particular ser- THE PENITENT SINNER. 49 mons or conversations uttered in either of those cities, nor in numerous other places through which he passed, and in which he sojourned. But we are not therefore to conclude that in tliose cities he said and did nothing but these miracles ; for we find, in the next chapter, that " he went throughout every city and village (of Galilee; preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." From this general difTusion of Divine instruction, and won- derful works, are selected the two miracles already mentioned, and this affecting story of the penitent sinner, — for our more particular observation. Un- questionably, therefore, she had repeatedly heard and " wondered at the words of grace," which had proceeded from those Divine lips. She had proba- bly heard him in the city, in which she had lived a notorious sinner : and having profoundly meditated on his words, she believed — she repented -she loved; for these are the things for which she is pardoned and commended by her Redeemer. These feelings impel her to follow him into the country and the cities through which he passed; and when she heard that he had gone into the Pharisee's house, probably in the city of Nain,* she followed him thither, and paid that more than Eastern homage and adoration which are descril)ed by the Evangelist. " The arrow, -as it is quaintly expressed by • " Upon the whole, I think it the most reasonable to con- clude, that the matter here related was transacted at Nain, or some place thereabouts." — Townsend's Arrangement of the New Test. vol. i. p. 216. £ 50 THE PENITENT SINNEK. Bishop Hall, — " stuck fast in her soul, which she could not shake out, and now she comes to this sovereign dittany to expel it. But," he adds, with great truth, " had not the Spirit of God wrought upon her ere she came, she had never either sought or found Christ/'* The Holy Spirit saw her tears shed in secret, ac- cepted her contrition and penitence, and urged her into the presence of her Lord and Redeemer, who openly received and pardoned her. Her meek and humble deportment in his presence, her silence, her tears, her humble kissing of his feet after that she had wiped off her tears with the hairs of her head, are described with such beauty and simplicity by the Evangelist, that he nmst be heartless and insensible indeed who is not deeply affected by the picture. She " stood at his feet behind him Vv^eeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.'' Another circumstance, which is well worthy of remark in this story, is that divine insight into the thoughts of the heart, which was so frequently displayed by our Lord in the course of his ministry, and never more strikingly than upon this occasion. " Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him : for she is a sinner."f • Contemplations, vol. iv. new Edition. i Grotius is of opinion that this woman was not altogether so THE PENITENT SINNER. 51 Instead of replying in a direct manner to the sus- picious Pharisee, whose heart he discerned, he shows him his thoughts by tlie following short parable — an act of omniscience so frequently exercised by Christ, and which must have convinced the Pharisees that he was the Divine Messiah, since he, who read their hearts, could be no other than God. " Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee ; and he saith. Master, say on. " There was a certain creditor which had two debtors : the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me there- fore which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged." The creditor represents God, the Jehovah then present in the person of the adorable Jesus, God and man ; and the two debtors were the penitent wo- man and the proud Pharisee. The Pharisee* es- abandoned a sinner as to have been lost to all sense of shame, and seems to insinuate that such an one would not have soucrht the presence of Christ. These are his words : — " Non publico; libidinis victima, sed alioqui vita; parum pu- dica;. Tales foeminas Ilebra^i propria; et insigniter peccatrkcx vocabant. Et quid miruni tales ad Christum confugisse, cum et ad Johannis baptismum vonerint ? Matt. xxi. 32." (Opera, vol. ii. p. 387. fob Amst. 1(J79.) * IMacknight thinks that this Pharisee " was a man of better disposition tlian the generality of his sect." He might have been so ; but he was still a Pharisee. Ilis natural disposition might have been less .soured by the Pharisaic leaven ; but the E 2 52 THE PENITENT SINNER. teemed himself righteous to the condemnation of all others, and especially of this woman, who, sinner as she was, condemned none but herself, saw and repented her sins, wept at her own unworthiness, and by her silent, but most expressive actions, said, " God, be merciful to me a sinner !"— Slie believed in Christ — she worshipped him as God ; and she was pardoned and accepted. — But the proud and haughty Pharisee would have spurned the poor penitent from him, and considered her touch pollution ; and while he affected to believe in God, he despised and re- jected the Messiah, the only Son of God. Pardon and forgiveness was offered to him ; but he rejected the proffered salvation. He was therefore rejected from the kingdom of God. Christ continues the discourse* to the proud Pharisee, at whose table he sat, and thus compares with his the superior love of this sinful, but peni- tent and believing woman, who stood weeping at his feet. " He said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman ? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water principles of his sect fostered that pride of heart and unchari- table condemnation of others, which this Pharisee testified on the present occasion. See Macknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 253. * Hammond inclines to think that the discourse \A'as directed to Simon Peter ; and in that case the reproof becomes doubly severe. I had at first written the text with this impression ; but I am now rather disposed to think the common reading more in unison with the story, and perhaps more consistent with the character of this Pharisee than with the sect generally, whom our Lord reproved in no measured terms. Vide Grotii Opera, tom. ii. p. 387. fol. THE PENITENT SINNER. 53 for my feet ;* but she hath waslied my feet with tears,'!" ^'^^ wiped them with tlie hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss ; but this woman since the time I came in liatli not ceased to kiss ray feet. * These words sound somewhat harsh to us, who live in the Western parts of the world, where servants perform all me- nial offices. Nevertheless, they will be found agreeable to the nicest propriety of good breeding, if the manners of the Eastern countries are considered. There persons of the highest rank did not think it below them to honour their guests, by performing offices of this kind to them. Thus Gen. xviii. 7- we read, that on tJie arrival of three angels, " Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf, and took butter and milk, and the calf which his servant had dressed, and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree," to serve them, " and they did eat." Thus also in the 9th Iliad, v. 205. " Achilles at the genial feast presides, The parts transfixes, and with skill divides : IMeanwhile Patroclus sweats the fire to raise," &c. Dr. Shaw in his Travels, p. 301, tells us, these customs sub- sist among the Eastern nations to this day, and particularly among the Arabs, who are remarkable for retaining tlieir ancient manners ; and that the person who first presents to give a stranger welcome and wash his feet, is the master of the family. For as they still v.alk barefooted, or with sandals only, this piece of civility is absolutely necessary. Macknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 254. See a note of Hammond to this effect. + Because by accident she had happened to do what some might think a rude thing, had wetted his feet with her tears, he gave it an agreeable turn, well knowing from what spring her tears had flowed. That the company might know it was not offensive to him, he called it a washing of his feet, a compliment which was usually paid to guests on their coming into a house, especially after travelling, but which Simon, somehow or other, had happened to neglect. Ibid. p. 255. 54 THE PENITENT SINNKK. My head with oil thou didst not anoint ; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment." What a strain of natural and affecting eloquence, — in which the Scriptures, and particularly the Gos- pels, abound ! What author, ancient or modern, can be produced, in which a scene is more naturally, more affectingly, and more eloquently told than this sinful woman weeping at the feet of her Saviour, bedewing them with tears, wiping them with her hair, and anointing them wdth ointment, in token of an humble and sorrowful spirit, a broken and contrite heart ! And that broken and contrite heart, O God, thou didst not despise. For after having thus ex- quisitely described the love of this penitent sinner, which conveyed the most poignant reproof of the proud Pharisee, he turns to the weeping woman, and thus pronounces her forgiveness : — " Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." These words, as they now stand, seem to imply that her sins were forgiven, because " she loved much ;" whereas her sins were forgiven, because she believed and repented. Had she never believed, she could never have repented and have been forgiven. Our Lord therefore tells her, " Thy faith hath saved thee." — " Wherefore," says Jesus, " her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for — as it stands in our translation — she loved much." The original word 'oT«, rendered " for," should be, as it is in other pas- THE PENITENT SINNEK. 55 sages, rendered ^' therejore ;""* and the sense will he in unison with the whole discourse. It will then stand thus : — " Her sins, which are many, are for- given ; therefore she hath loved much : hut to whom little is foi'given — as in the parable which he had just spoken, — the same loveth little. And he said, unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." The profound love, which she expressed, was the indication of her deep sense of the mercy of God now extended to her in pardoning her many sins ; and this do I, says Jesus, who am the Prophet and the Son of God, — in both which characters he was reject- ed by the unbelieving Pharisees, — declare unto her. This is illustrated by the parable of the Creditor and two Debtors ; for he, to whom the Lord had frankly forgiven five hundred pence, loved much, because much had been forgiven. The economy of grace and the constitution of the human mind are so framed in harmony with each other, that as soon as we are convinced of the Divine truth of the Christian religion, and believe from the heart, the influence of the Holy Spirit immediately induces the believer openly to confess his faith, and to repent his sins, however enormous. Thus we are told by the Apostle that '* with the heart man belie veth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- tion."! ^^^^^ woman which was a sinner, in this narrative, being convinced that Jesus was the Christ, or at least that he was a prophet sent from God • Sec Hammond and Whitby <>» the place. t Rom. X. 10, 11. 56 THE PENITENT SINNER. was impelled by the Holy Spirit, who did but strengthen in her those natural feelings which, so excited, would have led her, into the presence of Him on whom she believed. He being now removed into heaven, ive are commanded by the Apostle to " confess with the mouth" the faith of the heart, that we may testify before men, as well as God, that we believe. But in the personal and visible presence of the Divine Redeemer in whom she believed, her tears expressed her faith — her silence was the eloquence of grief — and she was accepted. She believed on him — she felt the deepest contrition for her sinful life — and she was not ashamed to testify that faith and that contrition by the lowest acts of obeisance, the most profound marks of humility. " She stood at his feet," and wept. " She washed his feet with her tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment. Her sins, therefore, which were many, were for- given ; therefore she loved much." There remains one more incident in this striking and beautiful narrative. " And they — most probably Pharisees — that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves. Who is this that forgiveth sins also ?" His prophetic and Divine Omniscience was imme- diately displayed by his knowledge of their thoughts, to which he again speaks, as he had, by the parable, spoken to the thoughts of the Pharisee by whom he was entertained. He therefore shows them that without faith they could not possibly be saved. But to evince the power of faith, as a principle of salva- THE PENITENT SINNKR. 57 tion, he declares that it lias ])een the instrument of saving this poor sinner, who had else gone on in her course of sin. She believed in Christ, she came to him, and wept at his feet, and washed them with her tears in token of her penitence for her sins, and of her faith in and love of that Divine Person : — and she was forgiven. He saw into her heart, as he saw into the heart of the dying malefactor on the cross, and he pardoned all her past iniquities. But that the Pharisees might know why she was pardoned — that it was faith, and not affection — he again addressed her, and "said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace." I shall make but one practical observation on this part of the narrative. The pride of the human mind leads thousands of our fellow creatures into this fatal sin of the Pharisee. Many a proud and heartless infidel mixes familiarly with Christians, and inwardly despises them for that faith which will save them and condemn him : and many a professed Christian, in whose heart dwells little faith, not only despises sinners, but all those who are charitable to them, — and knows not that, like this wretched prostitute, they have repented before God and the Lord Jesus, — that their pardon is sealed — their faith hath saved them — they will depart in peace. 58 SECTION II. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWEK. " Behold, a sower went forth to sow ; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up : some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth ; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deep- ness of earth : and when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they wither- ed away. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them ; but others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. " Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he v/hich received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while : for when tribulation or persecu- tion ariseth l)ecause of the word, by and by he is oifended. He also that received seed among, the thorns is he that heareth the word ; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that re- ceived seed into the good ground is he that heareth THE PARABLE OE THE SOWER. 59 the word, and uiiderstandeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth fortli, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."* In the exposition of this parable, we will follow the explanation given of it by our Lord, which will reler us to the parable itself, when there is any phi-ase which requires our more particular attention. " Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.f When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side."t It cannot be supposed, by the instance of him who " heareth the Word, and understandeth it not," that the Word of Christ ever becomes unprofitable to men from the natural weakness of their under- • Matthew xiii. 3—9, IT;— 23. See also IMark iv. 1. Luke viii. 4. t It is most probable that almost all the parables of our Lord were taken in whole or in part Troni the current traditions of the Jews. In the progress of this work we shall trace most of them to this source, being yet extant in the Rab1)inical writings. If these were examined with a view to the Parables, much light might yet be thrown upon those beautiful and important compo- sitions. The Parable of the Sower I have not met with : but this figure of speech was perfectly familiar ; as appears from the following passage of the learned Lightfoot. " Discourse is had concerning some laws of the Kilaim, {of the seeds of difj'erenl kinds) and of the seventh year ; where among other things we meet with these words : " R. Simeon ben Lachish saith. That lie is freed (from these laws) who sows his seed by the sea, uj)on rocks, shelves, and stony places." — Lightfoot's Works, vol ii. p. 194. folio, London, 16H4. t Verses IH. 19. 60 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. standing, or through any obscurity in the Word itself. In such a case the blame could not rest with men whose natural incapacity disabled them from un- derstanding, but with the Divine Preacher who taught the Word ; and this cannot, for a moment, be entertained by the pious believer. The Greek word,* which we render " understand/' means, ac- cording to the best critics and commentators, to con- sider, to think on, to lay to heart. When, there- fore, the Word is preached, and the hearer doth not consider or lay it to heart, though he may perfectly comprehend it with the faculty of understanding, it makes no impression upon him, and therefore ex- poses him to the dangerous machinations of the enemy of man. The devil is therefore said, accord- ing to St. Luke,j- to ** take away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.'' But as faith is an act of the understanding, he must believe what he understood. Our adversary there- fore, who, though the enemy of the Gospel, knows its power, would snatch away the Word from him, who does not lay it to heart, who does not ponder and profoundly consider it. This is well imaged by seed sown by the way side : for the words ren- dered,— ^" This is he which received seed by the way side," — may be more literally translated, — " This is t that vv'hich is sown by the way side ;" — not * Sovigyaj. See Hammond, Grotius, Whitby, and other Ex- positors. + Luke viii. 12. X I am aware that this is not the common interpretation of tliis passage, though it appears to me less forced and more natu- ral than that which is perhaps more generally received. — But I subjoin a respectable authority. — " That the outoj san THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 6l the man or the ground, but the seed or the AVord, which is not vahied by the heart into which it falls, and is therefore more easily snatched away by the wicked one. " But/' continues cur Lord in explanation, " he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy re- ceiveth it ; yet liath he not root in himself, but du- reth for a while : for when tribulation or persecution ariseth, because of the word, by and by he is of- fended."! In the parable it is thus expressed : " Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth : and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth : and -when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they withered away." (Tfrapsis signifies literally not " him that receives the seed/' but " that which is sown," either 6 (Ttcopos " the seed" in St Luke, or 6 Koyog " the Word," or the like, appears both by the pa- rable, in which answerable to it is the a jtxev STrecre &c. " some fell," that is, in sowing fell, and also more particularly by the parallel place, Luke viii. 11. where it is said, that 6 crTropoj etrxi hoyog, " the seed is the Word," and v. 14. instead of (ntapst; " sown," is the to rsetrov, '' that which falls," which must needs be the corn, and not the ground, and in St. IMark iv. 19, it is clearly " the corn," (and not the man or the ground) that becometh unfruitful, and therefore it is clear that as outoj refers to the whole precedent oration, " when any one hears," &c. so the (77race«j " sown" is the whole of that part of the parable, the seed, and the ground, and the sowing, and the fowls pick- ing it up altogether, and then eori signifies " is denoted by." Hammond. See also Grotius, and Le Clerc. t Verses 20, 21. 62 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWEU. This figure is very frequent in the best classic authors, and is applied to the cultivation of the mind. Quintilian seems to delight in the metaphor, and makes this application of it in several parts of his works. " As," says this elegant writer, " the fer- tility of the earth is increased, and the seed depo- sited in her bosom derives its quickening and nou- rishment from the deepest furrows of the plough- share ; so, in the cultivation of the mind, knowledge must be sought in the depths, that the fruit of our studies may be the more aljundantly poured forth, and the more faithfully pi-eserved. Without this consciousness, indeed, the very faculty of a ready elo- quence becomes a mere empty loquaciousness, and words alone have issue from the lips. But in this are the roots ; in this lie the deep foundations ; in this consists our intellectual wealth, which may be produced, like sacred and concealed treasure that is opened for the supply of some sudden and extraor- dinary emergency." In another place he speaks of a precocious genius, which rarely comes to maturity, and compares it to those seeds, which, being sown on the surface of the earth, spring up quickly, because they took no deep root.* • " Nam ut terra altius t'ftbssa generandis alendisque semi- nibus fecundior est : sic profectiis, non a summo petitus, studio- rum fructus et fundit uberius et fidelius continet. Nam sine liac quidem conscieiitia ilia ipsa extempore dicendi facuitas in- anem modo loquacitatem dabit, et verba in labris nascentia. Illic radices, illic fundamenta sunt : illic opes velut sanctiore a?rario reconditge, unde ad subitos quoque casus, cum res cxiget, profe- rantur." Inst. Lib. x. Sect. 3. p. 515, 4to. — " Illud ingeni- THE PARABLE OF THE SOWETl. 63 The use of this similitude in tlie parable is not less beautiful. He who is there represented by " stony places, stony ground, or the rock,"* " heareth tlie AVord," and, according to St. Luke, " believeth for a time ;" but it is only for a time. But we are hereby instructed that it is not sufficient that we believe, however sincerely, at the instant in vvliich the Word is preached to us, and for a short time afterwards, even though, during that period, we act consistently with our faith ; but we must perse- vere to the end, and " bring forth fruit with pa- tience." For by comparing the Evangelists, we find that it is in effect the same thing to be unfruitful, and to " bring no fruit to perfection."! The cha- racter, here represented, not only believes, but " re- ceives the Word v/ith joy." At first he is'much af- fected by it; but having **not root in himself," no strong principle and confirmed habit of religion, this vivid impression " dureth but for a while ;'' for upon the slightest temptation or trial of affliction, or per- secution for the sake of his religion, " he is oftend- ed," that is, as this word is to be understood in the orum praecox genus non temere nmquam pervenit ad frwgcm ; non iimltum prrestat, sed citb ; nee penitus immissis radicibus iiititur : lit quae summo solo sparsa sunt semina, celerius se effundunt." Instit. Lib. i. Sect. 3, p. 16, 4to. A Gesner, Gotting. 173B. Quintilian repeats the metaphor in other ])laces. The following passage of Cicero is added by Grotius : " Nihil tarn furiosum est, quam verborum vel optimornm inanis sonitus, nulla subject^ sententia aut scientia." See Grotius, and Whitby. * Compare the three Evangelists, St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. + Matt, xiii, 22. Mark iv. 19. Luke viii. 15. 64 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. Gospels, he falls away from his faith ; and thus it is expressed by St. Luke, " in time of temptation he falls away."* But to be affected, however vividly, with the force of faith at any particular period, we learn by this parable, is not enough, though our spi- ritual joy be very great, to make us good Christians. But we must continue as sincere and as fervent in our faith as at the hour in which we believed, and obedient to all the precepts of the Gospel, however hard they may press upon us at particular times and under peculiar circumstances, lest we become the defective believers represented by the parable, and " in time of temptation fall away ." " He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word ; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." There are various things which choke the Word of God, and render our religion altogether unprofit- able to the attainment of our salvation. The first consists in " the care of this world.'' With this sin our blessed Lord reproached one of his most favoured female disciples, who was " cum- bered about much serving," while her sister " sat at Jesus' feet :'' on which occasion Jesus said to her, " Martha, Martha, thou art careful and trou- bled about many things ; but one thing is needful : and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her."f This severe re- proof was uttered to a person whom, St. John de- * Luke viii. 13. f Luke x. 40; 4L THJ-: PARABLK OK 1 HE SOWEU. 6'j clared on another occasion, Jesus loved,* and who now entertained her Lord in her own house, and was " cumbered about serving'' him, as she sup- posed, in a suitable manner. But her excessive anxiety for such a purpose was pronounced sinful, inasmuch as it withdrew her attention from the im- mediate presence of her Redeemer. If a person was reproved by our Lord himself for her excessive care for so apparently laudable and amiable a purpose as his personal entertainment, how greatly indeed must the worldly care of ordi- nary persons " clioke the Word," and impede the progress of their salvation ; for how little thought do the children of this world bestow on the great objects for which all rational beings, especially Chris- tians, are sent into this probationary state, — the moral and intellectual culture of the soul, the education and preparation for a higher state of existence, and the assimilation of their temper to the heavenly temper of Ilim who lived for our example, and died for our salvation from the fatal effects of Adam's transgres- sion, and generally for the propitiation of our sins ; — how little thought is bestowed by men on these things which constitute the real business of life, in comparison of that which is lavished upon " the care of this world." This engrossing sin, which is so universal that no person can be pronounced altogether free from it, consists in such an attachment to this life, such an attention to the necessary business of the world * John xi. 5. F 66 THE PAllABLE OF THE SOWER. which wholly absorbs the thoughts and affections, as to banish from the mind all considerations of an- other state to which this is only preparatoiy. To a mind possessed by this sin, the idea of death be- comes gloomy and dreary, which should be a cheer- ful prospect to the religious man, to whom it opens a world of honour, glory, and immortality. We have indeed implanted within us a natural repugnance to death, for the wise purpose of the preservation of our lives during our appointed time. This natural apprehension, however, should not render dark that futurity which religion has invested with light. But the cares of this world fill our minds with so many schemes and contrivances, that we leave ourselves no leisure to think of another state, no space for the proper business of the soul, no moments to pre- pare ourselves for our awful change from time to eternity. To many this change must be miserable ; to multitudes, it is hoped and believed, it will be glo- rious and happy ; but to all it must be awful. When, however, the cares of this world fill our minds and absorb our attention, all thoughts of another world are forcibly expelled from the soul, and the Word of God is " choked" with " the thorns" of life. " The deceitfulness of riches," or the love of the deceitful riches of this world, is another formidable obstacle to true religion. It is the parent of covet- ousness, and therefore, as that vice is stigmatized by tlie Apostle,* is a species of idolatry. Such is the dan- gerous character of this vice, that when men's minds * Col. iii. 5. THE PARABI.E OF THE SOWER. 67 are once captivated by the love of riches, there is hardly a sin into which they may not be tempted for the additional acquisition of wealth. No vice is more universal. The love of riches pervades the bosoms of almost all people ; and it exhibits itself in numberless forms. The possession of wealth com- mands tiie respect and homage of the vulgar and gross part of the world, from the highest to the lowest order of people; for the idolatry of Mammon, like the heathen idols with which the Israelites insulted the pure worship of Jehovah, usurps the sovereignty of all hearts which have not a superior devotion to true religion. As that gross and perverse people danced with indecent gestures before the golden calf while Moses was in the mount with God ; so rank and fashion, as well as the children of commerce, bow before the idolatrous shrine of Mammon when the sense of religion has abandoned the soul. Hence we find the men and women of rank and fashion and affected refinement of manners, as greedy after riches for the purposes of dissipation, as is the ava- ricious wretch who palpably covets money for the unnatural and revolting pleasure of " heaping up riches, tliough he cannot tell who shall gather them." But with such a passion to choke our better feelings, it is impossible that we can bestow a due portion of our care and attention upon the salvation of our souls. " He that loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him ; for the friendship of this world is enmity to God."* " No man can * 1 John i. 15. James iv. 4. F a 68 THE PARABLE OF TlIK SOWER. serve two masters : for either he will hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." * Two other things are mentioned in the parallel places of St. Luke and St. Mark, which choke the Word of God ; namely, " the pleasures of life, and the lusts of other things." ** The pleasures of life " constitute those sensual gratifications, the excessive indulgence of which ex- pressly excludes us from the kingdom of heaven. They are likewise those recreations, the moderate enjoyment of which we are by no means forbidden : but they become dangerous and sinful when they are indulged to the almost total oblivion of another world, of the shortness and the probationary nature of our existence in this state, and indeed of every thing but that which tends to the gratification of momentary ease and present pleasure. This is that " pleasure of life" which " chokes the Word" of God, and which will tempt us into the eventual com- mission of the greatest crimes and enormities. There are indeed a " thousand paths which slope the way to crime." Men insensibly become the associates of loose and vicious characters, imitate their profane language and disgusting vices, and are enslaved by vicious men and vicious pleasures ; until they justly fall under the denomination of those who are styled by the Apostle " lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." f " The lusts of other things" comprehend what St. * Matt. vi. 24. + 2 Tim. iii. 4. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 69 John calls "the lusts of the eye,"* — such as the love of splendid apparel, rich furniture, numerous attendants, and gorgeous equipage ; or such as by the same Apostle are designated " the pride of life,"* the ambitious desire of popular applause, and of eminent station and the homage of the world.f Nay, even • 1 Johnii. 15, 16. t The learned Dr. Lightfoot, who has been followed by an ingenious commentator on the Temptation of Christ by the Devil, has reduced the sin of the world to the three species enumerated by St. John, and dra\vs tlie parallel between the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Jesus in the wilderness. " According to St. John, the sin that tempts mankind may be comprised in these three terms ; the lust of the flesh — the lust of the eye — and the pride of life ; and to these three may be reduced the temptations both of Adam and of Jesus. In the temptation in Eden these three temptations of evil are evidently alluded to, in the description of the forbidden fruit. In the temptation in the wilderness Christ was tempted like unto Adam ; and, in a more general sense, like unto all the children of Adam." Adam was tempted to the lust of the flesh, by indulging his natural appetite for food, in a manner contrary to the express command of God. Christ was tempted to gratify his wish for food in a manner forbidden by the spirit of the law of God. Adam was tempted to the lust of the eye : " He took of the fruit, because it was pleasant to the eye." Our Lord was tempted by the perversion of Scripture itself, to indulge that feeling which is gratified by the admiration and homage of the world — to proclaim himself the promised INIessiah — and to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple; and such acts as should evince ostentation, presumption, and vanity. [But these, it should seem, come rather under the third temptatiom, the pride of life.] Adam was tempted to the pride of life. " It was a tree to be desired to make one wise." Our Saviour was taken by the Devil into an exceeding high mountain, and tempted with •TO THE PAllAlJLi: OF Tin: SOWER. the excessive love of our natural relations, not only to the exclusion, but to the abatement, of our love of God, must be included in these " lusts." All these affections in excess tend to sin, inasmuch as they choke the Word of God, they still the voice of religion in the heart : for he who loves father or mother, wife or children, brethren and sisters or friends, better than Christ, is none of his. These are " not of the Father, but of the world ;" and if on these we set our whole hearts and affections, ** the love of the Father is not in us."* " But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Or, as St. Luke states it — " But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." The honest heart, which thus retains the Word, is an heart unoccupied by the vices which we have enumerated ; without covetousness, avarice, love of pleasure, ambition, or pride ; nor so much engrossed by the affections, however natural and lawful, of this world as to be insensible to the glory and blessedness of the kingdom of heaven. Such an honest heart hath a rich and deep soil of its own : unlike the stony ground which retained the seed a while only, the kingdoms of this world. See Townsend's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 92. Lightfoot's Works, vol. 2, p. 130 fol. Lond. 1674. * Luke viii. 15. THK I'ARABLE OF THE SOWEU. 71 and then cast it out, when it sprung up and. withered away ; the seed sown in the honest and good heart is there retained, and " brings forth fruit with pa- tience." Unlike the thorny ground, which is so choked with weeds and thorns that it " brings forth no fruit to perfection ;" the honest and good heart " brings forth fruit to perfection," triumphs over sensual and worldly appetites, makes the love of God to prevail over the love of life, and of the nearest and dearest relations of this life, and thus be- comes fruitful, and " bringeth forth some an hundred- fold,* some sixty, some thirty ;" '*' abounding in all * These words are spoken according to the fruitfulness of the land of Israel ; concerning which the Talmudists speak much, and hyperbolically enough : which nevertheless they confess to be turned long since into miserable barrenness, but are dim- sighted as to the true cause of it. R. Jochanan said, " The worst fruit which we ate, in our youth, excelled the best which we now eat in our old age : for in bis days the world was changed." R. Chaija bar Ba said, "The Arbelite bushel formerly yielded a bushel of flour, a bushel of meal, a bushel of bran, a bushel of coarse bran, and a bushel of coarser bran yet, and a bushel of the coarsest bran also ; but now one bushel scarcely comes from one bushel.'' Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 194. fol. The produce of " an hundredfold" is to be understood of one grain, and not throughout the produce of the field. One grain will not unfrequently produce six or seven stalks, with ten corns on each; ten of these stalks, which, though liberal, happens in fruitful soils, is a hundred. Hammond. Pliny, N. Hist. lib. xviii. c. 10, relates, that wheat will produce by the bushel an hundred and fifty-fold in a fruitful soil, as Africa; " in Byzaico Campo;" that four hundred stalks (germina) were sent thence to Augustus, raised from one grain ; and ccclx stalks (stipulae) to Nero; that Sicily, Boctis, and Egypt easily produce 72 TPE PAllABLE OF THli SOWER. the works of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.''*^f Such is the pui'port of the beautiful parable of the Sower, which, while it warns the weak in faith and the heedless of heart, the covetous, the lover of pleasure, the lover of this world, and all profane and irreligious persons, holds out a salutary lesson of humility to the proud and presumptuous fanatic, an hundredfold. Le Clerc, note ad Gen. xli. 47- So Varro of the country near Sybaris. Grotius, Hammond^ Macknight, and Valpy's Annotations on the Four Gospels. * Phil. i. 11. See Whitby. + I have not made any exposition of the parable of the Seed springing up imperceptibly, Mark iv. 26 — 29^ for it seems to be contained in those of the Sower and the Tares. By Mac- knight it is placed after the parable of the Tares, and among the parables descriptive of the increase of the kingdom of God. To this interesting progress of the Gospel it must be referred, but was, I think, spoken between the parables of the Sower and the Tares, as it is placed by other harmonists and critics. See Townsend and Whitby. Whitby thinks that the seed re- fers to the good ground in the preceding parable of the Sower, which is expounded in the text. As the seed springs and grows, the husbandman knows not how ; so in the honest and good heart the fruit daily increaseth, though we know not how the Word and Spirit worketh that increase. Christ is here the husbandman who soweth the seed, and reapeth at the last day ; though it can with no propriety be said, that it grows he knoweth not how, or that he sleepeth and riseth daily ; which are only descriptive, and no parts of the comparison. See Whit- by, and Valpy on the Four Gospels. The parable generally relates to the sowing the Word of God ; and chiefly by the Apostles, by whose labours it will take root and grow, even in those places to which they had not returned to cultivate it, or even after their death. — This, with small varia- tion, is the substance uf the several expositions of this parable. See the various expositors, Hammond, Whitby, Doddridge, Macknight, Grotius, Le Clerc, &c. &«. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWEK. 73 who dares to believe, or to profess that he believes, that he can nev^er fall from what he thinks his state of grace. The temptations and vicissitudes of human life, the weakness and corruption of our common nature, and the melancholy experience of these in ourselves and our fellow creatures, should make us very watchful over our own hearts, very modest and humble respecting our own salvation, and very charitable in our conclusions respecting the salvation of others. In this parable we perceive four different species of weak and wicked hearts, which, when se- parately examined, we find to contain many more, — and but one " honest and good heart, which, having heard the Word, can keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." All Christians are warned, by this parable, of the importance of religion, and of the danger of error and presumption. It does indeed become them to consider, to ponder, to lay to heart the Word of God, the sound and rational principles of the faith of a Christian ; lest the good seed be snatched away by the common enemy from our hearts ; lest the pride of understanding, the pride of fanaticism, the love of the world, our own weakness, or any other false and vicious principle, tempt them into infidelity, whereby they incur the forfeiture of the promises of salvation. It becomes them to " take ^heed, when they think that they stand, k'st they fall ;" and that, though they may hear the Word of God, though they may have been trained in the path of true religion, yet to "' watch and pray" tliat, when tribulation and persecution 74 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. arise, they may not sink under them through the insolidity of their faith, the pusillanimity of their temper, or an overweening presumption upon their own part in the promises of God, and thus " in time of temptation fall away." It becomes them to be- ware, above all things, of the thousand paths and avenues to vice and irreligion, to profligacy of man- ners and of principle, which this world, as he passes through it, presents to the eyes of every man, and in w^hich, it cannot be doubted that such povv^er as is permitted to the Evil One, is exercised to tempt the human race to involve themselves. All these shoals and quicksands await every Christian. Let none therefore presume that, by chance or necessity, by the secret decrees of God, or by any mystical or philosophical doctrine, he is secure from temptation, that he is removed from danger, or that he is exempt from that final respon- sibility, which we must all incur, at the tribunal of our Eternal Judge. For what the inspired Apostle said to the Athenians, who were vain of their phi- losophy, and derided, like modern infidels, the doc- trines of Christianity, is now more strongly appli- cable to all men, especially in Christian countries : — " The times of ignorance God winked at ; but now commandeth all men every where to repent : be- cause he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." * * Acts xxvii. 30, 31. 75 CHAPTER II. PARABLES DESCRIPTIVE OF CHRIST's KINGDOM. SECTION I. THE PARABLE OF THE TARES- " The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field ; but while men slept, his enemy carae and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and l)rought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field ? from whence then hath it tares ? He said unto them. An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him. Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up ? But he said, Nay ; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest : and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers. Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into my barn. " He that soweth the good seed is the Son of 76 THE l^ARABLE OF THE TARES. Man ; the field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of the world ; and the reapers are the angels. As there- fore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire ; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity ; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." * Of the parable of the Tares there are two opi- nions among commentators. By some, the good and bad seed are interpreted to represent good and bad Christians ; for the word, rendered *' tares," is supposed to mean a degenerate kind of wheat ; and the whole parable is, by these commentators, ex- pounded of the whole church, divided and corrupted by heresies. By others, the field is expounded lite- rally of the world, as it is called by our blessed Lord in his explanation of the parable, and not of the church, according to the above exposition. The tares, it is said, are the children of the devil, who could not produce the members of the church, which are the children of the kingdom, t ♦ Matt. xiii. 24-30, 37—43, ■\ Lightfoot, from the Talmudists, would here have pjiJ Zunin, to be a kind of degenerate wheat. Kilaim, c. 1. hal. 1. So they both were Christians, good or totally bad. Thus the ten vir- THE PAUABLE OF THE TARES. 77 In the following exposition, it will appear that I have inclined to th*e last sense of the parable, and this for two reasons : — it adheres more closely to the language of the parable, which makes the applica- tion of it more universal ; and it includes within it all that can be said of the first interpretation. The world contains the church, but the church includes a small portion only of the world ; and out of the world the church is elected. In my exposition of this parable, which in its subject and structure bears a strong resemblance to the parable of the Sower, I shall observe the same course as in that parable, and follow our Lord's explanation. " He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man." On the designation of " the Son of Man" it is scarcely necessary to remark ; because it must be gins, c. XXV. But Whitby apprehends, that the field is the world, not the church. The tares are the children of the devil, ver. 38, who could not produce members of the church, 2 Cor. vi. 15. And this he seems to advance to obviate an argument against excommunication, and the power of the magistrate, ver. 28, drawn by the Erastians from this parable. But yet the tares appear to be springing up in the church, or in the visible body of Christians. To this purpose also Grotius, who observes, that in like manner, ver. 47, 48, the good and the bad are in the same net. The children of God are those Christians who imitate his goodness c. v. 9, 45, — and of the devil, those who follow his malice, John viii. 44. Grotius ad ver. 38, et 49. Whitby, however, replies., that the net is not the church at all, but the doctrine of the Apostles ; and that that parable re- lates to the end of the world, and not to the members of Christ's present kingdom. Whitby on ver. 47- Valpy's Annot. on the Four Gospels. See also Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 195, folio. 78 THE PARABLE OF THE TAKES. known to every one that " the Son of Man," and '* the Son of God," are equally the titles of our blessed Lord.* He calls himself the Son of Man to signify his great condescension in assuming our nature to his own Divine nature ; for he v/as the Son of God from all eternity, " God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God ;" and, as it is ad- mirably expressed by the Apostle to the Philip- pians. — "Christ Jesus subsisting in the form of Gon, thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.'! * The Son of Man, and the Son of God, are distinct titles of the Messiah. The title of the Son of Man belongs to him as God the Son ; and the title of the Son of God belongs to him as man. The former cliaracterizes him as that one of the three persons of the ever-blessed Trinity which was made man ; the other characterizes him as that man which was united to the Godhead." Horsley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 292. t This remarkable passage so plainly declares the Divinity of Jesus Christ, that it requires the utmost ingenuity to evade it, for it cannot be overthrown ; while the sincere and unsophis- ticated believer securely reposes his faith in so distinct an avow- al, by the pen of an inspired writer, of the Divine nature of our glorious Redeemer. The text, however, as rendered in our ex- cellent translation, has not all the force which is exhibited in the original. Literally rendered, the passage will stand thus : — " Christ Jesus, subsisting, vTrup^^^aov, in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with Goo ; but divesled hiinself, karjTOV exsvoxrf, seipsum exinanivit, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men." That he is of " one SUBSTANCE with the Father," o[ji,oov(noi tm llaTpi, is clearly shown by his "subsisting, vvoip^wv, in the form of God ;" and in what manner he " divested himself" appears from THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. 79 " The field is the world." — I incline to tlie literal interpretation, that the field means the world, and not the church. The Messiah, the only-begotten Son of God, was sent to the whole world. " For God so loved the taorld, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Many, who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, and cannot there- fore constitute his church, will, I believe, reap the benefit of his passion. For it is added to the above text, that " God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."'' These appear to be the general purposes of Christ's coming into the world. Our Lord is conversing with Nicodemus, " a master of Israel ;" and therefore, after stating these great and general purposes of his being sent into the world, immortality and salvation, he immediately adds, addressing himself to Nicodemus, and applying his observation to himself and the rest of his nation — ■ " He that believeth on him is not condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." That this applies to the Jewish nation only, and not to the world at large, is evident from the continuation of the discourse, which refers to Christ's having come to, and been rejected by that people : " This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men loved tJie darkness the text, by his " taking the form of a servant," which the Apostle explains to signify " being made in the likeness of men." — See Schleusner on {j-napy^ji and fx,op(f.ri. 80 THE PAIIABI-E OF THE TARES. rather than light, because their deeds are evil." But to no nation of the world was the Light come, but to the Jews, whose condemnation for the rejec- tion of the Messiah, the Light of the world, is here pronounced, and of all persons who voluntarily reject that light, when manifested to them, but not the condemnation of those who lived before the coming of Christ, nor of those who since have never heard, and therefore could not " believe in, the Name of the only-begotten Son of God." * The free gift of immortality, which was lost in the fall of our first parents, was restored to the whole human race by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This doctrine is thus laid down by the Apostle to the Romans : — " If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement, or reconciliation. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned : and as by the of- fence of one judgment came upon all men to con- demnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men imto Just i/icat ion of life." And " as sin reigned imto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." f Our Saviour Jesus Christ is declared by the same Apostle to ♦ John iii. 16—19. t Rom. v. 10-12, 18, 21. THE PARABLE OF THE TAllKS. 81 Timothy to have " aholished death, and l)rought lift and immortalitij to light through the Gospel." * Whatsoever, therefore, may be the fate of individuals, it would appear that to abolish natural death, and to restore the free gift of immortality to the whole world of reasona])le creatures, which they had lost by " the offence of one," was the first great object of the sacrifice of Christ ; and the second, to renew the world in righteousness, that we might be " made meet," by suitable dispositions and desires, and with- out which we cannot attain, " to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." f The parable, as explained by our Lord himself, next descends to particulars. " The good seed are the children of the kingdom." — The children of the kingdom are those good and faithful servants of Christ, who, having "done well" in his kingdom, the visible church on earth, will * 2 Tim. i. 10. t Col. i, 12. — It lias been said, and perhaps it is the generally received doctrine, that ''ihe full was the triumph of the animal nature of man, and to restore the human race to its original spi- rituality, is the great obj(!ct of that one religion, which has been gradually revealed to mankind under its three forms, the Patri- archal, Lc'vitical, and Christian dispensations." (Townsend's Ar- rangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 32.) Others insist almost wholly on the restoration to the human race of the free gift of immortality, by the atonement through Christ; not sufficiently considering the spirituality of our holy religion. But surely as the penalty of the sin of Adam was death, the first object of the passion of Christ was, as the Apostle states it, to "abolish death, and to bring life and immortality to light." The second, to fit us for that immortality by renewing us in the spirit of our minds : and both are done " through the Gospel." G 83 THE PAYABLE OF THE TAllES. " enter into the joy of their Lord,'' when his " kingdom is come ;" when his reign, which com- menced in his church upon earth, will !)e complete in his church triumphant in heaven. While, how- ever, the church subsists upon earth, and among all societies of men, there will be a mixture of evil ; for such is the condition of our present existence, and that which forms no inconsiderable part of our trial in this probationary state. " The tares, therefore, are the children of the wicked one ; and the enemy* that sowed them is the devil." , This enemy, though principally opposed to Chris- tianity,— which was expressly designed " to destroy the works of the devil," and was set up against the kingdom of darkness of which he is the ruler, — is doubtless, in every possible way, opposed to that which is good. He was, therefore, it has been sup- posed, worshipped as God by various nations of the heathen world, v/ho " adored devils instead of dei- ties." At all events, if he and his apostate band were not themselves adored as deities, it cannot be questioned that so inveterate an enemy, whose pure malice contrived tlie fall of our first parents, would seduce men into every species of idolatry, and of hero and brute worship, which were so universally practised by the nations of antiquity. He would likewise tempt the disciples of Christ into sins of the same kind, and indeed into every kind of sin. Ido- * Ep(^9^of is, enemy ; in German, fiend ; so that fiend by this means has jiained the import of " devil." Valpy's Annot. THE PAUABLE OF THE TARES. 83 latry has therefore appeared, with slight change of its form, in Cin-istian churches, and, it is but too much to be feared, still reigns in several churches ; and it is, as it was of old, productive of a peculiar profligacy of manners which does not exist in coun- tries v/hose religion is more pure. As, therefore, Jesus Christ is the great benefactor of the whole human race, and was, as it is revealed to us, " the lamb slain before the foundation of the world," as a propitiatory sacrifice to atone for the sin of Adam, and to restore to all mankind that im- mortality which Adam had forfeited ; so is Satan the enemy of our race : and whether men be of the visible church of Christ, or not, it is equally his desire to distress them, and to keep them from the know- ledge of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, for his love of the world, suffered death upon the cross : for by faith in his name, we are expressly j)romised everlasting life and happiness ; while na- tural immortality is as expressly declared to pass upon all men by Christ's atonement. The tares, therefore, which are sown by this enemy, who is the devil, are called his "children;" because they are incited by him to cause and to commit all manner of evil in the world ; to make heathen idolaters continue bigoted to their idols ; and to sow dissension among believers, who are " the children of the kingdom," which was soon evidenced in the early heresies that sprung up in the Church shortly after the death of our blessed Lord. '* The harvest is the end of the world." — The end of the world is frequently in Scripture compared to G 2 84 THE PAUABLE OF THE TARES. the harvest; but it is not the judgment of the wicked, but the reward of the righteous to which the term is appropriated. The punishment of the wicked in this case appears an exception from the general course of things at the harvest, which is for the good corn, not for the tares. At the harvest, therefore, the tares are separated from the good corn, as janfit for that joyful and happy period of the Christian scheme, and are cast out " into a fur- nace of fire."* " The reapers are the. angels," who are appointed to separate the wheat from the tares. " As there- fore," continues our Lord, " the tares are gathered and burned in the fire" at the natural harvest; "so • " The vintage is always an image of the season of judg- ment ; but the harvest, of the ingathering of the objects of God's final mercy. I am not aware that a single unexceptionable in- stance is to be found in which the harvest is a type of judgment. In Rev. xiv. 15, ]6, " the sickle is thrust into the ripe harvest, and the earth is reaped ;" i. e. the elect are gathered from the four winds of heaven. The wheat of God is gathered into his barn, (Matt. xiii. 30.) After this reaping of the earth, the sickle is applied to the clusters of the vine, and they are cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. Rev. xiv. 18 — 20. This is judgment. In Joel iii. 13. the ripe harvest is the harvest of the vine, i. e. of the grapes fit for gathering, as ap- pears by the context. In Jer. li. 33, the act of threshing the corn upon the floor, not the harvest, is the image of judgment. It is true, the burning of the tares in our Saviour's parable, Matt. xiii. is a work of judgment, and of the time of harvest, jirevious to the binding of the sheaves. But it is an accidental adjunct of the business, not the harvest itself. I believe the harvest is never primarily, and in itself, an image of vengeance." Bp. Horsley, on Hosea vi.ll. Biblical Criticism, vol. iii. p. 344. THE PAIIAIU.E OF THK TAKES. S5 shall it be at the end of the world," which is repre- sented under this figure. " The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of liis kingdom all things (or scandals) that offend, and them which do iniquity ; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The latter part of the parable seems more parti- cularly confined to the church, into which, we are told by our blessed Lord himself, '* offences must come; but woe to him by whom the offence cometh."* Among ** the children of the kingdom" schismatics and heretics will intrude themselves ; and these will be cast out, which is imaged by the tares being separated from the wheat, before " the rigliteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." There is unquestionable difficulty in the exposi- tion of this parable, a species of composition which is called by the Psahnist **' a dai'k saying," f and which must therefore be expected to involve some difficulty. Although our Lord explains the parable to the disciples, much yet remains iti obscurity. Why he made use of this species of fable, which to the people was a "dark," but not unintelligible, "say- ing," has been already explained. | One difficulty, which has perplexed the different expositors, — upon * Matt, xviii. 7- + P.s. Ixxvjii, 2. t ^^*' tla- Prt'liniinury Dissertation. 8(J THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. v/hich however they are at variance, — is the import of " the field," which our Saviour calls " the world," and of " the good seed," which he interprets " the children of the kingdom." But by comparing the parable itself with our Lord's exposition, I think that the field may, according to the strict sense of its denomination by our Lord, be taken literally for the world, in which the good seed, who are the children of the kingdom, are sown. In this ad- vanced age of the church, scarcely a fifth part of the population of the earth are Christians ; but all are under the general protection of the Providence of the same God and Father of all ; and all are, in some degree, affected by the wonderful Redemp- tion which is wrought by the mysterious interposi- tion of the Son of God. The kingdom of God therefore, which in this parable must mean the church of Christ, forms a part of this wide field : and thus by modifying both, but rejecting neither of these interpretations, this parable may be recon- ciled with itself, and with the conflicting interpreta- tions of its various expositors. Much reflection and much instruction are deduci- ble from this parable, which applies generally to all. mankind, but particularly to Christians ; and by pursuing this train of thought, much light will pro- bably be thrown upon the parable itself. The whole hvunan race have to contend with the same common enemy, because all descend from one common stock : and we learn by divine revelation that this enemy overthrew man's primitive happi- ness, and, from that fatal period, hath never ceased THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. 87 his hostility. Tlic redeinptiou tlnoup^h Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is therefore as universal in its scope as the mahgnity of this inveterate enemy of our race: " The Son of God was manifested tliat he might de- stroy the works of the devil."* This evil s})h-it, and tlie band of whicli he is the head, appear to have fallen, for their apostacy from tl^eir Creator, from some higher state of God's grace ; and tlicrefore, like all debased moral beings, of which we want not examples among men, they study to allure others into the same delinquency. Of the fall of the an- gels our knowledge is very limited. - A signal act of judgment is more than hinted in the Scriptures to have been passed uj)on a higher order of rational beings than men. " The angels," as St. Jude ex- presses it, " kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation." Nor is this judgment of expulsion from their first and happy estate final ; for it is added, that God " hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. '-f St. Peter likewise affirms, that " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to liell, aiul deli- vered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." :j: These are positive revelations of their fall, and their exi)ulsion from their first estate of hajijiiness in which they had been ])laccd ; and not only is their present punishment specified ; but it is added, that they are reserved to a final punishment at " the * 1 John iii. 8. t Judo G. I 2 Peter ii. fi. 88 THE PAKABLK OF THE TAKES. judgment of the great day." Nor are we left in the dark as to the positive and dreadful nature of this punishment, which wicked men are condemned to partake with them ; for to the unrighteous, at that great day, our Lord hath declared, that the Judge will say, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an- gels."* f Their offence therefore, as their punishment, would seem to have some connection with the mighty mys- tery of the atonement of. the Son of God. Much of their sin now unquestionably consists in their malig- nant hatred of the human race, and the opposition and hostility of the Prince of the power of the air, and the angels or spirits of the kingdom of darkness, against the Prince of peace, and God and the king- dom of light — especially against Him who is " the Light of the world." That the alleged confinement, however, " in everlasting chains," is not to he un- derstood according to the literal construction of the words, is evident from other parts of Scripture, wherein we find the chief of those fallen spirits ac- * Matt. XXV. 41. t There were traditions of these fallen spirits among the heathens. — " Pythagoras probably derived mncli of his philoso- phy, and many opinions and institutions, from the Jews in their dispersion at the time of tlie Babylonish captivity. He was of opinion that the world was full of demons. Thales too, the con- temporary of Pythagoras, and after them Plato and the Stoics, affirmed that all things were full of demons. And it is well known that the priests, in giving forth their oracles, are always represented as being possessed with their gods." Townsend's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 150. THE PAllABI.K OF THE TAKES. 89 lively employed against men, and against Him who was both God and man : and this strengthens the opinion that the sin of Satan, and his apostate band, very probably consisted in their opposition to the Son of God, and his great work of Redemption, whicli may extend to innumerable worlds besides the planet which we inhabit.* Pride, a portion of which he infused into the minds of our first parents, who hoped to be as gods or angelsf by disobeying tlie Divine command, was probably the immediate cause of the fall of those angelic spirits. ^Vhen the prophet would reprove the pride of Baljylon by the prediction of her future destruction, the figure of the fall of the Prince of the apostate angels is beautifully employed to convey that fearful denunciation. — " How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning." — The pride and presumption of that mighty empire are then described under the personification of Lucifer, and in terms which clearly intimate the cause of • The curious and learned reader is referred to a work, which is not perhaps so much known as it deserves, by the Rev. Dr. Nares, entitled, *EI^ 0EO2, *EIS ME3TH2 ; or " an Attempt to show how far the philosophical notion of a Plurality of Worlds is consistent, or not so, with the language of the Holy Scriptures." This ingenious work was published long before the popular astronomical discourses of a celebrated Scottish preacher, and, to a thinking man, will be found much more in- teresting, because it contains much more copious matter of re- flection than those celebrated discourses. t The word Elohim in Gen. iii. 5, is interpreted by Onkelos, and by Maimonides, to mean angels or ])rinces, A^;^ai, princi- palities and powers, iS:c. See T*atrick. DO THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. his fall, which was Ainhition. — " Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will ex- alt my throne above the stars of God : I will sit in the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north : I will ascend above the heights of the clouds ; I will be like the Most High. Yet," adds the pro- phet, " thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."* When our Lord sent out the seventy disciples, who declared, on their return to him, that " the devils were subject unto them through his Name," he used the same figure, in allusion to the first fall of the an- gels, to express that he had now fulfilled his office" as " the Son of God," who was " manifested to destroy the works of the devil :" " I beheld Satan as light- ning fall from heaven. "f The meaning of this text evidently is, that Christ saw the downfall of the kingdom of Satan in this world, of which he is styled the Prince, by the conversion of the heathens. But the figure of speech is probably taken from his ori- ginal fall from heaven, along with those angels who " kept not their first estate." Whatever was the sin, or the fall of Satan, it is very evident that, ever since his own fall and moral degradation, he and his apostate band have, as it is admirably expressed by the judicious Hooker, " by all means laboured to effect an universal rebellion against the laws, and, as far as in them lieth, utter destruction of the works of God." :j: * Isaiuh xiv. 12—15. t Luke x. 18. X The followiiiif is Hooker's hypothesis respecting the fall of the angels. — " A part of the aiij';els of Go«.l. we know, have fallen. THE PARABLE OF THE 'I'ARES. 91 In the heathen world, it has been generally be- lieved, these wicked spirits were honoured as gods, and worshipped in oracles, in idols, as household guardians, and in a thousand other shapes, either being* themselves worshipped, or inciting the hea- thens to the various species of false worship and idolatry practised in the ancient world ; until the advent of Christ destroyed, as had been predicted by tiie prophet, the powers of the kingdom of darkness. " From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering : for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts."* That this prophecy was com- pletely fulfilled in the Roman Empire, which com- prised tiie whole civilized world, a few centuries after and tliat their fall hath been throngh the yoluntary breach of that law which did require at their hands continuance in the ex- ercise of their high and admirable virtue. " The fall of the angels was pride ; since their fall, their prac- tices have been the clean contrary of those before mentioned ; for being dispersed, some in the air, some on the earth, some in the water ; some among the minerals, dens, and caves that are under the earth ; they have, by all means, laboured to effect an univer- sal rebellion against the laws, and, as far as in them lieth, utter destruction of the works of God. These wicked spirits the hea- thens honoured instead of gods, both generally under the name of I)u infeti, gods infernal, and particularly, some in oracles, some in idols, some as household gods, some as nymphs : in a word, no foul and wicked spirit which was not one way or other honoured of men as god, till such time as light a])peared in the world, and dissolved the works of the Devil." Hooker's Eccles. PoLB. 1. Sect. 4. • iVIal. i. 11. 92 THE rAIlAHLE OF THE TAKES. the birth of Christ, must be known to every reader of history. Whether demons really gave the oracular responses, or suggested them to the priests or priest- esses ; or whether they were themselves worshipped, or tempted men into the worship of the heavenly bodies, dead heroes, and brute images ; — are questions of minor importance : for all learned and pious men agree, that into every species of idolatry, and into every kind of sin, it hath been the labour and the study of these depraved spirits to tempt the human race ; and since the transgression of our progenitors, their machinations and stratagems have been but too successful, as is testified by the idolatries and wick- ednesses of heathens and of Christians. In the sacred oracles, both of the Hebrew Scrip- tures and of the New Testament, we have abundant evidence of the activity of Satan, the enemy of man, in his sleepless hostility against good men. The story of Job, whether the facts occurred ex- actly as they are told in that highly poetical book, is unquestionably founded in truth ; for Job is ex- pressly mentioned by two inspired writers, the pro- phet Ezekiel and the apostle St. James.* And although, as it has been contended by one ingenious writer,! it should be but an allegorical fiction, writ- * Ezek. xiv. 14. James v. 11. f Bishop Warburton, who elaborately contends that the book of Job is an allegoric poem, written by Ezra on the return from the Captivity, and representing the circumstances of the people of that time. See Div. Leg. Book 6. Sect. 2. No inspired book has given rise to more controversy and more various opinions than the book of Job. Some imagine that they perceive its an- tiquity in its style, others in the manner, and others, like Bishop THE PARARLE OF THE TARES. 93 ten for the instruction and consolation of the captive Jews, it being by all allowed to be an inspired book, the part ascribed to Satan proves the existence and the character of that fallen spirit, and the conviction of the inspired author of his enmity against the hu- man race. But in the historical and prophetical books,* which are the undoubted records of facts, and the inspired predictions of things to happen to the church, we find the same malignity attributed to Satan. In the 21st chapter of the first book of Chronicles we read that " Satan stood up against Israel, and pro- voked— or tempted — David to number Israel." This was the same species of temptation, the excitement of pride, by which he wrought the fall of our first parents, and also the snare of sin, as in the instance of David, whereby he lays wait for many good men. In the first book of Kings we read of one of these fallen spirits, who offers himself to become " a lying spirit in the mouth of all his (Ahab's) prophets."f Warburton, who treats his opponents very unceremoniously, deny !ind deride these marks, especially of style. The Bishop decides dogmatically that it was written by Ezra. The reader may see tliese different opinions stated by Archbishop IMagee in his able work on the Atonement ; Bishop Lowth in his elegant Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, and by Bishop Warburton, as above. * Zech. iii. G. Ps. cix. + 1 Kings xxii. 22. This passage hath perplexed the pious reader, and made sport, I doubt not, to the infidel who frequently sports with his ignorance, like the madman with his misery ; and it is hard to decide which is the most melanclioly spectacle. The speech of IMicaiah, however, in this passage of sacred history, is to be un- derstood as a parabolical representation of a certain event, wliich 94 THE PARABLE OF TFiE TARES. The very names of Satan and Devil indicate his enmity ; for they mean an adversary, an enemy, and an accuser. In the New Testament the enmity and malignity of this spiritual adversary and his associates are dis- played with the greater energy as they are approach- ing the confines of their power. The most remark- able scene in this collection of inspired writings, is the temptation of Christ by this apostate spirit. But this was the most ineffectual of all his efforts ; for neither the allurement of food, of power, nor of pride, could seduce from his allegiance the second Adam, who was " the Lord from heaven." He then changed the mode of his attack upon the King and the kingdom of light : but he never abated, dur- ing the life of the holy Jesus, the unalterable malig- nity of his purpose. He stirred up the bigoted and ferocious Scribes and Pharisees ; — he influenced their passions, and infuriated their souls, first to persecute, and finally to destroy him. He incited one of his own disciples to betray his Divine Master : and that such a fell act of wickedness and infernal was about to come to pass. The several circumstances are de- signed only to illustrate the narration, and are not to be taken n a literal sense, but in the sense of other parables, in which the end and the design of the speaker are considered. These, in IMicaiah's case, were to show the reason why so many prophetB declared what was false upon this occasion ; that they were moved, not by the spirit of truth, but by that of adulation ] and to make on the minds of his hearers that deep and vivid impres- sion, which, in poetical description, corporeal images can alone produce. See Stackhouse's History of the Bible, new edit. 4to. vol. ii. p. 331. THE I'AUAIJLK OF THE TARES. 9^> malignity slioukl be made known as a terrible warn- ing to the sons of men, tlie Holy Spirit hath record- ed it as the act of Satan, though it neither takes away, nor diminishes the guilt of the detested trai- tor, who knew that he had such an enemy, but vo- luntarily adhered to the dictates of his avarice : — "Af- ter the sop, which Jesus gave Judas Iscariot, Satan entered into him."* Tlie triumph and the success, however, of this wicked and unhappy spirit in this, his capital plot, did but the more completely defeat his purpose ; for the all-wise and gracious Provi- dence of God, though he leaves his creatures to the liiierty of their free will, overrules, when he sees it necessary, the results of the sinful acts of devils and of men. The death of Jesus was the life of man and the overthrow of Satan ; it restored to us the free gift of immortality which had been lost in the fail ; and sin and Satan can have no longer any permanent dominion over the sons of men.f • John xiii. 27. t I cannot deny my readers nor myself the pleasure of transcribing the following eloquent passage from tlie neglected poem, " The Paradise Regained," of our great IMilton ; in vvhicli the despair and the yet inextinguished hope of the fallen spirit are draun by the hand of a master. Indeed, the conception of unmixed and unmitigated despair is so dithcult as to be almost impossible to a rational being ; and the poet lias done ample jus- tice to this sentiment. Our Saviour checks the devil's curiosity by telling him that liis fall is necessarily involved in the exaltation of the Mes- siah : — '* What moves thy iiKjuisitiou ? Know'st thou not that my risiiiu; is thy fall;' 96 THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. Through the whole life and ministry of the blessed Jesus, the hostility of these apostate spirits was car- ried on by all imaginable devices, and manifested the more visibly, that their approaching destruction might be shown. Demoniacism,* or the possession of persons by evil spirits, was one of the most com- And my promotion will be thy destruction ? To whom the Tempter, inly rack'd, replied : Let that come when it comes ; all hope is lost Of my reception into grace : What worse ? For where no hope is left, is left no fear : If there be worse, the expectation more Of worse torments me than the feeling can. I would be at the worst : worst is my port. My harbour, and my ultimate repose ; The end I would attain, my final good. My error was my error, and my crime My crime ; whatever, for itself condemn'd And will alike be punish 'd, whether thou Reign, or reign not ; though to that gentle brow Willingly I could fly, and hope thy reign. From that placid aspect and meek regard, Rather than aggravate my evil state. Would stand between me and thy Father's ire, (Whose ire I dread more than the iire of Hell,) A shelter, and a kind of shading cool Interposition as a summer's cloud." Par. Reg. B. iii. v. 200. Milton's Arian notions are evident in this extract. But the author will not be suspected of coinciding in such opinions. It is, however, for the sentiment of Satan, as a true delineation of our feelings, and perhaps of the nature of angels, for which this inimitable extract is made. * For an admirable collection of the arguments against the infidel, who objects that Demoniacism was a bodily disease, the reader is referred to the excellent note in Townsend's Arrange- ment of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 156. THE PAKABLi: OV THE TARES. 97 mon, though to us most extraordinary forms in which their power was displayed. We, therefore, find the miracles of Christ directly opposed to them in casting out devils or demons from persons, into whom they were allowed to enter, and whom they distracted with madness. To the seventy disciples he gave the like power, who, as we have already noticed, *' returned to him with joy, saying. Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy : and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding — he adds — in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you ; (because this is to evince ??iy empire over them ;) but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." * The enmity of Satan hath not, however, abated, though his power is diminished by the glory of the Son of God ; nor, until the great day, will his power be extinguished, and finally trampled under the feet of the Messiah. His permitted power is yet very considerable. We find that, after the ascension of our Lord, he tempted Ananias and his wife to " lie to the Holy Ghost." f Nor, as we learn from the Apocalypse, J will his enmity cease, save with his power,— not until the great day for which he and the rest of the fallen angels are " reserved in ever- lasting chains under darkness." • Lukex. 17—20. t Acts v. 1— II. t Rev. XX. 7, 10. H 98 THE PARABLE OF THE TARES. We are therefore warned by the Holy Scriptures to be watchful against the wiles of an enemy so ac- tive and so powerful ; and not, like the men in the parable, to " sleep, lest this enemy come and sow tares among our wheat."* If we resist him, we are told, he will flee from us. " Humble yourselves," saith St. Peter, " under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time ; casting all your care upon him ; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant ; because your adversary the De- vil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour : whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." f * "■ The Spirit of evil does not desire to diminish the supposed happiness of man in this world ; it endeavours to immerse him in the pursuit of worldly enjoyments, comforts, vanities, and pride, in such manner that the soul becomes imbruted and em- bodied in material objects. The Spirit of evil so endeavours to sensualize and animalize the intellectual and moral faculties of man, that his inferior nature may be triumpli^nt ; and conse- quently when he shall be summoned into another state of ex- istence, he may be rendered totally unfit to be the eternal com- panion of God the Judge of all — of Christ the Mediator — of holy angels — and of perfect spirits." Townsend's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 93. t 1 Peter v. 6—9. 90 SECTION II. THE OUAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. The smaller parables of our Lord, which follow those of the Sower and of the Tares, in the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, describe, under the veil of allegory, the mighty increase of the Gospel from the smallest beginnings, and the invaluable nature of those blessed tidings which it would spread abroad over the whole earth. The first and the most beautiful of these smaller parables is the Grain of Mustard Seed. " Another parable put he forth unto them, say- ing. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field : which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."* This, and the following parable of the Leaven which was hidden in three measures of meal, de- scribe the wonderful increase of the word of God, the seed of the sower, among the nations of tiie earth. The truth of these parables is confirmed and illustrated by the events which occurred not long after the general promulgation of the Gospel. » Matt. xiii. :n. .12. Mark iv. 31, 32. H 2 100 THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. Irenaeus,* who flourished towards the end of the second century, enumerates the churches of Ger- many, Gaul, and Spain in Europe, and of the East, of Egypt and Libya, and of the South. TertuUian,f who flourished about the year of our Lord 200, affirms that in his time the Gospel had spread to the Getuli, a people of Libya, the Mauri, an eastern people settled in Spain, and the utmost bounds of the Spanish territory ; that it was diffused through- out Gaul and Britain, and in remote parts of those countries which were inaccessible to the Romans ; also over Sarmatia and Scythia, — countries at the northern extremities of Asia, — and Germany ; and over many other nations, provinces, and islands, unknown to, and beyond the Roman empire. The declaration of the inspired Apostle was therefore more than figuratively just — that " the Gospel had been preached to every creature which is under heaven : | for to all who had any light of knowledge and civi- lization, were carried the blessed tidings of sal- vation. The parable of the Mustard Seed is a very just * Irenfeus, lib. i. cap. 3. Ecclesias nominat " Germaniarum, Galliarum, Hispaniarum, Orientis, ^gypti, Libyse, Meridiei." Vide Grotius in loc. Oper, torn. ii. p. 140. + These are the words of TertuUian : — Getulorum varietates, Maurorum niultos fines, Hispaniarum omnes terminos, Gal- liarum diversas nationes, et Brittannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, et Sarmatarum, et Dacorum, et Germanorum, et Scy- tharum, et abditarum multarum gentium et provinciarum, et insularum multarum Romanis ignotarum. Grotius ut supra. i Col i. 23. THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. 101 illustration of this universal diffusion of the king- dom of heaven. We are not to judge of the growth and size of this plant as we are acquainted with it in these colder regions " of the earth. The warm climate and the fertile soil of Judea, and of many eastern countries, produced an immense tree from *' a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth." * The Jews give a wonderful account of the growth and increase of this seed. " There was a stalk of mustard seed in Sichin, from which sprang out three boughs, of which one was broken off and co- vered the tent of a potter, and produced three cabs of mustard.-'f R Simeon ben Calipha said, " A stalk of mustard seed was in my field, into which I was wont to climb, as men do into a fig-tree."i: We have likewise the testimony of modern tra- vellers that the mustard seed, which with us produces only a small plant, grows in the East to such a height, and to so considerable a size, that it affords a shade : § while the seed, which thus increases into an umbrageous tree, was so small as to be proverbial among the people of the East. In like manner, the state of the Gospel, * Mark iv. 31. t A cab is a Hebrew measure, which contains about three English pints. X Lightfoot, Whitby, Buxtorf ad voc. Chardal. § Hence the propriety of the Evangelist, — that it " shooteth out great branches ; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it." IVIark iv. 32. 102 THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. small as it was at first, was daily spreading and in- creasing, and continues even yet to spread and in- crease ; so that however mean and contemptible it might at first appear, when it was received by few persons, and those of the lowest condition, it will in time spread over the whole earth :* doctrines, which the Jews then despised and lejected, will be em- braced and flourish among all the nations of the Gentiles ; and the projihecy will be fulfilled — ^that " the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The Jews themselves will at last be converted, and come in to the fold of Christ. The Gospel will " become a tree," which will "shoot out great branches" into the most remote places of the earth, " so that the birds of the air will come and lodge in the branches thereof," and people of all nations and languages will repose sweetly under its outspread " shadow."f * Dr. S. Clarke^ Beausobre, and otlierS;, quoted in D'Oyley's and Mant's Bible. t ]Macliniglit, with great ingenuity, supposes that cur Lord had his eye on Nebuchadnezzar's dream, (Dan. iv. 10.) in which the nature and advantages of civil government are re- presented by a great tree with spreading branches, fair leaves, and much fruity " and in it was meat for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it." — See his Harmony, vol. ii. p. 306. Both this and the following parable are again used by our Saviour in his last journey to Jerusalem before bis crucifixion, and in allusion to that more advanced state of his kingdom, which is not of this world. — See Luke xiii. 18 — 20. " There seems (says Mr. Townsend in his admirable Arrangement) in this parable (of the Mustard Seed) to be some allusion to the 103 SECTION III. THE LEAVKN. " Another parable spake he unto them ; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." * This parable appears to have the same allusion to the general diffusion of the Gospel, with the addition of the power which it would possess to convert all the nations of the earth ; that, as it was predicted, kings should be its " nursing fathers, and their queens its nursing mothers ; and that Gentiles should come to its light, and Kings to the brightness of its rising."'!" As therefore a small piece of leaven, which was hidden in a large measure of meal, to which its size could bear no proportion, was at first imper- ceptible, yet was perceived at last to have leavened the whole ; so the Gospel, from small beginnings and by insensible degrees, should in time spread itself circumstances in which our Lord was no^\' placed. He was pro- ceeding to Jerusalem, where he intended, as his hour Avas ap- proaching, to address himself to the rulers of the Jews, with as much boldness as he had hitherto spoken to the people. He foresaw the result of this conduct ; that it would lead to his painful death, and the accomplishment of the promises of God. The future was ever present to him. As the seed was com- mitted to the ground, and became a great tree, so in the same manner would his kingdom begin from his death, and gradually increase and extend itself over the world." — Townsend's Ar- rangement of the New Test. vol. i. p. 333. * Matt. xiii. 33. t Isaiali xlix. 23. Ix. 3. 104 THE I-EAVEN. througli the nations of the world, and by its own Divine Power so operate upon them as totally to change their character in the same manner as leaven affects the meal till it become wholesome bread. The bread, to carry on the similitude, would conduce to the sustenance of animal life ; but the Gospel is the bread fiom heaven, which is the food of immortality. The similitudes of this parable are thought by some commentators to have reference rather to the effect of the Gospel on particular individuals ; and that it differs from the former one of the Mustard Seed growing into a tree, inasmuch as that represents the extensive propagation of the Gospel from the smallest beginnings ; but this exhibits the nature of the in- fluence of its doctrines upon the minds of particular persons.* But as all the parables have, in the first instance, a general character, by making the applica- tion of this parable universal, we do but extend the meaning of those commentators who would confine its application to individuals ; and while we adhere to our own interpretation, we can hardly be said to impugn their opinion. The three measures of meal, in which the woman is represented by the parable to have hidden the leaven, was the usual quantity consumed, or made up at one time into cakes. The attentive reader of tlie Old Testament will call to mind several incidents which will illustrate this part of the parable. If indeed the manners of the Hebrew Scriptures are not attended to, the simplest passages of the Gospels * Mackniglit's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 307. Hammond seems to be of the same opinion. THE LEAVEN. 105 and Epistles may be misapprehended. I will men- tion two places in illustration of the similitudes of this parable, which is exactly agreeable to the cus- toms of the Hebrews. When Abraham entertained the Angels, he desired Sarah to " make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, and knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth." * These three measures made an Ephah. We therefore read in the Book of Judges that " Gideon made ready a kid, and unlea- vened cakes of an Ephah of flour."f SECTION IV. THE HIDDKN TREASURE. " Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto trea- sure hid in a field ; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.'":}: This parable, like the two foregoing ones of the Mustard Seed and Leaven, is obviously connected with the one immediately following, of the Pearl of great price. As the former parables alluded to the general increase and operation of the Gospel in the whole civilized world, to " every creature under heaven," these allude to the different classes of con- verts to this blessed dispensation of grace. The design of both is to represent rn general, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest and most in- valuable blessing of the earth ; the treasure which * Gen. xviii. 6. f Judges vi. IS). See Lightfoot and Grotius. i Matt. xiii. 44. 106 THE HIDDEN TREAbUllE. gives the field its sole value in the eyes of him who discovered it—" tlie pearl of great price," the value of vviiich exceeds the price of all other pearls put to- gether. The divine truth of the Gospel gives this world all its value in the eyes of the true Christian, who looks upon it as the passport to a higher and a nobler state of existence. In this light it exceeds the price of worldly wealth and grandeur, all the pride of honour and distinction, and the gratifica- tion of such short-lived pleasures as this transitory state can jjossibly afford. The different instruction conveyed by these pa- rables— different in degree, but not in kind — consists in this : that they show the different dispositions of the converts to the truth of the Gospel. The first class of persons, who are represented by the chance- found treasure, would receive it with joy as a hap- piness altogether unexpected and unmerited, and would at once dispose of all their worldly wealth with the greatest alacrity, so that they might be in- structed in the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, and the saving truths of the Gospel dispensation, the transcendent secret of the redemption of man through the mysterious interposition of the Son of God, now for the first time revealed to the world.* Many converts, therefore, we find, upon the first * " The Gospel/' says Hammond in his paraphrase of this pa- ruble, " being by some not looked after, is yet sometimes met with by them, and becomes matter of infinite joy and desire to them ; and so is likened fitly to a treasure, which a man finding casu- ally in a field, hid again, or concealed it, and then desiring to get it into his possession, accounts no price that he can obtain, too dear fur it." THE HIDDEN TREASUllE. 107 preaching of the Gospel, came and laid all their pos- sessions at tlie feet of the Apostles. They sold their lands. They parted with their birth-rights. They severed themselves, as Christ had predicted, from all natural ties of consanguinity and relationship, and " left all and foUowed Christ." They " went and sold all that they had, and bought that field," in w hich was the hidden treasure of life and salvation. Such were the first effects of the promulgation of the joyful tidings of the salvation of the world. That in this age of the church, when the religion of Christ is fully established, and hath taken root in the earth, and become " hke the goodly cedars," and hath " sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river,"* — that we are now required to make these sacrifices, w ill, I believe, be affirmed by none but the veriest enthusiast. But that such sacrifices, such generous self-annulment,f such noble exertions of the best energies of our nature, were indispen- * Psalm Ixxx. 10, 11. + This sentiment is very finely expressed by our great moral poet, who, by tlie mouth of a departed Spirit, unites the links of earthly and heavenly love. " Learn by a mortal yearning to ascend Towards a higher object : — love was given. Encouraged, sanction'd, chiefly for this end. For this the passion to excess was driven — That self might he anmilVd ; her bondage prove The fetters of a dream, opposed to love." Wordsworth. Thus IMilton : " Love is the scale By which to heavenly love thou may'st ascend." P. L. viii. 591. 108 THE HIDDEN TREASURE. sable to the first propagation of the Gospel, when a few obscure men contended against the infidelity, the superstition, the vices, and the prejudices of the po- tentates and people of the world, will be denied by no thinking mind. But though neither among the clergy nor the people, now that the Christian religion hath taken root in the earth, are such personal labours and suffer- ings as were endured by the first martyrs to the faith — such sacrifices of wealth and personal ease as were made by the first converts, — now required of the disciples of Christ ; yet of all classes of people — of the clergy and of the laity — more zeal, more labour, more disinterestedness, more love of God and less love of the world, are unquestionably demanded than are visible in this age of the church, and in this Christian country, which has been providentially protected by the Arm of the Almighty amid the fall of surround- ing nations. But it should be remembered — it should never be forgotten by Christians — that Perse- cution may again lift up his iron hand, and that the strong endurance of the primitive martyrs, the noble sacrifices of the first converts, may again be demanded of the faithful ; nor is our history wanting of those eventful and calamitous periods, when all those in- centives to fortitude and nobleness of soul have been put to the test. And what has been the struggle of the last thirty years, but for the salvation of our own country from a repetition of the horrors from fanatic infidelity, which she has already experienced from fanatic enthusiasm ! But shall we always be preserved, wliile the empires around us bend before THE HIDDEN TREASURE. 109 the storm ? No. Unless the irreligion and profligacy of principle and of practice, the daring and the covert infidelity, and the worldliness of the present age, give place to religion and virtue, to humble faith and heavenly hopes and expectations, our turn will come, and our fall will be heard amid the hissings and the mockings of the nations, who have feared us in the meridian of our power and glory, and will scorn and deride us in our fall and desolation — " The chief ones of the earth — all the kings of the nations shall rise up from their thrones — all they shall speak and say unto thee. Art thou also become weak as we ? Art thou become like unto us ? Thy pomp is brouglit down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols : the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations !"* SECTION V. THE PKARL OF GREAT PRICE. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls : who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."f This parable describes the humble, but industrious searchers after truth ; those among the Jews and among the heathens, who, as we may suppose some of the Jews, and find in the extant writings of great * Isaiah xiv. 9—12. t Matt. xiii. 45, 40. 110 THK PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. heathen authors, had looked, not for a temporal Messiah and an earthly conqueror as \\ as the vulgar expectation of the Jews, but for the true " Conso- lation of Israel," and had entertained hopes of a heavenly Instructor, who would illumine the dark- ness of the minds of men as to a future state. This class of persons would gladly embrace the blessed tidings of Salvation, would hail afar off the feet of the messengers upon the mountains, and would cling to, as their dearest hope, that " life and immortality which was brought to light by the Gospel." These persons are therefore beautifully depicted in this parable by " a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when his diligent search was rewarded in having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."* Truth was " the pearl of great price," which was sought with diligence by all the great and high-minded men before the publication of the Gospel. But when those glad tidings were proclaimed, and carefully examined by those divine merchantmen, " they sold all that they had" — they regarded their former ac- quisitions of knowledge and wisddm as nothing in comparison of this " pearl of great price." In the words of the wise man, they " received instruction, and not silver ; and knowledge rather than choice * Hammond is equally happy in his paraphrase of this, as of the last parable. — " Others there are Avhich have followed the study of wisdom, and thirsted after some instructor, and then the Gospel of Christ comes as a rich prize doth to a merchant which is in pursuit of rich merchandize, and meeting with a jewel for his turn, lays out all his estate upon it." THE PEAllL OF GREAT PRICE. Ill gold. For wisdom is better than rul)ies ; and all things that may be desired, are not to be compared to it."* — " More to be desired is she than gold : sweeter than honey and the honey-comb."']' The traffic of pearls formed a very considerable branch of the merchandize of the East. Hence the propriety and the beauty of tliis parable. It is said of the Jews, and of all the nations of the East, that they held pearls in the highest estimation;:]: and the adjacent coast of the Red Sea, from whence the pearls were taken, rendered this article of traffic very familiar to the Jews. It has been disputed whether the word "pearl" was not used in the East to denote any otiier precious stones.^ But this is of no im- portance to the beauty and propriety of the parable, which, both in a critical and practical point of view, are equal, whether the word was used to denote other precious stones, or that particular gem which it is commonly understood to signify. * Prov. viii. 10, 11. t Psalm xix. 10. I Principium, says Pliny, culmenque omnium rerum pretii margaritae tenent. See Grotius. § JMichaelis thinks that " among the nations of the East, the word Pearl is used tor precious stones in general. In this sense we must take jU,apyapjT«i, Matt. vii. 6. xiii. 46. And Rev. xxi. 21, it seems incapal)le of any other meaning, since gates of pearl, which every acid could dissolve, would hardly enter into the imagination." — Marsh's IMichaelis, vol. i. p. 130. His translator and annotator, the present learned Bishop of Peterborough, so far agrees with his author that, as pearls are the produce of the East, it is more than probable that the Greeks borro\^ed the name from the Orientalists. The Arabic and Persian word, it should seem, signifies both a precious stone and a pearl ; and from this word the Greeks derived their fjiapyupov, nor is it ne- 112 SECTION VI. THE NET. " Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind : which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world : the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."* The kingdom of heaven, compared to a net con- taining good and bad fish, hath Ijeen applied by most commentators to the visible church of Christ, which contains both good and bad persons ; but that at the last day the angels will " sever the wicked from among the just," and that the invisible church shall contain the just only. I shall place the opinion of a justly celebrated critic in the context, that it may be compared with that which I have adopted. — " The parable of the net cast into the sea, which inclosed many fish of every kind, intimates, that by the preaching of the Gospel a visible church should be gathered on earth, cessary to have recourse to the termination oi [lapyupiTrjg, because MD is a very common termination of nouns substantive, both in Syriac and Chaldee. — Ibid. vol. i. p. 412. * Matt. xiii. 47—50. THE NET. 113 consisting both of good and bad men, mingled in such a manner, that it would be difficult to make a proper distinction between them, but that at the end of the world the bad shall be separated from the good, and cast into hell, which the parable repre- sents " under the image of casting them into a fur- nace of fire, because that was the most terrible pu- nishment known in the eastern countries.' * But the kingdom of heaven seems, in this and the foregoing parables, to apply rather to the doctrine of the Gospel, which, as " a net is cast into the sea, and gathers of every kind," should be preached to the whole world at large by the Apostles, who are the fishermen ; from whose former occupation the parable was evidently conceived. And, as it has been well observed, " the scope of this parable is not to show who do at present belong to Christ's kingdom, but who hereafter shall be excluded from the kingdom of heaven. "f Christ told the Apostles Simon Peter and Andrew his brother, when he first called them, that " he would make them fishers of men," and the doctrine whicli they would preach is here compared to a net.t Many heard who received not their doctrine ; many now hear the doctrine of Christ from his mi- * JMacknight's Harmony of the Gospels, vol. ii. p. 310. + Whitby. X The import of the original word of " not," a-otyrjvrj, which is of that capacious nature to sweep all within its rt'ach, seems to point rather to the doctrine sown, like the seed of the sower, in all places of the earth, than to the visible Church, which, even in Christian countries, contains not all. See Sclileusner on the word. 114 THE NET. nisters, and reject it ; such will be rejected from the kingdom of heaven. — " These bad fish," says an ancient writer, " are no sooner pulled unto the shore, but the fishermen sit down, and cast them away, and thereby show they belong not to this kingdom."* The church of Christ was not formed until after the death of the Divine Founder who laid the cor- ner-stone of the Temple. But the doctrine of the Gospel, and the kingdom of the Messiah, were preached by Christ during his ministry, and by his Apostles after his death and resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost. It was rejected by the great mass of the Jews, and by the pride of the learned heathens ; these were never of the visible church ; but having rejected the doctrine of the Gospel, they are rejected from the kingdom of heaven. As the fishermen gather the good fish into vessels, and cast the bad away ; " so shall it be at the end of the world ; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." This dreadful figure of speech is commonly used by our Saviour to denote exclusion from the benefits of the Gospel dispensation, and the future punish- ment of the wicked. The meaning of the parable, therefore, seems to be simply this : — Those who hear and reject the doctrine of Christ, and the dis- pensation of the Gospel, which hath " abolished * Theophylact, See Whitby. THE NET. 115 death, and brought life and immortality to light," necessarily forfeit those benefits which are thereby offered to them. They reject tlie kingdom of hea- ven as it commences in the visible church upon earth, and will be rejected from the kingdom of God at the day of judgment. These persons cannot be said to belong to the visible church, though they may have been once incorporated by baptism into that holy society ; but they scoff at and reject tlie doctrine of the Gospel, neither being nor professing to be Christians. The same sentence of exclusion from the kingdom of God, and of the fearful punish- ment of the wicked, will be passed upon all hypo- crites who, for the worldly and wicked purpose of gain, like Simon Magus, or for any other worldly purpose, shall dishonour that holy and pure religion of which they are unworthy professors, and that Name which is above every name, through which alone we can obtain health and salvation. SECTION VII. THE HOUSEHOLDER. Our blessed Lord concludes the beautiful series of parables, to be found in the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, with these words, which like- wise contain a parable representing the true disci- ples of his kingdom, which it was his object in the preceding beautiful apologues to unfold. " Jesus saith unto them, — his disciples, — Have ye I 2 116 THE HOUSEHOLDER. understood all these things ? They say unto him. Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every Scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."* The meaning of this short parable is, that he who becomes a disciple, like those chosen apostles then wuth their heavenly Master, and is *' well instructed unto the kingdom of heaven," which must here mean the Gospel dispensation, may bring out of his knowledge of the Law and the Gospel — from Moses and the prophets, and from the peculiar doctrines of Christ's kingdom — things new and old, whatever is needful to feed God's family and household ; as the householder brings forth from his store such things, both new and old, as are necessary for the sustenance of the family. The Law and the prophets, the mysteries and the types of the Old Testament, foreshadowing the kingdom of the Messiah, and even the usages of the Jewish religion, which were added by the Pharisees, must be carefully studied, and clearly understood, before a Christian minister can unfold the sense of the Gospel, the mysteries of the New dispensation. He therefore warns his hearers, and all who now read his Divine Gospel, to study the Hebrew Scrip- tures, and to lay up in their minds those things and doctrines which they heard from his lips, that they might become effective preachers of the Gospel — that * Matt. xiii. .51, 52. THE HOUSEHOLDER. 117 they might he ahle on all occasions to hring forth from their memories, as from a well-furnished store- house, such stores of knowledge and instruction as might he suited to persons of all caj)acities, of all the various shades of character, and in all possihle situations and circumstances. Such, we find, to have been the nature of the preaching of those gift- ed men, especially of St. Paul, the great apostle both to Jews and Gentiles, who constantly refer to the writings of Moses and the prophets for confirma- tion of the truth as it is in Jesus.* SECTION VIII. THE PATCHED GARMENT, AND THE NEW WINE. ** He spake also a parable unto them ; no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old ; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles ; else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But • The Scribes were properly the assistants of the judges, and being skilled in the Jewish law, are named also lawyers. Thus Esdras is named, by ArtaxerxeSj "iQD. Christ, as the prophets, applies the name in use with the Jews to the gifts and offices of the Christian Church. Isa. Ixvi. 21. Joel ii. 28. Acts ii. 17- The Scribe here may correspond with SjSaaxaXoj in the Acts, and St. Paul. See Grotius, Whitby, and especially Hammond on the word ypju-jaaTsoj, scribe, — and Valpy's Annotations on the Gospels. 118 THE PATCHED GARMENT, new wine must be put into new bottles ; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new : for he saith, The old is better."* I have placed the above with the smaller parables of St. Matthew, and as the last section of this chapter, for obvious reasons. The chronological order, which I have followed throughout this work as nearly as the subjects of the several parables will admit, is best ob- served by this allotment ; for some of the harmonists place it somewhat prior to the delivery of those pa- rables in St. Matthew's Gospel, which are examined in the preceding sections of this chapter, and others place it a short time subsequent to that period.f It must, therefore, have been delivered very near to that time. The subject, moreover, of this short pa- rable is very similar to the subject of the last. Both contain rules for the conduct of our Lord's disciples, and are therefore appropriately arranged with para- bles descriptive of his kingdom. This parable was delivered on the occasion of his dining with St. Matthew, when the Scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples because they ate with publicans and sinners, and inquired of * Luke V. 36—39. Compare Mark ii. 21, 22. Matt. ix. 16, 17. t Macknight places this parable before those in the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew, which is agreeable to the order of St. Matthew himself, who records this parable, though more briefly, in the ninth chapter of his Gospel. Mr. Townsend places it subsequent to this period. His excellent Arrangement is on the basis of the Harmonies of Lightfoot, Doddridge, Pilkington, Newcome, and Michaelis. AND THE NEW WINE. 119 Jesus why the disciples of St. John the Baptist and of the Pharisees fast often and make prayers, while his ate and drank. After telling them that the children of the bride-chamber cannot fast while they have the bridegroom with them — figures whereby he very commonly designates himself and his church — but that when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they shall fast ; he illustrates his mean- ing by the parable of the patched garment and the new wine. The first similitude — that *' no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old ;" for that it " maketh a rent, and the piece thrit was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old" — means probably, that to lay on his disciples rigid precepts of abstinence, was unsuitable to that Gospel which they would shortly preach, and which would, with the rites and ceremonies, abolish the greater severities of the law. The second similitude is, that *' no man putteth new wine into old bottles ; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles ; and both are preserved." — The bottles here men- tioned were leathern bags, which, if they were not themselves new and strong, were liable to burst by the fermentation of new wine.* This has been inter- l)retcd, that the old corrupt nature of men would not all at once admit of a thorough reformation, and that it is dangerous to put infant virtue to the greatest • Mackuight's Harmony, vol. i. p. 200. See also Ilauiniond, and Le Clerc. 120 THE PATCHED GAIIMENT, severity of trial, lest it should be blasted in the bud. Old habits are unquestionably most difficult to be rooted out ; and for the sake of the converts, rather than of the disciples themselves, our Lord might thus have chosen to display the more gentle character of his religion. It hath also been insisted upon that because the disciples Avere fishermen, and were not by their habits accustomed to fasting, they were not, out of tenderness, commanded the practice of this abstinence : but to this it may be replied, that had Christ desired to have established this mortifica- tion as essential to his religion, he might have chosen his disciples from those more rigid sects of the Jews, who practised fasting and other austerities, or from the schools of the prophets, who were trained in such discipline. Many of those sectaries and disciples lived in mountains and deserts ; and many were Nazarites, and as such consecrated to the service of God.* But the more proper interpretation seems to be, that both these similitudes show the injury which would be incurred to the new religion by these aus- terities. As the new cloth would make a rent in the old, and as new wine would ferment and bvu'st old bottles ; so, by reversing the similitudes — for such allegories are not to be construed too closely and lite- rally— by the continuance of those old habits of * The Essenes, a species of hermits, a sect of Jews, whose retired lives account for their not being mentioned in the New Testament, were much more rigid in their mortifications than the Pharisees. They are described by Josephus. Tliey were a kind of fatalists. See also Whitby on Matt. ix. 16, 17. See note on the parable of the Good Shepherd, Chap. VII. Sect. I. AND THE NP:W WINE. 121 fasting, which had degenerated into a proud and formal self-righteousness, the new religion would be rent asunder, and seriously, nay vitally, injured.* Tiie last verse of the parable is — " No man also having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new ; for he saith, The old is better." — This has been ex- plained in two ways — as applicable to the disciples, who were unaccustomed and therefore unable to bear such severities : and to the Pharisees, who were better pleased with the traditions of the elders, than with the doctrines of Christ. f We would, however, suggest an interpretation more agreeable to the view already taken of the scope of this parable. It was not for the sake of the disciples, or out of tenderness to their previous habits of life, nor was it in reproof of the Pharisees, that this was added to the parable. But the Divine Founder of our religion intimately knew the heart of man which as God he had framed. His religion was not, like the Jewish, a temporary, but a perma- nent dispensation. The austerities of the Law were abolished. The milder spirit of the Gospel was con- genial to the common nature of man. Having therefore shown, by the similitudes of the patched garment and the new wine, that the continuance of those old severities, as the permanent law, was from * Our Lord represents not the unfitness, but the hurl or d(u mage of doing either of these things, namely, that the doing of the first woukl make the rent worse; the doing of the second would endanger the breaking the bottles, and the spilling the wine." Whitby. + Macknight. 122 THE PATCHED GARIVIENT, the very nature of the thing detrimental and destruc- tive to the new religion, he adds the strongest prin- ciple of our nature, habit, as an additional reason for not imposing the same discipline on his disciples which was practised by the Pharisees and the disci- ples of St. John. The habitual practice of these austerities created and sustained that bigoted at- tachment to them which was displayed by the Pha- risees and some ascetic sects of the Jews. Were the disciples of Christ to adopt the same practices, the other corruptions of the Jewish religion would be rendered the more difficult, if not impossible to amend even in converts from Judaism to Christianity.* This he illustrates by the love of old wine, of which hav- ing drunk, no man will desire new. He who is ac- customed to his habitual observances, in like manner desireth not new ones ; " for he saith, with the pa- rable, The old are better."f It may be alleged, in reply to what has been just said, that our Lord himself has declared, that when he is " taken away from his disciples, they shall fast in those days." But this is rather the prophecy of an event, than that it is declared to be the spirit of his religion, which is shown to be otherwise both by this parable and various parts of the New Testa- * The dispute among the disciples, and even the apostles, respecting circumcision, shows the attachment of the Jewish converts to the old observances of the Law. t " Forsake not an old friend ; for the new is not comparable unto him : a new friend is as new wine ; when it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure." Ecclus. ix. 10. Cicero, de Ami- citiis, has the same thought—" Veterrimge quaeque, ut ea vina rpiae vetustatem ferunt, esse debent suavissimse." AND THE NEW WINE. 123 ment. Fasting was not prohibited ; for we know that it was practised by our Lord himself, and by the most pious Christians. But the superstition, the vain glory, the pride of the Piiarisaic fasting, — which was considered by them, and is still considered by some Christian churches, and by individuals of all churches, as in itself a meritorious service — these things are condemned by our Lord. The religion of Christ is not a religion of mortifi- cation and austerity, but of sobriety, temperance, and charity.* Of these, or some of them, fasting is * Bishop Jeremy Tajlor, whose opinions and habits were those of an ascetic, and who in his " Holy Living" has laid down regular rules for fasting — and if any times required such aids of piety and Christian fortitude, they were those in which he lived — this great and good man was, however, in this guided by his characteristic good sense and sobriety ; for in his " Considerations upon Jesus's Fasting in the Wilderness" he expresses himself with great caution on this subject. He says that the conversation of our Lord, in the interval of forty days between the commencement of his temptation and his suffering hunger, was " but a resemblance of angelical perfection, and hia fasts not an instrument of mortification, for he needed none ; he had contracted no stain from his own nor his parents' acts ; nei- ther do we find that he was at all hungry, or afflicted with his abstinence, till after the expiration of forty days. He was afterwards ' an hungered,' said the Evangelist ; and his absti- nence from meat might be a defecation of his faculties, and an opportunity of prayer, but we are not sure it intended am/ thing else. But," he adds, " it may concern the prudence of religion, to snatch at this occasi(m of duty, as far as the instance is imita- ble ; and in all violences of temptation to fast and pray, prayer being a rare antidote against the poison, and fasting a conve- nient disposition to intense, actual, and undisturbed prayer." — Life of Christ, Part \. ad Sect. ix. Works by Heber, vol. ii. p. 195. 124 THE PATCHED GARMENT. an emblem ; and in order to their attainment, it may with some be a necessary, or at least an useful discipline. Times of public distress may render the occasional practice of such austerities generally ad- visable ; and the particular constitutions of indivi- duals may require them. Of this every man's con- science must be his monitor ; and for this we have an unerring rule, which at once points out the dis- tinction between the Jewish and Christian religions — the one formal. and external, the other internal and spiritual. — " When ye fast," says our Lord, " be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance ; for they dis- figure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily, I say unto you. They have their re- ward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face ; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which seeth in secret : and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." * * Matt. vi. 16—18. 125 CHAPTER III. PARABLES SETTING FORTH THE GRACES AND DUTIES WHICH ARE NECESSARY TO, AND VICES WHICH EXCLUDE FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD. SECTION I. THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. The design of the parables of our Lord was, as it has been ah-eady observed, to indicate the progress of the Gospel, and gradually to unveil the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The moral changes are therefore exhibited by several parables, which are now become the finest lessons of practical Christianity. The character of the Jews is strongly depicted in the several parables which are expounded in the present chapter, wliile the great moral change to be effected by the Gospel is as powerfully displayed. The cruel temper of that people, especially of the Pharisees, is shown in tlie unmerciful Servant ; their want of compassion, in the good Samaritan ; and their world- liness, pride, covetousness, unfeeling luxury, and ava- rice, in the four last parables of this cliapter, — the rich Glutton, the highest and lowest Rooms, the unjust Steward, and Dives and Lazarus : while the opposite temper of compassion, humility, heavenly- mindedncss, generosity, temperance, charity, and 126 THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. contempt of riches, are declared to be the character- istics of the Gospel dispensation, the virtues and graces which alone can render us meet to be par- takers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The occasion of the parable of the unmerciful Servant, and the parable itself, which forms the subject of this section, are thus related by the Evan- gelist. * '* Then came Peter to him, and said. Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times : but, until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped — or besought — him, saying. Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-ser- vants, which owed him an hundred pence : and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, say- ing, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-ser- vant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying. Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not : but went and cast him into pri- * Matt, xviii. 21 — 35. Compare Luke xvii. 1 — 10. THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. 127 son till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow- servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me : shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their tres- passes." The question of St. Peter — whether he should for- give his offending brother seven times — is agreeable to the Hebrew form of expression denoting fre- quency. " A just man," says Solomon, " falleth seven times and riseth up again."* — " Seven times a day," says the Psalmist, " do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments."! This expression is used, in the same sense, in St. Luke's Gospel, to con- vey the doctrine of forgiveness of injuries ; and to this, it is probable, St, Peter alludes. I" Take heed — our Lord warns his disciples — to yourselves : If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him ; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt for- give him." But to show that the expression was not full enough to convey the sense of our blessed Saviour's * Prov. xxiv. 16. t Ps. cxix. 164. X Luke xvii. 3, 4. 128 THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT, doctrine of forgiveness of injuries, — " Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times : but until seventy times seven." The principle could not be exjDressed, nor mea- sured by number. Hence the almost unlimited number expressed by the blessed Jesus : for it is almost impossible that any individual can commit seventy times seven, or four hundred and ninety, offences against another. He therefore teaches more plainly in other places, that, " if we forgive men their trespasses,'' however frequent their occur- rence, " our heavenly Father will also forgive us,'" * who offend every day, nay every hour of our lives.'f " Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants." In the times of the Messiah, which are intended by the kingdom of heaven, forgiveness of injuries * Matt. vi. 4. t Doddridge attributes the inquiry of St. Peter to his fear that Christ's preceding admonition readilj^ to accommodate dif- ferences, might be perverted by the ill-disposed, as an encou- ragement to oifer injuries. IMacknight and others think that it alludes to Christ's precept in Luke xvii. 4. to forgive seven times a-day. But Grotius observes, that that expression was a usual Hebrew phrase for "^ very often," most frequently; as Proverbs xxiv. 16. Ps. cxix. 164. cited in the text. The ques- tion of the Apostle rather seems to arise from the custom of the Rabbis, who from Amos i. 3. — ^" For three transgressions, and for four, I will not turn away wrath," — held, that three offences were to be forgiven, and not the fourth ; or uniting the two numbers, made seven times the extreme limit of their forgive- ness." Grotius, Whitby, Valpy's Annotations, Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 216, fol. THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. 129 shall not be restricted by the number of offences, but shall be as ample as in the following instance of " a certain king," whereby Christ is designated judging the world at the last day. We are his ser- vants, who, as in the parable of the talents, are in- trusted with certain gifts or talents ; and of these we are to make the most beneficial uses to which they can be possibly applied, and to render an ac- count of them at the Day of Judgment. At that day how many of us will be found debtors. But we shall be pardoned, if we have believed in the merits of our Divine Redeemer, and repented of our sins.* This is affectingly prefigured in the parable. " And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and wor- shipped— or besought — him, saying, Lord, have pa- tience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." In the parable of the Talents, we find that in- terest, whether by commerce or usury, was required for the sums severally committed by their lord to his servants. The debt therefore, which the lord in this parable demanded, and afterwards forgave, was • The reader is referred to a note of Whitby, too long for insertion here, containing the practical and doctrinal inferences on this passage. K 130 THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. for principal and interest. This corresponds to the spiritual debt incurred by Christians. Vast as that may be, it will be forgiven us, if we repent our offences, though not as soon as they are committed, yet before we are summoned before the judgment seat of Christ. That this is necessary to our pardon at that awful day, is taught us likewise by the well- known text of St. John : — " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ; but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us om' sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." * A remarkable circumstance, quite foreign to mo- dern manners, occurs in this part of the parable. The lord desires the servant, " and his wife, and children, and all that he had, to be sold, and pay- ment to be made." The original word of servant, in this passage, and the parallel Hebrew word in the Old Testament, commonly mean slave ; for that spe- cies of service which we now denominate slavery — personal liberty for personal subsistence — was the universal mode of service in the ancient world, and in the time of our Saviour and his Apostles. But it was never stigmatized by our Lord, nor by his Apostles, as it now is by the ignorant, or evil-minded fanatics of this day. The remedy of such an un- questioned evil was left to time, civilization, and the sure and steady course of Divine Providence : for it is an evil generated and fixed by long habit, and must be removed, not by instantaneous and violent • 1 John i. 8, 9. THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. 131 revolutions, but by other gradual and superinduced habits.* In this passage, however, the word must mean ser^ * "J2I? Ilebr. AouAoj in the LXX. and N. T., is used to express either a servant or a slave. Here it appears to mean servant ; it not being usual or consistent to sell a slave, already the master's property, to pay the debt he has incurred to his master. — Le Clerc. The Jews had only a right of seizing debtors for bondmen, (2 Kings iv. 1.), or of selling them after- wards for six years, and that to one of their own nation. — Jo- seph. Antiq. xvi. i. (Exod. xxi. 2.) This law, however, respect- ed men-servants only. A woman, as appears by the story of the widow in 2 Kings iv. 1. could not be seized for debt; but her sons were about to be sold as bondmen. Nor did the law apply to maid-servants of the Hebrews who were sold by their parents. As soon as a female servant was marriageable, if she were not married by her master, or his son, she was set at liberty ; and her master was compelled to make her a liberal present. (Exod. xxi. 7 — H-) The words lar and iooXof seldom express a servant in the present sense of the word, but a bondservant or slave, or one about to become se, as in the para- ble. This is evident from the terms of the Levitical Law, which contains the exemption of Hebrew servants from the ser- vile treatment of bondservants, or slaves purchased of the Hea- then:— '• If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee ; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant, nijj, but as an /iired servant, TDU?D. (Lev. xxv. 39, 40.) The LXX. thus render the passage ; Ow iov\eu SERVANT. import of this expressive parable. The king for- gives his servant ten tliousand talents. If they were talents of gold, they would amount to the enor- mous sum of seventy-two millions sterling : if they were talents of silver, the amount would be about two millions.* The king forgives his servant, as the servants of God are forgiven by their heavenly Father, upon prayer and penitence. But this par- don is obviously and justly conditional upon the ser- vants' forgiving each other their comparatively trivial debts. But the servant no. sooner retires from the presence of his benevolent and merciful lord, than he meets a fellow -servant, lays hands upon him, nay takes him by the throat,t and fiercely demands a * See Hammond, Doddridge, Prideaux's Connection, vol. i. p. 16. vol. iii. part ii. book ii. anvo 197- p. 171- note, octavo, London, 1815. Valpy's Annotations, vol. i. p. 307. f The usual mode of dragging to justice Avas by the throat and cloak, obtorto collo. Plant, in Poenulo, act iii. sc. 5. verse 4.5. So in the Hermotimo Luciani, he dragged him iripiSus avroo ^9ijxaT b^t there is no general precept of univer- sal kindness, but rather a strong line of separation with respect to other nations, in the Law. To some, the hatred of an enemy was authorized; to the seven nations of Canaan, Deut. vii. 1. ; to the Midianites, Numb. xxxi. 2. ; and Amalekites, Exod. xvii. 14. The Moabites and Ammonites were nearly in the same situation, Deut. xxiii. 3. From hence the Jews seem to have cherished and enlarged their aversion to other nations^ till it be- came their peculiar distinction. This is the opinion of Le Clerc. But Grotius and others state the purpose of God, in relation to the feeling of the Hebrews towards the other nations, in a much more rational and consistent manner. God indeed gave no uni- versal precept of charity in the Law ; but he only commanded the Jews to hate and destroy some certain nations, and left the rest of the world to the general right of natural kindness : scat- tering in his Law expressions of favour towards them, Deut. x. 19, and not holding forth even idolatrous nations, as objects of punishment, till their measure of iniquity was completed. Gen. XV. IG. But the Jews, as they confined the import of the word neighbour to their own people, so they limited the expression of stranger to a proselyte, and extended their hatred to all who worshipped false gods. Lightfoot shows how marked the distinction was between the neighbour and the Gentile. Thus it is taught in Aruch, in nna fn, " He excepts all Gentiles, when he saith, thy neigh- bour.'' Thus, if an Israelite kill a stranger inhabitant, he doth not die for it by the iSanhedrim ; for the Law is, " If any lift up himself against his neighbour." Again ; " the Gentiles dwelling in the land, we are not to contrive their death ; but we are not bound to deliver them, as to help them out of the sea, &c. he is not thy neighbour." Maimon. in nyn, c. 2. c. 4. THE CJOOD SAMARITAN. 14? To reprove this uncharitable temper of the lawyer, and of the Jews in general, our Lord answers him by the exquisite parable of the Good Samaritan. *' A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead." The journey from Jerusalem to Jericho* was fre- Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 425, fol. Thus Tacit. Hist. lib. V. 5. " Apud ipsos (Judaeos) misericordia in promptu ; sed adver.!'fulleth them : as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath ; so that a man hath no preenii. nence above a beast : for all is vanitj-. All go unto one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth ?" Ecclesiastes iii. 19 — 21. But though men and beasts have by valurc one fate as to this world, men have by grace such prospects in another world, as should at least restrain them from sinking the spirit of the man into the spirit of the beast, while they are on earth. They have, moreover, an uudcrslanding spirit which in this world exalts them above the brutes. + Job xiv. 2. \66 THE RICH GLUTTON. as an eloquent writer hath said — ** Every man is born in vanity and sin ; he comes into the world like morning mushrooms, soon thrusting up their heads into the air, and conversing with their kin- dred of the same production, and as soon they turn into dust and forgetfulness. A man is so vain, so unfixed, so perishing a creature, that he cannot long last in the scene of fancy ; a man goes off, and is forgotten, like the dream of a distracted person."* If, however, his reason is insufficient to warn him — if experience cannot make him serious and * Jeremy Taylor's Holy Dying, chap. i. sect. 1. This intro- duction contains such eloquent and affecting appeals to the hearts of men, respecting their condition, that, although the practical writings of this inestimable divine are now widely circulated, I cannot refrain from adding two short extracts to the one quoted in the text, which touch upon those " feelings" of our nature " which lie too deep for tears." " Every day's necessity calls for a reparation of that portion which death fed on all night, when we lay in his lap, and slept in his outer chambers. The very spirits of a man prey upon the daily portion of bread and flesh, and every meal is a rescue from one death, and lays up for another ; and while Ave think a thought we die ; and the clock strikes, and reckons on our portion of eternity : we form our words with the breath of our nostrils, we have less to live upon for every word we speak. " I have conversed with some men who rejoiced in the death or calamity of others, and accounted it as a judgment upon them for being on the other side, and against them in the con- tention ; but Avithin the revolution of a few months, the same men met with a more uneasy and unhandsome death: which when I saw, I wept, and was afraid ; for I knew that it must be so with all men; for we also shall die, and end our quarrels and contentions by passing to a final sentence." THE RICH CiLUTTOX. 16? 4 reflective,- Religion steps in, and, in the words of his Redeemer, prepares him for his fate. For unto every worldly and sensual man does God say — " Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be required of thee :* then, whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ?" The nature of this work does not permit the in- dulgence of extended practical reflections. I shall only add, that of all enjoyments, the gratification of the senses is the most tleeting and the most unsa- tisfactory. Nothing can be a source of lasting sa- tisfaction to a rational and a religious being, but the use of this world in the manner and for the purposes * " Trjv '^M'X^iV " Chose out the chief rooms." TIpaoTOxXKTioi is used in both verses of the original. Thus Cardinal Wolsey " caused the guests to sit still, and kepe their romes." — Life by Cavendish, or Wordsworth's Biog. vol. i. p. 411. See Valpy's Annot. vol. ii. p. 286. HIGHEST AND LOWEST ROOMS AT FEASTS. 171 tliec, Friend, go up higher : then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he tliat humbleth himself shall be exalted."* By this short and beautiful parable Christ re- buked the pride of the Pharisees, which was, on this occasion, manifested by their anxiety to take pre- cedence of each other, by occupying tlie highest seats at the table of the feast, or wedding. He showed them to how many mortifications such vain and proud persons were subjected, and intimated at the conclusion, that by tins temper they would be even- tually thrust from the marriage-feast of the Lamb, the kingdom of the Messiah ; upon which he more fully dilates in the next parable of the Great Supper, (the same in substance as the marriage-feast exa- mined in a subsequent part of this work,)f which plainly predicts the excision of the Jews, and the election of the Gentiles into their places, the highest rooms of the feast. This parable was, in its story, perfectly familiar to the Jews who heard it delivered. A similar para- ble is now extant in their Rabbinical writings, and api)ears to have been the foundation of the one in the Gospel. It is as follows : — " Three men were bidden to a feast, a prince, a wise man, and an humble man. The prince sat highest, next him tlie wise man, and the humble man lowest. The king ob- served it, and asked the prince. Why sittest thou * Luke xiv. 7 — H- + Chap. VI. Sect. V.' 172 HIGHEST AND l.OWEST «OOiMS AT FEASTS. highest ? He said, Because I am a prince. To the wise man, Why sittest thou next? He said, Be- cause I am a wise man. And to the humble man. Why sittest thou lowest ? Because I am humble. The king seated the humble man highest, the wise man still in his p-lace, and the prince lowest."* Their own scriptures, by the mouth of Solomon the wise king, thus reproves them after a similar man- ner : — " Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men : for better is it that it be said unto thee. Come up hither ; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the pre- sence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.''^ Of this passage we have the following exposition by one of the Rabbis : — " Go back from thy place two or three seats, and there sit, that they may say unto thee. Go up higher." J This Pharisaical pride was equally condemned ])y their written and traditionary law. " A man's pride," says Solomon in another place, " shall bring him low : but lionour shall uphold the humble in * The Rabbis and Pharisees Avere ambitious of the highest room in honour of their wisdom : for instance. King JanneuS;, say the Rabbins, invited Rabbi Simeon, with some nobles of Persia, to a banquet, who placed himself between the King and the Queen. Being asked the reason, he answered. In the book of Ben Sirach it is written, " Exalt Wisdom, and she shall exalt thee, and make thee to sit among princes." Hieros. Beracoth. fol. 11. 2. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 446. See also vol. i, p. 247. t Prov. XXV. 6, 7' Compare LXX. with verse, 7- And see Grotius on the place of the parable. t Lightfoot ut supra, vol. ii. p. 447- See Whitby on verse 7 of the parable. HIGHEST AND LOWEST ROOMS AT FEASTS. 173 spirit." Again, " Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better is it to be of an humble spirit with tlie lowly, than to divide spoil with the proud."* " When men are cast down," says the afflicted Job, " then thou shalt say, there is lifting up ; and he shall save the humble person."f No plea, therefore, could be urged by these proud Pharisees, when they were thus authoritatively con- demned by Him who had just before displayed his Divine power in healing the man with the dropsy,;}; and his Divine wisdom in reading the secret thoughts^ * Prov. xxix. 23. xvi. 18, 19. t Job xxii. 2D. Ps. xviii. 27. X Luke xiv. 2, 4. § In the more ordinary collision of superior and inferior minds in this world, we are compelled to admit the truth of the phi- losophical maxim, " That knowledge is power." What then must have been the feelings of those with whom our Lord con- versed ? Omniscience, the unlimited possession of knowledge, is the universal attribute which all thinking minds attach to the Deity. And here was a Being, who constantly proved to his followers, that though he was " in the likeness of Man, he thought it not rubbery to be equal with Gou." On all fitting occasions he exercised this stupendous power of Omniscience. We can only conceive the feelings of those who witnessed and experienced this Divine knowledge by the casual expressions recorded by the Evangelists to have fallen from the individuals, and from the effects which they describe his wonderful know- ledge to have produced. This astonishing perspicacity in dis- cerning the inmost thoughts of the bosom, uniformly imposed silence on the malignant Pharisees. See Matt. xiii. 54 — 56. John iv. 29. 39. Luke ii. 4, 6, 7- He who can read these astonishing circumstances in the life of Christ, without being affected with wonder and devotion and with increased faith in the Divine foundation and structure of our holy religion, is in- deed ignorant, unfeeling, and almost unbelieving. 174 HIGHEST AND LOWEST ROOMS AT FEASTS. of those wicked men, whom he now reproved with just severity ; and whose destruction he predicted in these words: — "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." He therefore immediately proceeds, in the next parable of the Great Supper, to predict the downfall of those proud Pharisees, and their nation. By no people was the proverb of Solomon more fully illustrated than by the Jews : — " Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." In this people, the chosen of God, we see this diabolical vice displayed in the grossest and most revolting forms. At the coming of the Messiah it had arrived at its greatest height. Riches, and worldly power, and pre-eminence, were all that the rulers of the people, the lawyers, and the priests, aspired to ; they thought of nothing but the ag- grandizement of their church and nation, and of private rapine. This temper was even, as on this occasion, displayed at their feasts. When therefore the blessed Jesus claimed to be their Messiah, sprung, as they supposed, of poor parents,— though both Joseph his reputed father, and JMary In's mother, were of hish lineage, the house of David, — tliey re- jected him with pride and indignation. They would acknowledge no Saviour, and no king, but him who should deliver Israel, by the power of the sword, from the yoke of the heathen. Such a people was ripe for that ruin and desolation which awaited them, and which happened not many years after the ascension of our Lord, in the destruction of their HIGHEST AND LOWEST ROOMS AT FEASTS. 17^5 city and temple, and in their dispersion over the face of the earth to this day. Pride was the herald of their destruction ; a haughty spirit precipitated their fall. The destruction of this people as a nation, though once so highly favoured of God, furnishes an awful admonition to Christians. We shall not be exalted at the day of Judgment, nor are we exalted even in this world, by pride, which, even here, more com- monly causes an abasement than an exaltation. A great proportion of the misery, which has been ex- perienced by rational beings, as far as has been re- vealed to us, since their creation, has resulted from pride. Pride expelled the rebellious angels from the glory of Heaven. Pride caused the fall of" man in Paradise. Pride went before the destruction and ex- cision of the Jews from the grace of God, which they had enjoyed in a manner, and to an extent never ex- perienced by any other nation. And pride is still the source of numberless evils to the world. It makes " nation to war against nation ; it clothes the neck of the war-horse in thunder." It causes and keeps up feuds and dispeace in society. Nor is the bosom of the individual which nurses pride, less tormented by this viper, than he spreads unhappiness around him. The proud man is subject to innumeral)le affronts and humiliations, to which the humbler man is invulnerable. Like him in the parable, he is frequently compelled, "with shame to take the lowest room or place." The Divine Founder of our holy religion, though in his Divine nature " equal with God," was the humblest man that ever trod 176 THi: UNJUST STEWARD. the earth : and tlierefore, both in this world and in the next, it will be found to be the Divine dis- pensation, that " Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humble th himself shall be exalted." SECTION V. THE UNJUST STEWARD. " And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward ; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee ? give an ac- count of thy stewardship ; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do ? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship : I cannot dig ; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stev/ardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord ? And he said. An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him. Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another. And how much owest thou ? And he said. An hun- dred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely : for the children of this world are in THE UNJUST STEWAltD. 177 their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness ; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habita- tions. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much : and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches ? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, Avho shall give you that which is your own ? No servant can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." * The parable of the unjust Steward has perplexed some well-meaning Christians. It must be true, for it was spoken by the Lord of truth : but there are in it some passages, which, though they involve no contradiction, must nevertheless be allowed to be paradoxical. A paradox is an axiom, or a sentiment, which bears a meaning contrary to its appearance. It seems a contradiction, and yet is strictly consistent and true. Bishop Horsley, who, by his profound learning engrafted upon a most powerful mind, has removed so many difficulties both in critical and me- taphysical theology, has with his usual ability dis- tinguished between a paradox and a contradiction. " There is a wide difference between a paradox and a contradiction. Both, indeed, consist of two * Luke xvi. 1 — \',\. N 178 THE UNJUST STEWARD. distinct propositions ; and so far only they are alike : for, of two parts of a contradiction, the one or the other must necessarily be false, — of a paradox both are often true, and yet when proved to be true, may continue paradoxical."* This parable was addressed not only to the twelve, but to all who followed our Lord, and in the hearing of the Pharisees, as it is declared at the conclusion : and knowing that it was aimed at them, like many other guilty persons, they treated him who had thus reproved them with a severity which they felt to be just, with scorn, " and they derided him," This parable was, in the story, familiar to the Jews, and was therefore the more deeply felt by those to whom it was addressed. The following was the Hebrew parable, which is very similar to the one delivered by our Lord : — '* The world is like a house built, the heavens the covering. The stars are the candles in the house. The fruits of the earth are as a spread table. The owner is God. Man is the steward of the house, into whose hands the Lord hath delivered all his riches. If he behave well, he will find favour ; if ill, the Lord will remove him from his stewardship. "f Our Lord's parable is partly as follows : " There was a certain rich man, which had a * Sermons, vol. ii. p. 119. t Lightfoot, fol. vol. ii. p. 450. London, 1684. "The scope of this parable seems to be this, that we are to look upon ourselves, not as lords of the good things of this life, so as to get and use them at our pleasure, but only as stewards, who must be faithful in the administration of them." Whitby. THE UNJUST STEWARD. 179 steward ; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee ? give an account of thy stewardship ; for thou may- est be no longei* steward. Then the steward said within himself. What shall I do ? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship :* I cannot dig ; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of my stewardship, they may re- ceive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him," and remitted a part of their debt, as detailed in the parable. " And," it is added, " the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely ; for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." This parable applies, in the first instance, to the Jews, and especially to their spiritual rulers, the Scribes and Pharisees. They had been the stewards, the peculiar people, of God, who, in the person of his eternal and only-begotten Son, now demands an ac- count of their stewardship. But they had not acted like the worldly-wise steward, in the parable which will be presently explained. They were not only dismissed from their stewardship, the peculiar favour of God as his chosen people ; but they did not so conduct themselves, while they were in favour with God, in relation to their Lord's debtors, as to be re- * Thus in the prophet Isaiah xxii. 19, Shebna, the treasurer over the house, is deprived of his station. — " I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down." Grotius. N 2 180 THE UNJUST STEWARD. ceived into their habitations. They became, and still continue, an outcast people, out of favour both with God and man. But the parable applies to all the Christian world : for at the day of Judgment, how many will be re- jected from their stewardship, because they have not acted in the wise manner with respect to the interests of another and a better state, which the unjust stew- ard displayed in the parable. He had acted accord- ing to the wisdom of this world, and is so far only worthy of imitation by the children of light, as, in their conduct, so to unite the wisdom of the ser- pent with the simplicity of the dove, that they may be hereafter received into the everlasting habitations of the saints in light, when by death they are re- moved from their temporal stewardship. The un- just steward is thus proposed to our imitation, be- cause " the children of this world, or of this life, are wiser in their generation — that is, more prudent in the conduct of their affairs for the attainment of their unworthy purposes— than the children of light," who have in view much nobler ends to incite them to prudence and watchfulness. The children of this world are wiser in what relates to this world, than the children of light in what relates to their own proper province, a future world of eternal hap- piness and glory. * " Ye are," says the apostle to the Thessalonians, * " The children of this world/' tov aicuvog toutou. The Jews usually name this life, this age or world ; and the future, the world or age to come. Le Clerc. THE UNJUST STEWARD. 181 " the children of light, and the children of the day : we are not of night, nor of darkness." * When we contemplate the objects of the religious man, the true Christian, whose faith gives him the most lively interest in a higher sphere of existence, and the mere man of the world, all whose views and inte- rests never ascend " Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, Which men call earth ; and with low-thoughted care Confined and pester'd in this pinfold here Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives. After this mortal change, to her true servants ;"f — when we consider the aim and object of the one, who, in the enchanting language of the same de- lightful poet, " by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the palace of eternity ;"| — while worldly riches, and such distinctions as this frail and uncertain state can afford, are the sole ob- jects of pursuit which engage the mind, and ani- mate the hopes of the other ; we may easily per- ceive why, by the blessed Jesus and his apostles, they are called the children of light who look up to a God of light,§ in whom is no darkness at all ; and * 1 Thess. v. 5. -f Comus, verses 5 — 10. X lb. V. 12—14. ^ We may, I think, without irreverence, apply these lines of 182 THE UNJUST STEWARD. why they who look no farther than this world, and violate so many precepts of religion and virtue, to attain their ** low-thoughted" ends, are called the children of darkness. But it cannot be denied, that so far as the attain- ment of their ends, however unworthy, is respected, the children of this world are infinitely more wise than the children of light. Of this the prudent conduct of the unjust steward,* in the parable, is an eminent instance. Riches, a bountiful supply not only of the means of subsistence, but of luxury and prodigality in this life,, were his sole aim and desire. As lie believed not in the rewards and punishments of a future state, he had no principle to restrain him from the pursuit of wealth by any means which appeared to him most conducive to the end proposed. In the first place, '* he wasted his master's goods" — that is, he plundered them, and applied them to his own use. But as his ava- rice and injustice could not long be concealed, but were reported to his lord, in consequence of which he is deprived of his stewardship, he resorts to an expedient, which, with his principles and under his the sublime poet quoted in the text, to the Saviour, in relation to, such as receive his blessed tidings of salvation : " To such my errand is ; and, but for such, I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds With the rank vapours of this sin- worn world." Cojius, v. 15 — 18. * Hammond has a learned note on the import of " unjust" in this parable, which is too long to insert, and difficult to abridge. It is, however, well worth the perusal of the curious reader. See his Exposition, p. 243. Works, vol. iii. folio. THE UNJUST STEWARD. 183 circumstances, is admirable, and as such is com- mended by his lord. He calls together his lord's debtors, and remits a part of the debt of each man ;* " for," he reasons within himself, " my previous rapine and injustice have deprived me of my lord's favour and of my stewardship. I will, therefore, make to myself friends elsewhere, that, when I am deprived of my present means of subsistence and of my habi- tation, I may find a home with others, and be ' re- ceived into their houses.' " The parallel to the children of light is this : — ^We have all acted unjustly in our stewardship, which is our present life. Although death were not passed upon us for the transgression of Adam, our own frailties are such as would have put us in constant * INIacknight, in opposition to the Vulgate, Beza, Grotius, and others, who render to ypa/xjxa, " an agreement or contract, a Look of accounts," &c. and in our version is " bill," thinks it an annual contract or lease. " In this light," he says, " the favour that was done to the tenants was substantial, and laid them un- der lasting obligations ; whereas, according to the common inter- pretation, the steward could not propose to reap as much bene- fit from any requital the debtors would make him for the sums forgiven them as those sums were worth to himself, and there- fore he might rather have exacted them, and put them into his own pocket." Harmony, vol. ii. p. 510, note. — In this inter- pretation he has the authority of Lightfoot on his side, who, though he understands to ypa/XjU.a to be " a scroll of contract, says, " This parable seems to have relation to the custom of let- ting out grounds, which we find discoursed of (Demai, cap. 6.): where it is supposed a ground is let by its owner to some tenant, upon this condition, that he pay half, or one third or fourth part of the products of the ground, according as is agreed betwixt them as to the proportion and quantity." Lightfoot's Works, folio, vol. ii. p. 450. 184 THE UNJUST STEWARD. peril of the forfeiture of our hopes of a happy im- mortality. But we know that " by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin- ned." But we are likewise assured, that " if by one man's ofFence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."* But the " life'' is in the world to come. This life therefore, and all its possessions, are well compared to a stewardship, of which, we must give account. Whatsoever our possessions, whether of riches, of power, or of knowledge, having received them from our heavenly Father as his stewards who shall dispense his gifts for his glory ; and as we know that we shall be rewarded or punished according to the faithful or unfaithful discharge of our steward- ship ; and as a similar sentence of removal from our stewardship has been passed upon us as upon the unjust steward in the parable ; it is our wis- dom so to conduct ourselves, and to act with such prudence and wisdom in our important trust, that we may ensure our happiness in that future state into which we shall be presently removed by death, the sentence passed upon all men. In this wise provision for the future, but with principles as much more pure and noble as our hopes are infi- nitely more exalted and sublime, we are taught to imitate the unjust steward whom his lord " com- mended, because he had done wisely : for the chil- * Rom. V. 12, 17. TIIK UNJUST STEWARD. 185 dren of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." " And I say unto you — continues our Lord in the parable — make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." " The mammon of unrighteousness" here means temporal riches as opposed to " the true riches," or rather " the true mammon"' mentioned in a subse- quent verse.* These riches, or this mammon, are false and uncertain, not as in themselves bad, but as temporal and fleeting. As, however, riches are so frequently acquired by bad men through unrighteous means, they are called "the mammon of unrighteous- ness." They are the instruments of covetousness, of which he bade his disciples beware on two memo- rable occasions — one, when he delivered the inimita- ble parable of the rich glutton, which is the subject of the preceding section ; and the other, when he was addressed by the rich young man, who had kept all the commandments from his youth upwards, and had resisted every temptation save that of riches — inas- much as he had not made a free distribution of his * The word " riches" is substituted by our translators instead of " mammon," which was the word Christ intended, and which for that reason should find its place in the translation of this verse. Mammon coming from the Hebrew fO«, signifies what' ever one is apt to confide in ; and because men put their trust generally in external advantages, such as riches, authority, ho- nour, power, knowledge, the word mannnon is used to denote every thing of that kind, and particularly riches by way of emi- nence. JNIacknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 612, note. See Park- hurst on tliL' word fOW. 186 THE UNJUST STEWARD. ample wealth for the relief of the wants and dis- tresses of the poor. On that occasion he made use of that hyperbolical figure, to depict the danger of great riches, which represents extreme difficulty as an im- possibility. " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."* But we are instructed by this parable to " make friends of, or out of, the mammon of unrighteous- ness."! We are to " make friends" by acts of charity * Luke xviii. 25. + Lightfoot has a very long note on the probable import of " the mammon of unrighteousness," which he seems inclined to interpret riches gotten by unrighteous means. He proves that jx«jw.jw.wva u^ixiag, " the mammon of unrighteousness," is the same in the Greek with ipu^T fioo, " the mammon of falsehood," in the Targumists. There is, therefore, he thinks, no reason why it should not be taken here in the very same sense. He supposes " the disciples," to whom our Lord addressed this parable, not the twelve apostles only, nor the seventy disciples only : but " all the publicans and sinners that came to hear him" in the foregoing chapter, (xv. 1.) " We may observe how Christ entertains them, converseth with them, and pleads for them, in the parable of the foregoing chapter. Which plea and apology for them against the Scribes and Pharisees being finish- ed, he turns the discourse to them themselves, and under the parable of an unjust Stevcard, instructs them how they may make to themselves friends of the wealth they had unjustly gained, as he had done." According to the Rabbinical notions of restitu- tion, " Those that live upon violence (or thieves) and usurers, if they make restitution, their restitution is not received." It being however necessary that restitution should be made, they miglit not retain in their hands any ill-gotten goods, but devote them to some good use. Accordingly those things that were restored were dedicated to public use, viz. " to the use of the Supreme Syungogue ;" and so they made God their friend " of Tin: UNJUST STEWAliD. 187 and mercy, by the free distribution of our earthly riches, that we may find treasure in heaven ; and that, by the habit of generosity aud benevolence, we may have no temptation to desire a protracted ex- tension of our temporal existence, but may be pre- pared for a higlier and better state, and be " ready whensoever our Lord may call us." — " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal : but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, wiiere neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal : for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'* This text of our Lord explains this part of the parable, which teaches us to " make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when we fail, — that is, when we die, — they may receive us f — a form of expression meaning we may be received — into ever- lasting habitations." The unjust steward, by wise management, insured for himself, after his dismissal from his stewardship, a reception into the houses of his lord's debtors. But Christians, by uniting prudence with religious and virtuous principles, shall be received into some of the many mansions of our Heavenly Father's house, which will be " everlasting habitations." the mammon of unrighteousness," goods that they had gained by dishonesty and unrighteousness. Lightfoot's Works, fol. vol. ii. p. 4J1— 453. Grotius likewise explains this passage in the sense of the Targiiniists. Vide Oper. toni. ii. p. 421. fol. Anist. 1071). * Matt. vi. 19—21. t Vide Hammond in loc. 188 THE UNJUST STEWARD. " He that is faithful in that which is least, is faith- ful also in much : and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who shall commit to your trust the true (riches ?) And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own ?"* This life is a state of trial and probation, and is by this parable very beautifully represented as a stewardship. And if we be faithful in the things of such comparative insignificance with the things of heaven, an immortality of happiness and glory, we shall have these inestimable blessings entrusted to us in a future state. For we shall, by the grace of God, be enabled to enjoy that state of glory with inno- cence, which, without completely changing our na- ture, were impossible, if we be unfaithful in the few and trivial things committed to us on earth. We learn indeed one very important truth by this part of the parable — that by the frame of our nature and constitution, we must acquire habits of holiness and virtue in this state of trial, that we may be enabled to enjoy that which is the appointed reward of the righteous, but can never, under any circumstances, from the nature of things, be the reward, or consti- tute any portion of happiness to the wicked. The grace of God will add to the righteousness of the righteous, but will not change the wickedness of im- penitent sinners, all whose habits are vitiated, and make them equal with the just, with those who are * Lukexvi. 10— 12. THE UNJUST STEWARD. 189 " enthroned on sainted seats." This were contrary to the attributes of tlie Divine wisdom and justice ; for it would equally contradict those wise and mys- terious laws, whereby we are so " fearfully and wonderfully made" as to be to ourselves as free agents tlie authors of happiness and misery, and those moral laws whereby every one is rewarded according to his works — "tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, but glory, honour and peace to every man that worketh good."* The wisdom and justice of God are inseparably united. He therefore, in another parable, that gained ten pounds had authority over ten cities ; because he was faithful in a very little.f In like manner injustice in little will cause injus- tice in much ; and they who abuse the " unrighteous mammon," the uncertain and valueless riches of this world, cannot expect to obtain the riches of heaven laid open to them. How could the avaricious, the cruel, tlie grovelling, the sensual, and the habitually sinful being of this bad world possibly enjoy the pure, the noble, the high-minded, and spiritual plea- sures and employments, which will constitute the happiness of the sainted spirits of the just m.en made perfect in heaven ? They have not, like those hallowed spirits, acquired the fitting dispositions to make them *' meeV' to be partakers of tlie "inheri- tance of the saints in liglit." Such a corrujit being would rather be thrust down " ten thousand fathom deep" into the bottomless pit of Hell than dwell for * Rom. ii. 9, 10. t Luke xix. 17- 190 THE UNJUST STEWARD. ever in the society of such spirits as he had never known on earth, and had never thought of but with hatred and with scorn. If then men "have not been faithful in that which is another man's — which means as stewards of the goods which God has committed to men upon earth, and will take away at their death — who shall give them that which is their own ?" As men and Christians, we are endowed with immortal souls, with faculties capable of the glories of a future state, and which, if properly employed, vastly transcend the limited wants of this lower state. We are, moreover, blessed with the promises of Him, who " brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel," and by his death insured them to us as the inheritance of all true Christians. If, however, we cannot maintain our faith and moral rectitude in the things which are committed to us for so short a space of time, how can we be ad- mitted to that high destiny, for which, had we been faithful, we were intended ?* If we are the slaves of * Dr. Macknight, whose expositions, and those of many others referred to in these notes^, I had not read until after the materials of this work were collected, thus explains the 12th verse of the parable. "And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that Avhich is your own ? — Here, as in many of our Lord's discourses, the expression is so simple, and the sense so profound, that we need not wonder at its being overlooked. The translation has the word ' man' supplied without reason ; for it is not man, but God who is intended, to whom the riches and other advan- tages in our possession do properly belong, who has committed them to us only as stewards, to be laid out for the good of his THE UNJUST STEWARD. 191 vice and covetousness, of sin and Satan, we cannot be tlie servants of God : for such characters have been througli their " frail and feverish being" always " Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives After this mortal change to her true servants." Such services being in all respects inconsistent with each other, the parable concludes with this most melancholy but inevitable truth : — " No servant can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." family, and who may every moment call us to give an account of our management. The words, '^that which is your own/ do not signify that which is already our own, as Dr. Clarke observes, but that which is to be so ; that which, when it is conferred upon us, shall be wholly in our power, and perpetually in our possession ; shall be so fully our own, that we shall never be called to account for the management of it. Our Lord's mean- ing therefore was. Since you have dared to be unfaithful in that which is only a trust committed to you by God for a short time, and of which you knew you were to give him an account, it is evident that you are not fit to be entrusted by him with the riches of heaven, those being treasures, which, if he bestowed them on you, would be so fully your own, that you should have them perpetually in your possession, and never be called to an account for your management of them." Harmony, vol. ii. p. 512. 192 SECTION VI. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. To reprove the covetousness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, our blessed Lord delivered the two parables of the unjust Steward, and the Rich man and Lazarus. By the first, the folly of covetousness is admirably exhibited in the in- stance of a man of their own character, who knew that he would be discharged from a lucrative stew- ardship, and should be reduced to want and misery if he did not provide a future habitation and the means of subsistence. He effected this by making friends while he had power, and for the wisdom of his policy he was commended by his lord. Thus the Pharisees professed, in opposition to the sect of Sadducees which denied the resurrection and a fu- ture state, to believe in both those articles of faith — that men would be rewarded and punished ac- cording to their works. They were nevertheless at no pains, by the regulation of their lives, to insure their future happiness, but, among other vices, were covetous and rapacious. They did not, as Jesus ex- horted his disciples, " make to themselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when they failed, they might be received into everlasting ha- bitations.' " The Pharisees, who, it is added, were covetous, heard all these things ; and derided him," After THE RICH AfAN AND I,AZARUS. 193 reproving them for their hypocrisy, our blessed Lord next sets forth the wickedness, as he had just ex- posed the folly of enjoying the luxuries of life, and neglecting the \H)or and the sick, and the future pu- nishment of such characters, by the most affecting parable of the Rich man and Lazarus.* " There was a certain rich man, wliich was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared suni})tu- ously every day : and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at liis gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table ; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried ; and in hell ho lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off", and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said. Father Abra- ham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of liis finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abra- ham said. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted, and thou art tor- mented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulph fixed : so that they Vv'hich would pass from hence to you cannot ; neither can they pass to us, tliat would come from thence. 7'hen he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that tliou wouldest send him to my father's house: fui' I have * Luke xvi. 19— .31. (> 194 THE RICH MAN AND I.AZAKUS. five brethren ; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abra- ham saitli unto him, They have Moses and the prophets ; let them hear them. And he said. Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." It has been disputed whether this affecting story be a real history, or a parable. That it was a real history has been contended by some of the ancients, who had very incorrect notions of the nature of the soul, which they imagined, in a state of separation, to retain some image or similitude of the l)ody.* For facts, whicli can be proved by the proper evi- dence, the ancient fathers are always to be impli- citly relied on, because all of them put in peril, and most of them laid down their lives in attestation of their honesty and truth. But in science, both phy- sical and metaphysical, they were very defective. As, therefore, modern science has detected the error upon which they built their hypothesis, that this is a real history ; for the soul is an immaterial sub- * Ireneeus, lib, iii. c. 62, and TertuUian, lib. de Anima, c. vii. 9, owned the whole as a history, and concluded hence, the soul tore- tain, in some slight degree, the effigies or " characterem corporis." According to TertuUian, the soul retained " effigiera animse et corporales lineas" — the shape and corporeal lineaments. Irenseus proves, or attempts to prove, from this instance, that souls, when they have put off the body, do yet "characterem corporum custo- dire" — preserve the shape or character of the body to which they were united. — See Whitby. THE RICH JfAN AND LAZARUS. 195 stance, and, when unconnected with the hody, in- visible ; their notion is at once to be rejected. The story of the rich man and Lazarus is as ni\ich a pa- rable as any of the other parables of our Lord ; and as such we will proceed to consider it.* " There was a certain rich man, whicli was clothed in purple t and fine linen, and fared sump- tuously every day : and there was a certain beggai- named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table : moreover the dogs came and licked his sores." A more pitiable representation of human misery could hardly be drawn by words and images, than the situation of Lazarus — w^hose very name imports poverty and helplessness :j: — lying at the gate of the * The following parable is found in the Gemara of Babylon ad cod. Beracoth : — "A king made a great feast, and invited all the strangers, and there came one poor man, and stood at his gates, and said unto them, Give me one bit, or portion ; and they considered him not. And he said. My Lord the King, of all the great feast thou hast made, is it hard in thine eyes to give me one bit, or fragment, among them ?" The title of this passage is " A parable of a king of fiesh and blood." — See Lightfoot, Hammond, Whitby, and Sheringham, in the preface to his Jonia. f By purple, should rather be understood r/7«/.yo;/. It was not the Tyrian purple, but brought from another country. Ezek. xxvii. 7- Grotius, vol. ii. j). 424, fol. 1679. I Lazarus is only a feigned name, the same as Eleazer, whicli is apposite enough, and signifies help in God, or as Ani Acliad, a poor man, in the Gemara (see preceding note) ot^o^Qo^, one who hath God only for his help. Vide Lightfoot, and Whitby. Or it may be derived from "WV wV, lo azer, an help- less person. So Lud. Capellu.s. See Doddridge, who think.s o 2 196 THE RICH MAN AND I.AZARITS. rich man, naked and full of sores, and so miserably destitute of food as to desire the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. By the rich man and his menials he was utterly disregarded ; and in this abject state of misery from famine and disease, the very dogs testified more pity and compassion than his fellow-creatures, by whom his " sores v/ere neither closed, nor bound up, nor mollified with ointment :" * but " the dogs came and licked his sores." While this shocking object lay at his gate, the rich man, instead of nakedness and sores, had his body " clothed in purple and fine linen ;" and instead of the few crumbs, which might be scantily dealt this etymology more natural than the above, which is more gene- rally followed. But in fact they amount to the same thing ; for God is the sole helper to a helpless person. Lightfoot thinks moreover that something more may be aimed at ; and that Abraham and Eleazer, his servant, (Gen. XV.) may be hinted — one of whom was born at Damascus, a Gentile by birth, and some time, in posse, the heir of Abraham ; but shut out of the inheritance by the birth of Isaac ; yet re- stored here into Abraham's bosom. This may hint the calling of the Gentiles into the faith of Abraham. The Gemarists make Eleazer to accompany his master even into the cave of JNIacpelah. " R. Baanah painted the sepul- chres : when he came to Abraham's cave, he found Eleazer standing at the mouth of it. He saith unto him. What is Abraham doing?" &c. &c. Both a mysterious and a moral meaning was contained in almost all the parables, which are prophecies of the future events of the Church. This fact makes this conjecture of the learned Lightfoot very probable. See Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 4.54. fol. * Isaiah i 6. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 197 out to the faHiished beggar, " he fared sumptuously every day.'' The contrast is finely drawn, and strongly depicts the sinful selfishness and inhumanity of the rich man. His sin, however, does not appear to have consisted in any rapacious modes of acquiring wealth. He might have become rich by just and lawful ways. But his sin consisted rather in the total and heartless insensibility and neglect of a fellow-creature, made in the same form, and en- dowed with the same faculties as himself, and framed by the same God, but who was, by a wise Providence, permitted, during his brief pilgrimage on earth, to be afflicted with poverty and hunger, disease and nakedness. But if God visit his creatures with affliction, he will abundantly reward their patience and resigna- tion to his will : and if he bless the rich with wealth, he will call them to a severe account for their unholy and uncharitable use of that which the bountiful Giver intended for a blessing to the pos- sessor and all who came within his sphere. So was it in the case of the rich man and Lazarus in the parable, which thus proceeds: — " And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried ; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." The images here used to denote the death and in- termediate states of the rich man and Lazarus are perfectly agreeable to the traditions of the Jews. They held that good angels conducted the souls of 198 THE RICH MAN AND LAZAKUS. the righteous to Paradise. The same opinion is tabc found in the writings of the learned Greeks. The Jews had three modes of expression for the state of the good. They were conveyed to Paradise, or the Garden of Eden in Paradise. " No man," says one of their Targums, " hath power to enter the Garden of Eden but the just, whose souls are carried thither by the hands of angels." They add moreover, that when evil men die, " the evil angels come and say, there is no peace to the wicked." Their second expression was, that they were conveyed under the throne of glory ; and the third, as in this parable, into Abraham's bosom. Thus they said of one that had died — " This day he sits in Abraham's bosom." And Josephus* says — " The good are ga- thered to the region of the Patriarchs ; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob receive their souls." | * De Maccab. \k 1097, 1102. t The Jewish Schools dispose of the souls of Jews under a three-fold phrase, I can hardly say, under a threefold state. I. " In the Garden of Eden," or Paradise. II. " Under the throne of Glory." Under different phrases the same thing is expressed. " The Garden of Eden" was not, by the Hebrews, understood of an earthly, but a heavenly paradise. That in Rev. vi. 9, of " souls crying under the altar," comes pretty near this phrase, of being placed " under the throne of glory." For the Jews conceived of the Altar as the throne of Divine Majesty. III. ^'In Abraham's bosom." The bosom of Abraham is the resting-place of all them that died in perfect state of grace before Christ's time, heaven before being shut from men" Thus of R. Judah, when he died, they said, ''This day he sits in Abraham's bosom." By this expression it was understood, that he was in the very embraces of Abraham (as thev were THE ItlCH MAN AND LAZARUS. 199 Hell, or Hades, is tiie invisible place of departed spirits, which, according to a notion common to the Jews and other nations, was divided into two sepa- wont to sit at table, one to lie in the other's bosom) in the exqui- site delights and perfect felicities of Paradise." " If, " says Lightfoot, " our Saviour had been the first author of this phrase, then might it have been tolerable to have looked for the mean- ing of it amongst Christian expositors ; but seeing it is a scheme of speech so familiar amongst the Jews, and our Saviour spoke no other than in the known and vulgar dialect of that nation, the meaning must be fetched from thence, and not from any Greek or Roman Lexicon." — Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 454- 4r)7, folio. The same notions, however, prevailed in the Heathen world. What the Hebrews called Eden and Paradise, the Greeks called tlie Elysiau fields. The situation of Lazarus, however, was the place of the highest honour even in Paradise. Tluis St. John whom Jesus loved, "was lying on his bosom," (John xiii. 23) And thus the Son of God is said to be " in the bosom of the Father," — sij tov xoAttov tow Uarpos. Vide Grotiusinloc Opera, tom. ii. p. 424, folio. — See Whitby in loc " This place of separation (says the eloquent Jeremy Taylor) was called ' Paradise' by the Jews, and by Christ, and, after Christ's ascension, by St. John, because it signifies a place of pleasure and rest ; and therefore, by the same analogy, the word may be still used in all the periods of the world, though the circumstances, or though the state of things be changed. It is generally supposed that this had a proper name, and in the Old Testament was called ' Abraham's bosom,' that is, tlie region where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did dwell, till the coming of Christ. But I suppose myself to have great reason to dissent from this common opinion ; for this word ot 'Abra- ham's bosom,' being but once used in both the Testaments, and then particularly applied to the person of Lazarus, must needs signify the eminence and privilege of joy that' Lazarus had; for all that were in the blessed state of separation, were not in ' Abraham's bosom,' Imt only the best and most excellent per- 200 THE lllCli MAN AND i.AZARUS. rate compartnients. In one of these, it was the opinion of the Jews, the good waited in happiness, and the wicked in torment, until the completion of their doom at the resurrection. But it is expressed by our Lord in the parable, that the rich man was " in torments,' which is intended to mark this state as being neither the Viwu; Scheol of the Hebrews, nor the ASrjt, Hades of the Greeks, which words oi themselves denote the grave as respects the body^ and the invisible place of departed spirits as respects the soul. But availing himself of the licence of parable, our Lord anticipates the state of the righteous and the wicked after the resurrection. He represents this state, however, according to the then received no- tions of the Jews. Though he speaks in a parable, he prophetically declares to the impenitent Pharisees sons ; but they m eie /xsra tou ASpaoifji,, ' with Abraham ;' and the analogy of the phrase to the manner of the Jews' feasting, where the best guest did lie in the bosom of the master, that is, had the best place, makes it most reasonable to believe that ' Abraham's bosom' does not signify the general state of sepa- ration, even of the blessed, but the choicest })lace in that state, a greater degree of blessedness. But because he is the father of the faithful, therefore, to be with Abraham, or to sit down with Abraham, in the time of the Old Testament, did signify the same thing, as to be in Paradise ; but to be in ' Abraham's bosom' signifies a greater eminence of place and comfort, which is indulged to the most excellent and the most afflicted," Fu- neral Sermon on Sir George Dalston. Works by Heber, vol. vi. p. 550. On the Vmu; of the Hebrews, and 'A8>j5 of the Greeks, see Dr. Russell's Connection of Sacred and Profane History, vol. i. p. 317. et seq. and the Authors therein quoted and re- f«.'rrod to. THE KICH MAN AND LAZARUS. '201 what will be the final doom, at the resurrection or the day of Judgment, of the covetous who do not repent their evil doings and change their evil dispo- sitions, while the just and righteous men, however oppressed and afflicted in this state, will be carried by angels, as the beggai- in the parable, into Abra- ham's bosom, into a state of happiness and glory,* The most striking feature of the parable itself is the chanjred condition of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man " lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." The last scene of his consciousness exhibited Lazarus, lying naked and full of sores at his gate, and glad of the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, at which he feasted sumptuously every day. Nor had this luxurious epicure the poor excuse of many rich people, who never seek out the wretched, and are therefore ignorant of their distress. But this man, as is plain from his recognition of Lazarus, though so changed in outward circum- stances, must have been familiar with the figure of the loathsome object who lay at his gate. — Now La- zarus is represented at a feast ; for such is the im- port of being in Abraham's bosom. At feasts of the ancients, they lay in a recumbent posture — the head of one being in or near the bosom of the other : and to show the favour of Lazarus, he reclined next to Abraham, who of course was at the head of the table. I'hus St. John is said in the Go&pel to have lain on the bosom of Jesus. While the poor beggar * See A\'liitl)y*? Conun. vol i. p. 360, 4t(). 202 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. is thus placed in this distinguished situation of ho- nour at the feast with Abraham, the rich man is tormented in hell, and would derive more refi'esh- ment from a drop of water than Lazarus, when on earth, by the crumbs and fragments of his sump- tuous table. " And he cried and said. Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this flame." The pride, the pom}), and the luxury of the rich man, who was clothed in purple, or crimson, and fine linen, — gratified every appetite and fared sump- tuously every day, — and, when he died, would be buried with the splendovu' of rank and riches, — all these circumstances are finely contrasted with the state of the beggar, who lay naked, and hungry, and full of sores at the rich man's gate, without a gar- ment to cover his nakedness and protect his lacerated body from the elements, and conceal his abject state of wretchedness from the contempt and the scorn of men. But he, who in this state had gladly eaten the crumbs of the rich man's table, was not indeed, when he died, buried with pomp and splendour — perhaps had no burial whatever ; but the angels carried his soul into Abraham's bosom, into the invisible region, and the most bfissful part of that region, where departed spirits are detained. Here he is espied, and imme- diately recognized by the rich man, placed at a hea- venly feast, and in a seat of honour next to their father Abraham. He must have called to mind \\ ith the bitterest anguish how many luxurious feasts THK RICH MAS AND LAZARUS. 203 lie liad enjoyed when this poor beggar lay at his gate, and begged the fragments of his table. He therefore cries to Abraham to have mercy upon him, and to send Lazarus, now so highly honoured, to " dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool his tongue ;" for though he sympathized neither with the nakedness, the hunger, nor the sores of the af- flicted Lazarus at his gate, he now felt " tormented ill the flame." All this is according to the mode of expression* common to the Jews, and to be found in their books. Their own traditions were mingled with those of the Greeks ; and, as some think, they adopted the notions of the Greeks after the conquest and government of Asia by Alexander and his successors. t The meaning, however, of the whole is very obvious from the reply of Abraham : — " But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in * Lightfoot has translated several parables from the Talmuds of the discourses of the dead among each other, and with the living. The following bears such resemblance to the parable in the text, that it could hardly be accidental. " There was a good man and a wicked man that died. As for the good man, ' he had no funeral rites solemnized ;' but the wicked man had. Afterward, there was one saw in his dream, the good man walk- ing in gardens, and hard by pleasant springs : but the wicked man ' with his tongue trickling drop by drop, at the bank of a river, endeavouring to touch the water, but he could not.' " Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 458. fol. t The Jews, after the empires of the Seleucidse and Lagidae, the successors of Alexander, prevailed in Asia and in Egypt,, seem not only to have borrowed modes of speaking from the Greeks, but, in fact, ideas of the state of the dead. Le ('h-rc. Valpy's Annot. vol. ii. \>. 'M)7- 204 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." " To receive good things," among the Hebrews, was an equivalent expression to a life of secular felicity.* The rich man is reminded of the contrast of their situations in life, which are now reversed. The reflection should come home to the bosoms of those who indulge in all the luxuries which this world can produce, who have full tables, and mirth, and jollity, and every sensual gratification ; while the wants and miseries of their poorer brethren are totally disregarded. But it were well for such per- sons to consider for what purpose, and by what power their wealth was dispensed to them ; that the same Divine and bountiful Providence, which so or- dered things that they should be born heirs to such an estate, or placed in such circumstances as to ac- quire wealtli, — could as easily have set them, with myriads of their fellow creatures, in the lowest ranks of society, surrounded with poverty, penury, disease, and every species of human misery, like the poor beggar at the rich man's gate. Such reflections indeed are unavoidable ; and every man who is en- * The phrase of " receiving thy good things" seems to be agreeable to the Hebrew style, which useth " receiving this world" for an uninterrupted course of secular felicity, when all things succeed according to a maiis will in this world, according to an ancient saying of theirs — " Whosoever shall pass through forty days without chastisements, hath received in this world, a full abundant reward" for all the good he hath done. Ham- mond's Works, vol. iii. p. 245, folio. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 205 dowed with understanding, though he profess not to be religious, must perceive that such might have been his lot ; and that, if it so please God, his wealth may be taken away from him, as by the will of God it was given him. At all events he must part with it, when the doom of death, which has passed on all men, shall be executed on him. But to them who profess religion — and many such are but too regardless of the necessary and important duties of charity and humanity —no arguments will be required to prove that " the lot (of riches) is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." * The happiness and security of society require different degrees of wealth and of rank. But God, who ordained men to be social beings, can or- dain the higher degrees to whomsoever he pleases. Riches, however, may be, and were given that they may be enjoyed. But no man is entitled to consider his fortune entirely his own. His fellow- creatures in distress have upon him a claim, which cries up to heaven against all such as habitually shut their hands and their hearts against the cry and misery of the poor, and the famished, and the sick, and the destitute. In a future state the distinctions of earth will be done away, and a new order of things will supply their place. The proud will be humbled — the meek will be exalted — and those, who have lavished all the good things of this world upon their own vanity and sensuality, will be told, with the rich man in the parable, — " Remember that * Prov. xvi. .S3. 206 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. * thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise, Lazarus — and such distressed beings — evil things : but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." " And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulph fixed : so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot ; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." This division between the separate compartments of the place of departed spirits was, as we have already observed, agreeable to the notions of the Hebrews and tlie Greeks, and was perhaps borrowed by the Jews from their polished heathen conquerors. The notion of the ancient Greeks was, that Hades was divided into two separate states for the reception of the good and the bad. They were denominated by the Greeks Elysium and Tartarus, but by the Hebrews Paradise and Hell. The place of the wicked is in the New Testament called also Gehenna, and sometimes Tartarus ; and Hades is also applied inditferently to either compartment, and to the grave. Between these two compartments flowed, according to the Greeks, the river Cocytus or Ache- ron, which is here called a great gulph.* * It is well known from the poets that "ASyjf in the Greek, and Infcri among the Latins., comprehend the seat both of the blessed and the damned, denoting in general the state of the dead ; be they according to the quality of their persons allotted either to joys or punishments ; on this hand., Elijsium for the good ; on that hand, Tartarus for the wicked, the rirer Cocytus, or Acheron, or " some great gulph fixed," betwixt them. The Jews seem not to have been very distant from this apprehension THE RICH MAN AND 1-AZAllUS. 207 These images, borrowed from a fabulous aud fanciful ii^ythology, at once prove this to be a parable, and evince the absurdity, and almost blas- ])hemy, of supi)osing that our Lord would represent such things as realities. The images themselves, which our Saviour condescended to use, are in themselves indifferent, and were employed, as was his custom, because they were familiar, for the illustration of truth. The true meaning of the great gulph fixed be- tween the two compartments of Hades, is the total separation of the righteous from the wicked at the day of Judgment, when, as our Lord himself hath told us, he will say to the wicked — " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels." But to the righteous he of things. — " God hath set the one against the other. (Eccles. vii. 14.), that is, |15 fJi Drj^nj, Hell and Paradise. How far are they distant ? an hand-hreadth. R. Johanan saith, a wall is hetween." But the Rabbins say : " They are so even with one another, that you may see out of one into the other." — That of " seeing out of one into the other," agrees v/ith the passage before us ; nor is it very dissonant that it is said, " they are so even with one another :" that is, they are so even, that they have a plain view one from the other, nothing being interposed to hinder it, and yet so great a gulpli between, that it is impossible to pass the one to the other. That is worth noting, Revel, xiv. 10. " Shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the pre- sence of the Lamb." — Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. p. 458. fol. The learned reader is referred to some very ingenious and learned notes of Grotius on the opinions of the ancient Greeks and Romans on this subject. Oper. torn. ii. v. 425-7. not. in ver. 23 et 26. fol. Amst. 1079. a08 THE RICH MAN AND I.AZARUS. will say — " Come, ye blessed of iny Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world."* A new request is made to Abraham by the tor- mented rich man. " Then he said, T pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house : for I have five brethren ; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him. They have Moses and the prophets ;! let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." There is something very affecting and very awful in this request of the tormented sinner, and the * Matt. XXV. 41, 34. f The historical books also are comprehended under the title of the prophets according to the comm-on acceptation of the Jews, and the reading in the synagogues. " All the books of the pro- phets are eight, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, the Kings, Jeremy, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the Twelve." Gloss, in Bathra, fol. 13, 2. So the Gemara also reckons them. Ibid. fol. 14, 2. But are the Hugiographa excluded, when mention is made only of the Law and the Prophets ? The Hagiographa were not read in the synagogues, but they were far from being rejected by the people, but accounted Divine writings. Our Saviour, there- fore, makes no mention of them, not because he lightly esteems them, but because INIoses and the prophets were heard by every one, every sabbath day, and so were not the Hagiographa. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. AiiQ, folio. THE RICH MAX A\D LAZAKUS. 209 answer of Abraham. The despair of the sinner as to himself, which urges him to save his brethren, must affect men deeply who are conscious that they are sinners. It is the most abandoned sinner only, — a demoniac rather than a man, — who wishes his friends to be involved in his own misery. The reply of Abraham is awful in its truth. The two opposite sects of the Jews, both of whom probably listened to this parable, were melancholy illustrations of the profound truth of the patriarch's reply to the sinner, who now reaped the bitter h^^rvest of worldliness and practical infidelity. The Sadducees had Moses and the prophets. They all received the Pentateuch, and some perhaps be- lieved in the prophets : but either Moses or the pro- phets, we may, I think, collect from this reply, w^ould suflfice. This sect, however, did not believe in a fu- ture state of rewards and punishments. They de- nied that there was any resurrection of the body, or that angels or spirits existed. From the writings of Moses alone, it has been contended, a future state cannot be shown. But by many, and almost all the later prophets, David, Solomon,* Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, the doctrine of a future state may be at least inferred, if not demonstrated. If • The WTitings of David and Solomon were among the Ha gingrapha, and were not, therefore, read in the synagogue. But as they were esteemed Divine writings, and are unquestionably prophetic, especially the Psalms of David, who is cited as a prophet by Christ, they were read by the Pharisees, and by the Jews in general. Of the Resurrection David prophesies more clearly than any of the other prophets. See preceding note. P 210 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. the Sadducees would not receive these inspired do- cuments, no future miracle would convince them of error. The infidelity of the Pharisees, who are princi- pally indicated by this parable, proceeded from dif- ferent causes. They had Moses and the prophets, and they professed to believe in a future state, — in the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul. But they were not persuaded to repent. They sinned from the perverseness of their minds, and the hardness of their hearts. They knew their duty : but, — as is evinced by the parable of the rich man whom with his five brethren we must suppose to belong to this sect, — they loved the good things of this world ; and it was this covetousness which, in the present parable, our blessed Lord so severely reproves. They rejected their Messiah with open eyes : for he told them, on one memorable occasion publicly in the Temple, that they " both knew him, and whence he was."* But lest the Jewish Hier- archy and their pre-eminence should be overthrown or superseded, their blinded and perverse minds would believe nothing ; or rather, they forcibly shut their eyes against the light. " The heart of this people was fat, their ears were heavy, and their eyes were shut ; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." f | Their infide- * John vii. 28. t Isaiah vi. 10. John xii. 40. t The comparison of these texts, or rather of the whole of the sixth chapter of Isaiah with John xii. 40, 41, is one of the most perfect and satisfactory proofs, afforded by the Scriptures THE RICH MAX AXD LAZARUS. 21 I lity was voluntary, and their punishment was just in its severity. Moses and the prophets had foretold the coming of the Messiah, liis humihation, Iiis death, and his resurrection. But as the latter cii'cumstances were perhaps not so clearly predicted, or rather because the prejudices of the whole people ran in a current so violently against them, Jesus plainly told his dis- ciples tliat he must be " killed, and raised again the third day." Had the minds of the Pharisees been as disposed to believe as the disciples, the same would have been revealed to them. But their worldl)^ and wicked passions, their avarice and ambition, lust of wealth and of power, were the very means by which it pleased God to bring all these mighty things to pass. Our Lord therefore, who read their hearts, tells them, that " if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." This was abundantly evinced in the resurrection of Jesus ; and to this stupendous miracle the parable alludes. Not only were the Pharisees reproved for their covetousness ; but their infidelity of his own resurrection is plainly indicated, and indeed was the obvious design of the parable.* The same infide- whicli are so pregnant of proofs, of the divinity of our Rk- DEKMEii — whose GLORY was sceii by the prophet, which is attested bv an inspired apostle. " These things, said Esaias, when he saw ins (CV/r?*/'.v) glouv, and sj)oke uf him." • The main scope and design of the parable seems this, to hint the destruction of the unbelieving .lews, who, though they had Moses and the proj)hets, did not believe them, nay would p 2 212 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. lity and impenitence were evinced by the Pharisees when the real Lazarus was raised from the dead. On that memorable occasion we read that " many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him."* But the conduct of the Pharisees exhibited a very different spirit. They could not deny the miracles which were attested by the evidence of their senses, and the senses of all men. Their infidelity was moral — it was " the madness of the heart." — " Then," says the Evangelist, " gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said. What do we ? for this man doeth many miracles.'' f But though Caiaphas, the High Priest, through the Spirit, told them who he was, and that ^ " it was expedient for them, that one man should die for the people," they rushed headlong to destruction — they resolved on the death not believe though one (even Jesus) arose from the dead. For that conclusion of the parable abundantly evidenceth what is aimed at. " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded tliough one rose from the dead." Light- foot, vol. ii. p. 454, folio. The Jews stood on a different ground from the Gentiles, who, it is said, as Tyre and Sidon, would have been awakened from their gross ignorance, and have repented, on seeing the miracles of Christ. The Jews had so perfect a knowledge of their duty, and such strong obligations to practise it in their own Law, and in their prophets sent from God, to which, notwithstanding, they lived in total disobedience, that it was evident their obstinacy arose from peiverseness of mind, over which no farther miracles would prevail. Valpy's Annot. vol. ii. p. 309. Grotius has a long note to the above effect in which Lactantius and Salvian are quoted. Oper. torn. ii. p. 427, folio. * John xi. 45. t Verse 47- I Verse 50. THE RICH MAN AND I-AZAllUS. 213 of Him whom they should have adored as their God and their Messiah. His blood has been, as it was invoked, upon them and their posterity from that fatal hour. Nor did the death and i*esnrrection of Jesus pro- duce a more salutary effect upon the hearts of this benighted sect. The devil urges them on to their own ruin ; to complete wliich, and to fortify the ex- ternal evidences of our salvation, we read that " the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pi- late, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead : so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch : go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went, and made the se- pulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch."* But the sepulchre is burst — the stone is rolled back by the angel of the Lord — the watch is frightened away. Yet the chief priests, who were most pro- bably of the Pharisees, and are always mentioned as in league with that wicked sect, bribed the soldiers with large sums of money to circulate the report that " his discij)les came by night, and stole him away."f To the Pharisees, and not as some have thought ' Matt, xxvii. 62— 6(). f xxviii. 2— 4. 11—15. 214 THE RICH MAN AND I-AZAKUS. to the Sadducees, was this parable expressly ad- dressed.* They believed a future state : and their principal errors were those of practice, avarice and luxury, joined with a haughty persuasion of their own righteousness, and a contempt of repentance. To these haughty and worldly sinners the parable especially applies : upon them it was fulfilled, in the most strict sense of the words, that " they would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead." But Christians, who live in the latter ages of the world, the enlightened ages of religion — who have before them the fearful examples of pharisaical hypocrisy and covetousness, and the apostasy of the great mass of the Jewish people — Christians have not only Moses and the prophets, but they have Christ and the apostles, the Law and the Gospel, holy men and martyrs to the faith as it is in Jesus, to urge them forward in the race they are to run, to add wings to their feet and energy to their exertions. Nor is there wanting to them that which the tor- mented sinner desired for the admonition of his brethren. They have " one risen from the dead." If all these things will not persuade them to repen- tance ; if the mandates of the Law, the blessings of the Gospel, the voice of angels, the word of pro- phecy, the tongues of holy and inspired men, the faith and integrity of the sainted martyrs, the voice of conscience, the word of God ; — if these mighty incentives will not move them to repentance ; if they * Miickniglit. Sec Valuy's Annot. vol. ii. j). 300. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 215 hear not Moses and the prophets, nor give heed to the resurrection of Jesus, neither will they be per- suaded thougli new miracles were wrought, and thousands arose from their graves to reprove them for their sins, and to exhort them to repentance. 316 CHAPTER IV. PARABLES ON THE EFFICACY OF REPENTANCE. SECTION I THE LOST SHEEP. The three parables which are the subject of the present chapter, are contained in one chapter, the 15th, of the Gospel of St. Luke, and form a beauti- ful series on the efficacy of repentance. The first of these parables, the Lost Sheep, which is the sub- ject of the present section, is also recorded by St. Matthew* to have been delivered on a different oc- casion, which I shall notice in connexion with the present parable recorded by St. Luke. Born and educated in Christian countries, where our holy religion has been for so many centuries established, we are enabled to form but a very feeble conception of the effect of our Lord's dis- courses, whether delivered plainly or in parable, upon his hearers. He saw into their thoughts, and made their hearts burn within them, when he over- * Matt, xviii. 12. THt: LOST SHEEP. 217 threw the sophistry, or abashed the wickedness, by a simple question or a short and striking parable, of those who came to him for the purpose of tempting him ; while he encouraged the humble, and com- forted the sinner. Of this character were the three parables, of which tlie Lost Sheep is the first. In the preceding chap- ter he had delivered the beautiful parable of the Great Supper,* which prefigured to the Jews, in the most striking manner, their exclusion from the kingdom of God ; while the Gentiles of all descrip- tions,— the poor, the maimed, tlie halt, and the blind, and they who wandered in the highways and hedges, — were invited to come in, and partake of the supper, which had been prepared for the other guests who had despised the feast which their Lord had prepared for them. By the similitudes of a man building a tower who first counts the cost, and of a king going to war who consults as to the power of his forces, .our Lord beautifully illustrates the necessity of his disciples to make their previous ac- count of sufferings and temptations before they enter upon their Christian warfare. For " salt," he adds, *' is good," — a Christian life is of inestimable value : " but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned ?" As the unsavoury salt " is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill," *■ The paraljle of the Great Supper bears such a resemblance to that of the jMarriage Feast, delivered on a different occasion, that I shall not make a separate exposition of them, but shall include the Great iSupper in that of the Marriage Feast in the Fifth Section of the Sixth Chapter. 218 THl^ LOST SHEEP. but is " cast out ;" so the unsavoury and unpro- fitable Christian can promote neither the salvation and happiness of himself, nor of others. " He that hath ears," which are open to hear instruction, " let him hear," and weigh the grave import of these discourses. Thus excited, we read that, with their respective marks of docility and love of truth, and of scorn and contempt of the Divine Teacher, — " Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Scribes and Pharisees — who likewise came for the same purpose, though with a different temper —murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." But the ears of the publicans and sinners were open to the Divine call. " They heard instruction, and were wise, and refused it not."* The publicans were the tax-gatherers, or farmers of the public revenue ; and as they were heathens, and often rapacious and exacting, they were es- teemed infamous by the Jews. They were held in no esteem by the Heathens themselves. To asso- ciate with such persons was therefore, in the eyes of the Pharisees, in the highest degree abominable. But to " receive sinners and to eat with them,'' was, if possible, a more offensive act than even to associate with publicans. The sinners were those Jews who, for their unlawful calling and modes of life, were esteemed by their countrymen as profane as the Gentiles. The Gentiles were likewise called * Prov. viii. 33. I' HE LOST SHEEP. 219 sinners : but these were gross sinners of the lower orders of the Jewish people, and were considered by the Pharisees as' out of the power of conversion. It has therefore been thought that Christ, knowing the contempt with which the Pharisees regarded and acted against those whom they then named sinners, and observing how strongly the strict ob- servers of the Law would show the same aversion to the Gentiles, when the Gospel was in due time preached to them,* gave these three parables as a justification of his and the apostles' conduct re- specting these different sets of persons, equally in- cluded in the name of sinners.|| " And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he Cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me ; for I have found my sheep that was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."^' In the number, one hundred, there is no mystical meaning, nor in ninety and nine, as was thought by some of the learned Jews,|| — a superstition from * Acts xi. 3. + Matt, xviii. 17. Gal. ii. 1;5. t Vide Grotius and Whitby on verses 1, 2. § Luke XV, .3 — 7- C(tiii{);ire jMatt. xviii. 12 — 14. II This was a favyiuile way of numbering und dividing amoiij; 220 THE LOST SllEKP. which Christians have not always been exempt. But the meaning is, that God takes not less care of sinners than of the just ; that he is always ready to receive them when they repent, and rejoices in their recovery and conversion ; and that his care, like that of a good shepherd, extends to the whole of his flock. As, according to St. Matthew, the good shepherd went into the mountains in quest of the lost sheep ; and as, when found, he brings it home rejoicing, and invites his neighbours to rejoice with him ; so did our blessed Lord, and his apostles, first preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and intro- duced many myriads into the divine sheepfold ; and afterwards the apostles went from the mountains of Israel to the mountains of the Gentiles, " preaching the Gospel to every creature under heaven — became all things to all men that they might save some :"* and when they had converted them, like the good shepherd in the parable, they called together their neighbours in Christ, and fellow-labourers in the Gospel, to rejoice with them at the conversion of penitent sinners — that they had " found the sheep which were lost." If such were, and if such are the feelings of good men upon earth, the holy apostles, at the conversion of sinners, we may have some faint conception of the Jews. Lightfoot gives the following instance : — " Of those hundred cries that a woman in travail uttereth, ninety and nine of them are to death, and only one of them to life." Works, vol. ii. p. 448, fol. * Col. i. 23. 1 CW. ix, '22. TPIE LOST SHEEP. 221 the divine joy of the angels of heaven, and of the serene love of that great and pure Being, whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity, but who must take pleasure — to speak humanly, and so he condescends to express himself in the Scriptures — in the good- ness, and therefore the happiness, of the beings whom he hath made. " I say unto you," says our Lord in the parable, " that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no re- pentance." The term " just"* applies in the first place, and was so intended by our Lord, to the persons whom * Here we are to consider the distinction commonly used in tlie Jewish schools. All the good, and those that were to be saved at last, they called just persons. Hence such passages as the following frequently occur in the Rabbinical books : — " Paradise is for the just. Good things are laid up for the just." The Gemarists (who, as Lightfoot shows, made a supersti- tious distinction between the crooked v and the straight V Tsadi, in reference to the just,) divided the just into those that are Just and no more, and those that are perfectly Just. Under the first rank they placed those that were not always upright, but having lived a wicked and irreligious life, have at length betaken them- selves to repentance and reformation. These they call petii- tents. Under the latter rank are they placed who have been always upright, and never declined from the right way. These they call perfectly just, and just from their first orig'mal ; as also holy, or good men, and men of good wurks. Such an one did he account himself, and probably was so esteemed by others, that saith, " These all have I kept from my youth." ]\Iatt. xix. 20. Lightfoot has a long note on this subject, and gives many in- stances of the interpretation of " the just" by the Rabbins in the Talmuds. He remarks a singular coincidence between the Jew- 222 THE LOST SHEEP. he was addressing — those Jews who placed all justice and merit in works, and with whom the 'perfectly just and men of works were convertible terms. This parable, like many others, strikes at the root of Judaism ; and the Pharisees, who were learned in the traditions, would and did comprehend the pur- port of our Lord's discourses. They would appre- ish phrase of " perfectly just persons,'' and the text of the apostle to the Hebrews xii. 23, — " the spirits of just men made perfect." He understands the apostle to speak of just persons who are still in this life, and to show that the souls or spirits of believers are made perfectly righteous by faith, which was contrary to what the Jews held, that men were complete in their righteousness by works, even bodily works. — IMuch light has been and may yet be thrown upon the New Testament by the Rabbinical writings, especially upon the writings of St. Paul, who was one of the most learned Jews of his time, and strictly brought up in the sect of the Pharisees, who rested all their faith on the traditions afterwards collected into their Talmuds. Vide Buxtorfi Synagoga Judaica, p. 53, 60, Basil. 1661. These traditions were uniformly condemned by Christ, and were per- fectly adverse to his pure and holy religion. " Jus Talmudicum, says Buxtorf, Christi verbis adversatur et repugnat." ib. p. 354 The Talmuds will explain the object of many of Christ's dis- courses, and particularly the parables, many of which we yet lind in these writings, as has already been shown, and we shall yet have occasion to show in the progress of this work. In this pa- rable Christ opposed the notions of the Jews respecting their per- fectly just persons. "Judge," says Lightfoot, "whether Christ spoke simply or directly of any such persons (if there really were any such) that could need no repentance ; or whether he did not at that time utter himself according to the common con- ceptions that nation had about some perfectly just person.s, which he himself opposed.*' Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 44S. folio. THE LOST SHEEP. 223 ciate the striking contrast between the proud and perfectly just Jew with the penitent disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. As Christians, however, this text is equally appli- cable to us. Not only is the penitent and humble sinner more acceptable than the proud man of works, who confides in a merit which not the highest created being can claim in the sight of his Maker ; but the sinner who is perfectly converted, is in one sense more acceptable than the just and righteous man whose works are but the fruit of his faith. A just and good man may fall into sin and error, for which he will repent. He will, with a contrite heart, j)ray for pardon and mercy of God through the merits of his Redeemer. But this is not the repentance here intended, and is expressed by a different word. This repentance, fxtravoia, is an entire change of mind and character, which is the import of the original word. A just and pious man, who sins, does but fall from his established character of piety and love of God, and does not require that entire change of character, of the whole man, which is necessary to bring back the lost sheep, and the un- reflecting prodigal. This must be effected by that " godly sorrow which worketh repentance not to be repented of" — which makes the infidel a firm and consistent believer, and the vicious profligate, and the selfish ,and worldly-minded man, pious and heavenly-minded. Happy, thrice happy, is that sinner who thus repenteth ; for over him, hath his Saviour declared, "joy shall be in heaven more 224 THE LOST SHEEP. than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance." * The parable of St. Matthew, which I have no- ticed, was deHvered on a different occasion. The parable is the same ; and the application of it to the whole human race, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and as such saved by repentance and faith, differs not from this general application of the same parable now delivered ; but it differs from the immediate application, and in the circumstances which occa- sioned it. Our Lord had been warning his disciples to be humble and innocent as a little child which he called to him, and declared that *' whoso should re- ceive one such httle child in his name received him. But whoso should offend one of these little ones * There being none so just as to need no repentance, the Fathers, as Ambrose, Hilary, and Chrysostoni, held that by those just persons were to be understood the angels in heaven ; and by the sinner the race of mankind restored by Christ. But the best critics distinguish between that repentance, or fji^eru- voiag.. the entire change of the course of life requisite to a sinner, and that repentant sorrow for lapses and failings, to which every good man must be incident, yet is not to be said, in the strong " sense of this entire change, to need repentance." The superior joy that is expressed in heaven is taken after the man- ner of human affections, where the greater hazard and danger produce the greater joy at the preservation from it. Whitby thinks that the ninety and nine just persons represent the Jewish nation, the Scribes and Pharisees, who trusted in their own righteousness — and the sinner the Gentile world. This is the unquestionable import of the Prodigal Son, and for the reasons of the preceding note, of this likewise. Com- pare Grotius, Whitby, and Doddridge. See also Valpy's Annot. in loco, Hammond in loco. THE LOST SHEEP. 225 which believed in him, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."* He then denounces wrath on those by whom offences come, and warns them to avoid every temp- tation, and every species of sin. And to show his univ^ersal care of all men, he reverts to the child before him — " Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones (as not regarding whether ye offend tliem or not) ; for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven."!' The angels, who are ministering spirits, stand always in the presence of God, ready to receive his commands concerning them. J The meaning of the word " to offend" — literally " to scandalize" — is to cause a person, or to cause one's-self to fall from faith in Christ. What, there- fore, could be a greater sin than to pervert the * Matt, xviii. 5, 6. f Matt, xviii. 10. X The angels are ministering spirits for little children — for the lowest and least of Christ's slieepfold, as much as for the full-grown men and more advanced Christians. This text does not mean that every child has a guardian angel. " Christ saith not ' their angel,' but ' their angels behold the face of God. Nor says he that their angels belong to all, but only to these little ones, nor that they always do attend upon their persons, but that they stand ' before the face of God,' ready to receive Iiis commands, cither to help them in their exigencies, or to punish them who injure them. Hence then it follows, not that they have always an angel present with them, but only that the angels in general are ' ministering spirits to them.' Ps. xxxiv. 8- Ileb. i. 14." Whitby. 226 THE LOST SHEEP. infant faith of a little child ; for, as our Lord adds at the end of the parable of the Lost Sheep delivered on this occasion, — " It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish, or be lost," arroXrjTat, like the strayed sheep in the parable. "For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost."* Our Lord, therefore, intends to teach his disciples by the parable, as delivered on this occasion, that if a man will spare no labour to seek one sheep out of a hundred which is lost, the redemption through the coming of the Son of man will extend to the lowest and least of the children of men ; and whosoever causes a little child to err, or fall from faith in Christ Jesus, is guilty of the most enormous sin. — " It were better that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. For the Son of man came to save that which was lost; and it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one of these little ones should perish, or be lost." SECTION II. THE LOST PIECE OF MONEY. f** Either what woman having ten pieces of sil- ver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it. * Ver. 14 and 11. t There is a parable not much unlike this in Midras Schir, 1. R. Phineas ben Jair expoundeth. " If thou seek wisdom as silver, that is,* If thou seek the things of the law as hidden THE LOST PIECK OF MONEY. 227 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighljours together, saying, Rejoice witli me ; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Like- wise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."* The piece of silver, in this parable, is the emblem of the joy of God at the recovery of a lost soul. The import of this parable is the same as that of the last. But to be assured by the Divine Re- deemer that " there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth," should surely incite all sinners to that " godly sorrow which worketh repentance not to be re- pented of." This text has excited much controversy whether the angels and blessed spirits are acquainted with the conversion of a sinner. It is contended by the Romish Church, very erroneously, that as the blessed spirits are declared to be " as the angels of heaven" in a state of glory, they are already equal in know- ledge ; and hence they pray for the interposition both of saints and angels. But the reply to this argument is very easy. The saints are declared to be equal to the angels as to immortality ; that " they neither marry nor are given in marriage ; neither can they die any more;" and that they are treasures. — A parable. It is like a man who if he lose a stone or ornament in his house, he ligliteth some candles, some torches, till he find it. If it be thus for the things of this world, how much more may if. be for the things of the world to come.'' Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 419, folio. • Luke XV. 8—10. Q 2 228 THE LOST PIECE OF MONEY. the children of God, being the children of the resur- rection."* They are not now equal to the angels, but will be so at the resurrection. The spirits of the departed are not yet in a state of glory, nor will they be blessed spirits, that is, in a state of beatitude, until they become " the children of the resurrection." This is an error common to the Romish Church, and all the Calvinistic divines, with many, and perhaps most, if not all the non- conformists. Yet no doctrine of scripture is more plainly to be inferred than that there is some inter- mediate state between death and the resurrection. The apostle to the Hebrews expressly affirms that the saints will not enter upon their final state of glory without the rest of the Christian world, when the number of the elect shall be completed. After having distinguished all the saints from Abel to the Hebrew prophets, — "These all," he concludes, "hav- ing ol)tained a good report through faith, received not the promise : God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be 7nade j)erfectr\ But in this text the Saints are not named, and the controversy is out of place. In order, however, to oppose the notions of the Romish Church respect- ing angels, to whom as well as to saints that Church pays an undue reverence, Whitby seems to push the * Luke XX. 35, SQ. See Whitby. t Heb. xi. 39, 40. — The reader is referred to the preceding parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus for some remarks on the notions of the Jews and Heathens, as well as Christians, respect- in'; the intermediate state. THE LOST PIECE OF MONEY. 229 argument too far the other way. He thinks that the angels do not participate in the joy at the conver- sion of sinners ; for that the text affirms, not that the joy here mentioned is the joy of angels, but only that it is the joy of God, evojviov tmv ayytXwv, be/ore or in the presence of the angels, which stand continu- ally before his face. That it is the joy of God " in the presence of the angels," is indisputable from the words of .the text ; but that these angels and sons of God, who " shouted for joy when the corner-stones of the earth were laid" — who are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation'* — that these blessed spirits should not be allowed to participate in the joy manifested by the Divine pre- sence in Heaven, where these spirits are expressly declared to be present, — seems indeed to be an argu- ment rather for victory than for truth. " As," says this learned expositor, " an earthly king may rejoice before his court, and they know not the special motive of his joy, so may the King of Heaven rejoice before the angels of his presence, and they know not the reason of that joy, much less the particular convert that gave occasion to it."f • Job xxxviii 7. Heb. i. 14. + Whitby, vol. i. p. 356, 4to. The conclusion of tliis expo- sition is very just. *' In a word, it is confessedly God who is compared to the Shepherd seeking his lost slieep, and to the Father rejoicing for the return of his prodigal son ; and there- fore the similitude retpiires, that the joy conceived when a lost sheep is found, or a prodigal son comes home, should be ascribed to him. Note also, that this consideration should inflame the zeal, and quicken the industry of the spiritual shepherd for the 230 THE LOST PIECE OF MONEY. The knowledge, or the distinction, of the particu* lar convert is perhaps to our notions somewhat un- dignified. Yet it is said that the joy is over " one sinner.'" But that the knowledge of the repentance of a sinner upon earth is intended by the words to be communicated to the angels in whose presence is the Divine joy, seems the most rational and consistent interpretation. With this communication to the an- gelic spirits the analogy of the earthly king rejoicing with all his court is beautiful, and as true as the ana- logy of earthly and heavenly things can be made. The conversion of sinners, we learn from this and the foregoing parable, is indeed a mighty object of the Christian Scheme, since the repentance of one sinner is declared to create joy in the presence of the angels of God who stand before Him, who is all joy and peace and love : — it is a work so highly ac- ceptable to God, that, for this purpose, he sent into the world the great Shepherd of the sheep. It becomes the spiritual pastors or shepherds to be zealous and industrious in the great work of their calling. But, alas ! in this infidel, irreligious, and schismatic age, when few entertain any reverence for the word and the ministers of God, nor are im- pressed with any adequate sentiments of the high message they bear, and the sacred and important office with which they are invested — when every one jiresumes to think himself a competent judge in sacred things, to reject them altogether, or to re- conversion of sinners, as knowing this is a work so highly ac- ceptable to the God of heaven, and that for which he sent the great Shepherd of sheep into the world." THE PRODIGAL SON. 231 ceive them in the spirit of fanaticism — in such a state of things how weak is the power of the clergy, however zealous, — how crippled their best energies to do the great work of their calling, to " command — in the name of the High God whose especial ministers and servants they are — every man everywhere to repent ; because he hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world by that man — Jesus Christ — whom he hath ordained : whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."* SECTION in. THE PRODIGAL SON. The last parable of the series, contained in one chapter of the Evangelist, on the efficacy of repent- ance to the Jews as a body, and to every individual Christian, that they may reap the full benefits of the Dispensation of the Messiah, is that most beautiful and affecting parable of the Prodigal Son. This parable has been discussed more frequently perhaps than any of the other parables of our blessed Lord ; and if it be fully opened and expounded, none is more instructive, more wide and diffusive in its ap- plication to the whole Christian economy, nor more affecting as it respects the happiness of individuals. It contemplates the vast scheme of man's redemption * Acts xvii. 30. 31. THE PKODIGAL SON. from the calling of the Hebrews to their rejection and the calling of the Gentiles, — until, in process of time, the Jews will be converted from their apostasy, and will again become the means of diffusing the truth among the yet unconverted heathens, as those of that nation who first received Christ, were the instruments under God of converting the Gentiles after the death and resurrection of their Divine Master. The parable does not indeed express all this ; for it is not only " a dark saying," which, whether enigmatic or prophetic, veils the truth under figures and symbols ; ])ut, like other passages of Scripture, it may contemplate something more than it expresses, which can be discovered only by other Scriptures ; for Scripture is its own inter- preter.— The parable is as follows : — " A certain man had two sons : and the younger of them said to his father. Father, give jue the por- tion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land ; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat : and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger ! I will arise THE PRODIGAL SON. 233 and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against lieaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet : and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and be merry ; for this my son was dead, and is aliv^e again ; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field : and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him. Thy brother is come ; and thy father hath kill- ed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment : and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends : but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf And he said unto him. Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have ?;■-•< 234 THE PRODIGAL SOX. is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad : for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again ; and was lost, and is found." * f The elder son in this parable represents the Jew, and the younger son the Gentile. He demands of * Luke XV. 11—32. + " It is no new thing," says the learned Lightfoot, " so to apply this parable, as if the elder son denoted the Jew, and the younger the Gentile. And indeed the elder son doth suit well enough with the Jew in this, that he boasts so much of his obe- dience,— * I have not trangressed at any time thy command- ment ;' — as also that he is so much against the entertainment of his brother, now a penitent. Nothing can be more grievous to the Jews than the reception of the Gentiles." — Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 450, fol. — See note to the first Section of this Chapter, p. 221. The amiable Dr. Doddridge allows that this might be com- prekended in our Lord's design, but thinks that he had something more in his intention ; and that it was his purpose to expose the falsehood of the Pharisaical principles, — their guilt and their hypocrisy, — and to condemn them on those very principles. For had they been so eminently good as they themselves pre- tended to be, yet it was unworthy their character to take offence at the kind treatment of a sincere penitent. See his Family Expositor, vol ii. p. 161. But this interpretation of Calvin and his followers is perfectly reconcileable with the more generally received opinions of Gro- tius, Lightfoot, Whitby, and others, that the parable contem- plates, in the first place, the Jew and the Gentile. Thus the particular reference to the Pharisees, and now practically to Christians, is rather comprehended in the general effect of the Christian dispensation, which received the Gentile to the rejec- tion of the Jew, than the contrary ; because the greater must contain the lesser. If indeed the whole of the parables be in the first place understood as unfolding " the mysteries of the kingdom of God" — that is, the progress of the Gospel, all the practical inferences in relation to individuals, whether Jews or Christians, will necessarily follow. To connect them into a series of prophetic revelations, appropriate to the different pe- THE PRODIGAT. SON. 235 Ilis father " the portion of goods which falleth to him" as a younger son. " And (it is added) not many days after the younger son gathered all toge- ther, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his suhstance in riotous living." * It was a custom among the mercantile nations of the East, that at a proper age, if they demanded it, the sons had their portion of their father's patri- mony allotted to them for the purposes of commerce. This custom might not prevail with the Jews : but it might be, and most probably was frequent and common among the neighbouring Syrophoenicians, and would be familiar to many, and perhaps all who heard the parable — especially the inhabitants of Ga- lilee, among whom our Lord had passed tlie greatest portion of his life. But instead of employing his liods of our Lord's ministry, and to show that they gradually unfolded the Gospel dispensation, is the object of the present work. The practical application of these exquisite compo- sitions is so far from beinjj lost by this mode of discussion, that it rather acquires by it an accession of force rnd of beauty. Their application to two purposes, so distinct from each other as prophecy and practical religion, affords fresh proof, if any were wanted, of the inspiration of the Evangelists, while it furnishes us with matter for the increase of our faith, and nourishment for our most ardent piety and devout admiration. * " Usurpari solet in iis locis in quibus vigent mercimonia et artes questuosa?, ut filiis cum vencrint ad plenam pubertatem, si id deposcant, parentes assignent aliquam patrimonii sui par- tem, ex qua, filii quaestum faciant, quae pars post parentum mortem in hereditatem imputatur. Similem morem si non apud Judacos, certe apud Judaeorum vicinos Syrophocnices viguisse Christi temporibiis credibile est, ciim soleat a rebus usitatis exempla et comparationes ducerc." Grotii Opera, torn. ii. p. 419. fol. 2ti6 TIIK PllODIGAL SON. portion In the proposed mode of commerce, the Prodigal wasted his substance with riotous living in the far country whither he had travelled.* The spiritual inheritance, which the Gentiles had derived from Noah and his descendants, they wasted and lost sight of in their idolatries, and those sensual excesses which are enumerated by the Apostle as accompanying those " abominable idolatries."! These base practices were used by all heathen idolaters, and especially by the Egyptians, in imitation of whom Aaron moulded the golden calf before which the Israelites danced naked. | They were clearly against] the light of natural reason, not perhaps without some glimmering of early tradition : for St. Paul says expressly that " the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead. So that," he adds, " they are without excuse : because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God ; but be- * To apply this figuratively, the Prodigal was, as St. Paul represents the Gentiles, " far off from God." Eph. ii. 13. Thus the Psalmist, — " Lo, they that are far off from thee shall perish." Ps. Ixxxiii. 27. Vide Grotius and Whitby. t 1 Peter iv. 3. J These indecent rites were instituted by Ham, the first idolater after the Flood, and were established in Egypt either by him or his son Mizraim, the Osiris of the Egyptians. From Egypt they were transplanted into Greece, and practised at the Eleusinian mysteries, in honour of Ceres, the Egyptian Isis. And at Rome they were notorious in the infamous processions of Bacchus. See Bishop Cumberland's Sanconiatho, Maurice's Indian Antiquities, &c. THE PRODIGAL SON. 237 came vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."* | They offended against * Rom. i. 20, 21. X This text is commonly referred to in support of tlie opinion of those who contend tliat the knowledge of God may be elicited by the power of the natural faculties. The author does not believe that the unaided faculties of the human mind could ever discover even the existence of God ; though he is aware that such formidable names as Clarke and Wai burton are opposed to this opinion. At the same time he thinks that there are truths, of which the existence of God is tlie first, which may be pro- perly classed under the head of natural religion ; but none could have been discovered without a revelation at some period of the history of man. An eminent commentator on these words of the Apostle says — " Doubtless the Aposile speaks here of that knowledge of God, which, ij/ the light of nature, was in the heart of the Gentiles, and so was manifest in and to them, even from the time of the creation of the world, by his works, because * the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work.' Psalm xix. 1." Whitby. — But that this truth w^as not " in the heart of the Gentiles by the light of nature ;" and that this text does not necessarily affirm this, the author submits the following interpretation of this passage. — Tiie first chapter of Genesis unfolds to us the history of the works of creation by God in six days. We are moreover informed that the sabbath was appointed as a memorial of this mighty work, which our first parents were commanded to keep holy, " because that in it God had rested from all his work which he created and made." — Gen. ii. 3. The fourth commandment refers to it as a known institution by the word " Remanber." This revelation, however obscured by corruptions on the dis- persion of mankind, would never be wholly erased from their minds. Some glimmering of early tradition, a " darkness vi- sible," kept it alive " in the heart of the Gentiles, ' and not " the light of nature." Hence the works of God became for ever the signs of his " eternal power and Godhead" bi/ his own appointment. See some admirable remarks on the subject of 238 THE PRODIGAL SON. natural reason, natural religion, and so much of revelation as from the earliest ages was obscurely handed down to them by tradition. The parable therefore continues by showing " the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men."* " And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land ; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husksf that the swine did eat ; and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said. How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hun- Natural Religion in Bishop Gleig's Directions for the Study of Theology. London, 1827. * Rom. i. 18. + These were the fruit of the Carob-tree, or Caretaria. The word KtpciTux. in the original is rendered in the Syriac transla- tion t^ann Carruba. Grotius says to the same effect — Eum enim fructum Orientis populi wnnn vocant, unde Actuarius fecit Kapfiou^a Carniva. — torn. 2, p. 419. fol. — Some think it the Egyptian fig; and others (Pliny lib. iii. c. 8.) say that it never grew in Egypt, but is frequent in Syria. See a long note in Hammond. I cannot omit a remark of Macknight. " His abstaining from the husks was owing to their being the food of beasts, and not to his wanting permission to eat them ; for this debauched youth cannot be supposed to possess such a principle of honesty, that he would rather die with famine, than without his master's leave take so small a matter as a husk, which the herd seems to have had in plenty." Harm. vol. ii. p. 504. THE PRODIGAL SON. 239 ger ! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants." The famine and subsequent distress do, in a prac- tical point of view, affectingly depict the physical and moral misery which waits upon those who are the abject slaves of vice and sensuality.* Stripped alike of worldly means and moral rectitude, to whom can they turn in their distress ? For it is the just judgment of Divine Providence that the hearts of men are shut against them ; and, as in the parable, " no man gives unto them." But if they arise and go to their heavenly Father, and confess their sins, he will abundantly pardon : he will satisfy their hunger — he will reward their humility ; for " he feedeth the hungry with good things, and he ex- alteth the humble and meek." In a spiritual sense, as unfolding the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and foreshowing the effect which the preaching of the Gospel will produce, this part of the parable applies to the state of the Gen- tiles when they " sat in darkness and the shadow of death," and before they were visited by " the day- * Theophylact remarks on this part of the parable, that he who estrangeth himself from God, loseth all those seeds of virtue and goodness which nature or revelation hath implanted in him. Such appears to have been the state of the prodigal until *' he came to himself" — such is the state of the infidel and the pro- fligate in all ages — and such was the state of a great portion of the heathen world, before they " came to themselves." 240 THE PRODIfiAL SON. spring from on high," the beams of the Sun of Right- eousness " with heaHng in his wings." The blinded Gentiles had for ages been addicted to all those abo- minable rites of heathen idolatry which are justly designated " whoredoms and adulteries" in the Scrip- tures. The propriety of these designations is ob- servable in two senses. They had abandoned the worship of the true God, of whose church they had for many ages ceased to be members : and the con- nection between Christ, the Jehovah of the Hebrews, and his Church, is typified in the Scriptures of the Old and Nev/ Testament by a marriage, which St. Paul for this reason calls "a great mystery."* These designations were likewise applicable to them, be- cause they practised every species of lewdness and indecency before their senseless idols. But they could not escape the knowledge of Him whose eyes are indeed too pure to behold iniquity — that is, he will not let it pass without punishment — but from whom our most secret thoughts and actions, be they righteous or wicked, pure or iupure, cannot be con- cealed : for *' the darkness and the light are both alike to him." All therefore, who march under the banners of Satan — all who wallow in the pest-house of sin and sensuality — all who forget God, and dishonour his name, can find no peace, can know no pleasure, can taste no happiness ; but famine of the word of God, and restless misery will pursue them, until they go to their heavenly Father, and confess their sins : — * Eph. V. 32. THE PRODIGAL SON. 241 " Father, we have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy sons." I'he Gentiles, who are thus represented by the Prodigal, came in to Christ with the utmost ala- crity on the preaching of the Apostles. The parable therefore ffoes on to show the blessedness of their o conversion. " And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants. Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet : and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and be merry : for this my son was dead, and is alive again ; and was lost, and is found. And they began to be meriy." The robe, the ring, and the shoes, as well as the subsequent feast with music and dancing, are all proper circumstances of the story, and suitable to the manners of the East.* Of most of these we find * Grotius applies all these minute circumstances allegorically to tlie dispensation of Christianity. The kiss he considers the token of God's reconciliation, and plenary pardon of sin — " Oscu- lum iiaud dubie signum reconciliationis." The robe signifies in- nocence and purity of life. Thus in the Apocalypse the saints are arrayed in white robes: Rev. vi. 11. vii. 12. xix. 8. And Zion is invited by the prophet to " put on her beautiful garments." Isaiah Hi. 1. The ring is a sign of the gift of the Spirit which 11 242 THE PRODIGAT. SON. examples in the Bible. AVhen Pharaoh makes Jo- seph ruler of Egypt, he invests him with his office by a similar ceremony. " Pharaoh took off his ring from off his hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck."* St. James likewise designates a rich man by a gold ring. " If there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment :"f — here the gold ring and goodly appsirel of the one are set in contrast to the poverty and vile raiment of the other. The term '* dead,"± as applied to wicked men, is common in the Scriptures. St. Paul calls them " dead in trespasses and sins."§ Indeed it was a proverbial expression of the Hebrews and other Eastern nations. The Jews have a proverb — " 111 men while they live are said to be dead." The ancient Arabs thus express the same sentiment : — " Not he that is at rest is dead, but the living dead man is truly dead." And thus Pythagoras, when any one had forsaken his school and the rules of his philosophy, placed a cenotaph, an empty tomb or coffin, in his place, to import that he was mo- rally dead. Hence, in the New Testament, a re- formation, or recovery to a good life, is called a rising seals us: 2 Cor. i. 22. Seals were anciently attaclied to rings. The shoes answer to that expression of the apostle to the Ephe- sians — " having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace." vi. 15. Grotius, torn. ii. p. 420, fol. * Gen. xli. 42. f James ii. 2. X See Hanfimond and Grotius. § Eph. ii. 1. THE PRODIGAL SON. *243 from the dead. Thus the Apostle to the Ephesians — " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."* These, however, ai-e but circumstances, and pe- culiar figurative modes of expression, which, while they elucidate the meaning and import of the pa- rable, mark the manners of the East, and the beauty of the composition. Pleasure is thus mingled with instruction, and such pleasure as is innocent and pure, and, I hope, not useless. But let us contemplate the converted Gentiles, in the figure of the profligate and penitent son, return- ing to the holy and reasonable service of their hea- venly Father — abandoning the lewd idolatries of the heathen — and declaring their unworthiness of being sons, but humbly praying to be his servants. But God, who saw them afar off, as the father in the parable^ — knowing their hearts, and penetrating their thoughts and intentions — receives them, as it were, with open arms, and into his bosom. When they confess their sins, — " Father, we have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and are no more worthy to be called thy sons"— they are filled with spiritual food ; they are adorned with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit ; their " feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ;" and by these known results of true religion, they feel that they are endowed with " the glorious liberty of the sons of God ;" and that " they have not re- ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear, but * Eph. V. It. K 2 244 THE PRODIGAL SON. that they have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness with their spirit, that they are the children of God ; and if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."* f The Apostle to the Ephesians thus clearly ex- pounds the spiritual and prophetic import of this part of the parable. " Now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. He came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to. them that were nigh."t To dl, both Jews and Gentiles, who confessed and repented of their sins, and came to Christ, was the * Rom. viii. 15—17. t " The Gentiles are represented as the younger son, going into a far country, as being far from God, and squandering their goods by riotous living, as depraving that ktioivledge they had of the true God from traditio?i and Im marvellous works,^ by gross idolatry, on which account the Jews represented them as born of harlots, and serving them " which by nature were no Gods, by holding the truth in unrighteousness," and giving up them- selves to all uncleanness, Eph. iv. 19. yea, labouring under a famine of the word of God, and of his saving truth, and giving up themselves to the meanest services, such as that of keeping of hogs was deemed by the Jews and Egyptians, who suffered not such to come into their temples and sacred houses ; they having now, through Christ, access unto the Father, being adorned with the wedding garment of faith, and the robe of righteousness, fed with the banquet of the true paschal Lamb, and admitted to wear their Father's ring, as a testimony that they were now his genuine sons." Whitby, vol. i. p. 356. 4to. X Eph. ii. 13, if. § This opinion differs from that of this commentator nnen- tioned and controverted in a preceding note of this Chapter, (p. 237) on Rom. i. 20, 21. THE PllODIGAL SON. 245 Gospel freely imparted. Jesus was preached to the Gentiles which were afar off, and to the Jews which were nigh. To all penitent sinners was the banner of the cross unfolded . To all penitent sinners, to all wandering and profligate children of their heavenly Father, are the same terms of mercy propounded ; the same banner is unfolded ; the same Saviour is yet preached, and will be preached to the end of the world. " For," adds the Apostle, " he is our peace. He reconciles all, both Jews and Gentiles, unto God in one body by the cross. For through him we all have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, ye — who arise and go to your hea- venly Father, and confess your unworthiness, — are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."* But this was the great stumbling-block to the more numerous portion of the Jews, who to this day are not " reconciled unto God in one body by the cross." This apostate people are well represented by the elder brother in the parable. '^ Now his elder son was in the field ; and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what those things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come ; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in : therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these • Verses 15—19. 246 THE PRODIGAL SON. many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment : and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends : but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad : for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again ; and was lost, and is found." Tlie elder brother is a sad and true picture of the Jew. The Scribes and Pharisees, while they nursed in their bosoms the deadly sins of pride, and envy, and malice, and covetousness, were constantly mur- muring at the merciful temper of Jesus to publicans and sinners of the Gentiles, who had been indeed idolaters, but were now penitent and faithful be- lievers. That these Gentiles should, under any cir- cumstances, be admitted to equal privileges with themselves, uncircumcised and without obedience to the law of Moses, was a change which, under the hypocritical pretence of religion and the honour of God, they could not endure. They argued as the elder son in the parable. But though, as the first chosen of God, salvation was offered to them, they spurned it from them. They crucified the Lord of life, and yet suffer under the judgment of excision from the church, and from the grace of God ; while we Gentiles, who were dead, are made alive again by the light of the Gospel. To us, who had been lost and are now found, is the day spring THE PJIODIGAL SON. 247 from on liigh arisen, and life and immortality are brought to light. A time nevertlicless will come, when they who were nigh to God, will be brought i)ack into the divine fold — when they, who were with God, will be with God again— and like the Apostles and convert- ed Jews, who spread the first tidings of salvation through the Gentile world, will themselves be con- verted, and be the instruments, in the hand of God, of converting the numerous Gentile nations which are yet in darkness and the shadow of death. " Son," says the father in the parable, " thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." This, which was a just and severe reproof of the selfish Pharisees, will again be the state of things when the Jews as a people are " reconciled unto God in one body by the cross." The twelve Apostles, and St. Paul as one born out of due time, with the myriads of Jews, among whom were n)any gifted persons, and all of whom led the way to the Gen- tiles to come in to Christ, were the instruments, in the hand of God, of conveying the blessed tidings of the Gospel among all nations. St. Paul alone de- clared, by a strong figure, that he had preached the Gospel to every creature under heaven.* But scarcely one fifth of the population of the earth is composed of Christians, though it is now nearly two tliousand years since the Gospel was first preached. But as the Jews first led the way, not only in the call of Abraham and in the subsequent * Col. i. 23. 248 THE PRODIGAL SON. dispensation of Moses, but in the first preaching of the Gospel; so we have the strongest assurances in the scriptures, — particularly in the prophecies of Isaiah and the Revelation of St. John, — that after the fall of Antichrist, — that is, of the Romish church, which will be gradually and insensibly reformed and converted fo a purer faith — and before the second coming of our Lord to judgment, the Jews shall be converted, and again become a great church. They will exchange situations with, or rather assume the situation of, the younger brother, the Gentiles, in the parable, and will " arise and go to their father," and by a confession of their own unworthiness, and of their faith in the true Messiah, be once more en- rolled among the sons of God. This, it is thought by some, will be the state of the Christian world in the Millennium. Christ will reign, not in person, as is thought by other critics, but in the righteousness of his church upon earth before he finally transfers it to heaven. The Apostle to the Romans hath therefore re- vealed this mystery that we, like the Jews, should not be " wise in our own conceits," and presume that we are elected to the exclusion of that once favoured people — " that blindness hath in part hap- pened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved : as it is written in the Prophet,* There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away the ungod- * Isaiah lix. 20. /• THE PR()DIGAI> SON. 249 liness from Jacob : for this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, when I shall take away their sins. * The conversion of the Jews will be the means, probably of opening the blinded eyes of the uncon- verted heathens and Mahometans. " For," says the Apostle, " if the falling of them be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness : and if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the w^orld, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?"! Numberless are the prophecies which yet remain unfulfilled, and which will have their com- pletion in this grand consummation. I shall content myself with adverting to the following prophecy of Isaiah : " In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign to the people : and to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.";]] But this great and glorious event will not be brought about by the inglorious and unchristian mode of mixed worldliness and fanaticism, which are characteristic of the age in which we live. On this, and various other pretences, money is extorted from the necessities of the poor. The conversion of the Jews, which is unquestionably predicted, in the holy Scriptures, to precede the grand consummation of the Christian Scheme at the Second Advent of the Saviour, cannot be the consequence of the base and unworthy means which have been employed for its furtherance. That, upon which ignorant and sinful * Rom. xi. 26. f Rom. xi. 12, 15. I Isaiah xi. 10. 250 THE PRODIGAL SON. mortals expend much time, and not unfrequently waste considerable talent, may, if it be the will of God, be accomplished in a moment. That the con- version of the Jews ivill one day come to pass, we know by the sure word of prophecy ; but it is a work too great, it would appear, for mere man, without indisputably Divine authority. It will pro- bably be the sole work of the High God. 251 CHAPTER V. PARABLES ON THE TllUE NATURE OF PRAYER. PRELIMINARY UEMAllKS ON PRAYER. The last chapter contained three parables on the efficacy of repentance ; and in the present we propose to examine two on the true nature of prayer. While, however, our Lord enforced these practical duties, he never lost sight of the main object of the parable, — the unfolding of the mysteries of the kingdom of God ; for, as the importunate widow teaches us the nature of prayer, she shows us by what means the church of Christ will be supported ; and the unjust judge, in whose character the ra- pacity of the Pharisees, who were members of the Sanhedrim, is reproved, carries our thoughts to that just Judge of all the earth, l3y whom our prayers, when offered in a proper spirit, will ever ])e heard — while the parable intimates that the unjust judges of the Jewish nation will be no longer ranked among God's people. The publican and the Pharisee al- 252 PRELIMINARY REMAKKS ON THAYER. lude more obviously to the different portions of the Jews and Gentiles. The humble publican is justified, and the Gentile world, which he represents, is elect- ed into the church of God, from whence the proud and disdainful Pharisee is rejected. As, however, prayer is the object of both these parables, which will be expounded in the following* sections with slight reference to their prophetic cha- racter, I shall make a few preliminary remarks on the nature and necessity of prayer and devotion to such dependent beings as ourselves — " beings that are encompassed with many wants, which, by the constitution of our nature, require to be supplied."* It is a saying of the Jews, that " He that believes in Providence, must believe that prayer is profitable to him."f It has been remarked that man is more distin- guished from the animal world by devotion than by reason. The remark has more depth of thought and profound truth than at first may appear : espe- cially when it is added, that many brutes discover faculties, if not of reason, yet which approach so near to that divine faculty in man, that it is not easy to distinguish the mental process of the half- reasoning elephant, and of many other, to us more familiar animals, from the same process in man. But no animal ever exhibited any faculty which in the least resembled devotion. In form, in attitude, * Wollaston's Religion of Nature, p. 223. 8vo. t Ibid. PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON PRAYER. 253 and in the reasoning faculty, the brute creation make gradual approaches to the nature of man : and while the half-reasoning elephant forms no incon- siderable link in the reasonable part of God's cre- ation, almost connecting himself with us by the sagacity of his understanding, the ape, and some other animals of the same species, assume the form and erect posture of human beings. But with all these obvious affinities and resemblances, man and the lower animals are for ever separated by one great gulph,— the KNOWLEDGE of the CREATOR, and the power of approaching Him by prayer and devotion, and for ever enlarging the expanding faculties of our reason . This constitutes that Divine image in which we were formed. The face and the form of the ape, however they may resemble, can never rank in equal- ity with the symmetrical figure of man, nor the form and expression of " the human face divine." Nor can the reasoning faculty of the noblest animals ever arrive at the knowledge, nor render them capable of the reception or communication of tliat divine know- ledge which can raise them from their sphere, and elevate them into the rank of men, as men will rise into the rank of the angels. As, therefore, all ra- tional l)eings are made in the image of their Divine Creator, and are continually drawing nearer to him by the accession of knowledge and wisdom, but are nevertheless for ever at an infinite distance from him ; so tlie brute creation, in the wonderful eco- nomy of Divine Providence, are made so near a link 254 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON PRAYER. to the human race, that the highest animal appears ahnost to unite with our sjDecies : yet they are at a great, though not at an infinite, distance from each other ; they can never vmite ; and the reason of this is to be sought in the different relations in which they stand to their common Creator.* * On the gradation of spiritual substances I cannot refrain from transcribing the following passage from Locke : — " It is not impossible to conceive, nor repugnant to reason, that there may be many species of spirits, as much separated and diversified one from another by distinct properties, whereof we have no ideas, as the species of sensible things are distin- guished one from another by qualities, which we know and observe in them. That there should be more species of intel- ligent creatures above us, than there are of sensible and material below us, is probable to me from hence, that in all the visible, corporeal world, we see no chasms or gaps. All quite down from us, the descent is by easy steps, and a continued series of things, that in each remove differ very little one from the other. — And when we consider the infinite power and wisdom of the Maker, we have reason to think that it is suitable to the mag- nificent harmony of the universe, and the great design and in- finite goodness of the Architect, that the species of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, ascend upward from us towards his infinite perfection, as we see they gradually descend from us downwards ; which, if it be probable, we have reason then to be persuaded, that there are far more species of creatures above us than there are beneath ; we being, in degrees of perfection, much more remote from the infinite being of God, than we are from the lowest state of being, and that which approaches near- est to nothing." Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, b. iii. c. vi. § 12. To this may be added the capacity of rational beings, such as men and angels, of rising in the scale of creation ; whereas the instinctive reason of the brute never rises higher than the state in which it is created. PRELIMINARY llEMARKS ON PRAYER. 255 Man is made at once the creature and the servant of God. Over all his creatures has God been ever watchful ; but of this care of the Divine Providence, the brute is for ever kept in ignorance. But to man he has communicated himself ; and man alone has the privilege of bowing down before him, and pouring forth his soul in prayer, whether of thanks- giving or distress — " crying day and night unto him" to be delivered from suffering ; or like the elders in the Apocalypse, " worshipping him that liveth for ever and ever, and casting their crowns jjefore the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and lionour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." * This is the divine spirit of devotion, which is the distinguishing characteristic of man from beast. De- votion is, as the word imports, the dedication of the whole soul to Him who " created all things," and is therefore "worthy of glory and honour and power." Prayer must constitute a very principal evidence of our devotion ; because God having so constituted man as to be capable of the knowledge of Himself, and having therefore revealed Himself, it is but to act consistently with our nature, and therefore the high- est act of reason, to express our sense of God's good- ness, to pour out our hearts in thanksgiving for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of life, and to tell out our sorrows unto him in prayer. God has allowed us this mode of communion with him * Rev. iv. 10, U. 256 PRELI.AIINARY REMARKS ON PRAYER. as the highest privilege which can be bestowed on a creature : and it is surely the most stupid act of ignorance and folly, as well as the basest in- gratitude and wickedness of heart, to refuse to God this natural homage, and upon the dictates of a principle falsely called reason. Rather is it reason- able, in a dependent creature like man, to pray for support under his manifold weaknesses and infirmi- ties—to pray, in the language of a pious and elo- quent Divine, whose pages are equally illumined by religion and reason, that he may be " renewed in the spirit of his mind, — that he may be inflamed with holy fires, and guided by a bright star ; and then his prayer will ascend to heaven upon the wings of the holy dove, and dwell with God, till it returns, like the useful bee, loaden with a blessing and the dew of heaven."* Devotion may, indeed, be too much without the check of reason, and degenerate into enthusiasm. But the raving of the wildest enthusiast and fana- tic, if it proceed from any sense of religion, is to be preferred as a thing in itself more reasonable than the fanaticism — for it surely is a species of fana- ticism— of the infidel. Hence in Scripture he is de- signated " the fool that hath said in his heart there is no God." Few deny the existence of God otherwise than in his moral Providence over men. If there be any who deny God altogether, which cannot now be disputed, they must be the objects of our compas- * Jer. Taylor's Sermon on "the Retiu'ns of Prayers." Heber's edition, vol. v. p. C7, 70. PREI.IMINAllY 11E3IAKKS ON FllAYEJl. 257 sion, rather than of our scorn, as madmen and idiots. But tlie state of him who is called a Deist, who ac- knowledges the existence of God, and yet denies his moral Providence, and refuses him the homage due from a creature to the Creator, is indeed awful, des- perate, and dangerous. His denial of the Divine Providence proceeds not from reason, but is the re- sult of moral depravity. The error of the Atheist is idiocy or madness ; but that of the Deist is sinful pride. If they be botli classed under the head of madness, the one is the madness of the head ; but the other is the more desperate madness of the heart. As therefore the moral and intellectual nature of man inclines him to the service of his Maker ; as devotion is the dictate of reason, the voice of Na- ture, and the mandate of Religion, — all who value their immortal soids will seek to establish them- selves, and educate their children in the habits of piety, and of the reasona])le service of God. This is an age of contrary extremes : it is an age of blas- phemy and infidelity ; and it is an age of enthusiasm and religious fanaticism. Both extremes, though not with equal force, destroy pure religion, and make the mind to deviate from true piety and acceptable devotion. Having shown the reason and necessity of prac- tical devotion and of prayer, and tlieir suitableness to the constitution of our nature ; it only remains to remark the mention of these duties in tlie Scrip- tures. Continual prayer to the throne of grace for our general pardon, as well as for the particular forgiveness of our individual and actual sins,— for s 258 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON PRAYER. support, for pardon, and for preservation in our Christian warfare, is the constant admonition of Christ and his apostles to all Christians. The Apostle to the Thessalonians exhorts them to " pray without ceasing." By such phrases, how- ever, we are not to understand that we are literally never to cease praying, nor to pursue any other em- ployment.* But prayer and devotion at all proper times are to be the habits of the soul. There are duties of active life to be performed, — duties which it is the part of religion to prosecute, and for which we were placed in this lower and probationary sphere of existence. But in the performance of these du- ties we shall be aided by habitual piety ; and they cannot for a moment be alleged as a plea to neglect our public and private devotions. Indeed all men have their peculiar sources of sorrow and of joy as individuals, which will send every pious person to his closet to pour out his soul in prayer for conso- lation, or in grateful thanksgiving to the Father of mercies and the God of love. The Apostles, we are told by the Evangelist, after the ascension of our Lord, " were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God."t This is * " To be always thus engaged, if it could be, woujd be to make God what He is not : since it seems to suppose, that He wants, and we merit of Him by it ; or that He is bound to give what we ask without our endeavouring ; or, at least, that He is a Being obnoxious to importunity and teasing." Wollaston's Religion of Nature, p. 224. For some admirable strictures on prayer and rules for our devotion the reader is referred to the above work, p. 221— 233. 8vo. London. 1759. t Luke xxiv. 53. THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. 259 explained by the same inspired writer, in his history of the Acts of the Apostles, when, speaking of the new converts to the faith, he says — " they continued daily with one accord in the temple :"* that is, they resorted thither at the appointed hours of morning and evening prayer. Pious persons, among the Jews and early Christians, offered up their morning and evening prayers in the temple, as we do in our private chambers. We find Daniel during the Cap- tivity, when removed from the temple, privately exercising the same habits of devotion, and praying three times a day in his own chamber at Babylon. Such is the duty of prayer prescribed by religion and nature for the wants and necessities of man ; and such are inforced in all their purity in the fol- lowing parables. SECTION I. rilE IMPORTUNATK WIDOW, " And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man : and there was a widow in that city ; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while : but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man ; yet because * Acts ii. 4(5, iii. 1. S 2 260 THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them ? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Never- theless when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ?" * Our Lord had been discoursing of the kingdom of God, and of the comins; of the Son of Man at the last day. Being questioned by the Pharisees " when the kingdom of God should come," he replied to them in that striking account of the last day which concludes the preceding chapter. This coming of the Son of Man is indeed by expositors frequently interpreted of the destruction of Jerusalem ; and it is contended that his coming is not to be taken lite- rally, but figuratively. This interpretation has been controverted by the learned Bishop Horsley, f who ably argues that the expression is to be taken lite- rally of the actual coming of the Son of Man to judg- ment at the last day. Into his masterly reasoning, however, I cannot now enter. The subject is now mentioned to make the reader understand that the parables to be expounded in this chapter, are in con- tinuation of the discourse related in the previous chapter of the Evangelist on this great and awful * Luke xviii. 1-8. t See his admirable sermon, the first in tl;e published col- lection, on the text of St. James v. 8 : " For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." THE IMPOIITUXATE WIDOW. 26l event. The first parable seems more particularly addressed to his own disciples, that they miglit be prepared for the sufferings and persecutions which awaited them after his death. The last was ad- dressed to the Pharisees in reproof of their hy- pocrisy. To his own disciples, and in the hearing of the Pharisees, " he spake a parable," the purport of which is, " that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."* In the apostolic, and in many subsequent ages of the cimrch, there was abundant scope for the ex- ercise of the grace of patience and perseverance enjoined by the words " not to faint." The early disciples and converts to Christianity were afflicted by every possible species of suffering and persecution. The two duties of prayer and patience are thus united, or follow each in the natural order, by the Apostle to the Romans, who are exhorted to be " patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer."! The object of the parable of the importunate Widow is, as we have already observed, tlic duty * The meaning of tlie original words /x>j exxaxsjv, is " not to faint or despond" under the prospect of approaching afflictions. St. Paul uses the word in this sense in several passages of his Epistles. *' For which cause we faint not, Aio oux skkukovixsv, tliough our outward man perisli." 2 Cor. iv. 16. — Also verses 1, 8, of the same chapter. Vide Whitby, Hammond, and Grotius. Lightfoot explains it in the same manner. Works, vol ii. p. 4:62. folio. t Kom. xii. \2. 262 THE IMPOUTUNATE WIDOW. of perseverance in prayer. This is illustrated by a similar parable in the eleventh chapter of the same Evangelist, which he delivered after having taught his disciples to pray in the inimitable words of that perfect form of prayer which is now emphatically called the Lord's Prayer. " And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him. Friend, lend me three loaves ; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, ' Trouble me not ; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed ; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you. Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."* So in this parable of the Widow, who desired the judge to " avenge her of her adversary ;" though " he would not for a while : but afterward he said within himself. Though I fear not God^ nor regard man ; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." These two paral)les might have been repeated the one for the other with little or no variation, and in their stories were, I doubt not, familiar to the Jews. The judge, in the parable, is used, by a very strong figure, to illustrate the dealings of God with men, who are his servants and subjects. To get rid * Luke xi. 5 — 8. THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. 263 of the widow's importunity, the wicked judge,* who feared not God, nor regarded man, granted her request, " lest by her continual coming, she should weary him." The original word here rendered " weary," is a very strong expression, and means that he would avenge her of the injustice which had been done her, lest by her continual coming she shame him, and raise feelings of uneasiness in the I)reast of her judge. " And the Lord said. Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them ? I tell you that he will avenge I hem speedily." If so wicked a man as this unjust judge is pre- * Liglitfoot suggests some queries respecting this judge, as whether he was distinguished fronti an elder or presbyter. Deut. xxi. 2. — " if the scene of this parabolical history must be supposed to have been amongst the Jews." That it should be so understood we think most consistent with the general cha- racter of our Lord's parables, and indeed of his whole preaching during his ministry amongst that misguided people. Tlie very instance of so corrupt a judge among them was of itself an inti- mation that the kingdom of God was to be taken from the Jews and given to others more worthy of it. This appears to have been the impression of the learned Lightfoot, who gives the following character of a just judge from Maimonides: — " How widely distant," he says, " is this wretch from the character of a just judge ! Although in the Triumviral court, all things are not expected there which are requisite in the Sanhedrim, yet it is necessary that in every one of that court, there should be this sevenfold qualification — prudence, gentleness, piety, hatred of mammon, love of truth, that they be beloved themselves, and of good report." Maimon. Sanhedr. cap. i. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 462. fol. 264 THE IMPORTUNATE V, IDOW. vailed upon, and by so unworthy a motive, to avenge the poor widow of her enemy, shall not God, the judge of all the earth, and whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity, — " shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them ? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." In the same simple yet forcible manner, which at once strikes conviction on the mind, does our Lord enforce the same doctrine at the end of the parable, already cited, in the eleventh chapter of this Evan- gelist. He illustrates the superior and transcendent goodness of God to his spiritual children by the na- tural affection of men for their children. " If a son shall ask bread of any of you, will he give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion ? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children ; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spi- rit to them that ask him ?" * Those persons, who are here called " elect," are not chosen by an arbitrary decree, irrespective of their good works, and limiting even the will of God. But as God knew from all eternity who would stand, and who would fall — for past, present, and future, are ever before him, one day being as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day — " he hath, before the foundation of the world, (as expressed in the seventeenth article of the church,) decreed by * Luke xi. 11— Ki. THE IMPORTUNATE M'IDOW. 265 Ills counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those vvliom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlast- ing salvation, as vessels made to honour." * This scriptural language has been abused into the conveyance of doctrines which were never })reached by the inspired authors of the New Testa- ment— much less could they have been uttered by the lips of Him who spake as man never spake, and who, instead of teaching the abhorrent doctrine of man's being arbitrarily decreed to salvation or damnation, constantly inculcated practical goodness upon tlie basis of faith in His name ; for " there is no other name under heaven, in whom and through whom men may be saved, but only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." The elect were in the first instance the Jews, who were a chosen and elect people, separate from the * On this subject the reader is referred to the Bampton Lec- tures of Dr. Laurence, the present Archbishop of Cashel, inti- tled, '• An attempt to illustrate those Articles of the Church of England, which the Calvinists improperly consider as Calvinist- ical." This is incomparably the best work which has been pub- lished on this subject, and satisfactorily proves to a candid and capable reader, especially in the notes, that the compilers of our Articles used the language, commonly employed by the Refor-n- ers of the age, against the Romish doctrine of merit ; and that the peculiar dogmas of Calvin were not contemplated by these venerable men. The history of the progress and the changes of language is an essential part of criticism, especially in Theo- logy ; and had the changes, which have taken place in our lan- guage since the Reformation, been considered, much of the controversy, which these Articles have excited, would have never taken place. 266 THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. other nations of the earth. When this people was rejected for their apostasy and infidelity, the term was limited to such of the Jews as believed in Christ, and all Christians chosen out of the world through faith in His name, who are now the people and the church of God. At the last day, and not till then, it will appear who are indeed elect — who had the true faith, manifested by as perfect obedience as the un- stable will of frail man can testify ; for the " elect," in this parable, are not men satisfied with their own election, and, like the proud Pharisee in the next parable, " trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and despising others ;" but they " cry day and night unto God," like the publican, saying, " God be merciful unto iis sinners !" The elect are all good and sincere Christians who believe in God, and pray to him continually, and " faint not" under affliction and persecution, but trust in God that He will in his own good time deliver them. This parable is generally interpreted of the de- struction of Jerusalem, which is apparently indicated by one or two phrases — such as that, God will avenge his elect, though he bear long with them, that is, with their enemies ; and that he will avenge them speedily. But the description of the day of judgment, and of the coming of the Son of man in the preceding chapter, and the conclusion which refers to the coming of the Son of man at the day of judgment, abundantly prove that our Lord intends the end of the world and the day of judgment.* * The import of " the coming of the Son of man," which Bishop llorsley, in the Sermon before alluded to, has so unan- THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. 267 The " elect" here, as referring to the Jews, is ex- pounded by one of our ablest commentators* to signify, those Jews who believed in Christ, and are on that account styled both by St. Peter and St. Paul, " the election of grace," and absolutely " the election."! The believing Jews were undoubtedly thus indicated in tlie epistolary writings of these Apostles : but that this passage refers not to the believing Jews, as separate from other Christians, is clear from this circumstance, that St. John, in the Apocalypse, refers to this passage when writing of the persecution of the early Christians — which is sup- posed to allude to the cruel persecution under the Emperor Diocletian — and when he cannot possibly refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, which had taken place when this Apostle wrote the Apocalypse. The passage is as follows : — " I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which tliey held : and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?"J swerably proved to refer to the judgment of the last day, will be more fully insisted on when we come to treat of the parable of " the Fig-tree," — Matt. xxiv. 32. Luke xxi. 29, — in the first Section of tlie eighth Chapter of this work. * The elect in general signify all Christians chosen out of the world, through faith in Christ, to be the Church and people of God. When it relates particularly to the Jews, it signifies those of them who believed in Christ, and upon that account are styled " the election of grace," and absolutely " the election." Whitby, vol. i. p. 366, 4to, + 1 Fet. i. 2. Rom. xi. 5. 7. I Rev. vi. 9, 10. 268 THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW. That God would avenge them " speedily," may seem to contradict tliis, and refer to the destruction of Jerusalem. But our error in judging of God is, that we measure his actions by our own wants, and our own state and dependence on time. But ages to Him are nothing ; and expressions which refer to time are to be judged rather by the whole scheme of the Christian dispensation, by the progress of the Kingdom of God, than by our admeasurement of du- ration. Of this we are warned by numerous pas- sages of the Scriptures. " Be not," says St. Peter, " ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack, as some men count slackness ; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not will- ing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up."* In the same sudden and speedy manner will God avenge the cause of his elect, though he yet " bears with the wickedness of men."t * 2 Pet. iii. 8—10. + If however the translation of h Ta)(^si by Beza and Mac- knight, of " suildenly," be correct, the sense will be perfectly consistent and reconcilable with the passage of St. Peter quoted in the ttxt. " Scripture and experience teach,' observes Dr. Macknighi, " that in most cases punishment is not speedih/ executed against the evil works of evil men ; but that when the Divine patience ends, oftentimes ' destruction overtakelh the THE IiMPORTUNATE WIDOW, 269 " Nevertheless — the parable concludes — when the Son of man comcth, will he find faith on the earth ?" This is a very difficult passage. It must, however, have reference to the second coming of Christ to judgment : and this is confirmed by St. Peter in the same chapter from \\hence the last extract was taken. He tells us of certain " scoffers," who " shall come in the last days, saying. Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'"* That the whole parable refers to the day of Judgment, and not to the destruction of Jerusalem, this text alone does, in our opinion, de- monstrate. For the Son of man did not come at the destruction of Jerusalem ; and the expressions of Scripture should always be taken literally when they can be so taken with truth and consistency. The question, however, whether he would " find faith on the earth ?" is very awful ; and the prophecy of St. Peter renders it doul)ly dreadful. It was evidently intended to warn his disciples, as well as the Jews, and it should warn all Christians, that every one " that standeth take heed lest he fall." wicked as a whiihvind,' Ps. Ixxiii. 18 — ~0 : And by its sud- denness becomes the more heavy," Macknight's Harm. vol. ii. p. 544. Beza in loc. vol. i. p. 330, fol. 158!). * 2 IVt. iii. 3, 4. 270 SECTION II. THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. The striking parable of the Publican and Pha- risee is a sequel to that of the importunate Widow. Both were spoken upon the same occasion : but the first was addressed to the disciples, and intended more particularly for their edification, though in the hearing of the Pharisees, who were warned of the Di- vine vengeance suspended over their heads. Though the long-suffering of God would " bear long with them," yet a time must arrive when the thunder- cloud would burst — when he would " avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him." The necessity of fervent and continual prayer, — which no sufferings should have power to abate, no persecution make to faint or despond, — is the great object enforced upon the true disciples of Christ by the first parable, which has been examined in the preceding section. Humility and self-abasement, in reproof of the proud and self-righteous Pharisee, in offering up our prayers, is the object of the second parable, which we shall examine in the present section. " And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others : Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a pub- lican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with THE FUBT.ICAN AND PHAlilSEE. 271 himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican : I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, Tiiis man went down to his house justified rather than the other : for every one that exalteth himself, shall be abased : and he that humblcth himself shall be exalted."* The Pharisee is represented as standing by him- self, and the i)ublican as " standing afar off." This relative position is to be explained by reference to the opinions of the Pharisees, or to tlie usages of the Jewish church. By some commentators it is sup- posed that the Pharisee separated himself from the publican, because the touch of such a person was esteemed a pollution. Thus f when the woman, who was a sinner, came into the Pharisee's house where Jesus was, and brought an alabaster Ijox of ointment, and anointed him, — " the Pharisee which had bidden him, spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him : for she is a sinner." — Not only the sect of Pharisees would have regarded the touch of the publican as pollution, but likewise " all the Jew s" w^ere infected with similar prejudices, who, says the Evangelist, *' except they wash their hands oft, eat not, taking the tradition of the elders. "f * Lu!;e xviii. 9—14. t Lnke vii. 39. ^ Mark vii. 3. 272 THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. By others, however, it is apprehended to have been no more than the common usage of the Jewish church; the Pharisee standing in the court of the Israelites, the publican in that of the Gentiles. The Pharisee is said to stand apart, moreover, to imply that he poured forth his secret thoughts.* But it is probable, and is consistent with the scope of the parable, that, as Lightfoot expresses it, the reason why " this publican stood so much far- ther off while he prayed, than the Pharisee, was * This is the opinion of Grotius, whose words are — " Non puto hie significari seorsim ilkirn a publicano, quasi inipuro con- stetisse. Nam raos id lerebat ut publicani in atrio gentihum, Pharissei in atrio Israehtarum starent, nee quicqiiam in eo erat insolitum aut Pharisa^o imputandum," Oper. torn. ii. p. 436. The first is the opinion of Whitby, wjiich agrees with that of the learned Lightfoot and Prideaux, who place the court of the Israelites in that part of the court of the priests where the Israelites stood when their own sacrifice was respectively offered; and they hold that usually the men were in the area, and the women in the galleries of the court of the women : whereas Lamy and Calmet call the second court, the court, not of the women, but of the Israelites ; assigning the east side of it to the women, and the three remaining sides to the men. Valpy's Annot. vol. ii. p. 323. Lightfoot says " that the Israelites, when they went into the temple to put up their own private prayers, went beyond the eastward court, or the court of Gentiles, into the court of the women. That, therefore, the reason why this publican stood so much farther off while he prayed than the Pharisee, was probably more from his humility than any necessity that lay upon him so to do. For though the heathen and publican go together in these words of our Saviour, — ' Let him be unto thee as an heathen and publican ;' yet it is a question whether the publi- cans, if they were Jews, were bounded to the outuard court only as the heathen were." Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. -IC-i, fol. THF. I'UBLICAN AND PHAllISEli:. 273 more from his humility, than any necessity that lay upon him so to do." Standing was the usual posture of the Hebrews in offering up their prayers at the temple, as we learn from the Psalmist. " Praise ye the Lord, O ye ser- vants of the Lord, ye that stand in the liouse of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God."* The publicans were those who collected the pub- lic taxes ; and as Judea was for many ages a con- quered and a tributary province, the tax-gatherers, or ])ublicans, were frequently Gentiles and heathens. ]iut this was not always the case ; and Lightfoot uses the conditional expression, — "i/'they were Jews," — which shows that he considered these persons sometimes to be native Hebrews, and that in the supposed case in the temple our Lord may have intended the publican to have been a Jew as well as the Pharisee. At all events, he must have been a proselyte, if, as it is thought by Grotius, he stood in the court of the Gentiles. He offered up his prayers to the same God, the Jehovah of Israel, as was worshipped by the Pharisee, and in the same building, if not in so sacred a part of it. The sins * Ps. cxxxv. 1, 2. One of the arguments used by Lightfoot to sliow that they stood in the court of the women, is curious : — " The negative upon their entrance into that court is confirmed, at least if that rule avail any thing, which we meet with in Hieros. Beracoth. fol. 8, 4. — ' R. Joshua ben Levi saith, He that stands to pray, it is necessary that he first sit down, because it is said, Blessed are they that sit in tliy house.' Now it was lawful for no per- son to sit down in that court, but the King only." See Light- foot as above. T 274 THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. of injustice and extortion were very probably com- mitted l}y the publicans in their exactions upou the Jews ; and adultery was not considered a crime by a heathen. But although the Pharisee evidently intends to ascribe these sins to the publican then present, we must presume the allusion to be as un- just as it is uncharitable, inasmucli as such a charac- ter was not likely to have been devoutly praying to the true God. At least, if he had been such a cha- racter, he had repented of his sins before he entered that sacred place. This imputation, therefore, on the humble and de- vout publican forms no inconsiderable portion of the censurable proceedings of this self-righteous Pharisee in the temple. Although thanksgiving must neces- sarily constitute a distinguished feature of the wor- ship of God by his dependant creatures who owe him life and breath and all things, — and, as the form of words indicates, this was a part of the Jewish prayers ; yet the matter of his thanksgiving was very sinful. We are not to thank God, in the arrogant style and haughty spirit of this Pharisee, that we are better than others, and thus by the very comparison inflate that pride which it is the province of religion and piety to subdue. Neither was he justified in his uncharitable conclusions respecting another indi- vidual, because he happened to belong to a class of persons who are sometimes extortionate and unjust in their proceedings. This is the sin so powerfully exposed in the following passage of the Apocalypse : — " Thou sayest," says the Spirit to the Church of Laodicea, '' T am rich, and increased with goods, and THE rUDMCAN AND PIIAllISEE. 275 have need of notJiing ; and knowest not that thou art wretclied, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."* This Pharisee, who thus applauded his own right- eousness, and despised the humble-minded publican, was rejected by that pure and Omniscient ]3eino', before wliom he thus vaunted his meritorious obser- vances ; for God saw into his heart, which was swol- len with pride and selfishness ; but he accepts the brief, fervid, and humble prayer of the being so much despised by the rigid Pharisee. This proud and self-righteous man, — or rather, the sectf which * Rev. iii. 17- t The two great sects of the Jews were the Sadducet-s and Pharisees in the time of our Saviour, — also caUed Kanaitcs and Rahbaniles. They are thus described by Buxtorf. — " Duo Ju- diTorum genera liodie in mundo reperiri ; unum nempe eorum qui vocantur D^^*^p Karraim, Karraji ; alterum eorum qui vo- cantur ooai vel ^wm Rahbanhn, Rabbanitae, plane sicut olim tempore Chrisii fuerunt divisi in t3''p'ny Sadduceos, et D"'u;nD Phnrisceos." The Karraites, or Sadducees, adhered to the literal text of Scripture, and rejected the traditions of the Rabbis. " Soli li- terae textus Scriptura; et Legis adhcerent, totarn legem oralem, h. e. omnes Rabbinorum traditioncs, constitutiones, glossas, rejicientes, et Scripturam pro suo lubitu exponcntes." But the Rabbis, or Pharisees, received not only the Scrip- mres, but with them the traditions and expositions of the Rab- bis. I subjoin the whole of Buxtorf's account of the opinions of this text ; for it states the opinions of the modern as well as the ancient Jews. " Rabbanitan sunt, qui non tantiim Legem Mosis scriptam, cum reliquis Prophetarum libris, amplcctuntur, sed etiam Legem ora- lem tencnt, constitutiones, traditiones, ct expositiones Uabbino- rum observant, et pro norma ct regula (idei et vitn? suce habent. T 2 276 THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. he represents, — was ignorant how soon the whole Jewish nation would be rejected for their apostasy from their Messiah whom they had for so many ages expected ; that the Gentiles, and publicans, and sinners would be received into the kingdom of Heaven ; and that the magnificent temple, in which he now offered up his proud thanksgiving, would quickly be destroyed, so that one stone would not be Hi sunt genuini filii Pharisseorum, qui sic dicebantur a radice tyiD Parasch, quae separare significat, quasi separates dicas; quia se a vitiis et proplianis mundi, et communis plebis, moribus, per singularem vitse sanctimoniam, et severam ac rigidam Logis et prseceptorum observationem, separabant, vel saltern separare studebant. Postmodiam superstitione invalescente, humilitate sancta in fastum et superbiam conversa, et sanctimonia vera tola in externis ritibus, traditionum humanarum observatione, et innumeris sSeKo^pYia-Kuag, quas speciem potiiis, quam rem ipsam sanctitatis verse habebant, constituta, hoc nomine se a caeteris hominibus de plebe, qiios '^M^n DI? Populum terrae, vocabant, dis- cernebant, et reliquos prse se ceu xaSupixuTu contemnebant, adeo ut non solum ab illorum, ceu prophanorum et pollutorum con- versatione et convictu, sed etiam contactu omni abstinerent. Hinc Pharisaeus ille in Evangelio gratias agit Deo, quod non sit ut reliqui homines, &c. Luc. xviii. 11. Hinc Joh. xviii. 28. Pharisaei dicuntur non introivisse in praetorium, ne pollue- rentur. Hinc etiam a foro et turba hominum promiscua veni- entes, non edebant, nisi priiis baptizati vel abluti fuerint, Marci vii. 4. quia nempe, et Populum terra3 ipsum, et vestimenta eorum pro immundis habebant^ ut ab illorum contactu se poUui crediderint. " Tales Rabbanitae sunt hodie plerique Juda?i, tenaciter Legi non tantiam scriptae, et praeceptis Mosaicis expressis, sed et Legi orali, constitutionibusque majorum adha;rentes. Et de hoc Ju- daeorum genere, missis Karra^is, in sequentibus, Deo dante, agere nobis est propositum." Buxtorf. Synagog. Judaic, cap. i. THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. 277 left upon another. ^Vhile, therefore, he tliought himself rich in good works, and the good things of this world — while he valued himself upon his custo- mary fasts on the stated days according to " the tra- dition of the elders ;" he was ignorant of his own wretchedness, and knew not that he would soon be " miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." " I fast," continues the Pharisee, '* twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The public and private fast days of the Jews were upon the second and fifth days of the week, that is, Monday and Thursday.* When the Chris- tians seceded from the Jews, they changed the days to Wednesday and Friday. While they would not be outdone by them in devotion, the Christians would not observe their fasts on the same days as were ap- pointed by the traditions of that people. * '* It was very usual for the single person," (i. e. a private person) to devote himself to stated and repeated fasts for re- ligion's sake, even when there was no affliction or calamity of life to urge hiin to it. And those that did so, chose to themselves those very days which the congregation was wont to do, viz. the second and the fifth day of the week." Taanith, fol. 12, 1. "This Pharisee in the profession he maketh of himself imitates the profession that he was to make that offered the first fruits. ' I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and given them to the Levite and to the stranger, to the father- less and to the widow, &:c. But tell me, O thou Pharisee, dost thou thus strictly give tithes of all things, out of an honest mind and pure justice, viz. that the priest and Levite, and poor may have their own ; and not rather out of mere fear and dread, be- cause of that rule, He that eateth of things that are not tithed, is worthy of death.' Sanhedr. fol. 83. 1. Liglufool's Works, vol. ii. p. 4G3. fol. 278 THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. On another occasion our blessed Lord denounces the hypocrisy of the Pharisees ; and notices, among other things, their payment of tithes to the clergy, while they neglected all the moral and substantial parts of the Law. " Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and i'aith : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."* The behaviour of the publican is very different. " And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner." This humility is so beautifid and becoming in a frail and sinful creature like man, that it scarcely needs a remark by way of comment. He stood afar ofi' looking upon himself as unworthy to draw nigh unto God ; and, from a sense of the same unworthi- ness, " he would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven,'' but powerfully affected with penitence for sin, humility in himself, and devout adoration of God, " smote upon his breast ;" and humbly confessing that lie was a sinner, earnestly implores mercy, in those few and emphatic words — " God, be merciful to me a sinner." How different the deportment of the Pharisee, a learned doctor of the Law, bred from his birth in that * Matt, xxiii. 23. THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE. 279 holy and true religion which had been revealed to them by Jehovah, and sanctified by prophets and holy men, and which was, until the advent of Christ, for many ages, the only true religion and church upon earth ! This very circumstance, however, in- flated the pride instead of touching the hearts of that ungrateful people. The Pharisee, in the para- ble, instead of pouring forth a devout and grateful heart in thanksgiving for these great and unmerited blessings to that highly favoured nation, and pray- ing that the Almighty would not, as they had so long merited, withdraw his holy Spirit and di- vine protection from them ; — instead of thus pray- ing as a true Israelite, he vaunts his own petty and miserable acts of formal and hypocritical ob- servances of the Law, and uncharitably imputes every odious sin to his companion in the temple, while he claims to himself a total exemption from all sin. It does indeed become Christians to beware of this Pharisaical pride, which is but too frequent among them. Wheresoever it be found, it is un- speakably disgusting in the eyes of God and man. To mix such leaven with our devotions is the highest imaginable point of this presumptuous sin : for it is an insult to that God who is addressed. To abhor the sin of the Pharisee, and to imitate the meek de- portment of the publican, is a study for human na- ture, but above all for the Christian. " This man went down to his house justified rather than the other : for every one that exalteth himself shall be 280 THE PUBT.TCAN AND PHARISEE. abased ; and he that hurableth himself shall be ex- alted."* * *' I cannot refrain subjoining the following passage from the learned Kennicott's Dissertation on the oblations of Cain and Abel." p. 237. •' The New Testament gives us two remarkable characters, which, for their similitude to the two former, and the same con- trast in both, may be here properly subjoined; especially as they mutually illustrate each other — and these are the characters of the Pharisee and the Publican, as described by St. Luke. These two, it seems, went up into the temple together, as did Cain and Abel to their place of sacred assembly. The Pharisee — a man highly opinionated of his own righteousness, advances, like Cain, to offer up not a prayer, but a thanksgiving — he could not stoop to the low acknowledgment of sin ; but exalts his own charac- ter, by dwelling on the guilt and wretchedness of his compa- nion. While the publican, like Abel, with a pious penitence and a graceful humility, dwells upon his own unfitness to ap- proach the Deity ; and smiting upon his breast, utters this pow- erful petition — ' God be merciful to me a sinner !' Our Sa- viour's inference also is applicable to the case before us — " I tell you, that this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other;' that is, (when freed from the Hebrew idiom)— this man returned justified (or esteemed righteous) and not the other. For the words of Solomon are express — ' He that covereth his sins, shall not prosper ; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.' And let us also remember that stand- ing rule in the Divine economy, delivered by a greater than So- lomon— ' He that exalteth himself, shall be abased ; but he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.'" 281 CHAPTER VI. PARABLES FORETELLING THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, THE END OF THE JEWISH POLITY, AND THAT THE GOSPEL SHOULD BE PREACHED TO THE GENTILES. SECTION I. THE FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. " He spake also this parable : A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down : why cumbereth it the ground? And he, answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig aljout it, and dung it : and if it bear fruit, well : and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.'* The figures of the Vine and the Fig-tree, the most common products of oriental countries, are very frequently used by the inspired authors of the Scrip- * Luke xiii. 0 — 9. 282 FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. tures both of the Old and New Testament, and in metaphor and parable applied to the people of Judah. The prophet Isaiah reproves the ingratitude of the Jews, and sets it forth under the parable of the Vineyard, which, when the Lord "looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought forth wild grapes."* In the eightieth Psalm the same figure is beauti- fully applied to the people of God, which are repre- sented as " a vine brought forth out of Egypt, from whence the heathen were cast out, and planted there. It took deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river." But her hedges were broken down — her grapes were plucked off — and " the boar out of the wood did waste it, and the wild beasts of the field did devour it."f Our Lord adopted these figures into his parables. Of the vine and the vineyard we shall have occa- sion, in the subsequent sections of this and the next chapter, to expound several parables ; and that which will be the subject of the fourth section:}: of the present chapter, is similar in all its features, as we shall fully show, to the beautiful similitudes of * Isaiah v. 4. t Ps. Ixxx. 8—13. i " Eadem significatio quae vineae, Matth. xxi. 33. Nee aliud indicatum Christus voiuit cum ficum sterilem devoveret, Matth. xxi. 19- Vinetuni hic est genus humanum omne, in quo ficus populus Judaicus, Iteta fronde spem de se egregium praebens." Grotius, Oper. torn. ii. p. 41 i. FIllST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. 283 the Prophet and Psalmist which we have just no- ticed. That the fig-tree, equally with the vine, was the common produce of the East, is obvious to every attentive reader of the Old and New Testa- ment. They are, indeed, very frequently classed together in the exquisite descriptions of nature which are so frequent in the Hebrew Scriptures. That man's mind is not to be desired which does not feel the beauty of the following delightful pic- ture of Spring, exquisitely drawn by the pencil of the royal poet: — " Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land ; the fig- tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell."* " To dwell under one's own vine or fig-tree," re- presents, in Scriptural language, a time of happiness and prosperity, safety and security. f But to have these emblems of peace and pleasure rooted up and destroyed, was the sign of misery and desolation, and of the loss of the Divine favour. Hence the Psalmist prays, that God will " look down, behold, and visit his vine ; and the vineyard which his right liand had planted, and the branch that he made so strong for himself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down : they perish at the rebuke of thy counte- nance.":}: Of the fig-tree no less frequent mention is made * Cant. iii. 11—13. t 1 Kings iv. 25. t Ps. Ixxx. 11— 16. 284 FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. than of the vine in the Hebrew Scriptures. With fig-leaves our first parents made garments to cover their nakedness. The fertiUty of this tree, as re- marked by modern travellers, is almost incredible. It is related by one,* that in the islands of Archipe- lago, one of their fig-trees usually produces two hundred and four score pound weight of figs. This tree is rendered fruitful by a fat oily liquor with which it is impregnated ; and it becomes barren either through defect of this liquor, which, as in the parable, the husbandman cures l)y dung and sweet water, for which he "dugf about it," — or through abundance of the liquor, which is remedied by causing the superfluous liquor to exude. That the fruit of this tree is salutary in surgery, if not otherwise medicinal, we may learn from the order which the prophet gave, that a lump of figs should be applied to the boil of Hezekiah, who was instantly cured.| The cure, indeed, was so far miraculous that it was ordered by the prophet, and * M. Tournefort. See Cruden's Concordance on the word «' Figs." t " Hence the Talmudists — * They dung it and dig it,' &c. The gloss is, ' They lay dung in their gardens to moisten the earth ; they dig about the roots of their trees, they take off the leaves, they sprinkle ashes, and they smoke under the trees to kill worms.' Shevieth, fol. 35, 1." Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 441. fol. These circumstances show how familiar must have been the imagery of our Lord's parables, though every parable might not be, to the Jews ; and ihat their meaning could scarcely be mis- apprehended. X 2 Kings XX. 7. FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. 285 declared to be by the interposition of God. But that it was effected by second causes, is evident by the ai)i)Hcation, and was in consequence of the good king's ]n-ayer ; for without the will of God no medi- cal skill can preserve the life of man. When our prayers arc answered by the recovery of the sick, though the patient resorts to medical aid, we impute it to that general and particular Providence which watches over us, and without which, however insen- sil)le to it, neither the natural life, nor the moral well-l)eing of man could exist. The cure of Heze- kiah was of this nature ; and the only difference be- tween that and an ordinary case is, that the prophet declared that it should be so — the agent of Divine Providence was visible, which is now recognized only by faith, which is " the evidence of things not seen." Nor is this mode of cure even yet obsolete; for some physicians yet allow that figs are useful in ripening imposthumes, or boils, such as that with which king Hezekiah was afflicted. This fruitful tree, the produce of which was useful for so many purposes, was an apt emblem of the people of God, when they had not, by their incredu- lity and impenitence, merited the Divine wrath; as, on the other hand, the barrenness of such a tree was an appropriate indication of the impending male- diction of the Divine Being, who had so long pro- tected them, for their want of faith, and of those fruits of holiness which are the necessary produce of true faith. A parallel circumstance to the story of this parable is recorded to have actually occurred, during our 28() FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. Lord's ministry, as a warning to the Jews. Oji Mon- day in Passion Week, as he was returning from Bethany into the city, " he hungered. And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it. Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig-tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying. How soon is the fig-tree withered away. Jesus an- swered, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you. If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain. Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done." * * Matt. xxi. 18—21. Mark xi. 12—14. 20— 23- " All commentators are agreed in considering this miracle as typical of the destruction of the Jewish nation ; and they have endeavoured, in various ways, to reconcile the curse pronounced iipon the fig-tree with that expression in the parable, ' the time of figs was not yet.' But if we regard this fig-tree as a mere emblem, or type, we shall find a beautiful and perfect harmony throughout the whole. The religion of the Jews had now be- come merely external, it flourished only in appearance ; it pos- sessed the leaves, but not the fruits of holiness. The fig-tree, therefore, became the most apt representation of the state of the Jews at that time, and of their consequent destruction, or wi- thering away. Had it been the season of figs, and the fruit already gathered, the tree would not have been so appropriately the object of a curse, or so expressively a type of the Jewish nation. In this, as in many other instances, our Saviour pre- dicted the future by a significant action, or sign, before he judged it expedient to declare it publicly. The parable of the fruitless fig-tree (Luke xiii. 7.) bears the same signification." — Townsend's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 395. FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. 287 This event occurred at least a year subsequent to the delivery of the parable, when he was probably on " There is another miracle of our Saviour, which, when con- sidered in itself, as it stands in the letter of the history, is very difficult, and hath perplexed many commentators ; but is easily reconciled, if we take it in its undoubted signification. In the way to Jerusalem our Lord saw a fig-tree, which had nothing but leaves upon it, when he wished for fruit ; and he pronounced sentence upon it ; in consequence of which it soon withered away. Now a fig-tree is no object of a curse, unless it be for a sign or figure ; least of all could this fig-tree be so, because, as the iiistory adds, it was not yet the season of figs ; had it been so, they would have been gathered, in which case no fruit could have been expected, and then the tree had not been proper for tiie use ho intended to make of it, as a sign of the character and fate of the Jewish Church. He was returning in displeasure from Jerusalem, where he had observed the unprofitable state of the people, whose religion was now reduced to a form of words, with- out any good works ; as a fig-tree having leaves but no fruit : and from this example it was to be understood, that, as the fig- tree withered away, so should the fruitless Jerusalem perish. Its fate is elsewhere signified under the parable of a fruitless fig- tree, visited for three years (the term of our Lord's ministry among the Jews), and then, after another short trial, to be cut down as an incumbrance to the ground. The parable and the miracle are of the same interpretation. They have long been fulfilled upon the Jews ; but they are applicable at all times, in the moral of them, to those persons who bring forth no fruit under the means of Divine grace; whose end will he to wither away, and be cast out of the vineyard." — Jones of Nayland's Works, vol. iii. p. 206. The reader may consult Lightfoot on this miracle, who has a long and curious note concerning the several kinds of figs men- tioned in the Talmudisls. Like all other commentators, he considers this miracle as " an emblem of the punishment that was to be inflicted on the Jews for their spiritual barrenness and hypocrisy." — Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. 225 — 22S. fol. 288 FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. a tour,,and a few days prior to his own death. The supernatural powers here given to true believers are such as were miraculously imparted to the Apostles, and other inspired men, after the descent of the Holy Ghost. In the principle of faith being barren without works, and in the instruction conveyed by both,'^this miracle and the parable are not merely si- milar, but the same. Both prefigure the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish polity, for want of faith. As our Lord came to the fig-tree when " he hungered, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only ;" so, in the parable, — " A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard ; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none." And as Jesus cursed the fig-tree — " Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever ;" so the Lord of the vine- yard " said unto the dresser. Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?" As the fig-tree was commanded by the Lord of the vineyard to be " cut down," on account of its unfruitfulness ; so, Christ tells them, shall the Jews have the like sentence passed on them for their infi- delity and unfruitfulness — their want of faith in the Messiah, whom, by reason of their worldly minds, they rejected, and their consequent defect of the fruits of holiness. In their worldly eyes, the blessed Jesus " had no form nor comeliness ; and when they saw him, he had no beauty that they should desire him."* He came not in the habiliments of a king, * Isaiah liii. 2. FIRST PARABLE OV THE FIG-TREE. 289 nor mounted on the triumphant car of a conqueror, — though he was the greatest king and the most mighty conqueror that ever trod the earth. But he came, as had been predicted by their own prophets, — " lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass."* But although the prophecy was strictly fulfilled, and the joy of the daughter of Zion, and the shout of the daughters of Jerusalem rent the sky — " Hosanna to the son of David : Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord : Ho- sanna in the highest ;"f — still " he was despised and rejected" of the Jews ; — " they hid their faces, as it were, from him ; he was despised, and they esteemed him not."| Tlie Lord of the Vineyard had come three years seeking fruit on the fig-tree, but found none. This has been thought to allude to the three years which comprised the term of our Lord's ministry. But this, it has been contended, cannot be the meaning ; for the Jews were not only spared, but had favour shown them for nearly forty years. The Gospel was preached to them first ; and the time of God's long-suffering and patience with them lasted during the whole of the Apostles' preaching : and many myriads of the Jews were converted before the de- struction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the final downfall of their church and polity. § • Zech. ix. 10. Matt. xxi. 5. t Ver. 9. J Isaiah liii. 3. § This cannot refer, as has been supposed, to the three years of Christ's ministry ; lor the Jews were spared, and Iiad favour shown, and the Gospel preached to them, not one year, but nearly forty years, Acts i. 8. xiii. .'38, 4G, xxi. 20. Grotius and U 290 FIRST PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. The reasoning therefore is according to the na- ture of the tree. Some fig-trees, it was supposed, came not to maturity until the third year. Or, as others think, the fig-tree bore fruit at least within the term of three years after the time at which fruit might generally be expected. Thus it exemplified the patience of God.* The time was come when it should have borne fruit. The time was come when the Jews should have received their Divine Messiah, their King, and their promised Redeemer, with joy and shouting. But they rejected him with every possible mark and manifestation of ignominy and scorn. Yet was not the patience of God utterly ex- hausted, as it is finely set forth in the conclusion of the parable. For the dresser of the vineyard said unto his Lord : — " Let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it : and if it bear fruit, well : and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." Whitby. Valpy's Annot. vol. ii. p. 275. See also Macknight's Harmony, vol. i. Disc, vii, " of the Climate and Vegetables of Syria," concerning the nature of the fig-tree, p. 149, 150. * There was no tree, that was of a kind to bear fruit, might lightly and upon every small occasion be cut down, that law pro- viding against it in Deut. xx. 19, 20, where the Pesikla observes that there is both an affirmative, and also a negative command, by which it is the more forbidden that any tree of that kind should be cut down unless upon a very indispensable occasion. Rabh saith — Bava Kama, fol. 91. 1. — " Cut not down the palm that bears a cab of dates. They urge, And what of the olive, that that should not be cut down ? If it bear but the fourth part of a cab. R. Chaninah saith. My Shibcah had not died had he not cuf dowu a fig-tree before its time." Light foot's Works, vol. ii. p. 441 , fol. FIRST PAKABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. 291 The process of recovering fig-trees has ah-eadj been shown to be agreeable to the language of the parable. And the long-suffering of God, in respect of the Jews, is easily deducible, and has been an- ticipated in our remarks on the first branch of the parable. The Apostles preached throughout all Judea before the final excision of the Jews ; and having converted all that were not perversely hard- ened in unbelief, the great Fig-Tree, the Vine which Jehovah had brought from Egypt, and planted in the promised land of Canaan, was " cut down." The army of Titus besieged and took Jerusalem, after a siege accompanied by the most dreadful sufferings, and utterly destroyed the temple. Thus for the last time, and in a manner and to an extent wholly irre- coverable, the prophecies were fulfilled ; — the wrath of God was poured out upon the heads of that de- voted people, — and their goodly inheritance was vio- lently taken from them. " The wild man out of the wood did waste it, and the wild beast of the forest did devour it. Their country was desolate, thrir city was burned with fire ; their land, strangers de- voured it in their presence, and it was desolate, as overthrown by strangers."* SECTION IT. THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morn- • Ps. Ixxx. 13; Isaiah,''. 7. U 2 292 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. ing to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them ; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them. Why stand ye all the day idle ? They say unto him. Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them. Go ye also into the vineyard ; and what- soever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto the steward. Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, tliey supposed that they should have received more ; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, say- ing, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he an- swered one of them, and said, Fiiend, I do thee no wrong : didst not thou agree with me for a penny ? Take that thine is, and go thy way : I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good ? So the last THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. 293 sliall be first, and the first last : for many be called, l)iit few chosen."* Our Lord had been discoursing on the danger of riches, which had been suggested by the affecting incident of the rich young man who had, from his youth, kept all the commandments, but had felt an attacliment to the world, in consequence of his great possessions, which was inconsistent with the pure and heavenly doctrine of the Gospel. On this oc- casion St. Peter, who was always most zealous, boldly declared that they, the disciples, had forsaken all and followed Christ. In reward of such zeal and affection Jesus declares that they who have fol- lowed him now " in the regeneration," or new state of things, shall be the chief ministers in his king- dom, and preach that doctrine by which men shall be judged. And they that forsake their worldly possessions, and forego their earthly affections for his sake, shall be rewarded hereafter. But it is added, in prophetic allusion to the impending rejec- tion of the Jews, " many that are (now) first shall be last," — the great body of the Jewish people who rejected Jesus as the Messiah ; — and they that are now ** the last" — the Gentiles who would be con- verted to the Gospel — " shall be first." This truth he proceeds to illustrate in the fore- going parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. This paraljle was familiar to the Jews, and is yet extant in the writings of the Talmudists ; but the application is, it may be supposed, widely difllercnt * Matt. XX. 1—16. 294 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. from that of the parable of our Lord * This ap- plies, as we have already intimated, to the calling of the Gentiles who were last, and their election into the Christian church, and the promises of salvation and eternal happiness through the blood of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world ; and to the rejection of the Jews who had been the first — who had been the only true church upon earth, and the children of faithful Abraham, in whose seed the fa- milies of the earth were to be blessed, — from the kingdom of God, and of Christ, whom they had denied and rejected. By all expositors this has been the general inter- pretation of this fine parable. But they differ in the more minute exposition of the several parts of it. Whitby distinguishes the several parts of the parable into the several stages of Christ's ministry ; * You have such a Parable as this, but madly applied in the Talmud. We will produce it here for the sake of some phrases. (Hieros. Berec. fol. 5, 3.) " To what was R. Bon bar Chaija like? To a king who hired many labourers; among which there was one hired who performed his work extraordinary well. What did the king? He took him aside, and walked with him to and fro. O^iac yivoi/.evr]^. When even was come, these la- bourers came, \vu Xri<^cuvTcn tov /xiaSov avTwV) that they might receive their hire, and he gave him a complete hire with the rest. Kai jyoyyy^ov o\ spyuTui \syovTsg, And the labourers 7nurmured, say- ing. We have laboured hard all the day, and this man only tvco hours, yet he hath received as much xcugcs as we. The king saith to them, He huth laboured more in these two hours than you in the whole day. So R. Bon plied the law more in eight and twenty years than another in a hundred years." Lightfooi's Works, vol. ii. 221. See also vol. i. p. 249. folio. THE LABOUKEKS IN THE VINEYARD. 295 as, that the third hour was the first mission of the Apostles to preach to the Jews ; the sixth and ninth, their preaching to the Jews after the descent of the Holy Ghost ; the eleventh hour, the calling of the Gentiles, and their election into equal privileges and advantages with the Jews. Doddridge and others disapprove this interpretation as " an excessive nice- ty of distinction ;" and that as to the burden and heat of the day, the Jews might apply it to their various sufferings for many ages in adhering to the worship of the true God, rather than to any peculiar hardships which the earlier converts among the Jews might have endured more than the believing Gentiles, who had their share of hardships when they embraced Christianity.* It does not, however, appear quite cer- tain that Whitby confines the application of the bur- den and heat of the day solely to the converts of the Jews, but refers it likewise to the Jews generally ; and they complain, not because they had been sub- ject to any peculiar hardships to which the Gentiles were not equally exposed in their conversion to the Gospel, but because " they had been so long the sons of God, and the children of Abraham.'' f The Jew- ish converts, we know by St. Paul's Epistles and the * 1 Thess. ii. 14. See Doddridge's Expositor, vol. ii, p. 235. t Whitby makes the general application to the Jews in the first verse of the parable. " The kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard," (" as," says the pa- raphrase, " Christ went first to call the Jews to come into it.") He then proceeds to distinguish more minutely the various invi- tations by the Apostles. See his Paraphrase and Commentary, vol. i. p. 152. 4to. 296 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. Acts of the Apostles, retained much of the old leaven of Judaism, after their conversion to Christi- anity ; and as I conceive the parables to have been prophecies of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, the progress of the Gospel dispensation in the world, the present parable may have a particular reference to this temper of the Jewish converts, without ex- cluding its general reference to the effect of the preaching of Christ and the Apostles upon the whole people. With this view, however, of the scope and bearing of the whole, will the following exposition be made — adopting the ingenious paraphrase of Whitby as to the progress of the Gospel after the preaching of Christ and the Apostles, though prima- rily referring the application to the rejection of the whole nation of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. The householder is Christ, who first went to call the Jews into his vineyard. About the third hour he sent his Apostles, as we find recorded in the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, to preach in their villages and cities. To show that this first preaching by his Apostles was to be confined to the Jews, Jesus ex- pressly commands them — " Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not : But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."* About the sixth and ninth hours he again went out, by his Apostles, after the death of their Divine Master, who had sent the Holy Ghost, the Com- * Matt. X. 5, 6. THE I.ABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. 297 forter, upon them, by whose assistance they re- newed their preaching and suppHcations to ** the lost sheep of the house of Israel." In Judea, and to the Jews dispersed m the various countries of Asia, was the Gospel everywhere preached before they turned to the Gentiles. Few, however, of their countrymen attended to the affectionate appeals and warnings of the Apostles. They then turned to the Gentiles. But, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, they did not take this decisive step with- out due warning and authority from above. Peter was commanded by a Divine vision to go to Corne- lius, to whose household he preached, and the Holy Ghost fell on them, and they were " baptized in the name of the Lord."* St. Paul, moreover, who had been the most zealous persecutor of the Church, was miraculously converted f for the purpose of con- verting the Gentile world. He was at the same time a strong and awful warning to his own coun- trymen. This then was the " eleventh hour," at which Christ, by his Apostles, " went out and found others — that is, the Gentiles, — standing idle, and saith unto them. Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath liired us." The Gospel had not yet been preached to them. This was now done by St. Peter and St. Paul, and is thus intimated by the parable — " Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." * Acts X. + Ibid. ix. 298 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. *' So when even was come, the Lord of the vine- yard saith to the steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny." The Gentiles had equal privileges with the Jews, and possessed every advantage under the new dis- pensation, which they could have experienced, though they had been the children of Abraham, and the chosen people of God before the advent of Christ. The parable unquestionably applies to the whole nation of the Jews, who were rejected because they would not receive the Gentiles into the fellowship of faith with themselves, and, at once rejected the Messiah who did not confine himself exclusively to their nation. At the same time the opinions of the Jewish converts are admirably represented by the murmurs of the earlier labourers in the parable. And, as I conceive this parable to be a prophecy of the progress of the Gospel after the death of Christ, this double meaning is strictly agreeable to the con- struction of the prophetic writings. " When, therefore, the first — the Jews— came, they supposed that they should have received more, but they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house ;" because he had no more regard to them who had been so long the fa- vourites of heaven, than to the Gentiles, who had been outcast for ages, and had been abandoned to ido- Tin: LABOURERS IN THK VlNKVAUl). ^99 latry and wickedness, and who were now to be admit- ted into equal privileges with those who, in the lan- guage of the parable, " had borne the burden and heat of the day." Tlicse last, say they, have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and heat of the day." This language and this imagery are proper circumstances of the stoiy of tlie allegory or parable, and bear no necessary reference to any liardships or persecution endured by the Jews before Christ, or of the disciples after his advent, but refer to the duration of God s favour to the Jews before it was visibly extended to the Gentiles. Are these last, the Gentiles, — say the Jews in expostulation — who have come so late into the vineyard that the sun is now almost set, — are these to be admitted to equal privileges and blessings of the Divine favour with us, who have been so long the Sons of God, as the children of Abraham, — who have toiled in the vineyard " from sun-rising to the appearing of the stars," and have thus " borne the burden and heat of the day ;" while these have come to their work when the sun is declining below the horizon ?* " But — continues the parable — he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong ; didst thou not agree with me for a penny ? Take that thine is, and go thy way : I will give unto this last even as unto thee." Thou, says the Lord to the discontented Jew, art no less a partaker of the * The time of working among the Hebrews was from sun- rising to tlic appearing of the stars, and not from break of diy. See Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 221. 300 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. blessings of the kingdom of the Messiah which, by the predictions of your own prophets, are promised to all nations, because the Gentiles are admitted with you into His kingdom. " Is it not lawful," asks the Lord of the vineyard, *' to do what I will with mine own ?" — Shall I not confer the promised blessings of Messiah's kingdom, the inheritance purchased by his blood, upon the Gentiles, as well as ujion thee, O Jew ? — " Is thine eye evil, because I am good* towards these new, but zealous and faithful . servants ? Your baseness and ingratitude in thus reproaching your heavenly Father, and reviling his Son, your Lord and Re- deemer, are so wicked and deserving of punishment, * Ayafloj, here rendered " good," frequently in the New Testa- ment signifies bountiful or liberal ; as works of mercy, Acts ix. 36. — doing good. Matt. xii. 12. and other passages. In this passage it obviously means liberal. Charity rests the equality of the several payments on the liberality of God. It is supposed by some that the later labourers were more diligent^ and on that account deserved more than the first. Hammond endea- vours to establish this idea by the parable cited from the Gemara, and given from Lightfoot in a preceding note. That our Lord had his eye on that parable is very probable ; but he applies it, like other Jewish parables, of which he made use, very differently. Le Clerc, however, observes, that as the Jew- ish writers came after Christ, they more probably drew their parables from the Gospels. But to this it has been justly re- plied, that it is not probable, considering the hatred which the Jews bore to Christ, that they should imitate his parables. But as he condescended to use their proverbs, and took part, it is said, of the Lord's prayer from their forms ; it is more likely that he might apply some of their parables to the spiritual matters of his kingdom. See Hammond, Whitby, and Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 324. THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. 301 that I will reject thee as a people, and receive the Gentiles — " the last shall be first, and the first last." The Gentiles, who believe in, and thankfully re- ceive Christ, shall become his Church and people ; while the ungrateful Jews, who murmur and fall off from Christ because he extends his love and mercy to the Gentiles, shall be excluded and cast out from his kingdom till the last : for though " many" of the Jews " be called,'' by the preaching of the Gospel which was first offered to them, " few of them will be " chosen,"* or prevailed upon, by faith in * The expression here used is supposed to refer to the man- ner in vvhicli the Romans selected men for recruiting their ar- mies. Tlie honour of being chosen to serve their country in a military capacity, was esteemed the reward of superiority. The consuls summoned to the Capitol, or the Campus Martius, all citizens capable of bearing arms, from the age of seventeen to forty-five. They drew up by tribes, and lots were drawn to de- termine in what order every tribe should present its soldiers. That which was the first order, chose the four citizens who were judged the most proper to serve in the war; and the six tri- bunes who commanded the first legion, selected one of these four, whom they liked best. The tribunes of the second and third legions likewise made their choice one after another ; and he that remained entered into the fourth legion. A new tribe presented other four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. The third and fourth legions had the same advantage in their turns. In this manner each tribe successively appointed four soldiers, till the legions were complete. They next proceeded to the creation of subaltern oflScers, whom the tribunes chose ' from among the soldiers of the greatest reputation. When the legions were thus completed, the citizens who had been called, but not chosen, returned to their respective employments, and served their country in other capacities. — See Clarke's Com- ment, in loc Townsend's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. J!70. 2d Edit. 302 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, to become the elect of God. This interpretation of a passage unquestionably difficult is however strongly confirmed by St. Paul. In the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the Ro- mans, the object of which is to show that God casts off such only of Israel as rejected the Gospel, the Apostle asks — " Hath God cast away his people ? — meaning his people of Israel — God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew."* But, the Apostle argues, as God reserved to himself, in the time of Elias, those who had not committed the sin of ido- latry for which he judicially punished so many ; — - " Even so then at this present time there is a rem- nant according to the election of grace,!" of those who by faith have received Christ. " Many," indeed, were " the called," K\r\Toi,X " but few " were " the elect," t/cXEKrot. But the Apostle tells us that at the time of his ministry there was " a remnant according to the election of grace" — the few who, hke the Gentiles, voluntarily and gladly believed in Christ, and were therefore the elect or chosen " according to the election of grace." " The called," in this passage, are those who, in another very striking parable, which ends with the * Rom. xi. 1, 2. t lb. ver, 5. X .See Hammond and Whitby on the word xX))to» in this and other passages of the New Testament. Hammond's Works, vol. iii. p. 9!). fol. Whitby's Comm. vol. i. p. 154. 4to. THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. 303 same words as this, were called or invited by Christ and his Apostles to the marriage feast, or supper, of the Gospel, which, with all its inestimable benefits and privileges, was freely offered to them, but was rejected, by some with scorn and circumstances of cruelty, and by others with indifference and contempt. These were " the many" among the Jews : and we need but read the history of our Lord's life and mi- nistry in the Gospels to perceive that they formed the great mass of the Jewish people ; and that there was left, as the Apostle expresses it, but " a remnant according to the election of grace." These were the " few," who are styled " chosen or elect" in this parable. The believing Jews, scattered through the different provinces of Asia, to whom St. Peter addresses his first epistle — which by the most sceptical critics is acknowledged to be genuine — are in like manner, and a like sense, styled by that Apostle, " elect according to the foreknoAvledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."* In the same epistle these few and scat- tered believers are designated " a chosen or elect generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.'^ The meaning of these words, " called, and chosen or elect," can hardly be misunderstood by such as follow the scriptures unreservedly as their guide, — and who interpret scripture by itself, by the connec- tion and consistency of the whole scheme of redemp- * 1 Pet. i. 2. t lb. ii. 9. 304 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. tion, and by the sameness and analogy of particular terms. The import of the foregoing parable seems to be this : — The Jews who were first called to be God's people, to whom the Gospel was first preached, and to whom the blessings and privileges of Messiah's kingdom were first offered, shall, for their unbelief, be rejected from God's favour ; and instead of being the first, they shall now be the last in his esteem, and shall be the last who shall be admitted into the kingdom of our Lord. If the ingenious distinction made by Whitby, and partly followed in the foregoing exposition, be al- lowed, still that is past, and is as a fulfilled prophecy. If any Jews are now converted to Christianity, they will certainly not claim any precedence from priority of God's grace, from which they have long been out- cast ; nor are they likely to claim any pre-eminence from having been for so long a space of time God's pe- culiar people to the exclusion of all other nations ; for their very conversion to the religion of Jesus, as it cuts off all claim to priority, will effectually exclude all title to pre-eminence on account of what they had been before Christ, from the conviction that since his coming they have Ijeen suffering under the ju- dicial penalty of their national infidelity. The ap- plication therefore of this part of the parable is to the whole Jewish people who yet stand out from the church of Christ. But the Gentiles, who were not called until the kingdom of Christ had been rejected by the Jews, who had been the people of God, the first though THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. 305 now the last in his esteem, — the Gentiles will accept the gracious offer of Christ, and will thus become God's people and God's Church, will be preferred before the Jews, and will be the first instead of the last, who will be permitted to partake of the bless- ings of the Gospel. " So the last shall be first, and the first last." The Jews, who gloried in the title of being the firstborn of God, and had served him so long, and murmured that the Gentiles were admitted to the same privileges and favour with themselves — these will be rejected, and put last, because they re- jected the Gospel. And though " the many" of them are " called," from the time of Christ and his Apostles to this day, in Judea and throughout all their dispersions, " few are chosen," because few, but "a remnant," have believed in Christ. Few then, and fewer now, answer that call, and embrace the Christian faith. They will therefore unques- tionably be the last who will be admitted into the kingdom of God and his Christ. When the conversion of this most unhappy and deluded people, who have lived an apostate people so many ages since the promulgation of the glad tidings of the Gospel, will take place, it is impossible to know. The wisdom of God, which, for wise pur- poses to us unknown, hath hung a veil over the hearts of this extraordinary people, may, and probably will, suddenly remove it, that " we without them should not be made perfect."* The numerous societies, which have been at dif- * Heb. xi. 40. X 306 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. ferent times formed for the conversion of the Jews, have never made any progress which is sufficiently considerable to attract the attention of sober Chris- tians, nor even of the Jews themselves. Much de- ceit and imposture have been carried on, it is to be feared, under this scheme of conversion ; and, as in all such cases, the good and unsuspicious have been the victims of the worldly-minded, and of the too great fervour of their own excited feelings. But all our efforts will not bring on the Providence of God in these great matters. We shall much sooner ar- rive at these desired ends by every man taking heed to himself, and strictly and conscientiously perform- ing his duty in his own sphere, or, as it is admirably expressed in the simple but forcible language of our Church Catechism, by " doing his duty in that state of life unto which it hath pleased God to call him." That this parable does not relate to the rewards of another world, is evident from this consideration — that though men may murmur here, and as at the propagation of the Gospel, we learn from the evange- lists, murmurs of envy and every bad passion were expressed by the Jews towards Christ and his disci- ples ; yet at the great and awful day of judgment there can be no murmurs against God. In what- soever manner that mighty scene will be conduct- ed ; whether, as is probable, the whole business of that dreadful day will pass before us in an instant, and in our bodies and souls we shall all pass to our final habitations ; or M'hether it will be conducted in the manner literally described in holy writ, one thing is certain — at that day no lip will move, but THE LABOURKItS IN THE VINEYARD. 30? our consciences * will at once inform us, for they are our debt-books, whether we shall be happy or mi- serable. Much dangerous doctrine has been founded on the terms, " calling and election," and " called and elect, or chosen," as used in this paralilc, and in other parts of Scripture. The controversy respecting the free- dom of the human will — whether our actions are * Rev. XX. 12. — " Our consciences," says Jeremy Taylor in his awful and eloquent Sermons on Christ's advent to Judg- ment, " shall be our accuser : which signifies these two things: 1. That we shall be condemned for the evils that we have done, and shall then remember ; God by his power wiping away the dust from the tables of our memory, and taking off the consideration and the voluntary neglect and rude shufflings of our cases of conscience, — 2. It signifies this also : that not only the justice of God shall be confessed by us in our own shame and condemnation, but the evil of the sentence shall be received into us, to melt our bowels and to break our hearts in pieces within us, because we are the authors of our own death, and our own inhuman hands have torn our souls in pieces." — " At the last judgment the soul shall see clearly all the records of this world, all the register of her own memory : for all that we did in this life is laid up in our memories ; and though dust and forgetfulness be drawn upon them, yet when God shall lift us from our dust, then shall appear clearly all that we have done, ivrillen in the tables of our conscience, ic/iic/i is the soul's memory." Works by Heber, vol. v. p. 30. vol. vi. p. 4G9. A living Author thinks it " even probable that all thoughts are in thcmschcs imperishable ; and that if the intelligent faculty should be rendered more comprehensive, it would re- quire only a different and apportioned organization, the body celestial instead of the body terrestrial, to bring before every human soul the colleclive experience of its whole existence. uind litis, this jerchance is the dread book of judgment, in whose mysterious hieroglyphics every idle word is regis- 308 THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD. governed by our own free choice, or by fate and in- evitable necessity — was among the first, and will probably remain among the last difficulties and mys- teries which will perplex the minds of speculative men. From this controversy, however, the New Testament is totally exempt. Our destiny is there placed in our own keeping. With the grace of God assisting all our good thoughts and designs, we may as freely choose life or death, as the Israelites to whom Moses proposed that choice. * But early converts from the schools of philosophy of ancient Greece introduced this controversy into the Christian Religion. The doctrine of decrees, tered ! Yea, in the very nature of a living spirit, it may be more possible that heaven and earth should pass away, than that a single act, a single thought should be loosened or lost from that living chain of causes, to all whose links, conscious or un- conscious, the free will, our only absolute self, is co-extensive and co-present." Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, vol. i. p. 115. The author of this work scruples not to profess his entire be- lief in the substance of this fine passage — not because he derived it from Mr. Coleridge, or any other author, ancient or modern, — but because it has been the conviction of his mind, and, so far as the memory is respected, confirmed by his own mental expe- rience, long before he ever met with the thought in any books. In a moral point of view this belief is not only awful but salu- tary ; while it kindles the love, and sanctifies the pursuit of real knowledge. * " Two principal fountains there are of human action, know- ledge and will ; which will, in things tending towards any end, is termed choice. Concerning knowledge ; ' Behold,' saith Moses, * I have set before you this day good and evil, life and death.' (Deut, XXX, 19.) Concerning will he addeth immediately, * Choose life ;' that is to say, the things that tend unto life, them choose." Hooker's Eccl. Pol. b. 1. Works, Oxf. ed. vol. i. p. 220. THE LABOUKEKS IN THE VINEYARD. 309 which was made into a system by Calvin at the Reformation, is now received by many respectable bodies of Christians in Europe. It has even been charged upon our church, that our seventeenth Article of religion contains the same doctrine. That article adheres to the language of Scripture. But though a Calvinist may be a very good churchman, — and it was perhaps the object of those wise and venerable men who compiled the articles to conciliate all par- ties,—no sound Church-of-England man allows that the doctrine of decrees, according to Calvin, is a part of our faith. Indeed that article was composed in opposition to the doctrine of merit of the Romish Church, and before Calvin, who was a learned and venerable man, stood very forward in the ranks of the Reformers. * Such is not the doctrine of the Church, nor of the Evangelists and St. Paul. The doctrine of election in Scripture seldom or never refers directly to a fu- ture state. It more commonly means the election into the Church of the Gentiles, and of " a remnant" of the Jews, of whom " the many were called " at the first preaching of the Gospel, but, by reason of unbelief, " few were chosen." * See Bishop Lawrence's inestimable Bampton Lectures — especially the notes, where this fact is clearly shown— which l»ave been already referred to in the notes to this work. 310 SECTION III. THE TWO SONS. " A CERTAIN man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not : but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, Sir : and went not. Whether of these twain did the will of his father ? They say unto him. The first. Jesus saith unto them. Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not : but the publicans and harlots believed him : and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterwards, that ye might believe him."* The purpose of this parable was obviously the re- proof of tlie hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and of their obstinate rejection of the doctrine of John the Bap- tist. John was the forerunner of Jesus ; and their rejection of their Messiah was the natural conse- quence of their rejection of his appointed messenger. Nor did they, like the first son in the parable, " when they had seen " the Messiah, " repent after- ward, that they might believe him." By the first of these sons we are to understand the PubHcans ; by the second, the Scribes and Phari- * Matt. xxi. 28—;j2. thp: two sons. 311 sees.* At tlie end of tlie parable our Lord himself so interprets it. Addressing the Scribes and Phari- sees who liad been tempting him, he concludes — *' Verily I say unto you, — whom I now address — that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." By the first son likewise may be understood the Gentiles, and by the second the Jews ; for publicans were always ranked by the Jews among heathens ; and the heathens were represented by the Jews like- wise as TTopvai, harlots, and born of harlots. When Christ came among the publicans and har- lots, or they sought him, he always found them more ready to believe in him than the Jews, especially the Scribes and Pharisees. He declared on one occasion, when he healed the centurion's servant, that " He had not found so great faitli, no, not in Israel ;" and added, " That many should come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraliam, and Isaac, and Jacolj in the kingdom of Heaven."f — And in the case of the Syrophoenician woman, upon the expres- sion of her humble and undoubting faith, " he said unto her, For this thy saying, go thy way ; the devil is gone out of thy daughter."; Many other similar cases might be selected and * The answer of the secontl son — " I go, Sir," — was a proper emblem of the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees; who atl- dressed God under the most honourable titles, and professed the greatest readiness and zeal in his service, while their whole lives were a series of disobedience and rebellion. Poddridge's Ex- positor, vol. ii. p. 3\5. t Matt. viii. in, 11. :|: Mark vii. ^9. 312 THE VINEYARD. adduced. The meaning therefore of the parable is — That the Jews, who called themselves the sons of God, and the Scribes and Pharisees, who affected so much religion as not only to judge themselves secure of the kingdom of God, but to be the guides of others in the way of life, were more alien from the kingdom of God, as taught by our Lord and his forerunner John the Baptist, than the publicans and harlots whom they despised, and the whole Gentile world, who were by the Jews considered as publicans and harlots, and as such doomed to certain destruction.* SECTION IV. THE VINEYARD. " There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country : and * See Whitby's Commentary, vol. i. p. 161, 162. " And in this interpretation," says Whitby, " I have the suffrage of Origen upon the place, (Apud Huet. torn, i, p. 456,) who saith, ' In my judgment the parable contains tov Ttspi tov aTrsiQrjo-avTog JcrparjX tm 05a; Aoyov, xai tov TTspi tou TrjfsuovTOj Xctov utto twv eQvcov, a discourse of the infidelity of Israel, and of the belief of the Gentiles.' Of the same opinion are Theophilus Antio- chenus, Haliog. can. 22. in Matth. St. Jerome, ' Opus imper- fectum,' Chrysostom, and Theophylact." Additions to the above, No. 34. ibid. p. 667. THE VINEYARD. 313 when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to tlie husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first : and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying. They will reverence my son. But when the hus- bandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir ; come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen ? They say unto him. He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner : tiiis is the Lord's doing, and it is mar- vellous in our eyes ? Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever siiall fall on this stone shall be broken : but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."* It is the object of the several parables which are collected together in this Chapter, and of others which bear too close a resemblance to require a par- * Malt. xxi. 3.3— 4 i. Mark xii. 1-11. Luke xx. 9—19. 314- THE VINEYARD. ticular exposition,* to warn the Jews, especially the chief priests and Pharisees to whom, as in this para- ble, our Lord particularly addressed himself, that the Church, which had been confined to the descend- ants of Abraham in the line of Jacob or Israel, as the chosen seed, would be now thrown open to the Gentiles, all the nations of the earth — all who be- lieved in Jesus as the Messiah, and accepted the glad tidings of the Gospel ; and that the Jews, the largest portion of whom denied their Messiah and rejected his Gospel, should be " cast out into outer darkness ;" and that " the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."! Although, however, there is a general resemblance and a sameness of purpose in several of these para- bles—such as that of the labourers hired into the vineyard at different hours of the day,:}: — the mar- riage of the king's son,§ and the present parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen, there are pe- culiar features characteristic of each parable, which make them well worthy of separate expositions. Had there not been these peculiar differences, the Holy Spirit would not have directed the Evangelists to record them. ^Ve are told by St. John that a very small portion of" the things which Jesus did" is * Such as The Great Supper, Luke xiv. 10, which, though spoken on a different occasion, is the same in substance as the Marriage Feast, which is examined in the next and last Section of this Chapter. t Matt. xxi. 43. X See Section II. of this Chapter. § See the next Section. THE VI NK YARD. 315 recorded—" the which," he says, " if they sliould be written every one, I bcHeve that even the world it- self could not contain the books that should be written.''* Such things, therefore, are recorded as will effectually show forth the full intent of the Gos- pel of Christ, the truth of his Divine mission, and the power and Divinity of liis person. Of tlie things tliat he said, the present parable is one of the most important prophecies that he uttered, which was fulfilled in his own death, and in the subsequent re- jection of the Jews. This parable was very familiar to the Jews ; and the evidence of this fact rests, as we shall show, upon a foundation infinitely more certain than their tradi- tions now collected in their Rabbinical writings. It is the most frequent allegory of the prophetic wri- tings, and is used always for the purpose of prefiguring the future state of Judah. Indeed the figures of the vine and the vineyard are the usual allegorical desig- nations given Ijy the inspired authors of the Hebrew Scriptures to the chosen people, f In the eightietli Psalrn, as we have already noticed in this work, the prosperity and subsequent destruction and desolation of the Hebrew Church are represented by the image of a vine in the most exquisite and pathetic strains * John xxi. 2'). + Vineae similitiulinem veteribus proplielis usitatani in sen- sum paulo alium inflexit, ut conimodius reclderet avxaTro'Soor,/ (id ([iiod in comparatione respondet.) Nam apud illos vinta populo Hcbra,'0 respondet: hie aiUeni notitiac legis et donis Spiritus Sancti, quae mox vocantur lirgnion Ccclonan. Grotius, Oper. to\n. ii. p. 108. rolio. 316 THE VINEYARD. of divine poesy. In the Canticles, or Song of Solo- mon,* the calling of the Gentiles is briefly expressed by the figure of a vineyard of Solomon which " he let out unto keepers ; and every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver." The prophet Jeremiah, in reproving Judah for her sins, uses the same figure. " I had planted thee,' says Jehovah, " a noble vine, wholly a right seed : how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me ?" f But in the book of the prophet Isaiah, ; we have the Church so exactly represented by a vineyard, as in this parable of our Lord, that there can be no doubt that he took it from that truly evangelical prophet, and applied it to the then situation of the Hebrew nation, which was on the eve of its final desolation in consequence of their rejection of their promised Messiah. The parable therefore will not be fully intelligible unless the original from Isaiah be likewise examined, which will be done after the exposition of this of our Lord. The comparison of the two will demonstrate the divi- nity of Jesus — and that he was the Jehovah of the Old Testament; which is farther evident from the present state of the Jews, who are not only a living monument of the truth of Christianity, but of the DIVINITY of Christ. In this parable of the vineyard, § therefore, our * c. viii. 11. t Jer. ii, 21. ;}; ch. v. 1 — 7. § This parable, we may observe, consists of two parts. The former of which is contained in Luke xix. 12, 14, 15, to 27, and relates to the rebellious subjects of this prince, who " went into a far country to receive a kingdom ;" the latter is included in THE VINEYARD. 317 Lord did but speak to tlie Jews in the language of a prophet, and by the known allegory of other prece- tlie 13th, 15tli, and so on to the 27th verse, and relates to this prince's servants, to whom he had committed his money for them to improve in his absence ; and the exphcation of the whole is generally supposed to be this : — The nobleman or prince here is our Lord himself, the eternal Son of God ; his going into a far country to receive a kingdom, is his ascension into heaven, to sit down at the right hand of the Divine Majesty, and take pos- session of his mediatorial kingdom ; his servants may be either his apostles and disciples, who, upon his return, were to give an account of the progress of his Gospel ; or Christians in general, who, for every talent, whether natural or acquired, are account- able. His citizens are, questionless, the Jews, who not only re- jected him with scorn, but put him to an ignominious death; and his return, is the day of his fierce wrath and vengeance upon the Jewish nation, which came upon them about forty years after this time, and was indeed so very terrible as to be a kind of emblem and representation of that great day of account, when he will render " to every one according to his works." It is ob- served, however, by some commentators farther, that our Lord took the rise of this parable from the custom of the kings of Judea (such as Herod the Great, and Archelaus his son), who usually went to Rome to receive their kingdom from Caesar, without wiiose permission and appointment they durst not take the government into their hands. In the case of Archelaus in- deed, the resemblance is so great, that almost every circumstance of the parable concurs in him. He was this ewyevrjj, or man of great parentage, as being the son of Herod the Great. He was obliged to go into a far country, i. e. to Rome, to receive his kingdom of the Emperor Augustus. - The Jews, who hated him because of his cruel and tyrannical reign, sent their messengers after him, desiring to be freed from the yoke of kings, and reduced to a province of Rome. Their complaint, however, was not heard: he was confirmed in the kingdom of Judea; and, when he returned home, tyrannized for ten years over those that would have shook ofl'his dominion. But then there is this re- 318 THE VINEYARD. ding prophets, but with such additional circum- stances and predictions as the state of the Church demanded. In addition to the well-known figures of the vineyard and the wine-press, mentioned by Isaiah, and which we shall presently examine and compare, and which, as in the Song of Solomon, w^as *' let out unto keepers or husbandmen," he sets before them their treatment of the servants aud prophets of God. " And when the time of the fruit drew near, he — the householder, who is God the Father — sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his ser- vants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another." * t For the explanation of this part of the parable we must consult the sacred historians of the Old Testa- ment, by whom the prophets are always called " the markable difference between his case and that in the parable, that the Jews, upon their second complaint to Caesar, prevailed against him, and procured his banishment to Vienna. Calmet's Commentary, and Beausobre's and Whitby's Annotations. Stackhouse's Hist, of the Bible. New Edition, 4to. vol. iii. p. 211. * Verses Si, 35. t There seems to be an allusion to the punishment and man- ner of death in the council. 1. E5H»^av, which properly signifies the fleaing off of the skin, is not amiss rendered by interpreters * beat;' and the word seems to relate to w'hipping, where forty stripes save one did miserably flea off the skin of the poor man. 2. ATTcKTfivav (' killed') signifies a death by the sword, as Jin doth in the Sanhedrim. " Four kinds of death are delivered to the Sanhedrim, stoning, burning, killing nn, and strangling." Sanhedr, c. 7. hal. 1. Liglitfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 228. fol. THE VlXEYAlin. 319 servants of God." Tliat their usage was exactly that which is charged upon the husbandmen in the parable, must be very evident to the most superficial reader of his Bible. In the twenty-fourth chapter of the second book of Chronicles * we read of a transac- tion of this nature. Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, by the Spirit of God admonished the peo- ple of Judah, who had " transgressed the command- ments of the Lord, that they could not prosper." He was " stoned at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord." Tliis was an act of the grossest iniquity towards God, and of cruelty and I)ase ingratitude towards the prophet's family : for his father Jehoiada had been the most faithful servant of king Joash. It is therefore added that " the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son." That son too was the servant and prophet of God, and was put to death for the discharge of his duty, which was by the express command of the Spirit of God. Such were the acts of atrocious wickedness and impiety which drew the judgments of God in wars, and captivities by foreign powers, whom the Divine Providence raised up as tiieir scourges, many centu- ries prior to the advent of Christ. It is therefore recorded against them, previous to their great Capti- vity at Babylon in the reign of Zedekiah, that " the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his mes- sengers, rising up betimes, (^that is, as rendered in the margin, " continually and carefully," ) and send- * Verses 20—22. 320 THE VINEYARD. ing ; because he liad compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place : but they mocked the messen- gers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy."* Ne- hemiah, on his coming to Jerusalem for the comple- tion of the wall and the rebuilding of the temple and city, repeats the same charge upon this impious and ungrateful people. " They were disobedient and rebelled against God, and slew his prophets which testified against them to turn them to God, and they wrought great provocations." Nor shall we find the cruel temper of this wicked people at all changed when we turn to the pages of the New Testament. The prophets and holy men of God, who testified their zeal as his true servants, were beaten, and stoned, and killed, as mentioned in the parable. At the death of St. Stephen, the Pro- tomartyr of the Christian faith, who was stoned to death, for testifying against the perverseness of his countrymen, and setting forth the mercy of God in preparing the way for Messiah or Christ, that Saint concludes his sermon in these striking words : — " Which of the prophets have not your fathers per- secuted ? And they have slain them wliich showed before of the coming of thn Just One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers : who received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it."| St. Paul reproaches them with the same spirit of persecution, which was exercised * 2 Cliron. xxxvii. 15, 16. f Nehem. ix. 26. See also 2 Kings x\i. 10, 16. Jer. xliv. 4. X Acts vii. 52, 53. THE VIXEYAUD. 321 against himself and other prophets of the New Tes- tament. " They both killed the Lord Jesus,"— he tells the Thessalonians, — " and their own prophets* and have persecuted us."* And in his Epistle to the Hebrews he thus recounts, in a very pathetic style, the sufferings of the Hebrew prophets : — " Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings ; yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment : they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheep- skins and goat-skins ; being destitute, afflicted, tor- mented ; (of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."f Such is the account given by inspired men, of the cruel and bloodthirsty spirit of persecution which animated this perverse and faithless, yet once highly favoured people ; " until," as the sacred historian affirms, " the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy." For though " again he sent other servants more than the first ; they did unto them likewise.''^ — But, to complete their destruction, they acted in the same cruel man- ner to the son of the householder, as they had done to his servants. For, continues the parable, — " Last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the hus- bandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him,^ and let us * 1 Thess. ii. 15. t Heb. xi. 3G— 38. t Matt. xxi. 3G. § These are the exact words uscil by llie brothers of Joseph, Y 322 THE VINKYARD. seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him."* The son of the householder, wlio is God the Father, is manifestly the Messiah, whom the Jews, at the instigation of the chief priests and Pharisees, the husbandmen f intended by the parable, cruelly killed. It was the more strikingly applicable to these worldly priests and hypocritical Pharisees, because they were not ignorant, as Christ told them, who and whence he was.:}: It was this know- Gen, xxxvii. 20. Ajuts aTroxTfivw/x-ev auTOV' LXX. Compare Matt. xxi. 38. in the original. Joseph was a distinguished type of Christ. * Verses 37—39. t " The husbandmen, to whom this Vineyard was let out, were the priests and Levites, doctors and rulers of that church and peo- ple, who are here represented, not only as wanting in their duty, which was to make this vineyard fruitful, and to prepare it to receive his prophets and messengers with due reverence, and especially to receive his Son and their Messiah with faith, reve- rence, and obedience ; but consulted with, and spurred on the people to offer the most vile affronts unto them, and even to destroy his Son and their Saviour ; for though Christ spake this parable to the people, Luke xx. 9. the Priests and Pharisees per- ceived that ' he spake of them/ ver. 45. When, therefore, it is here said, ' They will reverence my son,* ver. 27. these words, as Theophylact notes, Christ spake, not being ignorant what really they would do, but showing what was fitting to be done ; and therefore, Luke xx. 13. the phrase is varied thus, js-wj, ' perhaps they will reverence my son when they see him.' " Whitby in loc. X John vii. 28. In the preceding verses, the 26th and 27tb, the people, who were awe-stricken by his wonderful works, rea- soned thus as to whether he was the Messiah or not: — " Do the rulers know, indeed, that this is the very Christ ? Hovvbeit we know this man, whence he is ? but when Christ Cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." — There is some obscu- THE VINEYARD. 323 ledge of his Divine mission at least, though they might not, and probably did not, know how pecu- rity in this text, vvhicli, however, Lightfoot completely clears away by the following statement of the Jews' notions respecting the Messiah, — " They conceive a two-fold manifestation of the Messiah, the first in Bethlehem, but will straightway disappear and lie hid. At length he will show himself, but from what place, and at what time that will be, no one knew. In his first appearance at Bethlehem he should do nothing that was memora- ble ; in the second was the hope and expectation of the nation. These Jews, therefore, who tell our Saviour here, that *' when Christ Cometh no man knoweth whence he is," whether they knew him to have been born at Bethlehem or no, yet by his won- derful works they conceive this to have been the second mani- festation of himself; and therefore only doubt whether he should be the Messiah or no, because they knew the place (Nazareth) from whence he came ; having been taught by tradition that Messiah should come the second time from a place perfectly un- known to all men." Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 558. fol. These seem to have been " the murmurings" of the common peo- ple, as they are called at verse 32, which after Christ's remarka- ble answer alarmed the Pharisees. For the Evangelist tells us that immediately " Jesus cried in the temple" (txpu^sv, cried with a loud voice, so tliat the Pharisees might hear, and in a sense different from the tradition, and evidently addressed to the learned doctors) — saying, " Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am :" and, he adds, " I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not." lie tells them that they know, and knowingly reject him; but they knew not God in a moral sense, or they would not so wickedly and faithlessly reject their Messiah. The people, we find, are struck with this answer, and " many believed on liini, and said, When Christ Cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done ?" But *' when the Pharisees heard that they mur- mured such things concerning him, the Pharisees and chief priests sent oflicers to take him," This evinces their compre- hension of his reply, and that they were conscience-stricken, Y 2 324 THE VINEYARD. liarly he was the Son of God, which caused that awful denunciation of our blessed Lord respecting the sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost ; because, though they knew him to be Messiah, they declared that he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. The Pharisees and the chief priests, who thus blasphemed the Holy Spirit, by whose power Christ in his human nature and prophetical office wrought his miracles, were perfectly aware that he cast out devils by the finger, or the Spirit of God. Hence that appalling species of blasphemy was pronounced unpardonable. The parable was exactly fulfilled ; for " when the husbandmen saw the son," they knew who and whence he was ; they knew that he was the Christ and Messiah ; and actuated by the same vile mo- and therefore desired to put him away. Verses 28 — 32. — In John xi. 48, there is a yet stronger proof that the Pharisees knew who Christ was. After the resurrection of Lazarus, the chief priests and Pharisees held a council, and expressed their alarm at the progress of Christ by his " many miracles." " If," say they, " we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him ; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." On this occasion the high priest Caiaphas declared, " that it was expedient for them that one man should die for the people.'' Ver. 49. If this verse (48) of St. John, and the verse of the parable under consideration, be compared together, it is the opi- nion of Lightfoot, and an opinion which few will feel disposed to controvert, that they " seem to hint that the rulers of the Jews acknowledged among themselves that Christ was the Messias ; but being strangely transported beside their senses, they put him to death ; lest bringing in another worship and another people, he should either destroy or suppress their worship and them- selves."— Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 229, fol. THE VINEYARD. 325 tives as the murderers in the parable, " they said among themselves, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance." The prophecies respecting the Messiah, of which the chief priests could not be and were not ignorant, did not permit them to doubt who Jesus was ; for none could perform such miracles, and none spoke with such authority as this extraordinary person- age. That he was no impostor was self-evident ; for their most learned doctors, whom at twelve years old he had confounded by his wisdom, could not stand before him : but we find them retiring, as upon the delivery of this parable, with wounded pride and Satanic malignity, to plot his destruction by treachery, and by cunning to circumvent Him, against whom, by their collected wisdom and influ- ence, they could not contend with dignity, nay with- out discomfiture and dishonour. The motives of these wicked and apostate men were the same as those imputed to the husbandmen in the parable. They knew that he was the Christ ; yet their love of worldly power, as the rulers of the Church, made that very knowledge, — which should have restrained every thought to his injury, much more every species of violence against so holy a person, — to plunge them into wickedness the most desperate and deadly. They were aware that he must overthrow their power in the visible church as then constituted, which was his lawful iniieritance, if some decisive step were not taken. Had they not, by their own evil passions, been deprived of their judgment, they would, they must have known how 326 THE VINEYARD. vain all their attempts must have been against Him, whom their own Scriptures indicate as the Divine Being; and their traditions, which they more highly- valued, described the second Adam as a person pos- sessed of Divine authority.^' But they were infatu- * One of the strongest proofs that such was the expectation of the Jews is to be inferred from the comparison of 2 Sam. vii. 19. and 1 Chron. xvii. 17. in which, as is ably shown by Bishop Horsley, the Divine Messiah is contemplated. 2 Sam. vii. 19. " And this (namely, what was said about his house in distant times,) is the arrangement about The Man, O Lord Jehovah." 1 Chron. xvii. 17. " And thou hast regarded me in the ar- rangement about The Man that is to be from above, O God Jehovah." That is, in forming the scheme of the Incarnation, regard was had to the honour of David, and his house, as a se- condary object, by making it a part of the plan that Messiah should be born in his family. Horsley's Bib. Crit. vol. i. p. 351. The original word Di«n translated ' the Man,' by Bishop Horsley, is by Dr. Kennicott translated ' the Adam.' The in- ferences to be drawn from this passage are, that the Messiah would, at a period remotely future, descend from David, and that he would sustain a relation to the human race analogous to that of the first man. In the New Testament also, our Lord is called the Adam from above. We read these remarkable words, (1 Cor. xv. 47.) " The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from Heaven." Through the greater part of that beautiful chap- ter St. Paul draws a parallel between the first and second Adam. In the Epistle to the Romans, (v. 14.) he calls the first Adam the figure of him that was to come. (Compare also John iii. 31. viii. 23.) The Jewish traditions also affirm the same doctrine, and St. Paul, in this passage, (1 Cor. xv. 47.) uses the very same ex- pression, which is found in the book Zohar on this subject: a circumstance which may be considered as aflfording a proof of the real date of that curious book; It is said to consist princi- pally of a recital of the expositions and doctrines of Rabbi Si- THE VINEYARD. 327 ated — they knew not, as Caiaphas told them, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. Quos vult perdere Deus, prius dementit. They therefore, in the words of the parable, " caught" the holy Jesus, " and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." The casting him out of the vineyard was properly only a circumstance in the description. But this was as strictly fulfilled as the figure would allow. Christ was cast out of the synagogue as a profane person, and was delivered to the Romans, an heathen nation, by whom he was executed with- out the walls of the city.* This awful depravity, this most atrocious wicked- ness could not escape with impunity. The express- ive words of the latter part of the jjarable point at the punishment of excision from the church and favour of God, which had been for so many ages their prime glory and " exceeding great reward," upon the immediate commission of that heinous sin ; mcon, tlie Son of Jocliai, who was the contemporary of the Apos- tles, and probably known to St. Paul, himself one of the most learned men of his day. The Messiah is there called CDlfr* t*V'']7V, the Adam on high, and is said to have dominion over all things, as tiie first man, the Adam below, nwnn Dtn, had by divine ap- pointment over the inferior creation of this world. The same idea repeatedly occurs in the Rabbinical writings. See an excellent note on this subject, of which the above is an extract, in Towns- end's Arrangement of the New Test. vol. i. p. 93 — 97. See also Townsend's Arrangement of the Old Test. vol. i. p. 651. 1st Edit. * Fecerunt aTroo-uvaycoyev (extra Synagogum,) et ut hominem Mvo/xov (Legis expertum,) curarunt eum a profanis hominibus occidi : atque adeo ipsi magis eum occiderunt quam Romanus Prseses, qui aliquandiu reluctans tandem manus dedit illorum improbitati. Grotius, Opcr. tom. ii. p. 198. 328 THE VINEYARD. but the sentence was not completed until the final destruction of Jerusalem about forty years sub- sequent to the death of Christ. As a church, how- ever, the Jewish hierarchy was no more — the middle wall or partition between the Jews and the Gentiles was broken down — the hand-writing of ordinances was blotted out and nailed to the cross. According to St. Matthew, the chief priests and Pharisees are made, though unwittingly, to condemn themselves. " When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto these husband- men ? They say unto him, He will miserably de- stroy those wicked men, and will let out his vine- yard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons."* St. Luke, however, makes our Saviour answer instead of the Pharisees, who briefly say, " God forbid !" " What therefore," says our Lord, " shall the Lord of the vineyard do unto them ? He shall come and destroy these hus- bandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they — the Pharisees — heard it, they said God forbid."! There appears an inconsistency in the relation of the two Evangelists : but it is not so. In St. Mat- thew, as likewise in St Mark,^ Christ inquires of the Pharisees — " what the Lord of the vineyard will do to these husbandmen :" And they answer — " He will destroy them, and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen." In St. Luke, Christ himself declares what the Lord of the vineyard will do to these hus- * Matt. xxi. 40, 41. t Luke xx. 15, 16. | Mark xii. 9. THE VINEYAIU). 329 bandrnen ; and they seem to say, God forbid that he should do so. The Pharisees do not by these words deny that the Lord of the vineyard would destroy these husbandmen ; but knowing that the parable was spoken against them, they say, fni ytvoiro, — "far be it from us husbandmen to do a work so worthy of this punishment," — In St. Matthew and St. Mark, the parable was spoken directly against the Pharisees, and they confess that such persons are worthy of pu- nishment : but as they professed to consider Christ as an impostor, they do not intend their answer to apply to themselves. In St. Luke they deny alto- gether that they shall destroy the Messiah whom they knew to be the Lord of the vineyard ; because, they say, this man, who addresses us, is not the Christ or Messiah, but an impostor.* But the same conviction is flashed upon them liy our Lord in all the Evangelists. To the denying Pharisees in St. Luke's Gospel he says — If this will not be so, if this dreadful punislnnent will not over- take you, — what is then the import of this that is written, " The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." f Now, he plainly infers, " you are these builders, and I whom you reject, that chief corner-stone." The confession is, as we have intimated, made by these wicked hypocrites, because they think that it cannot apply to themselves ; or if, as is a common sign of the weakness of human nature, they had a consciousness of guilt which they would stifle, or at * Whitby on Luke xx. 16. t Ps. xcviii. 22, 330 THE VINEYARD. least hide from the people, they answer in this strong language — " He will miserably destroy these wicked men, and will let ovit his vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons."* The blessed Jesus takes advantage of this hypo- critical confession, as he did of the impudent denial in the Gospel of St. Luke, and convicts them of their guilt, and of the dreadful consequences which it will bring upon themselves. " Jesus saith unto them. Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner :j- this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ?":j: He then more plainly predicts their destruction, the desolation of their city and nation, * Matt. xxi. 41. f Ps. cxviii. 22. In the psalm it is first applied by David to hiiTisclf, as being first rejected and despised by Saul and the chief of Israel, and then raised to the throne. Then, in a much higher and sublimer sense, it applies to Christ, and to the rejec- tion of him by the elders and rulers. This is Hammond's expo- sition. By Parkliurst, the author of the Hebrew and Greek Lexicons, and by others, it has been supposed to allude to the junction of the Jews and Gentiles compacted at this angle as it were by Christ. But, as Grotius observes, as it is said to be fulfilled by St. Peter, Acts iv. 11, before the calling of the Gentiles; it. indicates probably only the strength of a corner- stone in supporting the edifice. Hence the chiefs of the people are named niiD Hebr. ywviui by the Hellenists, as 1 Sam. xiv. 38. LXX. TTacraj ru; ycoviag tov 'lo-puriX, all the chief people of Israel. See Taylor's Concord, ad voc. fS ; Parkhurst's He- brew Lexicon on the word njD, and Greek Lexicon on the word uKpoyoovuiog ; and Grot. Oper. tom. ii. p. 199, folio. — See also Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 337. I Matt. xxi. 12. THE VINEYAllD. 331 the end of their polity, — that the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to others, — and, in a word, that the Gospel, wliich they rejected, and thus sealed their own final ruin, should be preach- ed to the Gentiles.* " Therefore say I unto you. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken : but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."f The vineyard which God had planted — which he had warmed and nourished by his Divine favour, and watered with heavenly dew, the doctrine of the Law and the prophets — which he had hedged round about, not only by his providence and parental care, but by his Covenant and Divine presence — tliis vine- yard, which is the kingdom of God, was taken from * Matt. xxi. 43, 44. t Dr. Hammond thinks that the phrase, *' grind him to pow- der," alludes to the mode of threshing the corn, and breaking it with an instrument, (a flail among us,) or by bringing the wheel over it, or by treading it out, as was the custom of the Jews. Hence, he thinks, it signifies, in this passage, that Christ shall come upon the Jews, with the threshing instrument in his hand, and shall break them, and dash them to pieces, and violently separate the straw from the wheat, the multitude of obstinate and obdurate from the few sound believers among them. Ham- mond's Works, vol. iii. p. 104. folio. But Dr, Lightfoot is of opinion, and more consistently with the judicial nature of the punishment of the Jews, that the whole sentence alludes to the manner of stoning. The place of stoning was twice as high as a man. From the top of this one of the witnesses striking him on his loins, felled hitn to the ground ; if he died of this, well ; if not, the other witness throw a stone uj)on his heart." Sanhedr. c. vi. hal. 4. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. '2'Z9. fol. 332 THE VINEYARD. the Jews, because they rejected the head-stone of the building of God, the Messiah whom they had expect- ed for so many ages. This is the stone, which, in the vision of the prophet Daniel, " was cut out of the mountain without hands, which brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold." And this stone is the figure of "the kingdom," which, the same prophet declares, " the God of Heaven shall set up, which shall never be destroyed : and the king- dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume, all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."* The object of this work is, as T have already in- timated, to vshow that, independent of their practical excellence, the parables of our Lord form in them- selves a series of prophecies concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of God, the progress and the effects of the Gospel dispensation. The parables collected in the present chapter, which foretell the destruction of the Jewish state, and the desolation of the church and people of Judah, are peculiarly of this character. This parable of the vineyard, which we have just expounded, is one of the most direct prophecies of this event, — inasmuch as it harmonizes with the very language and imagery of the Hebrew prophets on the same subject. The exposition of this parable therefore were incomplete, were we not to compare with it the allegory of Isaiah to the same effect, and which our Lord has but taken up and extend- ed upon the canvass, as the times and circum- * Daniel ii. 44, 45. Compare Is. Ix. 12. viii. 14, 15. Zech. xii, 3. Ps. ii. 9. 1 Cor. xv. 24. Luke i. 32, 33. THE VINEYARD. 333 stances of the Churcli demanded. This must be done so as to give a full-lengtli portrait, or rather sketch, of the Jewish nation, from the call of Abra- ham to their final destruction for their rejection of the Messiah ; and that this was clearly predicted in the Hebrew Scriptures, we need go no farther than the prophecy of Isaiah, some passages of which I shall compare with his allegorical representation of that people under the figure of the vineyard. In the end it will, we think, follow, as a necessary inference from the whole, that the present state of the Jews is, according to their own prophets, a demonstration of the Divinity of Jesus the Mes- siah.* The most striking events of the Divine Economy, in the dispensations of Providence, are the rejection of the Hebrew nation, which has for ages been com- prehended under the common denomination of Jews, from the Divine favour and protection, and the call- ing or election of the Gentiles, people of all nations and of all languages, to all and more than all the blessings and privileges of this once favoured peo- ple.f To the contemplation of these mighty events * On this subject, see " A Discourse of the Divinity of Christ," by the Rev. John Methven Rogers, LL.B. Lond. 1824, t The destruction of Jerusalem, and tlie dispersion of the Jews, are in themselves events of no greater importance than the de- struction of Nineveh and Babylon, or the fall of any great city or nation, hi worldly power the Jewish city and people were not to be compared with other and mightier nations of the earth. In their moral and intellectual character they were inferior to the Greeks and Romans. They were for many ages under the protection of some predominant power ; and they were a proverb 334 THE VINEYARD. we are led by our Lord's parable of the Vineyard, which is so wonderfully confirmed by a similar para- ble in the fifth chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah. The first seven verses of that noble and subhme chap- ter contain the beautiful parable of the Vineyard, which, like that of our blessed Lord, is the prophecy of the rejection of the people of God for their ingra- titude and apostasy. We will compare this prophecy with other predictions of the same prophet ; we will consider the Divine government of the Hebrew na- tion ; and we will apply the. whole to the situation, the circumstances, and the opinions of this jieople at the period of the Advent of their Messiah, and the and a by-word to the more civilized nations. Hence the well- known lines of the Roman Satirist: — Dum flamma sine^ tura liquescere limine sacro Persuadere cupit. Credat Judgeus Apella, Non ego. Hor. Sat. Lib. i. c. G. Yet the destruction of their city and temple, and the disper- sion of the people, are the greatest events of the kind that ever happened; as their preservation to this day, a distinct people, though diffused over every part of the habitable globe, is the most wonderful provision of the Divine Providence for the pur- pose of evincing the truth of our holy Religion, and the divine NATURE of our REDEEMER. The history of this people forms a main feature in the history of the human race. In the sacred records, preserved by them from the beginning of the world, we find the foundations of all our faith and hope of life and immor- tality as rational beings in a future state. With a great portion of this magnificent scheme of our Redemption is the history of this obscure, and in many respects contemptible, people blended, -^not certainly for any merit on their part, but to show the eternal and immutable character of God's judgments, as well as the inexhaustible nature of his love and mercy to the children of men. THE VINEYAUD. 335 causes and consequences of their rejection of that Divine Person. A thoughtful mind is astounded at the events which so rapidly succeeded the death of Christ ; — the destruction of so singular a nation as the Hebrevv, and the preservation of them, at this distant period, as a distinct pco})le, though scattered over every country of the habitable globe. What could so sud- denly cause their Jiiial overthrow, their utter desola- tion ? For though they had been, for a series of years, under the dominion of the various predomi- nant powers of Asia, of Africa, and of Europe ; still they had been protected, and permitted the free and undisturbed exercise of their religion, and, until a few years before the public appearance and ministry of Jesus as the Messiah, the administration of their laws, without any interference on the part of the powers to whom they were tributary. But suddenly they are irrecoverably overthrown — their religion superseded — their city and temple utterly destroyed — and themselves dispersed, like the first murderer of the righteous Abel, as murderers over the face of the earth. From the call of Abraliam to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jewish people, there were, according to the common chronology, about two thousand years. During all this time, Abraham and his descendants, a numerous and po])ulous nation, whose increase was as the stars of heaven — so numerous, if we apply the prophecy to the natural progeny of Abraham, was that highly favoured people — during all this period 336 THE VINEYARD. they were protected and supported by the Divine Providence in such a manner as was never known of any other nation. Abraham was divinely called from a country of idolaters, and promised both spiri- tual and temporal blessings. He was a frequent so- journer, though never positively settled in the land of Canaan, and left an only son, the child of pro- mise, whose son Jacob, or Israel, and his numerous family were rescued from the jaws of famine which raged in that country, and were removed, by a train of wonderful circumstances, into a country which had been preserved from the same awful judgment by the inspired wisdom of one of their own brethren, and of which powerful empire he was at that time the executive head. In Egypt, whither they were so providentially removed, they increased into a nu- merous and formidable people, insomuch that they were grievously oppressed through the apprehensions of the king of that country. After that Jehovah, the God of Israel, had abundantly evinced his Divine power and protection of this singular people in the presence and in defiance of their enemies, they were miraculously conducted, by the Divine hand, out of the land of their oppressors ; the sea was cleft asunder to make them a passage ; the waters closed upon, and engulphed their pursuers ; they were miraculously sustained in a barren wilderness for forty years, and they ate the bread which was sent them from heaven; — until it pleased the Divine Being, who had wrought all these stupendous miracles for their preservation, to conduct them, in the same miraculous manner, into that country from whence THE VINl.VAUD. 337 they had been driven by famine — a country which had been promised to their fathers — a land described, as a sign of its fertihty, to be flowing with milk and honey. This country was conquered, not l)y the power of the sword, jjut iiy the miraculous ])ower of Jehovah. At the sound of a trumpet the walls of cities fell down ; and armies fled in consterna- tion, of the nature of which tliey themselves were wholly ignorant. A people so protected, and so governed — for their laws were delivered by the voice of God amid thun- ders and lightnings, and afterwards by their divinely inspired lawgiver Moses — under the visible jiiotec- tion of the Supreme Being — a people thus highly favoured must have committed sins of the most deadly and unpardonable nature, — nothing in fact short of absolute apostacy from their Divine King, — to have been thus deserted, and punished in their expulsion from their country ; and in being compel- led, for all succeeding ages,* to seek their habita- tions among strange nations, with none of whom can they ever mix : for the mark of their peculiar man- ners, and their attachment to their abrogated Law, keep them in hopeless separation from all other people. • Tlie rc'iiiaikaljle cliaractcr of the corKjuest of Jeiiisaloni, and of the dispersion of the people by the Romans, consists in the irrcvocah/t nature of that Divine judgment ; for until the termination of the Christian scheme, as it respects the finaldes- tiny of man, this people will never be re-collccted : but from former dispersions and captivities they recovered, and a portion of them returned to their country and rebuilt the Temple, 338 THE VINEYARD. But although their fi7ial excision was sudden,- though the Divine favour was withdrawn from them immediately after the death of Christ, and in about forty years their city was an heap of rubbish, and of their temple there was not left, as our Lord had pre- dicted, one stone to lie upon another ; — yet the threatened judgment had been suspended by the Divine forbearance and mercy for many ages. When the prophet Isaiah denounced this judgment upon them in the parable which we are about to examine, —and which is the same in its infant form with that which our Lord's parable presents when the time was ripe for the execution of judgment on this de- voted people, — they had been in possession of the promised land for about seven hundred years ; and it was not until about eight hundred years subse- quent to this prophetic denunciation, that the judg- ment was finally executed upon that rebellious and apostate people. We will novi^ proceed to the examination of this parable of the prophet, which throws so much reflect- ed light on the parable of our Lord. In the beauti- ful style of allegory peculiar to the Hebrew Scrip- tures, the prophet, in the person of Jehovah, thus vividly pourtrays the ingratitude of the people of God. *' Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill : and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein : THE VINEYARD. 339 and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabi- tants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? And now go to ; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard : I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down : and I will lay it waste : and it shall not be pruned nor digged ; but there shall come up briers and thorns : I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his plea- sant plant : and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression ; for righteousness, but behold a cry." * f * Isaiah v. 1 — 7. t This beautiful parable or allegory is thus translated by Bishop Lovvth, for the introductiou of which into the notes I need not apologize to the general, nor perhaps to any reader.— Vol. i. p 1.3. " Let me sing now a song to my Beloved ; A song of loves concerning his vineyard. My Beloved had a vineyard, On a higli and fruitful hill : And he fenced it round, and he cleared it from tiie stone>, And he planted it with the vine of Sorek ; And he built a tower in the midst of it, And he hewed out also a lake therein : And he expected, that it should bring forth grapes, But it brouglit forth poisonous berries. And now, O iniiabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah; z 2 ■i4 0 THE VINEYARD. It is very clear that this parable of the vineyard was intended by the prophet to denounce the judg- itient of God upon the Jews ; for the vineyard is identified with that people. " The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant." It is equally evident to any one who conapares the two, that our Lord makes use of the same parable, and for the same purpose of showing the apostacy of the Jews, and their consequent rejection from the Divine favour and protection. But JesuB adds the circumstance of the husbandman, God the Father, having a Son, himself their promised Messiah, whom they slew; for which atrocious murder " the Lord of the vineyard did miserably destroy those wicked men, and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, which should ren- Judgr, I pray you, between me and my vineyard, VVhat could have been done more to my vineyard, Tlian I have done unto it ? Why, vvlien I expected that it slioiild bring forth grapes," Rrou:j;ht it fortl) poisonous berries ? But come now, and I will make known unto you, Wiiat I purpose to do to my vineyard : To remove its hedge, and it sliall be devoured; To destroy its fence, and it shall be trodden down. And I will make it a desolation ; It shall not be pruned, neither shall it be digged ; But the brier and the thorn shall spring up in it ; And I will command the clouds, Tiiatthey shed no rain upon it. Verily, the vineyard of Jehovah God of Hosts is the house of Israel ; And the men of Judah the plant of his delight : And he looked for judgment, but behold tyranny: And for righteousness, but behold the cry of the oppressed." Tin: VlNEVAIil). .'jil der him the fruits in their seasons." That is, God rejected the Jews from the (Jlmrch, " the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts," and elected the Gentiles into their place, who are required to " render liim the fruits in their seasons," faith and holiness ; and the rejection of the Jews for their apostacy from the Son of God, at his first Advent, holds out an awful warning to us, who have professed to receive and to believe in him, if we render him not the fruits of faith and holiness ; for our rejection, at his second coming to judge the quick and the dead, will be in- finitely more terrible than the severity of God's wrath yet exercised against the Jews, who will one day be received back into the vineyard. Another circumstance of resemblance in the two parables of Isaiah and of Christ is remarkable. This is the tower, which the prophet describes as built in the midst of the vineyard, and which is likewise noticed by our Lord. By this tower is meant the temple of Jerusalem, *' the wall of which was broken down and trodden down." The learned Bishop Lowth has noticed this circum- stance. " Our Saviour," ho says, " who has taken the general idea of one of his parables from this of Isaiah, has likewise inserted this circumstance of building a tower ; which is generally explained by commentators, as designed for the kee})er of the vineyard to watch and defend the fruits. But for this })urpose it was usual to make a little temporary hut, * which might serve for the season while the * Isaiah i. 8. '* Tlie daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard." Authorized 'rransliition. — " The daugliter of Sion is left as a shed in a vineyard." Bp. Lowth's Translation. 342 THE VINEYARD. fruit was ripening, and which was removed after- wards. The tower therefore should rather mean a building of a more permanent nature and use ; the farm, as we may call it, of the vineyard, containing all the offices and implements, and the whole appa- ratus necessary for the culture of the vineyard, and the making of the wine. To which image in the allegory, the situation, the manner of building, the use, and the whole service, of the Temple exactly answered. And so the Chaldee paraphrast very rightly expounds it : — " Et statui eos (Israelitas) ut plantam vineae selectae, et sedificavi sanctuarium meiim in medio illorum."* So also Hieron. in loc. " JEdificavit quoque turrim in medio ejus : Templum videlicet in media civitate."f That they have still such towers or buildings, the learned Bishop refers us to Harmer's Observations, t I need not pursue the parallel J further ; for it is * " And I have appointed them (the Israelites) as a plant of a choice vine, and I have buih viij sanctuary in the midst of them." t " He built also a tower in the midst of it : namely, the Temple in the middle of the city." + Harmer's Observations, ii. p. 241, § Ver. 2. " And also made a u'i«e-;?re«« therein." Authorized Translation. — " And he hewed out also a lake therein." Lowth's Transl. Upon this the Bishop has a note, the substance of which, though not of a nature to be introduced into the text, is too interesting to be passed over. It is therefore inserted here. " This image also our Saviour has preserved in his parable. Dps LXX. render it here irpoKriviov ; and in four other places, wroXYjviov, Isa. xvi. 10. Joel iii. 13. Haggai ii. 17. Zech. xiv. 10. I think more properly ; and this latter word St. Mark uses. It means not tlie wine-press itself, or culvatorium, which is called THK VINEYARD. 343 clear tliat the house of Israel and Judah is signified under the images of the vineyard and the vine, or " pleasant plant ;" that they were under the imme- diate protection of Jehovah, who was their king both in a civil and religious sense, and their government, as it is styled by their own historian Josephus, was a Theocracy ;* but that they would be, as we nj, or niiD, but what the Romans called lacus, tlie lake ; the large open place, or vessel, which, by a conduit or spout, re- ceived the must from the wine-press. In very hot countries it was perhaps necessary, or at least very convenient, to have the lake under ground, or in a cave hewed out of the side of the rock for coolness ; that the heat might not cause too great a fermentation, and sour the must. — " The wine-presses in Persia," says Sir John Chardin, " are formed by making hollow places in the ground, lined with mason's work." — Harmer's Observa- tions, i. p. 392. Lowth's Isaiah, vol. ii. p. 61. * This celebrated passage of Josephus (against Apion) is as follows : — " Some legislators have permitted their governments to be under monarchies, — others put them under oligarchies, — and others under a republican form. But our Legislator had no regard to any of these forms ; but he ordained our Government to be a Theocracy, by ascribing the authority and the power to God" 0£OxpaT«av wkhttsv {cnrs^si^Sj Eusebius) to 7roA»TcUjiA«, 0ccj fnaWov JU.OVW T»)v otp^TiV x.ui to xpuTOg avaQag. Politiam nostram Divinum Imperium declaravit, Deo prsecipue principatum assig- nans et potentiam. Spencer, De Leg. Hebr. vol. i. p. 229. Mr. Whiston, in his translation, thus renders this passage — " He ordained our government to be what, bi/ a strained expression, may be termed a Theocracy." For the words in italics the original furnishes no authority. In a note he attempts to show that the expression •' Theocracy" was used in accommodation to the no- tions of the Heathens. To those who desire to lower the Divine nature of our Redeemer, such reasoning may have its value. The following view of the learned author of the Divine Legation is much more consonant to the minds of those who look upon 344) THE VINEVAKD. know they have been, rejected for their tyranny, their oppression of Jesus, their apostacy from the Messiah. The text, which expresses all this in the parable of Isaiah, has been more strictly rendered by Bishop Lowth as follows : — " Verily the vineyard of Jehovah God of Hosts is the house of Israel ; And the men of Judah the plant of his delight : And he looked for judgment, but behold ty- ranny : Christ as the Dhhte King of the Jeics, the Jehovah of the Hebrtxo Scriptures. " The true and real meaning of the Sceptre of Judah,* is that Theocratic Government which God by the Vicegerency of Judges, Kings, and Rulers, exercised over the Jewish nation. This Theocracy, which was instituted by Moses, continued over that people till the coming of Shiloh or Christ ; that Prophet like unto Moses, wliom God had promised to ' raise up.' And to support what hath been urged from reason, to illustrate this im- portant truth, we have here a prophetic declaration announcing the same thing — ' The sceptre shall not depart iVom Judah till Shiloh come.' Shiloh is Christ. Now Christ is not tlie suc- cessor of these Vicegerents of the Jewish state, but of God himself, the King of the Jews. The sceptre therefore which descends to him through the hands of these Vicegerents is not merely a civil, but a Theocratic Sceptre. 77^/* at the same time explains the evangelic doctrine of Christ's Kingdom, arising out of the Theocracy, or Kingdom of God." Divine Legation, vol. V. p 113. Hurd's Edition of Warburton's Works. With the hypothesis of the learned Bishop respecting the tribe of Judah we have nothing to do. The passage is adduced to show the view taken by so acute a mind of the connexion sub- sisting between the Theocracy of the Jews and the Kingdom OF Christ : both constitute one Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, of which Christ is King. * Gen, xlix. 10. THi: VINEYAIH). S-l^ And for righteousness, but behold the cry of the oppressed."* That the last part of this verse refers to their apostacy in rejecting and slaying the Son of God, as our Lord himself applies his parable to the apos- tate Jews, is evident from that touching description of the sufferings of the Messiah in the fifty-third chapter of this Evangelical prophet, which appears yet more clearly in Bishop Lowth's version. After an affecting picture of the sorrows and sufferings of Christ, the prophet proceeds to describe the cause, the manner, and the consequences of his death : viz. That men had sinned ; that Christ died for our sins, and was " taken off by an oppressive judgment ;" and that his death was " a propitiatory sacrifice for the justification of many." " We all of us like sheep have strayed ; We have all turned aside, every one to his own way ; And Jehovah hath made to alight upon him the iniquity of us all. It was exacted, and he was made answerable ; and he opened not his mouth : As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers, Is dumb ; so he opened not his mouth. By an oppressive judgment he was taken off; And his manner of life who would declare ? For he was cut off from the land of the living ; For the transgression of my pcoi)le he was smitten to death." ( * Bp. Lowili's Ibaial) v. 7. t Ibid. liii. 6, 7. y. 346 THIi VINEYARD. The circumstance of his death as a malefactor, and his burial by the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, and the innocence of his life, are next described in this wonderful prophecy. The prophet then proceeds to state the propitiatory nature of the atonement through the death of the Messiah. " Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush him with affliction. If his soul shall make a propitiatory sacrijice. He shall see a seed, which shall prolong their days, And the gracious purpose of Jehovah shall prosper in his hands." * f Before we take leave of this Evangelical prophet, who is the interpreter of himself, we may notice one or two other texts which will serve to illustrate his own meaning in the parable of the Vineyard, and must therefore throw equal light on the parable of our Lord, which is the subject of this Section. We have seen that the vineyard intended the Hebrew nation, which, though formerly so favoured of Jehovah, was to be rejected for tyranny and oppression, which we have discovered, by the same prophet, to refer to the cruci- fixion of the Messiah. We have hastily glanced at the wonderful Providence, with which God had protected this people ; and we may well suppose that nothing short of Apostacy from Jehovah himself * Lowth's Isaiah liii. 10. t The reader is referred to the first chapter of the second part of Paley's Evidences, entitled *' Prophecy," for an able and per- spicuous account of the fulfilment of this remarkable prophecy in the death and burial of Christ. THE VINEYARD. 347 could bring upon thenn the dreadful judgment, which dispersed them about forty years after Christ's death, when Jerusalem was besieged, and taken, and de- stroyed, and which yet afflicts them.* The object * Bishop Horsley, in his excellent translation and commen- tary of the prophet Hosea, indisputably proves that the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the Locos of the New, are the same person. He founds much of his admirable reasoning on this passage of his translation : — " At Bethel he found the Angel, who spake with us there ; even Jehovah God of Hosts, Jeho- vah in his memorial." (Hosea xii. 4, 5.) *' God himself says this name Jehovah is his memorial ; that is, his appropriate, perpetual name. * And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel : Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name for ever, and this my Memorial unto all generations.' Exod. iii. 15. "The person, of whom it is said, that the name Jehovah is his memorial, is no other than he whom the patriarch found at Bethel, who there spake with the Israelites in the loins of their progenitor. He, whom the patriarch found at Bethel, who there, in that manner, spake with the Israelites, was, by the tenor of the context, the antagonist with whom Jacob was after- wards matched at Peniel. The antagonist, with whom he was matched at Peniel, wrestled with the patriarch, as we read in the book of Genesis, (chap, xxxii. 24,) in the human form. The conflict was no sooner ended, than the patriarch acknowledged his antagonist as God. (verse 30.) The holy prophet first calls him Angel, (^^*Vo Hos. xii. 4.) and after mention of the colluc- tation, and of the meeting and conference at Bethel, says, (Hos. xii. 5.) that he, whom he had called Angel, was * Jehovah God of Hosts.' And to make the assertion of this person's God- head, if possible, still more unequivocal, he adds, that to him belonged, as his appropriate memorial, that name, which is declarative of the very essence of the Godhead. This Man therefore of the book of Genesis, this Angel of Hosea, who 348 TllL-: VINKYAKD. of the prophet's mission was chiefly to warn them of their perverseness, which would end in their rebelHon against the authority of Him who was their civil governor, and in their apostacy from Him who was their God ; for both these authorities were vested in Jehovah God of Hosts. In the first Chapter, and at the very commencement of his prophecy, Isaiah therefore thus warns this people:* " Hear, O ye heavens ; and give ear, O earth ! For it is Jehovah that speaketh, wrestled with Jacobs could bo no other than the Jehovah- Angel, of whom we so often read in the English Bible under the name of the ' Angel of the Lord.' A phrase of an unfortunate structure, and so ill conformed to the original, that it is to be feared, it has led many into the error of conceiving of the Lord as one person, and of the Angel as another. The word of the Hebrew, ill-rendered ' the Lord,' is not, like the English word, an appellative, expressing rank, or condition ; but it is the pro- per name Jehovah. And this proper name Jehovah is not, in the Hebrew, a genitive after the noun substantive ' Angel,' as the English represents it ; but the words nirf and Tt^Vo, * Je- hovah' and 'Angel,' are two noun substantives in apposition, both speaking of the same person ; the one by the appropriate name of the essence (rendering, by its very etymology, the \oyog tv/j otxTjaj, if it may be permitted to apply logical terms to that which is beyond all the categories) ; the other, by a title of office. 'Jehovah- Angel' would be a better rendering. The Jehovah-Angel of the Old Testament is no other than He who, in the fulness of time, ' was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.' " Horsley's Bibl. Crit. vol. iii. p. 376. vol. iv. p. 184, S13 — 315. The learned reader need hardly be referred to Bishop Bull's great work, Defensio Field Niccence, in the very first section and chapter of which this subject is so ably discussed. * Lowth's Isaiah, i. 2 — 1, 7, 8. THE VINEYRAD. 349 I have nourished children, and brought tiiem up ; And even they have revolted from me. The ox knoweth his possessor ; And the ass the crib of his lord ; But Israel knoweth not Me ; Neither doth my people consider. Ah ! sinful nation ! a people laden Avith iniquity ! A race of evil doers ! Children degenerate ! They have forsaken Jehovah ; They have rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel; They are estranged from him ; they have turned their back upon him." Then follows their punishment. " Y^our country is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire ; Your land, before your eyes strangers devour it : And it is become desolate, as if destroyed by an inundation. And the daughter of Sion is left, as a shed in a vineyard ; As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a city taken by siege." All the expressions of anger, in this sublime pic- ture of anger and distress, have reference to the broken allegiance of subjects to their Sovereign, as well as to the ingratitude of children to their Heavenly Father, and to the impiety of " forsaking Jehovah, and rejecting with disdain the Holy One of Israel." In all these relations did God condescend to connect himself with the Hebrews ; and all these endearing ties were finally broken asunder by their rejection of 350 THE VINEYARD. the Messiah ; by which act they " revolted against Jehovah," as rebellious subjects, and " they rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel," — a name more than once applied to the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus the Psalmist, personating the Messiah, in allusion to his resurrection, assures him- self that Jehovah " will not suffer his Holy One to see corruption."* This passage is applied by St. Peter directly to Jesus Christ.f To none other causes than the direct apostacy from Jehovah the God of their fathers, rebellion against their king, and the rejection of the Messiah, who had been promised and impatiently expected for ages — and this through hardness of heart, and perverseness of will — to none other causes than these can be reasonably attributed the fall, the shame, the desolation of so favoured a people. Hence in another part, towards the end of Isaiah's prophecy, the rejec- tion and punishment of the Jews, for want of faith in the Gospel, are largely insisted on. It begins in this animated style : " I am made known to those, that asked not for me; I am found of those that sought me not : I have said : Behold me, here I am. To the nation, which never invoked my name." But of the Jews, that once highly favoured peo- ple, it is said : — ■ " Ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen : * Pa. xvi. 10. t Acts ii. 27. THE VINEYARD. 351 And the Lord Jehovah shall slay you ; And his servants shall he call by another name."* The calling and election of the Gentiles may be well believed to be highly agreeable to the infinite mercies of a gracious God : but the same cause will not account for the rejection of the Jews, whom Jeho- vah designates as his beloved, his children, and his servants, but in the text, just cited, declares, that ** their name shall be a curse to his chosen ;" and likewise proclaimed by his prophets that final deso- lation and destruction which happened to them nearly two thousand years ago, and which this ex- traordinary people still exhibit. The necessary in- ference, therefore, from these facts is, that it was a JUDICIAL ACT of the Almighty for their rejection of their Messiah.f But they had rejected, and they had killed other prophets ; and yet', though sent into banishment, and once punished with the destruction of their city * Isa. Ixv. 1, 15. Bp. Lovvth's Translation. I This cliapter, says Bishop Lowth, contains a defence of God's proceedings in regard to the Jews, with reference to their com- plaint in the chapter preceding. God is introduced declaring, that he had called the Gentiles, though they had not sought him ; and had rejected his own people, for their refusal to attend his repeated call ; for their obstinate disobedience, their idolatrous practices, and detestable hypocrisy. That nevertheless he would not destroy them all ; but would preserve a remnant, to whom he would make good his ancient promises. Severe punishments are threatened to the apostates ; and great rewards are promised to the obedient in a future flourishing state of the Church. Lowth's Isaiah, vol. ii. p. 371. 352 THE VINEYARD. and temple, the favour of God was not wholly with- drawn from them : prophets consoled them in the sorrows of their captivity ; and finally God inclined the hearts of their conquerors towards them, and a multitude of their people returned into Judea, and rebuilt the city, and the temple — the same which stood in the time of our Saviour — the glory of which second temple was declared to be greater than that of the first, not in outward splendour, but because it was destined to be honoured by the presence of the Messiah, " the desire of nations," who " filled this house with glory." Independent, therefore, of the verbal criticism which has been most successfully employed, and as an auxiliary evidence is unquestionably of the high- est importance, the fact of the rejection of the Jews proves to demonstration the Divinity of our Lord : for if he be not a Divine Person,— 1{ he be not the Jehovah of the Old Testament — if he be not the King of Israel, the great prophecies which I have recited, and many others which might be ad- duced from the Hebrew prophets, remain unfulfilled. But when we look on Christ, as all Christians are bound to regard him, as Jehovah the king of ISRAEI>, the whole stream of prophecy is as clear as the noon-day. The desolation of " the vineyard of Jehovah God of Hosts," the rejection of the Jews, is the necessary consequence of their tyranny and op- pression of their Messiah and King. The desolation of their country, and the burning of their city and temple by the Romans, " strangers before their eyes," is the judicial punishment of that "sinful THE VINEYAllD. 35.'i nation, the people laden with iniquity, the race of evil doers, children degenerate who have forsaken Jeho- vah, and rejected with disdain the Holy One of Is- rael." They are therefore, as predicted by this pro- phet, ** a curse to the chosen of God," and us " his servants hath he called by another name," — by the name of Jesus Christ ; for " there is no other name under heaven in whom, and through whom man may be saved." The New Testament fully confirms the view, which I have taken, of this important subject. When Christ uttered that memorable address, in his last visit, to the city, he evidently alluded to the destruction of Jerusalem in consequence of his rejection. But had he been no more than a prophet, he could not have had so superior a claim to all other preceding pro- phets, a(S that for his sake the city and temple should be destroyed, and tlie people scattered as wanderers Over the earth. But he speaks not as a mere prophet, nor as an angel of the highest order, nor as any crea- ture, but as God, the Eternal Guardian of that city and people, in that remarkable passage. After reproaching the hypocrisy and cruelty of the Scribes and Pharisees in persecuting and killing the pro- phets, he thus pathetically laments over tlie city : — " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the pro- phets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered your children toge- ther, even as a hen galhereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! — Behold, your city is left unto you desolate !" * • Mat^. xxiii. 37, 38. 2 A 354 THE VINEYARD. It is worthy of remark that there is a passage, in the prophet Isaiah, very similar, both in sentiment and imagery, to this address of our Lord. I shall cite it in the words of Bishop Lowth's translation already referred to ; because the similarity is more obvious than in the Authorized Version, which is however exactly the same in sense. The prophet alludes to the deliverance of the Israelites by the Passover of Jehovah,* when the first-born of Egypt were slain. " As the mother -birds hovering over their young; So shall Jehovah God of Hosts protect Jeru- salem ; Protecting and delivering ; leaping forward, and rescuing her." f J * Exod. xi. t Isa. xxxi. 5. J " The common notion of God's passing over the houses of the Israelites is, that in going through the land of Egypt to smite the first-born, seeing the blood on the door of the houses of the Israelites, he passed over, or skipped, those houses, and forbore to smite them. But that this is not the true notion of the thing, will be plain from considering the words of the sacred historian; where he describes very explicitly the action : • For Jehovah will pass through, to smite the Egyptians ; and when he seeth the blood on the lintels, and on the two side posts, Jehovah will spring forward over (or before) the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.' Exod. xi. 23. — Here are manifestly two distinct agents, with which the notion of passing over is not consistent ; for that supposes but one agent ; the two agents are the de- stroying angel passing through to smite every house ; and Jehovah the protector^, keeping pace with him ; and who, see- ing the door of the Israelite marked with the blood, the token prescribed, leaps forward, throws himself with a sudden motion in the way, opposes the destroying angel ; and covers and pro- tects that house against the destroying angel, nor suffers him to THE VINEYAllD. fJ55 The same power of protection, and even similar figures and similitudes, are used by Jesus and by Jehovah God of Hosts ; and if they be not one and the same person, it is indeed difficult to reconcile the two texts, or indeed to understand either. We have seen that Jehovah was the King of Israel and Judah, and that the government of those states, either connected or separate, was a Theo- cracy. The common title of Christ was King of smite it. In this way of considering the action, the beautiful simihtude of a bird protecting her young, answers exactly to the apphcation by the allusion to the deliverance in Egypt : as the moiher-bird spreads her wings to cover her young, throws her- self before them, and opposes the rapacious bird that assaults them ; so shall Jehovah protect, as with a shield, Jerusalem frem the enemy, protecting and delivering, springing forxcard and rescuing her. Lowth's Isaiah, vol. ii. p. 9Ad. This twofold agency of Jehovah, as the destroyer and pro- tector, is thought by other learned commentators to derive no support from the text of Exodus, while they agree with Bishop Lowth and Vitringa in the primary sense of the word nos Pcsach ' to leap forward.' But they do not consider it neces- sary upon every occasion, and not upon this, to refer to the priniari/ sense of the word, and think the appropriate sense of the word in this passage is to preserve. The passage in the prophet is thus interpreted by Archbishop Magee: "As the mother-birds hovering over their young; So shall Jehovah, God of Hosts, protect Jerusalem, Protecting and delivering, preserving (as bi/ a atcouU Passover) and rescuing her." The imagery is retained in either sense of the particular word I't'smli, wliich affects not the reasoning of the text. The curious and learned reader will find a long note on this subject in Magee's "Doctrine of the Atonement," vol. i. p. 309 — 321. 4th Edit. 2 A 2 "356 THE VINEYARD. THE Jews. As a king and a governor he was ex- pected by all ; but because " his kingdom was not of this world," the covetous and ambitious Scribes and Pharisees would not acknowledge him — especially as his spiritual power must, when acknowledged, su- persede their authority. But when " Jesus stood be- fore" Pilate, the Roman governor, " and the governor asked him, saying. Art thou the King of the Jews ? Jesus said unto him. Thou sayest."* It need hardly be added that the latter words, " thou sayest," are an eastern mode of speech expressive of assent. That he was not a king of this world, exactly cor- responds with his government of that ungrateful and rebellious nation, as set forth in the Old Testament.^ There remains one circumstance which completes the parallel between the fate of the persons de- nounced in the two parables of Isaiah and of our Lord, and perfects the demonstration of the Divinity of Christ in the present condition of the Jews, who are yet a living monument of this most sublime truth. Pilate was warned by his wife of the innocence of the blessed Jesus in the following message : — " Have thou nothing to do with that just man : for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."J Pilate's apprehensions, lest his cruel and rapacious conduct in his province should be reported * Matt, xxvii. 11. t His appearance at his transfiguration denoted his celestial majesty. See some excellent remarks on this subject in Stack- house's History of the Bible. New Edition, Vol. iii. p. 1.52. X Matt, xxvii. 19. THE VINEVARD. 357 at Rome,* induced him, contrary to his own strong desire, to give way to the people. But as if he could justify himself, or stifle the voice of his own con- science, he acted this scene before them. " When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and wash- ed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person : See ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said. His BLOOD BE ON US, AND ON OUR CHILDREN."! This awful invocation of the penalty of that atro- cious act of murder, though it could not possibly exonerate from guilt, in the eye of a just God, that wicked and worldly governor, w^as nevertheless ac- cepted, and the penalty exacted by the Divine ven- geance on that guilty and unhappy people to the fullest extent of meaning which the words will bear. If the similar texts of the Law, and other parts of the Old Testament, marked in the margins of the larger English Bibles, be consvilted, the attentive reader will find that the expression, — " His blood be on us, and on our children," — was a judicial phrase, put proba- bly into the mouths of the people by the malicious Scribes and Pharisees, whereby they took upon them- * The particulars of Pilate's abuses of his government of Judea, his cruelty to the Jews and Samaritans, and his abuse of the sacred money to profane purposes, for some of which he was subsequently complained of at Rome, and deprived of his procuratorsliip, are detailed by Josephus in his Anti- quities, Book xviii. chap. 3 and I. t Malt, xxvii. Qi, 25. 358 THE VINEYAKU. selves, in the most solemn manner of their Law, the full guilt of that horrible murder of their King, of their Saviour, and of that holy and innocent Man with whom was inseparably united the nature of the Godhead — that Jehovah who had " nourished and brought up these rebellious children" and sub- jects, who had now for ever revolted from him. If the reader have followed me with that attention which the subject demands, he can hardly fail to draw the necessary inference from the whole ; name- ly, that the Jews are now suffering — they and their whole posterity — at the distance of nearly two thou- sand years from the period of this public invocation, the dreadful penalty which their forefathers called down upon them, and which they, by their blindness, a Judicial blindness, still continue. They are suf- fering the penalty of traitors from their lawful King — of apostates from their Messiah— of im- pious INFIDELS of Jehovah their God ! ! Where- soever we see a Jew, we not only behold a living monument of the Divine origin of our holy religion ; but we have the strongest possible evidence, which carries along with it the analogy of the whole Bible from the beginning to the end, of the Divinity of Jesus Christ : an evidence which effectually cuts up by the I'oots the pernicious errors of Socinus, and of the modern Unitarians. 3.59 SECTIOxN V. THE MARRIAGE FEAST, " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding : and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready : come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandize : and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth : and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants. The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye, therefore, into the highways, and as many as yu shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both ])ad and good ; and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment : and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? And he was speech- less. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him 360 THE MAinilAGE FEAST. hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."* The parable of the Marriage Feast is one of the most striking parables delivered by our Lord. It is striking in its severe and close application to the Jews, for whose sake it was delivered ; insomuch that we find the Pharisees so confounded that, in their fear and malignity, they immediately " took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk," that, by some indiscreet speech in reference to the Romans, their civil governors, they might be avenged by procuring his capital punishment by the Roman deputy, which they finally accomplished in his cru- cifixion. Nor is it much less striking if it be applied to the wickedness and indifference of Christians in all ages of the church. " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son." t The original word, which is here rendered '"' niar- * Matt. xxii. 2 — 14. Compare Luke xiv. 16. t ^'Tai^og signifies among the Greeks 'a wedding, matrimony/ &c. but in the common language of Alexandria, or at least among the Jews of that city, it seems to have signified an enter- tainment or festival in general, in the same manner as the Ger- man word for wedding, according to its etymology, may signify any time of general rejoicing : and in this sense it is used by LXX. The example taken from Gen. xxix. 22, where the Hebrew nnu;o, a festival, is translated yajw-oj, aftbrds indeed a dubious [not dubious, but positive, Bishop Marsh] argument, because the notion of a wedding is there intended to be ex- pressed ; but Esther ix. 22. xai xov jarjva — ayeiv auTOvg tj^spus yuij,uiv Kui sv^goauvrji, where nnu>a is again translated yciix,os, TJIE MAlllilAGE FEAST. 3()1 riagc, ' is in the plural number, and means the wed- ding feasts, because, as we may learn from the and where no allusion can possibly be made to a wedding, puts the niatter out of doubt ; and in some of the manuscripts, instead of ttotou, Esther i. 5. we find yoc[/.ti. In the same sense we find yu^oc, used in the New Testament, Matt. xxii. 1- where a king made yaixou; for his son, and yet in the whole parable not a single allusion is made to a bride, nay it is even difficult to conceive how that notion can be admitted in any part of the relation. Fa/xoi can signify therefore in this passage nothing more than a public festival, instituted by the king in honour of his son, perhaps on the public occasion of declaring him the heir of his kingdom : this hypothesis at least throws a light on the whole parable, and may serve to explain the reason why many of those who were invited refused to come, and why one person in particular offered an affront to the master of the feast, by ap- pearing in a dress unsuitable to the solemn occasion." Michaelis. Upon the above passage of the German Divine his Right Reverend and learned annotator has the following admirable note. " The following statement will set the matter in a clear light, and determine at once what sense the Seventy intended to ascribe to yaftof. The Hebrew word nnu;D, which signifies convivium in general, though it is sometimes applied in the sense of convivium nuptiale in particular, occurs forty-eight times in the Hebrew Bible. In the Septuagint it is rendered 8ox»j, svipgo- avvYi, jtcoflwv, TToaris, ttotoj , o-u/attoo-iov, and in three instances only yafiOf, viz. Gen. xxix. 22. Esther ii. 18. ix. 22. In the two first instances a marriage feast is particularly described, and in the third is given a description of a feast which is held in consequence of a marriage." Marsh's Michaehs, vol. i. p. 146. 421. Bishop Marsh has clearly shown that when nnmo is ren- dered yajxof by the LXX, which is only three times out of the forty-eight in which it occurs in the Hebrew Bible, it signifies a marriage feast. Grotius, ad loc. shows that it sometimes has the same meaning in classic authors. See Hammond, Whitby, and others on the place. See likewise two notes in Valpy's Annotations, vol. i. p. 339. 362 THE MARllIAGE FEAST. Hebrew scriptures, it was the custom of the East to celebrate a marriage by feasts for many successive days ; and the various guests, at various times in- vited to this wedding festival, could hardly have come to one feast. But these feasts continued a week or more. Laban, when Jacob had married his daughter Leah, desires him to " fulfil her week," that is, to keep a seven-days' feast for her marriage.* And " Sampson made a feast seven days," — bttoiw^ TTOTov nfjie^a ETTTa, — for his Philistine wife ; " for," it is said, " so used the young men to do."f This accords with the preparations mentioned in the parable : — " My oxen and my fatlings are killed," —which indicates a preparation for several days' feasting. The kingdom of heaven is the Church of Christ, including of course her doctrines, which are a vital part of herself, and are particularly alluded to in this parable. The king is intended to represent God the Father; and the Son is the Lord Jesus Christ, (who is uniformly described in the New Tes- tament as the spouse or bridegroom of the Church, a name and title which he appropriates to himself in several passages of the Gospels, particularly in the parable of the Ten Virgins, ^ and by which the apostles St. Paul and St. John expressly designate him.§ " And he sent forth his servants to call them that * Gen. xxix. 27. + Judges xiv. 10. X Matt, xxvi, 1. ix. 15. John iii. 29. ^ "2 Cor. xi. 2. Rev. xix. /• THE MAllllIACU: FEAST. iiQS were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. * The " servants, sent forth to call them that were bidden," were the apostles and the seventy disci- ples, who, as it is related by St. Matthew and St. Luke,f were sent at fii'st only to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The Jews had been bidden or in- vited both by St. John tJie Baptist, and again by our blessed Lord, — both of whom called them to repent- ance, " because the kingdom of God was at hand." But neither at the invitations of the Baptist and the Saviour, nor at the calling of the apostles and the seventy disciples, would that perverse generation of Jews come to the marriage feast. | *■ It was customary to call them that were bidden a second time. This custom may be seen in Josephus's account of the feast given by Queen Esther to King Artaxerxes and Haman, when the Queen's Eunuchs, who went to call Haman to the sup- per, saw the gallows which had been erected for the purpose of hanging Mordecai. Joseph. Antiq. Book xi. t Matt. X. 5, 6. Luke ix. 2. x. 1. X " 'J'he parable of the Great Supper, — Luke xiv. 16-24 — though delivered on a different occasion, and before our Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, bears so strong a resemblance to the present parable of the Marriage Feast, that it were unneces- sary to make a separate exposition of it. It is introduced by two other short parables, teaching the excellence of works of charity before a rigid and formal observance of the Sabbath day to the neglect of such works of love ; and the grace of humility which exalts, whereas pride debases the soul. — Luke xiv. 1 — 11. — Our Lord then turns the discourse to the master of the house, whom he admonishes to invite the poor and the needy, rather tlian the rich, to his feast. This doctrine he illustrates by the parable of the Great Supper, which, while it was a practical les- 364 THE MARRIAGE FEAST. Yet SO great was the love of our heavenly king to his subjects, that " Again, he sent other servants saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold I have prepared my din- ner : my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready : come unto the marriage. " son to all who then heard, and now hear or read it, was at the same time prophetic of the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. '* If we compare this with another passage elsewhere, [Matt, xxii. 2, the parable examined in the text,] we may be satisfied that by the kingdom of heaven is here represented the Gospel dispensation ; and this, as it ministers true plenty and pleasure, all that men can want, and all that they can wish, to render them perfectly happy, is compared to a supper. The bounty and in- finite love of Almighty God are signified by the greatness of that supper and the multitudes bidden to it. The first bidding implies all the previous notices of the Messiah, by which the law and the prophets were intended to prepare the Jews for the re- ception of him and his doctrine. The second bidding, when all things were ready, seems to import all that Jesus did, and taught, and suffered, for their conversion and salvation, and all the testimonies and exhortations of his Apostles and other preachers of the Gospel, to the same purpose. The excuses sent for their absence are the prejudices, and passions, and worldly interest, which did not only hinder those Jews from coming into the faith, but disposed them likewise to treat all at- tempts to win them over with the utmost obstinacy and con- tempt. The guests brought in from abroad, to supply their places, are the Gentile world, to whom (after that the Jews had thrust it from them) the subsequent tenders of this grace and salvation were made : and the declaring that " none of those who were bidden should taste of this supper," denotes the giving those Jews over to a reprobate sense, and leaving them under infide- lity and perverseness, in which they continue hardened to this very day." Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol. iii. Stackhouse's History of the Bible, new edition, vol. iii. p. 199. THE RfAin^TACK FEAST. 365 Tliese servants who were sent again, and described as " other servants " to mark the difference of the time and commission, were the same apostles, and other spiritual persons sent by our blessed Lord him- self after his resurrection, as we find it recorded in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the resurrection, and this commission to be afterwards carried into effect : and this was his last command before he ascended into heaven. He tells the apostles — " Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ; and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem ; and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." * The servants, who were sent the first time, have been thought to be the prophets of the Old Testament. But Whitby assigns three very satis- factory reasons why they should be interpreted of the apostles. 1. This parable respects the king- dom of heaven, and those times only when that king- dom was come, which was in the time of the apos- tles, not the prophets. 2. It is a parable of '* a king making a marriage for his son," which is gene- rally interpreted of Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church, and must therefore respect his advent alone. 3. The persons sent out the second time were sent to the same persons to whom the first were sent ; and the second servants are always allowed to be the apostles of our Lord, t But the second invitation was equally unavailing with the Jewish people. * Acts i. 8. t Whitby's Additions to Matt. xxii. No. ?>j. S66 THE MAimiAGE FEAST. " They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to liis merchandize : and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spite- fully, and slew them." In the parable of the Great Supper, in the Gospel of St. Luke, they send their several excuses. " One had bought a piece of ground, and must needs go and see it. Another had bought five yoke of oxen, and went to prove them. Another had mar- ried a wife, and therefore could not come." * We find this part of the parable completely veri- fied by the facts which immediately ensued upon the first preaching of the Gospel by the apostles. When the Holy Ghost descended upon the assembled apostles on the day of Pentecost, the by-standers, many of whom were " Jews and Proselytes," while all men were amazed and were in doubt, said one to another. What meaneth this ? Others mocking said. These men are full of new wine.'t At the first sermon of St. Peter, " three thousand souls" were converted ; but these were out of all nations mentioned by the sacred historian at the beginning of the Chapter. And though many my- riads of the Jews were afterwards converted to the faith as it is in Jesus ; still these bore no comparison to the number of that populous nation, " the many" of whom yet continue bigoted to theii errors. But all those who rejected the invitation were not of the passive character of those persons who excused themselves, and derided the messengers : for, the parable adds, — * Luke xiv. 18—20. -f Acts li. 12, 13. THE ^rAinilAGK FEAST. 3()7 " The remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them." The frequent stonings and imprisonments of the apostles, and other insults and indignities inflicted by the Jews — the stoning of St. Stephen, and other martyrdoms recorded in the New Testament and the ancient ecclesiastical writers — these facts abun- dantly confirm the truth of this prophetic part of the parable. " But when tlie king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." This may be considered as part of our Lord's prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, by which signal act of God's judgment upon the Jews, it was fearfully fulfilled. The Roman legions under Titus might with the strictest propriety be called the *' Army of God," as fulfilling his will.* Of this signal event in the Jewish history Daniel had prophesied upwards of five hundred j'ears before Christ. f- But our blessed Lord predicted it more plainly than in this parable, in the next chapter of this Evangelist, and notices the cruelty of the Jews in " killing the prophets." But he adds — " Behold, your house is desolate. For I say unto you, ye * This is the opinion of Le Clerc and Whitby. But Grotius explains it that the armies of God are his angels, by whose ministry he acts, 1 Kings xxii. 19. Luke ii. 13. They distribute his judgments, and brought them, i. e. famine and pestilence and war, by the Romans, on Jerusalem. Grotii Opcr. torn. iii. p. 200, folio. Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 310. t Dan. ix. 26. 368 THE MARRIAGE FEAST. shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."* On that memorable occasion of his last approach, prior to his triumphant entry into the city, he thus pa- thetically laments and predicts the coming destruc- tion. " And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee : and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another ; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. "f The accomplishment of this prophecy alone were enough, did infidels object from reason, to convert the most obstinate unbeliever to the truth. The account of the siege and utter destruction of Jeru- salem is handed down to us by Jewish and Heathen historians, all of whom were bitter enemies to the faith. But their accounts exactly fulfil the prophe- cies of Daniel, and particularly of the blessed Jesus. So completely did the Roman army perform the part allotted by Divine Providence, of which they were the unconscious instruments, that, according to Jo- sephus the Jewish historian, during these wars they destroyed " eleven hundred thousand Jews," burnt their temples, and consumed and laid waste their * Matt, xxiii. 37—39. f Luke xkx. 41—44, THE MAT^RIAGK FF.AST. 369 rity : so tliat all men conceived, says the same his- torian, *' it never could he built again."* * There is a very long and excellent note siiowing the fulfil- ment of our Lord's Prophecies respecting the destruction of Je- rusalem in Townsend's Arrangennent of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 41 J. The following extracts will not be uninteresting to tlie reader who may not possess that valuable work. '' Josephus, in his preface to the Jewish war, mentions that a star hung over the city like a sword ; and a comet continued a whole year. The people being assembled at the feast of un- leavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night, a great light shone about the altar and the temple, and this continued for half an hour. The eastern gate of the temple, which was of solid brass, and could hardly be shut by twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of its own accord ! Before sun-setting there was seen, over all the country, chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities. At the feast of Pentecost, when the priests were going into the inner temple by night, to attend their service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice as of a multitude, saying, ' Jjct us depart hence.' What Josephus reckons one of the most terrible signs of all was ; that one Jesus, a country fellow, four years before the war began, and when the city was in peace and plenty, came to the feast of taber- nacles, and ran crying up and down the streets, day and night : ' A voice from the East, a voice from the West ! a voice from the four winds ! a voice against Jerusalem and the temple ! a voice against the bridegroom and the bride! and a voice against all the people!' Though the magistrates endeavoured, by stripes and tortures, to interrogate him, they could obtain no answer but the mournful cry of * Woe, woe to Jerusalem !' and this he continued to do for several years together, going about the walls, and crying with a loud voice, ' Woe, woe to the city, and to the people, and to the temple!' and, as he added, * Woe, woe to myself," a stone from some sling or engine struck him dead on the spot ! " These were indeed fearful signs and wonders; and there is 2 15 fi70 THE MARRIAGE FEAST. " Then saitli he to his servants, The wedding is ready, Init tliey which were Indden were not worthy. not a more credible historian than the one who relates them, who appeals to the testimony of those who saw and heard them. But an additional evidence is given to his relation by the Roman historian Tacitus, who presents us with a summary account of the same occurrences ; and as ' the testimonies of Josephus and Tacitus confirm the predictions of Christ, so the predictions of Christ confirm the wonders recorded by these historians.' But these were only the beginnings of sorrows, (Matt. xxiv. 8.) and from the calamities of the nation in general, Christ passes to those of the Christians in particular, (xxiv. 9, Mark xiii, 9. 11, Luke xxi. 13, 14, 15.) We need look no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for a melancholy proof of the truth of their pre- dictions. But although the followers of Christ's religion were persecuted beyond measure, it is a remarkable fact, and a signal act of Divine Providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. So literally was that assertion fulfilled, ' There shall not an hair of your head perish.' And, notwithstanding the persecutions and calamities of the Christians, it was propliesied, ' This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.' And accordingly we find, from the writers of the history of the Church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Gospel was not only preached in the Lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, but as far northward as Scythia, as far southward as Ethiopia, as far eastward as Parthia and Lidia, and as far westward as Spain and Britain. Agreeably to tliis, Eusebius informs us, that the Apostles preaclicd the Gospel in all the world, and some of them (probably either St. Simon or St. Paul,) passed beyond the ocean to the Britannic Isles. Theo- doret likewise affirms, that the Apostles had induced every nation and kind of men to embrace the Gospel, among whom he reckons particularly the Britons; and St. Paul himself declares, the Gospel ' is come unto all the world, and preached to every creature under Heaven;' and (in Rom. x. 18.) he elegantly applies to the lights of the Church these words of the Psalmist, THE :\fARRIAGE FEAST. 371 Go ye therefore into the higliways, and as many as ye shall find, bid thein to the marriage. So these servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good : and the wedding was furnished with guests."* The guests, who were bidden, were not worthy, because they were not disposed to receive the Gos- pel, though it was so earnestly and repeatedly offered to them. We find the same word used in reference to those who had the Gospel preached to them when Christ sent forth the twelve apostles " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," as recorded in the tenth chapter of the same Evangelist, which was the first invitation to the wedding feast. " Into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthif ; and there abide till ye go thence. 'Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.' And all this was fulfilled to convince every nation of the crying sin of the Jews, in crucifying the Lord of glory, and of the justice of God's judgment upon them. And then came the end, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish j7olity, when the abomination of desolation stood in the holy place. The verses (15 and IG of Matt, xxiv.) are explained by the parallel passage in Luke xxi. 20, 21. The Roman army is the desolation of abomination spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, chap. ix. and xi ; and it is so called, from its ensigns and images, which were abominations to the Jews ; and Josephus informs us, that after the city was taken, the Romans brought these ensigns into the temple, placed them over against the eastern gate, and there sacrificed to them." Townsend's Arrangement of the New Testament, vol. i. p. 419. 1st Edit. * The Rabbis say, "The travellers come in, and sit down upon the benches or chairs, till all came that were invited." Ba. Beracoth. The gloss is : It was customary among rich men to invite poor travellers to feasts. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 'V2'J. 2 ]J f2 372 THE MAllHTAGE FEAST. And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be vvoithy, let your peace come upon it : but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you." * They were despisers of the heavenly ban- quet, and preferred their secular interests and the pleasures of this world to the Kingdom of Heaven and the Government of the Messiah. The servants of Christ were therefore sent forth into the highways, first to the Jews who were dis- persed into the different countries round about Ju- dea, and afterwards to the Gentiles. If we follow the apostle St. Paul in his travels, w^e shall find that he exactly pursued this course, and did not turn to the Gentiles until he had been finally rejected by the Jews, from whom he had patiently borne every spe- cies of injurious usage and persecution while there remained the faintest hope of their conversion. We find him preaching in the Synagogue at Antioch, whence he and Barnabas were driven by a persecu- tion raised by the unbelieving Jews. But before they departed they thus expressed themselves : — "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." f This zealous Apostle may be subsequently traced to Corinth, whither he came from Athens. He is still " reasoning in the Synagogue every Sabbath," and '• persuading," not only " the Jews," but " the Greeks," who were Gen- tiles. "And when Silas and Timotheus were come * Matt. X. 11— 1^, t Acts xiii. 46. TllK MAKIUACiK I'KAST. 373 from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit, and tes- tified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they (tlie Jews) opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them. Your blood be upon your own heads ; I am clean : from hence- fortli I will go unto the Gentiles." * Frojii this period we find this Apostle sedulously and fearlessly i)reaclnng the Gospel in the different ])rovinces of Greece until he was taken to Koine for the express purpose of proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation in tlie capital of the world. " Be it known unto vou, — he tells the assembled Jew^s whom he had called toy-ether in tiiat citv, — that the salva- tion of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." [ 'J'lie last circumstance, which we read of this Apostle, is that he "d\velt two whole years in his own iiired iiouse, and received all — Jews and Gentiles — ^that cauu in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." \ These sei'vants, it is said, " gathered together all as many as they found, both good and bad ; and the ^^ edding was furnished with guests." Tiie bad as well as the good compose the visible church, as they likewise compose the world. The honest man and the hypocrite, the faithful believer and the infidel apostate, profess the faith of Christ crucified. " INIany," therefore, as it is afterwards added, " arc called, but," it is to be feared that * Acls wiii. 5, eodoret, imagine that their antipathy was owing to the difllrcnt customs of t!;c two nations: the shephcrd'3 occu- pation being to rear and tend shocp, which they sacrificed and fed on ; while the Egyptians abstained from this food, and held it in abhorrence." This custom of abstinence, however, Bryant shov/s, by the testimony of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, could never have been the cause of universal abhorrence ; for in many parts, it is certain, they fed on sheep. Besides, Pha- raoh himself kept large flocks, which Grotiiis supposes was for the wool. But that is very improbable. The sacrifice of blood, and of animals held sacred by the Egyptians, was very probably the abomination of the Egyptians mentioned by Moses, Exod. viii. 20. " This made the Egyptians dislike shepherds ; not their occu- pation ; for nothing was moi-e innocent or necessary. Besides, they had flocks of their own, and consequently people to tend them. But they disliked foreign shepherds on account of their different rites and customs : which hatred must have arisen from an intimate intercourse : for we do not abominate what we are little acquainted with. We may dislike at a distance, and dis- approve : but this was a total abhorrence. It was a general and national disgust ; to promote which, many things must have concurred. In the first place, tlie Egyptians were a fastidious people from the l)cginning ; and held every nation but their own in low esteem. Hugfiupovg Ss Travre; 6i AtyuTTTioi xaXsotxrj Tovg fj-Yj (Tftcri 6ixoy\w(Tcrovg.* This contempt was carried into * Herod, lil). ii. cap. \5S. Sec also lil). ii. cap. 41. Gen. xliii. 32. fiS4i THE GOOD SIII^PHEllD. that powerful kingdom. We afterwards find David, from whose family the Messiah was to spring, fol- lowing the same occupation of a shepherd.* Hence the following message to that favoured king :— " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I took thee from the sheep- cote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over ray people, over Israel." t The first scriptural sense of the word shepherd is, therefore, one who takes care of a flock of sheep — who i)rovides them with a good pasture, and protects them against external injuries by wild beasts or other accidents. The simple habits and few occupations of the primitive inhabitants of the earth furnished the scanty elements of human language ; and hence we find in the Hebrew language and Scriptures a few- ness of words and a sameness of imagery. The imple- ments of husbandry and the pastoral employment, the ploughshare and the shepherd's crook, or rod, and the pastoral staff, of the first sons of Adam, are the almost solitary figures of the inspired volume, fi disgust by the contrariety in their religious customs : and this still heightened and embittered by the tyranny of the Pastor kings, and the cruel usage that the Egyptians experienced from them ; particularly when they broke down the shrines of their gods, and overturned their altars. Hence arose that fixed hatred we have been speaking of, which was prior to the coming of the Israelites. " For every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians" before they knew Joseph. Gen. xlvi. 34. Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, vol. vi. p. 165 — 177. See a paragraph, introduced into the text of Stackhouse's History of the Bible, by the learned editor. Bishop Gleig, on the charge of Joseph to his brethren, that they were spies, vol. i. p. 402. * 1 Sam. xvi. 11— 1, 'J. f 2 Sam. vii. 8. Ps. Ixxviii. 70. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 385 which are drawn from the habits of men, and con- trasted with the weapons of war and the wild beasts of the forest. Tiiese images, and the sublime and beautiful objects of nature with which the oc- cupations of agriculturists, and especially of shep- herds, constantly familiarized the prophets and in- spired poets of the Old Testament, form all the machinery of those exquisite specimens of the beau- tiful, the affecting, and the sublime, to be found in the sacred writings of the Hebrews. Thus, for in- stance, the peaceful reign of the Messiah is de- picted by the following delightful images. " They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."* " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."f The power of God over his creatures is expressed by " the sw eet Psalmist of Israel" in the same figurative style and the same images. " Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains : and the wild beasts of the field are mine."| The secondary meaning, therefore, of the scriptural Shepherd applies to GoD, the Jehovah, Jehovah- ElohiiM, and Jehovah-Angel, of the Hebrew Scriptures, who, as we have already shown in other instances,^ and shall likewise prove in the present * Isa. ii. 1. t lb. xi. 6. I Ps. 1. 10, 11. ^ Sect. IV. of Cli.ip. V'l. supra. 2 c 386 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. instance, is identified with the Messiah of the Old, and the Christ of the New Testament. The third application of the terra is made to the prophets of the Old Testament, and the doctors of the Law and the Levitical priesthood, and to the ministers of the Gospel. In the twenty-third Psalm, God is thus beauti- fully represented as the faithful Shepherd of his people. " Jehovah is my Shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pas- tures : he leadeth me beside the still waters."* The Hebrew Scriptures, especially the Psalms, furnish almost innumerable examples of this designation of Jehovah. That Jesus Christ, " the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls," is to be identified with the Divine Shepherd of the Psalmist in the beautiful words just cited, will be shown in the ensuing expo- sition of the parable of the Good Shepherd. Before, however, I proceed to this exposition, I cannot deny myself, nor my readers, the pleasure of the following passage from the elegant pen of the accomplished Bishop Home on the first two verses of the twenty- third Psalm : *' In these words, which one cannot utter without feeling the happiness they were intended to describe, the believer is taught to express his absolute ac- quiescence and complacency in the guardian care of the great Pastor of the universe, the Redeemer and Preserver of men. With joy he reflects, that * Ps. xxiii. 1, 2. See also Ps. Ixxiv. 1. Ixxviii. 52- Ixxix. 13. xcv. 7. c. 3. cxix. 176. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 387 he Iiath a ' Sheplierd ;' and that that Shepherd is Jehovah, one possessed of all the qualities requi- site to constitute the pastoral character in the high- est perfection. " The loveliest image afforded by the natural world, is here (verse 2.) represented to the imagina- tion ; that of a flock, feeding in verdant meadows, and reposing, in quietness, by the rivers of water, running gently through them. It is selected, to convey an idea of the provision made for the souls, as well as bodies of men, by His goodness, who * openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness.' 'By me,' saith the Redeemer, 'if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.'* And what saith the Spirit of peace and comfort ? ' Let him that is athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. 'f Every flock that we see should remind us of our necessities ; and every pasture should excite us to praise that love by which they are so l)ountifully supplied." We will now proceed to the parable of the Good Shepherd, as delivered by our Lord and applied to himself. " Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbetli up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To liim the porter openeth ; and the sheep hear his voice : and he calleth his own sheep * John X. [). t Rev. xxii. 17. o ^- o §88 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him : for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him : for they know not the voice of stran- gers."* The parable commences with a description, by contrast, of the false and of the true shepherd. The sheep were all gathered into the fold at night, lest they should stray ; and there was one large door by which the sheep and the shepherds entered. All other modes of entry must be by stealth or violence, and could be made for no good purpose.f Another circumstance proper to the story, and which * John X. 1 — 5. t There was in the sheepfold one larger door whicli gave in- gress and egress to the flock and shepherds, and a lesser, by which the lambs passed out for tything. Lightfoot's Works, fol, vol. ii. p. 575. Sir Isaac Newton apprehends, that the sheep kept in the fold for the sacrifices, near the Temple, gave occasion to the para- ble ; and that Christ here alludes to what was peculiar in these folds, that in them the door, being kept locked, excluded not only the thief, but the shepherd, till opened. But the leading out the sheep to pasture, does not agree with that circumstance ; nor is it a probable image to compare the people of God to sheep kept in a fold or pen to be sacrificed. In these countries, infested by wild beasts, the fold probably was in general se- cured by a door, and a servant or porter left to watch in the night ; whilst the chief shepherd came to lead them out to pas- ture in the morning. Doddridge's Expositor, vol. ii. p. 204. Sir I. Newton on Daniel, p. 148. Valpy's Annot. vol. iii. p. 103. I have passed over the various expositions of the Porter, which are rather fanciful than real or important. Grotius pro- perly leaves it unexplained as a part of the description. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 389 harmonizes with the manners of the East, is the calHng the sheep by name, which hear and obey the voice of the shepherd. In Judea, and tliroughout the East, the sheep were accustoined to follow the shepherd, instead of being driven before him, accord- ing to modern usage.* " The sheep hear his voice — he calletli them by name — he leadeth them out." Thus in the Psahnist : " He maketh me to Ue down in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the still waters."!" The true shepherd in this parable is he who en- tereth in by the door, whose voice the sheep know and follow. The false shepherd is he who " climbeth up some other way ;" the thief and the robber,;]: the stranger whose voice the sheep know not, and whom they will not follow. The first is tlie descrip- tion of the jMessiah, as we shall presently prove from the Scriptures : the second represents the Scribes * Shepherds had names for their sheep, which answered to them as dogs and horses do with us, following to the pasture ground, and whithersoever the shepherds thought fit to lead them. The custom also was to lead the sheep, playing on some musical in- strument. Macknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 455, Doddridge's Expos, vol. ii. p, 205. See also Hammond on John vi. 37. and on this part of the parable. t Ps. xxiii. 2. X " In Talmudic language, ' Who is a thief?' He that takes away another man's goods, when the owner is not privy to it, as when a man puts his hand into another man's pocket, and takes away his money, the man not seeing him ; but if he takes it away openly, publicly, and by force, this is not a thief, but a robber. Not kXstttyjs, but A)jtt»)?. Maimon." Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. :y75. fol. 390 THE GOOD SHErHERD. and Pharisees, and other doctors of the Law, of the various sects that distracted God's people, and in- troduced unhallowed doctrines, which were altoge- ther unsanctioned by the inspired word of God. Our Lord had been reproving the Pharisees, in the preceding chapter, who, with much scorn and haughtiness, said unto him, " Are we blind also ?" Jesus tells them that if they had been blind, they would have had no sin : but, because they said, " we see," and boasted of their superior knowledge, their sin remained, and could not be removed by his atone- ment. He then points out their sin by the parable of the Good Shepherd, in which they are the thieves and robbers, the strangers and the hirelings. But they understood him not, until he spoke more plainly of himself. " This parable spake Jesus unto them ; but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers : but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door :* by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy : I am come that they * Pure Israelitism among the Jews was the fold and the door, and all things. For if any one was of the seed of Israel, and the stock of Abraham, it was enough (themselves being the judges,) for such an one to be made a sheep, admitted into the flock, and fed and nourished to eternal life. But in Ci)rist's flock, the sheep had another original, introduction, and mark. — Lightfoot. THE (;00D SHEPHERD. 391 might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."* As thei'e was but one regular door whereby the shepherd and the sheep could enter the literal sheepfold, Christ describes himself to be the door, or the only regular and possible entrance into the spiritual fold, of which lie was also the Shepherd. In his Divine nature he had always been the Shep- herd of his people. But he was now, by his incarna- tion, the door, the means of effecting an entrance for the faithful into the kingdom of God. Nor did he lose his character of Shepherd, as he afterwards declares ; for he laid down his life for the sheep. Dr. Ham- mond thus explains it in his paraphrase : — *' I am the door, that is, the only way for the sheep, the true servants of God, to enter by, into that fold, the Church, where all are to live regularly, and not to go out or depart from Christ." The next passage — '* that all before him were thieves and robbers," has been differently explained : but the true sense will appear sufficiently plain when it is considered to whom he addressed the parable. Hammond and Whitby think that those impostors, such as Theudas and Judas Gaulonitis mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles f and by Joseph us,| who assumed the character of Messiah, are here intended. Grotius supposes that such as tliese persons may be meant ; but that they only fascinated and led the people to insurrection, and did not lay claim to tiie high character of Messiah. * Verses 6—10. t Acts v. 30, dl. t Joseph. Antiq. B. xx. c. 5.xviii. c. 1. Wliislon'sTianslation. S92 THE GOOD SHErHERD. The learned Lightfoot, however, and he is followed by Macknight,* so far agrees with Grotius, that neither Judas Gaulonitis, nor the Theudas in the Acts, claimed to be the Messiah, nor perhaps did any impostor before the advent of the true Messiah. He refers the passage to the three shepherds, men- tioned by the prophet Zechariah, f — " those shep- herds that had wasted and corrupted the flock, and who, when the true Shepherd of the sheep should reveal himself, would do the like again.'' These three shepherds he considers to be " the principals and chief heads of sects, and the leaders of the people, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.":}: * Mackniglit, however, would give a different import to Ttpo ilJ!,ov, and explains it as coming into his presence to tempt him ; TTfo being applied to place as well as to time ; as Acts v. 23, vpo ^vpcuv. Luke vii. 27, tt^o Trpotrwwoo. But this, it is observed justly, appears a forced construction in the present text. Mac- knight Harm. vol. ii. p. 457. Valpy's Annot. vol. iii. p. 1 04. t Zech. xi. 8. X " Our Saviour speaks agreeably with the Scripture, where, when there is any mention of the coming of this great Shep- herd to undertake the charge of the flock, the evil shepherds, that do not feed but destroy the flock, are accused. Jer. xxiri. I, &c. Ezek. xxxiv. 2, &c. Zech. xi. 16. And our Saviour strikes at these three shepherds that hated him, and were hated by him, (the Pharisees,) the Sadducees, and Essenes, under whose conduct the nation had been so erroneously led for some ages. 1 should have believed that these words * All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers,' might be understood of those, who having arrogated to themselves the name of the Mes- siah, obtruded themselves upon the people ; but that we shall hardly, or not at all, find an instance of any that ever did so be- fore the true Messiah came. After his coming, it is true, there were many that assumed the name and title, but before it, hardly THE GOOD SHEPHERD. '3^S This oi)inion is much confirmed by the considera- tion that our Lord was at this time conversing with the leaders of one of tlie principal sects, the Phari- sees, and was frequently brought in contact with the Sadducees. The Essenes were a sect of ascetics, and did not mix generally with the people : and this will account for the silence of the authors of the in- spired books of the New Testament respecting this sect. But they unquestionably contributed to the diffusion of erroneous doctrines among the Jews ; and their mode of life, like that of Christian monks, rendered them useless members of that society which was instituted by God, and which every man is bound to support. The false doctrines of the Sad- ducees, who denied the existence of a future state and of angels and spiritual substances,* — and the cor- rupt practices, and preference of tradition to the au- thority of the inspired Scriptures, of the Pharisees, were more notorious, and the frequent subject of our Lord's severe reprobation. f oiie. Judas the Galilean, did not arrive to that impudence, as you have his story in Joseplms. Nor yet Theudas, by any thing that can bo gathered from the words of Gamaliel, Acts v." Light- foot's Works, vol. ii. p. 575. fol. — Lightfoot has an elaborate note to prove that the three shepherds of Zechariah, the heads of the three great Jewish sects, are here intended. See his Works as above, p. 5 73. See also Lowth on Zech. xi. 7, 8. * Acts xxiii. 7, S. t "At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions concerning liunian actions ; tlie one was called the sect of the PZ/rtr/vrcs-,-— another the sect ol the Sadducees, and the other the sect of the Emciics. Now for tlie Pharisees, they say that sonic actions, but not all, arc the work of fate, and 394 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. But if the passages of the prophets of the Old Tes- tament, to which our Lord is supposed to refer, be consulted, we can hardly entertain for a moment the opinion that any particular impostors are intended, whatever might have been their pretensions. We have already seen that the scriptural denomination of a Shepherd applied first to God, and next to the servants and ministers of God. The thieves and robljers may therefore be both those who had abused some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate. - But the sect of Essenes affirm, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befals man but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal, but they sup- pose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are our- selves the causes of what is good, and receive vvhat is evil from our own folly." (Whiston's Josephus Antiq. B. xiii. c. v. sect. 9.) Josephus describes these sects again more fully in the first chap- ter of the 18th book of the Antiquities ; and in the 8th chapter of the 2d book of the Jewish War, in which he gives an extended account of the Essenes ; and of the other two he thus speaks : — " The Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skilful in the explication of their Laws. These ascribe all to fate, (or Provi- dence,) and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of man; although fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies, but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil ; and they say, that to act vvhat is good, or what is evil, is of men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration oi' the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades." THE GOOD SIIEPHEKD. tid5 the legitimate office of governing and teaching the people, and those who have assumed the office irregulaiiy, and climbed into the sheepfold by ano- ther entrance than the regular door. In the tenth and eleventh chapters of the prophet Zechariah, the riders of the Jews are designated shepherds. " Mine a!)ger was kindled against the shepherds, and I pu- nished the goats." * This text is thus explained by an excellent commentator. " I was justly displeased with the Jewish rulers, both ecclesiastical and civil, as I have severely threatened them by my prophets, before the captivity, which came upon the whole na- tion as a judgment for their sins, especially upon those wicked Jews who were their instruments in oppressing the people." f In the eleventh chapter the Messiah is represented as the Great Shepherd of Israel. " Amongst all the places of the Old Testa- ment,— says Lightfoot, — which mention this Great Shepherd, there is no one doth so exactly describe him and his pastoral work as the eleventh chapter of the prophet Zechary." 1 The one true, and the three false shepherds are thus described. "And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock." ()' But the prophet adds, in the person * Zech. X. 3. t See Lowtli on the place. + Works, vol. ii. p. 573. fol. § " And — the verse goes on, — I took unto me two ilcncs ; tlic one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds ; and I fed the flock." A start' or crook is the proper ensign of the shepherd. The shcplierds of oUl times liad two rods or staves ; one turned round at lop, that it might not hurt tlic slieep ; this was for counting thcni, and separating the sound from the diseased : 396 THE CiOOD SHEPHEllD. of Messiah, the Great Shepherd — " Three shepherds also I cut off in one month ; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me."* Some commentators explain these shepherds to be the chief priests, Scribes, and elders of the Jews, f Among these, however, were always to be found the heads of two of the sects, the Sadducees and Pharisees. There are two other parallel passages in the prophets Jere- miah and Ezekiel, wherein the rulers of Israel are designated as false shepherds. In the former, the denunciation of these pastors forms the introduction to the splendid prediction of the restoration of the scattered flock under the Great Shepherd, who is there called " Jehovah our Righteousness." t Levit. xxvii. 32 ; the other had an iron hook at the end of it, to pull in the stray sheep, and hold them fast, while the shepherd corrected them. The Psalmist mentions both these — " Thy rod and thy staff comfort me." Ps. xxiii. 4. The staff of Beauty signified our Saviour. The other staff, called " Bonds," signi- fied the bond of the new covenant. See Lowth in loc. " This Great Shepherd broke that covenant that had been made and confirmed with that people, ver. 10. *I took my staff, which was called Beauty, and I cut it off, that I might break my covenant which I made vvith all people.' — i. e. with the ten tribes and the two tribes." Lightfoot ut supra. * Zech. xi. 7, 8. t See Lowth in loc. But Lightfoot interprets them of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes : " which interpreta- tion, though it cannot but sound very unpleasingly in Jewish ears, yet is what seems abundantly confirmed, both from the context and the history of things." See Lightfoot. J "He shall really be what the title imports. (See note on Isa. vii. 14.) He shall be JrnovAir, or the true God, and ' our Righteousness,' or the means of our justification. Comp. Isa. THE OOOD SHEPHERD. 397 The person so designated is not indeed in this pas- sage called a shepherd ; but the IMessiah, who is un- questionably meant, is elsewhere called the shepherd, as by Zechariah ; * and his office of pastor is clearly to be inferred from the description of the unfaithful shepherds with which the chapter commences.! " Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of 7/zj/ pasture ! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people ; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them : behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord." In his sermon on the mount our Lord has a similar figure, by which he depicts false prophets. " Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ra- vening wolves."! They come in the garb of shep- herds to destroy the flock which they should feed — they are " thieves and robbers. " In no sense therefore could the impostors who came before Christ, whether they assumed the Mes- siahship, or merely desired to raise an insurrection for their own pre-eminence, be compared, or rather contrasted, with the blessed Jesus as the good Shep- herd. But they who had, or who assumed the office of pastors of the people, in a civil or ecclesiastical xlv. 24, 25. 1 Cor. i. 30. The title of Jeifovaii is elsewhere given to the Messiah by the prophets. See Isa.xl, 10. xlviii. 17. IIos. i. 7. Zech. ii. 10, 11. Mai. iii. 1." Lowth. * Particularly in ver. 16 of chap. xi. t Jer. xxiii. 1 — G. See also Ezek. xxxiv. passim. X Malt. vii. 15. St8 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. capacity, or in both, — for in the Jewish state they were united,- — are very properly contrasted with that good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. They had abused their sacred office, and were as " the thief which cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." But Christ came that they who were his sheep might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly — a more abundant pasture. This may be expounded in a higher sense, of the excellency of the Gospel above the Law, in the following words of the Apostle. " The letter (of the Law) killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. If the mi- nistration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance ; which glory was to be done away : how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ?" * " I am the good Shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth : and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." f The Divinity of Christ is the necessary inference from a comj)arison of the several texts of the Old Testament, in which Jehovah assumes to himself that office of the good Shepherd, whom our Lord declares himself to be, and in the precise sense of * 2 Cor. iii. 6—8. f John x. 1 I— 13. THE GOOD SHErilF.RD. 399 the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. The first and most striking passage of this kind is in the fortietli chapter of the prophet Isaiah, which I sliall cite from tlie elegant translation of Bishop Lowth, which has been already referred to in this work. * Behold, the Lord Jehovah shall come against the strong one. And his arm shall prevail over him. Behold, his reward is with him, and the recom- pense of his work before him. Like a Shepherd shall he feed hisjiock ; In his arm shall he gather up the lambs, And shall bear them in his bosom ; the nursing ewes shall he gently lead."*t The same Lord Jehovah, who is so frequently described by the Psalmist as " the Shepherd of Israel who leadeth Joseph like a flock" — who is " our * Isa. xl. 10, 11. t " The nursing ewes shall he gently lead." A beautiful image, expressing, with the utmost propriety as well as elegance, the tender attention of the shepherd to his flock. That the greatest care in driving the cattle in regard to their dams and their young was necessary, appears from Jacob's apology to his brother Esau, Gen. xxxiii. 13. ' The flocks and the herds giving suck to their young are with me; and if they should be over-driven, all the flock would die.' Which is set in a still stronger light by the following remark of Sir John Chaidin : — " Their flocks," (says he, speaking of those who now live in the East after the patriarchal manner,) " feed down the places of their encampment so quick, by the great numbers that they have, that they are obliged to remove them too often ; which is very destructive to their flocks on account of the young ones, who have not strength enough to follow." Harmcr's Observ. i. p. 126. Bp. Lowth's notes on Isaiah, vol. ii, p. 259. 400 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. Maker, our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand"* — is also de- scribed by the prophets to " feed his flock like a shepherd;" and the same is the office of the Messiah, who declares himself to be the " good Shepherd" who " came" into the world to " seek and save that which was lost," and " bringeth home the wandering sheep upon his shoulders rejoicing.'f In one word, the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scriptures and Jesus Christ are plainly identified by these similitudes to be the same person. In no other way can the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament be consistently reconciled. It should moreover be remembered, that the whole of this beautiful chapter, which commences with the ** Voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah," is prophetic of the kingdom of the Messiah, which is here declared " the way of Jehovah," in the words uttered by St. John 4;he Baptist. The tenderness of the imagery of the eleventh verse, in which the Messiah is described as a shepherd feeding his flock, — gathering up the lambs in his arms, and bearing them in his bosom, and gently leading the nursing ewes," — all this was beautifully fulfilled in " the good Shepherd," who "laid down his life for the sheep." His care and tenderness of his flock we experience every hour of our existence. The prophet Ezekiel describes the Messiah in two * Ps. xxii. 1. Ixxx. 1. xcv. 7. t Sec W. l.owth's Commentary on Isaiah, xl. 11. THE GOOD SHEPHFRD. 4-01 places, in his human character, by the name of David, as a shepherd and a king. David's first em- ployment was that of a shepherd; and he was taken from the sheepcote to be made king over Israel, "And I will set up one shepherd* over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David ; he shall feed tiiem, and he shall be their shepherd." " And David my servant shall be king over them ; and they all shall have one shepherd." f In the New Testament we find this designation uniformly adopted in reference to Christ. In the epistle to the Hebrews, he is called by the inspired author—" Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep," whom " the God of peace brought again from the dead. "I St. Peter calls him " the Shepherd and Bishop of souls." ^ And in his directions to the mi- nisters and governors of the Church, he promises to those who rightly "feed the flock of God," that, "when the chief Shepherd shall appear, they shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."|| This is " the good Shepherd," who " giveth his life for the sheep." " The hireling," who *' fleeth," when he " seeth the wolf coming," is not he who receives a suitable maintenance from his flock ; for of this he is de- clared to be worthy by the ordinance of Christ. It * " One shcplieid ;" rather, " a single shepherd," In opposiliou both to many slieplierds at one time, and a succession of shep- herds in diOcrent times. Bishop Horsley, Hib. Crit. vol. iii, p. 216. tEzck. xxxiv. 23. xxxvii. 2i. I Hcb. xiii. 20. § 1 Pet. ii. 2.5. II lb. v. 4. 2 D 402 THE (lOOD SHEPHERD. is either the intruder, who has no right to become an overseer of the flock ;* or it is he, who, thougli it is his duty to take care of the flock at the hazard of his Hfe, neglects his charge, (as the Pharisees with whom our Lord was discoursing,) like a common hirehng, at the approach of danger. But, says our blessed Lord, " I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father : and I lay down my life for the sheep."| While Christ testifies his obedience to his Father in laying down his life for the sheep, he plainly declares himself equal to, or " one with the Father." He obeys the will of the Father from their mutual knowledge of each other. But Christ tells them that it is not only for the house of Israel that he lays down his life, but for the Gentiles also. " And other sheep I have, which are not of this * " The hireling here intended is not he who receives mainte- nance from his particular flock, for this he may do by virtue of Christ's ordinances, 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. (of this, saith Christ, ' he is worthy,' Lukex. 7.) and much less he who labours among them, with respect to that recompense, or crown of glory, he is to receive, ' when the chief Shepherd shall appear;' but, he who is an intruder, ' whose own the sheep are not ;' Avho intends not their good so much as his own profit ; and who in time of danger flies for his own safety, not caring though the wolf tear and devour them. Hence, also, we may learn, that a true pastor must not desert his flock in time of peril, when by his absence they may be brought into great peril, and by his presence may be happily preserved from it," Whitby's Commentary, vol. i. p. 4G8. ko. t John X. 14, 1 5. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 403 fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.'* The Oriental custom of the shepherds calling their sheep, and leading them out, has been men- tioned. But the Gentiles, people of all nations, could not, in the same sense as the children of Israel, who had so long been the peculiar flock of God, be called his sheep ; for though they should '* hear the voice" of the Shepherd, they could not recognize it like the old flock. They are therefore called " other sheep ;" and although they cannot possibly remember a voice which they have never heard, yet their minds shall be so prepared, as we know the minds of men were by the Divine Provi- dence prepared for the advent of the Messiah, that they shall hear and obey the voice of the great Shepherd ;f they shall be brought into the fold ; * John X. 16. t " The sheep here cannot be understood to be beUevers or disciples of Christ, for these are supposed to be sheep before Christ the Shepherd comes to them, and in that to be denomi- nated sheep, that they hear the true Shepherd's voice, when he comes, and so cannot be they that have already received him, as behevers must have done ; and accordingly of the thieves and robbers that came before Christ it is said, the sheep did not hear them. By all which it is evident that the sheep are a sort of men, not yet considered as Christians, but such as are apt to be- lieve in the true Messias when he comes, and so to follow him, as knowing his voice : which last expression is a key to open the meaning of the parable, and resolve who the sheep are. God the Father is, in the avraTroSocrif or moral, the chief Shepherd, that is, the owner or master of the sheep, (as among the Jews men kept their own sheep,) and the sheep arc those that are best 2 D 2 404 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. and henceforth " there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd. ' All men were originally of one fold, and of one church, from which they had been for resembled by that emblem, the honest and humble-hearted men, that by the revelation of God's will, and some measure of grace afforded, before the coming of Christ, have been formed into all probity and humility of manners, living either as Zachary and divers others are said to do, ualking in the ways of God blameless, or else, after an ill life, recovered by repentance ; and these are so well acquainted with the ways of God, that when any false Christ or impostor, (or true servant, abusing his trust by false principles,) comes with infusion of impiety or wicked- ness, they discern them to be contrary to godliness, and so will not hearken to them ; but when Christ the true Shepherd (for his Father and he are one, ver. 30.) cometh, and that, as with Di- vine miracles to attest his mission, so with doctrines of piety perfectly agreeable to that which they formerly practised as the will of God, and only more elevated, and of higher perfection, Matt.v. than those, — discerning the agreeableness of his doctrines with those which they have already received from God, and the addition of all the heavenly promises, which agree with the no- tion which they had of God as a rewarder, they know him to be the Messias, the Shepherd which God hath promised to send them, that is, God Himself, (not any hired Senant, whose own the sheep are not, ver. 12. but) the true Shepherd, who is the owner of the sheep ; and that is the meaning of their knowing his xoice, upon which it is that they follow him, whereas stran- gers they fly fron), and do nut know their voice." Hammond's Annotations on John vi. 27. Works, vol. iii. p. 287, fol. The above able comment on the import of " the sheep hearing the voice" of the Shepherd, strictly coincides with the principle of the exposition of the parable in the text, in which Christ, and Jehovah, the true Shepherd, are identified as the same per- son. Messiah, the Shepherd, is declared by Dr. Hammond to be God Himself : and such He must be, if the Old and New Testaments are at all reconcileable. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 405 ages separated, when God, for the preservation of true religion, prepared the way for the Redeemer by the call of Abraham. His descendants had for many ages constituted the only visible Church. They were the only flock, and the Lord Jehovah was their Shepherd. But Christ was the " good Shepherd" who would bring all the earth into one fold. " We were," as Peter* expresses it, as " sheep going astray ; but are now returned unto the Shep- herd and Bishop of our souls." All who now hear his voice, " when the Great Shepherd shall appear," at the day of judgment, " shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I re- ceived of my Father. "t The parable concludes with the declaration of Christ's perfect obedience to the Father as a man, but of his Almighty power as God. How these can subsist together we can no farther understand than it is revealed to us. But to separate one from the other is to distort the language from its ordinary construction — language in itself as wonderful for its simplicity, as the momentous truths which it ex- presses are stupendous in their sublimity. The Mediatoii between God and man obeyed the com- mandment whicli he had received from his Father, * 1 Pet. ii. 2.3. f John x. l7, 18. 406 THE GOOD SHEPHERD. and as a man laid down his life for the sheep : but as THE Divine Shepherd, the Lord Jehovah THE Shepherd of Israel, this is a voluntary act of love, because " he careth for the sheep." " I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father : and I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."* * The original word, rendered *' power," e^oucrja, in this text, has been attempted to be perverted to the meaning of "authority" in the Unitarian Version. For a refutation of this perversion of a text so plainly declaring the Divinity of Christ, the reader is referred to an able note in Archbishop Magee's work on the Atonement, vol. ii. p. 516. I shall, however, make a few ex- tracts of the substance of that elaborate note, which no candid scholar can peruse without conviction. " Tro7nmius, Biel, and Schkusner assign to the word e^oucnct, besides the species of power implied by the terras authority, pri- vilege, and delegated commission, the sense of power generally, in its fullest and strongest import ; and support the sense of the word by numerous examples. — * 1. Vis et potestas efficiendi aliquid, facidtas.' — ' 2. Libertas agendi, quae et Latinis potestas dicitur.' — ' 3. Auctoritas, &c.' — * 4. Licentia agendi et Jaciendt, jus.' — Schleusner. — Trommius and Biel, also, in their researches into the application of the word by the Seventy and the other Greek interpreters of the O. T., can discover in their use of it no other meanings than ' Potestas, Dominium, Imperiu?n, Dominatio.' " In Luke xii. 5, when our Lord warns the multitude, that they should fear him, 'who, after he had killed, had Power (s^ovaictv) to cast into hell;' I would ask, whether this power is here spoken of as belonging to the Father, or to the Son : if to the Father, by whom was it delegated; and if to the Son, what must THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 407 Every humble Cliristian may therefore express his confidence in the grace of God, in the exquisite language of the inspired Psalmist and Prophet : — " Jehovah is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he lead- eth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his be the nature of the Being to whom so vast a power is ascrib- ed ? — Again, in Acts xxvi. 18. when St. Paul is appointed to turn sinners ' from the Power of Satan unto God ;' when in Romans ix. 21, it is asked whether 'the potter' hath not ' Power over the clay ;' and when Revel, xx. 6, we are told of those, ' over whom the second death had no Power ;' are we, in all these cases, to look to an autlioritj/ conferred, or commission delegated ? The word z^ov(nx is that which is employed in these, as well as in numerous other passages, in which to apply the phrase authority, or delegated convnissinn, would only excite laughter at the expense of the critic. — But to come more deci- sively to the point : we have, in the book of Daniel, the render- ing of it, both by Theodotion, (iii. 33. and iv. 31.) and by the Seventy, (iii. 33. and iv. 34. Chig. MS. Holmes.) the word e^oixTKx. attributed to the most High God, and applied to express that pouer and dominion, which he was to exercise over all the nations of the earth, and which was to be everlasting. In Acts i. 7, vve are told of the ' Seasons which the Fatiikr hath put (sv Tj] ilia, e^ovaiu) in his own Powkr.' " In Bishop Fearce's Commentary on Jolui i. 12, there is the fol- lowing enumeration of the meanings of e^ouo-ja, which the Arch- bishop adduces in the Note whence these extracts are made, and with which I shall conclude. " The word e^ovjj Tr^o Tc«v flupcuv e!7T>]xsv, * The Judge standeth before the door,' chap. v. 8, U. And St. Luke, by varying the phrase thus, ' Know that the kingdom of God is nigh,' Luke xxi. 3\. i. e. Tlie coming of Christ to execute iiis kingly oflice on the Jews, and give his kingdom, thus taken from them, to the be- 430 SECOND I'AKABLE OF THE IIC-TIU:!:. An examination of a similar passage in tlie Epistle of St. James, before we proceed further with the parable, will, I think, throw mucii light on this j)art of it. That Apostle exhorts the suffering brethren, to whom his Epistle is addressed, in these words : — " Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coining of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long pa- tience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts : for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." * In the verse immediately preceding this extract, the Apostle had pointed out the patience of the Just One, who, though he had all power in heaven and in earth, resisted not his oppressors. He there- fore exhorts his brethren to patience, until the com- ing of the Lord, who would reward them for all their sufferings, as he was now about to avenge himself — not by Himself, but by His ministers — of the unbe- lieving Jews. He enforces his admonition by the familiar, but beautiful image of the husbandman who patiently waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and the produce of his labour, until the com- lieving Gentiles, Matt. xxi. 43." Whitby's atklitions to the Anno- tations upon the Gospel of St. Matthew, No. 43. This critical amendment of so able a critic as Whitby is very valuable ; and though his conclusion is the same as in the body of his Commentary, it makes the one adopted in the present exposition much more easy of apprehension, even by those who have entertained the common opinion respecting tiie sense of this passage of the parable. * Jiimes V. 7 — y. SKCOND TAKABl.E OF Till: riC.-TKEi:. 431 iiig of the early and tlie latter rain. This figure is not clissiniilar from the fig-tree, in this parable, put- tina' forth his leaves. The earlv and tlie latter rain were the signs of the succeeding fruitfulness of the earth, as the budding fig-tree was the sign of ap- })roaching summer ; and both were signs of the coming of the Son of man. The expressions, " coming of the Lord," and *' coming of the Son of man," though commonly in- terpreted of the destruction of Jerusalem, literally signify our Lord's coming in person to Judgment at the last great Day. St. James unquestionably describes the terrors of the destruction of Jerusalem, that he might, if possible, bring the vmbelieving Jews to a due sense of <^heir danger. But he consoles the believing brethren with the prospect of the day of Judgment, when the Lord would himself come, and reward them openly, in the sight of men and angels, for then- patient suffering. Hence the figure of the husbandman, waiting the course of Providence and the coming of the early and the latter rain, becomes an appropriate and a beautiful image of the expected reward of his labour in the fruits of the earth, as our Lord would reward the faithful with the joys of lieaven. But it is no apt figure of waiting for ven- geance : for however punishment was merited by the unbelieving Jews, the infliction of it, — though just and necessary as it will doubtless appear to all at the last day, and, as regards the Jews, was me- rited in the destruction of Jerusalem, — can neverthe- less afford no hai)piness, and will therefore constitute 432 SECOND TARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. no reward, to the righteous believers in any period of their existence. Time, in the eye of God, and therefore in his dis- pensations, is not measured as we measure time ; it is measured by the events. The next great event, therefore, after the punishment and dispersion of the Jews and the establishment of the Church of Christ, is, in the course of Divine Providence, the last great Day, when, — if without irreverence we may so ex- })ress it, — the whole magnificent drama of the Scheme of Man's Redemption will be wound up— when the righteous will be rewarded, and the wicked punish- ed. Hence, in the verse after the passage above cited, St. James declares, almost in the very language of our Lord, — "Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." * f * James v. 9. t This interpretation of the phrases, " the coming of the Lord," and the " coming of the Son of Man," will be strengthened by the consideration of the opinions of the early Christians respect- ing the day of Judgment. There was a tradition that the earth, in a physical as well as in a religious sense, was to undergo a great change at the end of six thousand years. According to the best chronologists, there wanted much less than fifty years, in the apostolic age, to complete this great period of the world : " And although," says an excellent modern author, " that im- pression cannot be traced to any authority which ought to receive from a Christian reader the smallest degree of respect, there is no doubt, nevertheless, that it entered deeply into the theologi- cal systems of the age which witnessed the introduction of our holy faith. Nay, even in the apostolical writings, there are several terms employed, which, whatever might be their more recondite meaning, could not fail to strengthen, in the minds of the believers, the alFecting persuasion that the end of tlie world was to coincide with (he terniinaliou of their own lives." — SECOND PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE, 433 Such expressions as these, of " the Judge standing hefoic the door" — "He (the Son of man) is near, The author then quotes and refers to several texts from the New Testament, such as 1 Thess. iv. 15 — 17; 2 Thess. xi. 1 — 9; 1 Cor. XV. 23cl and following verses ; Revel, xx. 4, &c. — and makes some interesting observations, for which the reader is re- ferred to the work itself, being too long for the limits of a note. But I cannot refrain from extracting the following remark : — " There is little reason to doubt, that the author of the Epistles to the Corinthians and Thcssalonians, as well as the inspired writer of the Apocalypse, partook of the impressions relative to the speedy arrival of the first resurrection, and the beginning of the Messiah's reign, which prevailed among iheir countrymen ; and I agree with Grotius, who hesitates not lo state, that St. Paul thought it possible that he might be alive at the time of the general Judgment." * See Dr. Russell's Preliminary Disser- tation to his '• Connection of Sacred and Profane History," vol. i. p. 102—124. The use I would make of these observations, in reference to the subject in the text, is that it is certain that the apostles and inspired writers of the New Testament understood these pas- sages, now referred to the destruction of Jerusalem, of the last Judgment and the end of the world. I feel constrained to agree with Dr. Russell in the following opinion respecting the inspira- tion of these Sacred Writers. " The Holy Spirit brought to the remembrance of the disciples all things of religious importance; and more especially whatever they had seen or been taught in relation to those great facts and doctrines on which the founda- tions of Christianity are laid : but, in reference to future events, we perceive no evidence to justify the opinion, that these chosen servants of the Redeemer enjoyed views in any degree more vivid or extensive than such as might have arisen from their natural penetration, aided by a careful inquiry into the writings of the Old Testament." * " Omiiino putavit Paulus fieri posse, ut ipse viverit judicii generalis tempore; idque non ex his tantum verbis satis apertis liquet, sed et ex 1 Cor. xv. &c." — Sec Grutii Annotationcs in Epistolam jniorem ad 'ilicssal. Opera, vol. v. p. C44, 2 F 434 SECOND PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. even at the doors " — *' The coming of the Lord" — and " The coming of the Son of man,"— are frequently employed both by the holy EvangeHsts, who record the words of Jesus when comforting his disciples, and by the inspired penmen of the Epistles to com- fort the suffering believers ; nor need there, for many reasons which have been already and more which might be mentioned, be a constant endeavour on the part of expositors, in this nor in any age of the Church, to interpret these expressions of the destruction of Jerusalem: For besides that it is contrary to the received rule of interpretation among the best and most sober expositors, to understand a text figuratively when it will more consistently ad- mit of a literal interpretation, — of what importance, it may be asked, is the destruction of Jerusalem to us, further than that it is, as it were, one of the landmarks, showing the verity of our faith, an evidence of the truth of prophecy, and forming an important link in the chain of the Biblical history ? But it has no practical application to ourselves : whereas the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, especially of the latter, were written for the express instruction, and for the support and consolation of Christians in all ages of the Church. When, therefore, the holy Evangelists, in recording the discourses of oiu' blessed Lord, and St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. James, in their various epistles — for they all speak in the same style, — console the suffer- ing believers of the apostolic age with the cheering prospect of " the coming of the Lord," and of " the Judge standing before," — and " the Son of man SECOND PAUABI.E OV THE FIG-TREE. 435 being near, even at the doors," — the instruction and consolation of the disciples of Christ in all ages of the church, who may be placed in similar circum- stances, are manifestly intended and contemplated by the Divine Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, who di- rected those holy and inspired penmen in the com- position of their heavenly and invaluable writings. " The coming of our Lord," says Bishop Horsley, "is a topic which the holy penmen employ, when they find occasion to exhort the brethren to a steady per- severance in the profession of the Gospel, and a pa- tient endurance of those trying afflictions with which the Providence of God, in the first ages of the Church, was pleased to exercise his servants. Upon these occasions, to confirm the pei'secuted Christian's wavering faith — to revive his weary hope — to invi- gorate his drooping zeal — nothing could be more effectual than to set before him the prospect of that liappy consummation, when his Lord should come to take him to himself, and change his short-lived sorrows into endless joy." * That the destruction of Jerusalem was but one of a chain of causes in God's Providence which should gradually conduct to the Judgment of the great Day, and the end of the world ; and that this second paraljlc of the Fig-tree can apply to none other event, in tlie economy of man's redemption, than this final and awful conclusion of the whole, is proved to de- monstration in the sermons already referred to by the late learned Bishop of St. Asaph. The whole * Sermons, vol. i. p. 1 1 , 1 '2. 2 F li 436 SECOND PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. may be summed up in the following luminous pas- sage : — " The approach of summer," says our Lord, " is not more surely indicated by the first appearances of spring, than the final destruction of the wicked by the beginnings of vengeance on this impenitent peo- ple. The opening of the vernal blossom is the first step in a natural process, which necessarily termi- nates in the ripening of the summer fruits ; and the rejection of the Jews, and the adoption of the believing Gentiles, is the first step in the execution of a settled plan of Providence, which inevitably ter- minates in the general judgment. The chain of physical causes, in the one case, is not more uninter- rupted, or more certainly productive of the ultimate effect, than the chain of moral causes in the other. 'Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.' * ' All these things,' in this sentence, must unquestionably denote * Hence, says Lightfoot, it appears plain enough that the fore- going verses are not to be understood of the last Judgment, but of the destruction of Jerusalem. There were some among the disciples, particularly John, who lived to see these things come to pass. With Matt. xvi. last, compare John xxi. 22. And there were some Rabbins alive at the time that Christ spoke these things, that lived till the city was destroyed. Works, vol. ii. p. 245. These facts are indisputable : but they militate nothing against the conclusiveness of Bishop Horsley's reasoning; for this event is equally contemplated by him and the previous commen- tators ; but the learned Bishop considers the destruction of Je- rusalem but as a sign of the coming of the Son of man at the last day, whereas they confine the coming of the Son of man to that particular event. SECOND PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. 437 the same things which are denoted by the same words just before. Just before, the same words de- noted those particular circumstances of the Jewish war which were included in our Lord's prediction. All those signs, which were to answer to the fig-tree's budding leaves, the apostles and their contempora- ries, at least some of that generation, were to see. But as the thing portended is not included among the signs, it was not at all implied in this declaration that any of them were to live to see the harvest, the com'wg of our Lord in giori/" * All that is necessary to be added is the certainty of the fulfilment of this prediction of our blessed Lord. If " that generation did not pass away" without having witnessed the just judgment of God upon the Jews, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of their polity ; the great Day, of which this event may be considered a prelude, will as surely come to pass. These are the words of the Re- deemer and Judge : — " Heaven and earth may pass away ; but my words shall not pass away !" As surely, therefore, as God selected this people of tlie Jews, for the purposes of his wise Providence, from the nations of the earth ; as surely as they were placed under the immediate protection of God, which, but for their disobedience, would never iiave been withdrawn from them ; as surely as, — when * Sermons, vol. i. p. 17. The third edition is referred to. 1'he reader is referred to the Hrst four sermons of this late learned Prelate's published sermons. Any iteration of the pub- lic opinion of these invaluable discourses were a presumption in tlie author, of which he shall not incur the imputation. 438 THE WISE HOUSEHOLDEll. they wilfully and perversely disobeyed God, and were uncorrected by successive chastisements, and finally filled up the measure of their iniquity by the rejection of the Messiah, — they were destroyed as a nation, and scattered over the face of the earth ; as surely as all these things have happened to this peo- ple, will the great day of Judgment arrive, when the things which are promised, and the judgments which are denounced in the Scriptures, will happen to the Christian world. The wonderful history of this people forms a link in the scheme of Divine Provi- dence. The destruction of Jerusalem and the dis- persion of the Jews are but the beginning of a series of events— all laid down in the Scriptures, particu- larly of the New Testament — which will end in the final day of Resurrection and Judgment : and these mighty events will open a yet wider realm of Divine wisdom and love to the blessed on that great day ; while to those who have, like the infatuated Jews, blinded their eyes to these stupendous truths, they will unfold a world of misery, fearfully more great and more terrible than the destruction of Jerusalem to the Jews. SECTION II. THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER, THE FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT, AND THE EVIL SERVANT. " Watch therefore : for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. 439 the thief would come, he would have watclied, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready : foi* in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season ? Blessed is thai servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming ; and shall begin to smite his fellow- servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken ; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint Iiim his poi'tion with the hypocrites : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."* f The above parable, though connected in all its parts, and therefore one, distinguishes three charac- ters : — The wise householder, who, had he known in what hour the thief would come, would have been watchful, and have thus prevented the break- ing up of his house ; — the faithful and wise servant, • Matt. xxiv. 42 — 51. Mark xiii. 33 — 37. Luke xii. 3d —46. f Slaves, who were grievous offenders, were often condemned to work in the mines or quarries, where the groans and lamenta- tions were excessive. We arc told in Josephus, B. I. lib. vi. 44. that this happened at this time to many of the Jews. In a higher and second sense it relates to a future life. Le Clerc. Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 391. 440 THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. whom, for having fulfilled the duties of the wise house- holder, his Lord hath made ruler over his house- hold ; — and the evil servant, who, because his Lord delayeth his coming, abuses his trust, is guilty of cruelty and injustice to his fellow-servants, and com- mits excess with profligate strangers. These sepa- rate characters are beautifully distinguished from each other, and are yet so insensibly united, that the same individual may, in his own person, repre- sent the three ; and of this liability is the warning given at the commencehient, as an awfid preparation for the day of Judgment : — " Watch therefore : for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." By all the commentators, mentioned in the last Section, who confine the interpretation of the fore- going parable of the Fig-tree to the destruction of Jerusalem, the same interpretation is of course ap- plied to the present parable. Bishop Porteus, who adopts the common interpretation, calls this parable " the moral of the prophecy," — which is contained in the preceding part of the chapter, and especially in the parable of the Fig-tree, — and allows that it " alludes no less to the final judgment than to the destruction of Jerusalem, and iipplies with at least equal force to both."* Were the prophetic denun- * See his XlXth Lecture on St. Matthew, Works, vol. v. p. 222. But the sense in which this prelate supposes it to apply to the day of Judgment is the typical or secondari/ sense, which is common to almost all the prophetic writings. He thus ex- presses himself at the commencement of this Lecture : — " The prophecy is that wiiich our blessed Lord delivered respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, to which, [ apprehend, the whole THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. 441 ciations of this sublime chapter to apply in but a secondary sense to the day of Judgment, they would lose much of tlieir force when applied to Christians. By all commentators it is agreed that they do apply equally to all Christians, as to the Jews to whom the discourse was immediately addressed ; " not only," says the Prelate just quoted, " to his immediate hearers, but to his disciples in all future ages." Wc are all therefore included in the awful admonition contained in these words — " Watch therefore : for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."* of the Ctiapter, in its primary acceptation, relates. At the same time it must be admitted, tliat the forms of expression, and the images made use of, are for the most part applicable also to the day of Judgment ; and that an allusion to that great event, as a secoudarij object, runs through almost every part of the pro- phecy. This is a very common practice in the prophetic writ- ings, where two subjects are carried on together, a principal and subordinate one." But Bishop Horsley sets the matter in its true light by showing that the events of the Jewish war are the signs (not the types) of the day of Judgment; and thus the prophecy becomes direct ; whereas, as he observes, by the common expo- sition, it is doubtful whether there be in the New Testament any clear jirediction of the day of Judgment.— '* Our Lord gives a minute detail of those circumstances of the war, which to that generation were to be the .y/^'-«,y of the last advent; not the tiling itself, but the signs of it ; for the beginning of a completion of a long train of prophecy is the natural sign and pledge of the completion of the whole." (Ilorsley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 33.) * Ver. 42 — 44. It is probably conjectured by Dr. Lightfoot, that the discourse of Christ ended here, as in St. Mark and St. Luke ; and that the words following, as in Luke xii. 39, were spoken at another time, and upon another occasion; but because they well accord also with this place, and with this occasion, St. Matthew hath added them to this chapter. See Whitby in loc. vol. i. p. 1S8. 442 THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. " But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods." The duty of watchfulness, and of perseverance in the faith of Christ, so strongly inculcated by this parable, is supposed to be now pressed upon his hearers by our Lord ; because punishment was about to be inflicted on the slothful unbelievers in the destruction of Jerusalem. The suddenness of judgment is certainly indicated by the im.age of the thief breaking up a house ; and that this image is used by the inspired penmen of the New Testament to denote an unexpected judgment is indisputable.* * The following is Whitby's note on the place : — "The meta- phor of Christ's coming as a thief, i. e. vmexpectedly, doth not prove, that those words must respect Christ's coming to the final judgment only, they being used touching his coming unexpec- tedly to execute any judgment on a church or nation ; as when Christ saith to the Church of Sardis, Rev. iii. 3. ' Watch, — I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know the hour when I will come upon thee ;' and some probably conjecture, they are used by St. Paul, 1 Thess. v. 2, with a particular rela- tion to this judgment inflicted on the Jews ; which being the most signal prcUidiiim to, and proof of that final judgment which THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. 443 But it may be added that this image is generally employed to indicate the coming of the Son of man to tlie final judgment. The first text, which i§ appealed to in the third chapter of the Apocalypse,* " If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee," may be understood in the general sense of the following paraphrase : — " If they disregard this direction, they are to expect some sudden and unforeseen judgment, as a thief is used to surprise a house in the night."f But the passage of the Epistle to the Thessalo- nians| can apply to no other event than the day of Judgment, when the Son of man shall come in the clouds of heaven. In the previous chapter the Apostle describes that awful day in these animating words : — " The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Arch- angel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up togetlier with them shall be exercised on all the enemies of Christ's kingdom, may well be represented in a similitude used by St. Peter, 2 Pet. iii. 10, and by our Lord, Luke xii. 39, 40, with relation toil." See Whitby ut supra. See likewise his commentary on 1 Thess. V. 1.2, in whii'h he refers that text to both judgments — the de- struction of Jerusalem, and final day of Judgment ; but he acknowledges in the outset, that the former " is not once hinted at by the ancients, who all interpret these words -rrspi T>]f xoiVYji (TvvTeKuagf of C/irisl's general advent." Whitby's Comm. vol. ii. p. 37;). 4to. ' Rev. iii. 3. t Lowman's Paraphrase, p. 31. Iti). X 1 Thess. iv. 10, 17. v. 1, 2. 444 THE WISE HOUSEHOLDEB. in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord." The next chapter continues the subject, and makes a practical application of the fact of the general judg- ment, and of the uncertainty of the time, which had been revealed to no created being. " But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." If the images in the preceding chapter, and the positive mention, of the resurrection of Jesus as being the sure basis of our resurrection at the last day — if these cannot apply consistently to the destruction of Jerusalem and the ending of the Jewish polity, awful as that judgment was, — " the day of the Lord," illustrated by " the coming of a thief in the night," must refer to the final advent of Christ.* The text from the second Epistle of St. Peter, which is referred to by all expositors on this text, is allowed, by many of the best commentators and critics, to refer to the final advent of our Lord to judgment. " The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall * Upon this passage to the Thessalonians, as well as other passages of the New Testament, particularly 1 Cor. xv. &c. has been founded the supposition that the Apostles believed that they might be alive at the second advent of Christ. Grotius has this note on 1 Thess. iv. 17. "Then ive which are alive, &c. Nos inquit, quia putabat fieri posse, ut inter eos csset, sicut modo diximus." The last words allude to a similar opi- nion expressed on 1 Cor. xv, 52. Grotii Opera, vol. iii. p. 826, 94.'3. fol. See note in p. 432. THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. 445 j)ass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein sliall be burned up."* Lightfoot and Hammond do indeed interpret this text of the destruction of Jerusalem, and attach the same mean- ing to all texts wherein " the day of the Lord" is mentioned. But Grotius, Whitby, Macknight, and others, understand it of the general judgment. The universal deluge, which is very skilfully employed by the Apostle to warn believers of the certainty of the advent of Christ to the general judgment, bears not the same analogy to the destruction of Jeru- salem, whicli, however it may bear upon the great scheme of Divine Providence in the redemption of man, is nevertheless, strictly speaking, a partial judgment upon one nation. f ♦ 2 Peter iii. 10. t "H^e» Ss Yj Yjixspa TOO Kvpiov, Adxenkt autem Dies Domini. Ilia nltima, qua Christus homines judicabii ; cujus arrhabo sunt juilicia ilia in Judoeos, Lucae xvii. 24 ; 1 Cor. i. 8. v. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 14;Philipp. i. 10." Grotii Opera, torn. iii. p. 1123. fol. Whitby takes the same view of it, as may be seen in the pre- ceding note, p. 442. Hammond has a very long note upon this text, in which he endeavours to apply it to the destruction of Jerusalem. See his Works, vol. iii. p. 819. fol. The following remarks of Macknight on the place are worth the reader's at- tention : " The (1(11/ uflhe Lord. See 2 Thess. Pref. Sect. 4, (of his own Commentary,) where it is shown, that although Christ's coming to destroy Jerusalem is sometimes called the coming, and the day (/f the Lord, these apjicllations are given to various other events, and therefore Hammond, Lightfoot, and others, who argue that the Apostle is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem because he calls the event of which he speaks the daij of the Lord, build their opinion on a very weak foundation. 446 THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. In the parable of St. Luke,* which is allowed by Whitby to refer to the final judgment, the Evan- gelist uses the same similitude of the thief, and seems to refer more peculiarly to those who are entrusted with the cvire of souls. Grotius thinks that the parable, which had gone before.^ had relation to all the people ; and that this more specially applied to the pastors of the church. :|: If this be correct, the whole must refer to the judgment of the last day. Our Lord had been exhorting his hearers to watch- fulness, which he illustrated by a parable of the "As a thief in the iiiglit. Because thieves commonly break into the house in the night-time, and occasion great fear to those who are within, any sudden unexpected event, especially such as occasioned terror, was compared by the Hebrews to the coming of a thief in the night. The suddenness, therefore, and unexpectedness of the coming of the day of the Lord, and the terror which it will occasion to the wicked, are the circum- stances in which it will resemble the coming of a thief, and not that it will happen in the night-time. Yet the ancients, from this and other passages, inferring that Christ's coming to judg- ment should happen in the night-time, instituted their vigils. But as Beza says, leaving the uncertainties, let us rather watch day and night, with minds raised up to him, that we may not be lulled asleep by the intoxications of the world." Macknight's Epistles, vol. iv. p. 196. * Luke xii. 39, 40. t Verse 36, 37. X Luke xii. 4L " Recte hinc colligi puto, cum prior fabula ad omnes pertinuisset, vxnde et apud Marcum ei subjicitur, d h vjxiv keyco, 'Kum Xsyca, ypriyopsiTS, {Quod lohis dico, omnibus dico, xigilatc) alteram a Christo adjectam, quae Pastores Eccle- siarum proprie tangeret." Grot. Oper. torn. ii. 408. fol. " By the parable of the two Stevvards, Jesus showed Peter, that though his exhortations were directed to all, they had a more especial relation to those who are entrusted with the care of the souls of others." ISLicknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 433. THE WISE HOrSKHOLDER. 447 good Servants who waited for tlieir Lord, when lie returned from the wedding. " Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suf- fered his house to be broken through. Be ye there- fore ready also ; for tlic Son of man cometh at an liour when ye think not."*" Then follows the parable of the faithful and the unfaithful Stewards or Ser- vants, in nearly the same words as that of the Evan- gelist St. Matthew. The following verses are added by the Evangelist St. Luke, and respect the different proportion of punishment which awaits the ignorant and the better informed servant : — •" And that ser- vant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."f That this parable, which we are now considering, is the same with that of St. Luke, which is generally understood to speak of the final advent of Christ, and therefore that the present parable of St. Matthew refers to the same great event, it has been my en- deavour to show in the foreccoino; remarks. The image of the " thief in the night" is used in three texts already examined, two of which can have * Luke xii. 39, 40. f Ibid xii. t7, 4.8. 448 THE WISE HOUSEHOLDER. no possible relation to any other event than the last judgment.* The same comparison is used in another part of the Apocalypse than that to which we have already referred ; but perhaps the applica- tion is more general, and can hardly be applied to the second advent of Christ to judgment, and cannot possibly refer to the destruction of Jeru- salem.! This parable, though addressed to the disciples, is equally applicable to all Christians :— " What I say unto you I say unto all."± Watchfulness and per- severance in the faith of Christ are inculcated, and enforced by the assurance of a great and final day of judgment, when the good and evil servants will be rewarded and punished. The faithful ser- vant shall be made ruler over his Lord's household ; that is, he will receive the highest reward in a future state ; while the evil servant shall be cut asunder, and have his portion appointed with the hypocrites ; in other words, he will be infinitely miserable in a future state. The best practical application may be found in the lansnajre of St. Luke ;— " Take heed to vour- selves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."^ * 1 Thess. V. 2. 2 Pet. iii. 10. f Rev. xvi. 15. t Mark xiii. 37. Luke xii. '11. § Luke xxi, 34—36. 449 CHAPTER IX. PAYABLES DESCRIPTIVE OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. SECTION I. THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. " Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them : but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go yc out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto tlie wise. Give us of your oil ; for our lamps are gone out. ]5ut the wise answered, saying, Not so ; lest there be not enough for us and you ; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while 2 c; 450 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. they went to buy, the bridegroom came ; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage : and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said. Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know nei- ther the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man Cometh."* We are now come to those parables which our blessed Lord delivered but a short time prior to his death, and which are descriptive of that awful time when men and angels will be assembled before his judgment-seat. To understand these parables, the preceding chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel should be attentively considered. The last week of our Lord's life, which we designate Passion Week, begins at the twenty-first chapter, wliich describes his trium- phant entry into Jerusalem. From this period all his discourses are evidently calculated to prepare his disciples for that consummation of his earthly la- bours which he knew to be at hand. His parables of the Vineyard let out to husbandmen, and of the Marriage Feast, which v/e have examined in a pre- vious portion of this work,-j- predict the death of the Redeemer, the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. His severe reprehension of the hy- pocritical Pharisees, whom he forewarns of their ap- proaching destruction, and his pathetic lamentation over Jerusalem, :|: so soon to be in desolation, tend to the same conclusion. The twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of * Matt. XXV. 1—13. t See Chap. VI. Sect. IV and V. X Luke xix. 41 — 44. THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. 451 this Gospel contain our Lord's discourses, which were delivered on the evening of the third day, which is Tuesday in Passion -week, after his entry into Je- rusalem, and but tln-ee days before the last passover. He had departed from the temple, and sat upon the Mount of Olives, when " His disciples came unto him privately," and inquired when the things, pre- dicted respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, should come to pass. He refers them to the prophet Da- niel, and warns them that when they should see the signs, "the abomination of desolation," spoken of by that j)rophet, they should flee from Jerusalem, and avoid the impending ruin which would overtake the Jewish nation. At the same time he predicts the Day of Judgment, cf which the destruction of Je- rusalem was the sign, which will be the second Advent of the Son of man, who will " come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." He exhorts them to prepare for both these great events by the parable of the Fig-tree, — which is examined in the preceding chapter of this work, — and by a com})a- rison of those awful seasons, — or rather, as I have al- ready observed, of the second advent of Christ, — with that great judgment of God, the universal deluge in the days of Noah. " As the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."* * Matt. xxiv. .'J7— 39. 2 u 2 452 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. The ten virgins who, according to the parable, " went forth to meet the bridegroom," go forth to meet the bride likewise. Hence the Syriac and Vulgate read " bridegroom and bride."* Marriages were called by the Jewish doctors " the intro- ducing of the bride" into the house of her husband.f According, therefore, to the custom of the East, the virffins, who are the relations and friends of the husband, go forth to meet her and the bridegroom rejoicing, to introduce her into her husband's house, and to partake of the marriage feast along with them. The bridegroom and the bride signify Christ and his church. Hence St. Paul makes use of this figure when he exhorts husbands to i. " love their wives as their own bodies. — For no man ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church." St. John uses the same image in the Apocalypse :§ and the Song of Solomon, in a secondary sense, can be no otherwise interpreted. " And five of them were wise, and five of them were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them : but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.'' [j * E«j oiiravTYio'iv too vujW,(p»H. Non de nihilo est quod La- tinus et Syrus addunt xa» VDjO-tprj?, et ^ponsce. Grotius, Oper. torn. ii. p. 237. t See Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 246. fol. I Epb. V. 28, 29. § Rev. xix. 7. xxi. 2, 9. II This parable, or something very like it, is to be found in the Jewish Records. In Reschith Cochma, we read thus : Our THE WISE AND FOOI.ISH VIKGINS. 453 The wise virgins reju'esent those who had not only nominally embraced the religion of Christ, but who likewise persevered in that profession, and brought forth fruit accordingly, of which the oil in their lamps was a token. But the foolish virgins are tliose — and, alas! how many are of this character — who outwardly profess themselves Christians, but Nvhose religion is nothing but form ; who approach God with their lips, but their heart is far from him ; and who, while they assume the external demeanour of Christians, have neglected every opportunity to invest themselves with those graces which can en- title them to a seat at the marriage feast, a portion of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is signified by their having no oil in their lamps. The wise virgins are said to " take oil in their vessels with their lamps ;" which alludes to the cus- tom of the East. In many parts, particularly in the Indies, instead of torches and flambeaux, it is cus- wise men of blessed memory say, " Repent whilst tliou hast strength to do it, whilst thy lamp burns, and the oil is not ex- tinguished : for, if thy lamp be gone out, tlsy oil will profit thee notlrng." Another parable of theirs is: — " This thing is like to a king, who invited his servants, but appointed no set time : those that were wise adorned themselves, and sat in the porch of the palace ; those that were foolish went about their own busi- ness. The king on a sudden called for his servants ; the first went in adorned, the second undressed. The kii)g was pleased with the wise, and angry with the foolish, a-id said, They v>ho are prepared, shall cat of my bau'inot ; they that are unprepared, shall not eat of it." Kimchi in Isa. l\v. 13, 14. Midrash, Cohel. ad c. 2. U. Whitby's Commeiitaiy, vol. i. p. 191. liighlfdot's Works, vol. ii. p. 247- f»l. 454 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. tomary to carry a pot of oil in one hand, and a lamp, which is thus supplied with oil, in the other.* " While (however) the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." They all, both the wise and the foolish, slumbered and slept, while the bridegroom tarried. This holds ovit a very important lesson, not only to the foolish and indifferent, but likewise to the wise and the good. The very best Christians are not always on their guard against the temptations of the world, nor watchful, with their lights burning, for the hour when our Lord will arrive, — when death and judg- ment will overtake them. The antediluvian world — the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha — the Jews in and after the time of our Lord's sojourn upon earth — and the inhabitants of this earth until the day of Judgment, have all, and will all in like man- ner slumber and sleep until the awakening cry — until the time that Noah entered the ark, and the waters began to be poured forth ; until the fiery deluge began to fall on the devoted cities ; until fire and sword commenced their mortal havock among * Chardin apud Harmer, vol, ii. p. 431. Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 395. " It is the fashion in the country of the Ismaelites to carry the bride from the house of her father to the house of the bridegroom ; and to carry before her about ten wooden staves, having each of them on the top a vessel like a dish, in which there is a piece of cloth with oil and pitch. These, being lighted, they carry before her for torches." Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 247. fol. " Lampades istse oleariae eundem usum in Jiidcca praestitisse videntur quern Romae pinae aut spinea? faces." Grot. Oper. torn. ii. p. 237. fol. THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. 455 the Jews when their city was destroyed, and thou- sands of her inhabitants slain ; and until the blast of the archangel's trump shall be heard, and the dead shall rise from the grave to judgment. " In many things we offend all," * Every man's conscience is too faithful a monitor not to inform him that however strong his conviction of the truth of his religion, — however firm his faith in the threatenings, however confident his hope in the pro- mises of the Gospel, — there are times when he remits his vigilance, when he is open to temptation, and when the enemy would have the fullest advantage over him, were it not for the grace of God, which often shields us when we do not merit protection. Hence proba])ly the saints in Scripture are designa- ted " burning and shining lights," because they are ever on the watch. Hence were tlie first converts to the faith warned by the Apostle that it was " high time to awake out of sleep ; that the night was far spent, and the day was at hand."| By the same words the parable warns all Christians to " watch ; for we know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." '• And at midnight there was a cry made. Be- hold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet hhn." The circumstances of the story require that the cry shall be at midnight. In tlie East marriages are celebrated in the night : and tlie custom of going abroad and returning with musical instruments is still retained by some tribes of Indians. * Jaincs iii. ;,', t Koiu. xiii. 1 1, 12. 456 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. The suddenness with which the day of Judgment will come on all those who are unprepared — who have not their loins girt and their lamps burning — is beautifully and strikingly indicated by the mid- night cry. The same suddenness and alarm are in- dicated by a similar image in our Lord's account of this great day in the preceding chapter. When the Son of man shall be seen " coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." * St. Paul repeats the same thing with great animation : — " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God."f " Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise. Give us of your oil ; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, N^ot so ; % lest there be not enough for us and you : but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." The cry awoke them all from their slumber ; as the sound of the archangel's trump will arouse the dead from the sleep of the grave, and those, who are alive at that day, from the slumber of the soul. The virgins arose to trim their lamps. The wise who * Matt. xxiv. 30, 31. t 1 Thess. iv. 16. X I'his elJipsis is frequent in the Hebrew, understanding either denial or refusal. See the various commentators on the passage, Le Clerc, Grotius, Whitby, Beza, and Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. Sdo. THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. 457 had provided oil, had little to do, though they were culpable in shunbering. Many good men will be found remiss and slumbering on their post wlien the books of judgment are opened : but their unextin- guished faith and their imperfect obedience will be accepted through the merits of the Redeemer ; for all men's mere works of virtue will be found totally unable to support them. But imperfect and infirm as we are, if we are in earnest, we have powder to '* redeem the time," for we have no hard taskmaster, and shall be admitted, like the five wise virgins, to the marriage of the lamb. But the foolish and sluggish virgins, wiio perhaps had despised their more prudent sisters when the bridegroom was afar off, now craved their oil. They were, however, justly refused, and were told to pro- vide oil for themselves. " Our lamps are gone out," is the sole plea for their desiring to be possessed of the oil of their more wise sisters. But this is not avail- able; because they had the same opportunities to keep them burning. We find this allusion very frequent in the Scrip- tures, a circumstance which renders the parable the more striking. The lamps used in the service of the Temple were required " to burn always." " Thou shalt command the children of Israel that they liring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always."* The lamp is therefore used in a spiritual sense by the inspired penmen of both the Old and New Testament. '* The * Exod.xxvii. 20. 458 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIllGINS. light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle (or lamp) shall be put out." * " Thou," says the Psalmist, " wilt light my candle (or lamp :) the Lord my God will enlighten mv darkness." t St. Paul uses the same figure: — "Quench not the Spirit.":}: § The Jews let the eleventh hour pass by, and would not go into the vineyard. They are yet in exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven as it is in the visible Church upon earth. But the Kingdom of Heaven, in- dicated by this parable, is the final consummation of all things at the Day of Judgment ; and Christians, who never think seriously of their religion until the hour of death, will at that great day, it is to be feared, find themselves in the situation of the five foolish virgins in the parable. "And while they — the foolish virgins — went to buy, the bridegroom came ; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage : and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, say- ing. Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not." The meaning of this part of the parable is so very plain tliat we need do no more than apply it to the Christian world. The patience and long suffering * Job xviii. 5, 6. xxi. 17. f Ps. xviii. 28. X 1 Thess. V. 19, Heb. i. 9. 1 John ii. 20, 27. § Sensus mysticus apud Paul urn. To 7rv=uju-a ^y\ ct^svvuts. Spiritutn noUle extinguere. 1 Thess. v. 19. Sjiiritiis cniin o/cinri. Grotius, torn. ii. p. 237. fol. THE WISE AND KOOLISH VIRGINS. 459 of God may be taxed too far. Great as they were in respect of his cliosen people Israel, yet there were limits set to them. Their mm-mm-s, sensuality, ido- latry, and every species of wickedness and sin, had been endured by Jehovah for many ages, until they crucified the Lord of life, the Redeemer of fallen man, the Saviour of the world. The Divine patience and forbearance became at length exhausted. " The Kingdom of God was taken from them, and given to a nation — the Gentile world — bringing forth the fruits thereof."* This great event, the destruction of Jerusalem, is by Grotius considered as a type of the day of Judg- ment. We have followed the interpretation of Bishop Horsley, who considers it ratlicr as a sign than a type of this great day, the first of a series of events which shall terminate in the general judg- ment. To reveal this day is the object of the three parables which comprehend the present Chapter. The patience and long-suffering of God liave been extended to the Christian world for upwards of eighteen centuries. The wickedness and cruelty of the professors of Christianity have been abundantly shown in the murders which have been perpetrated against the holy army of martyrs, whose jjlood cries up to Heaven against their murderers : for Chris- tians, as well as Jews, have beaten, and persecuted, and killed the servants and the ministers of God. But will the patience of God last for ever ? AVill lie not visit us for the apostacy of nations and indi- • Matt. xxi. t3. 460 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. viduals from the religion of his Son, purchased by his blood ; — for the gross sins and wickednesses which defile whole nations and communities who call them- selves by, though they grievously dishonour, the blessed Name of Jesus Christ. Yet we all acknow- ledge, by our very profession of the Christian reli- gion, that " there is no Name under heaven, in whom and through whom men may be saved, but only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." But besides these gross sinners and awfully im- pious and apostate spirits, how many thousands and ten thousands are there among professed Christians, whose lives are not stained with any gross sins or grievous impieties, and whose minds are fully con- vinced of the eternal truth of the Gospel, and, when properly awakened, of the awful responsibility of every soul for the things done in the body ; and yet how few will be like the five wise virgins, who, though they slumbered awhile, arose at the cry, and trimmed their lamps, and when " the l)ridegroom came, were ready, and went in with him to the marriage." But how many will imitate rather the unwise con- duct of the foolish virgins, whose oil was exhausted, and whose lamps could not be replenished Ijefore the bridegroom came, and the door was shut. How many, instead of having " their loins girded and their lights burning," will have wasted their lives, and neglected the light of their souls, so tiiat they have become spiritually dark, as the foolish virgins' oilless lamps ; who have talked of religion, but have never striven to understand it with the faculties of THE AVISK AND FOOLISH VIIIGINS. 461 the mind, nor to feel it, as a source of happiness and consolation, by the moral perceptions of the heart. Can such })ers()ns contemplate without fear the ap- j)roaching day of final retribution ? Can they hear, without the most unutterable feelings of alarm and apprehension, the midnight cry — " the Bridegroom Cometh ;" — the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the shout of the descending Judge !" When the foolish virgins said, " Lord, Lord, open to us, he answered and said. Verily I say unto you, I know you not." Our Lord, in his sermon on the mount, says the same thing, and in more explicit terms, which he now repeats in this parable from another mountain, within so few days of the termi- nation of his ministry upon earth. " Not every one tliat saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy Name ? and in thy Name have cast out devils ? and in thy Name have done many wonderful works ? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity."* All, therefore, that work iniquity ; — all who com- mit sin, and do not repent of it — and no man, save Jesus Christ, was ever without sin ; — all who ne- glect their salvation, as a matter of indifTcrence, in- stead of " working it out with fear and trembling ;' — all who are not ever on the watch lest their oil * Matt. vii. 21—33. 462 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. be expended, — lest they fall into a state of neglect of religious things so as to lose sight of religion altogether, — all such persons will have cause to tremble when the midnight cry of the bridegroom is heard, when the trump of an angry God sounds terribly in their ears. " Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor hour wherein the Son of man cometh." These words evidently apply to that day when the Son of man shall come upon the clouds of heaven to judge the whole world. The coming of the Son of man is indeed by many critics interpreted of the destruction of Jerusalem, — an interpretation which has not been followed in the foregoing pages. But even some of these expositors understand this text of the day of Judgment.* Of that day and hour we know not, but tliat it will happen ; we know not when it will happen : but there are critics * In this parable our Lord has taught us, that unless we per- severe in grace, having it always at least in habit, and ready to be brought into exercise as occasion requires, we shall be ex- cluded from the abodes of the blessed without remedy, though we may have expressed considerable alacrity and diligence for a while. Also that the grace of other men, and their good works, shall stand us in no stead at the day of Judgment. To conclude, as the parable represents the suddenness of Christ's coming to call every particular person off the stage, it shows us both the folly and danger of delaying religion to a death-bed, and power- fully enforces habitual watchfulness, both in the acquisition and exercise of grace, upon all men in every age, from the consider- ation of the uncertainty of life. Accordingly the application of the parable is, " Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Macknight's Harmony, vol. ii. p. 665. THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. 463 who presume to point out the exact period when these awful things shall come to pass.* The cer- tainty that such a day will arrive is frequently declared by our blessed Lord ; and the proceedings of that day are intimated by this and the two fol- lowing parables. The principle, on which we shall be judged, is shown in the parables of tlie Ten Virgins, and of the Talents; the method is shadowed^ * The wild speculations on the Apocalypse, which have ap- peared in different periods of the Church, and have been falsified by time, which has shown the inaccuracy of the various calcula- tions, are once more revived by such writers as Mr. Hatley Frere, the Rev. George Croly, and the Rev. Edward Irvinof. Tlie following extract from one of the v.'ritcrs about the era of the Reformation, will serve to show the accuracy of the obser- vation in the text ; — " Although it is said in Markc,\ that the day of Judgment, and houre thereof none doth know, yea not the Sonne, but the Father only; yet let none be so base of judgment as to conclude thereby that the yeare or age thereof is also un- known to Christ, or unable to be known any ways to his ser- vants. That mystery was justly, by the Providence of God, closed from our predecessors ; but certainly, so soon as that day bcginneth to approach, God, by his Scriptures, shall make the age and yeares thereof to be manifested, as a spur, in his mercy, to move the elected sinner to repentance, and a testimonie in God's justice, against the hard-hearted misbelievers, continuinof in sinne." Lord Napier's ' Plaine Discovery of the whole Re- velation of St. John,' A.D. 1593. The ingenious arguments of this writer have been followed by all succeeding writers. lUit the failure of their predecessors in these speculations might af- ford some warning to those who follow. See an able article on the Apocohjptk writers, from whence the above extract is taken, in the 3d number of the British Critic, Quarterly Theological Review, and Ecclesiastical Record, for July 1827. t Mark xiii. 32. 464 THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS. for it can be no otherwise conveyed to our appre- hensions, in tliat of the Sheep and the Goats. But " the mystery" is more plainly " shown" to us by St. Paul in these sublime words : — " Behold, I show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump — ev aro/jiu), ev piTTt) o^0aA/ioi», £v TJj etryrarr] aaXiriyyi. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."* The glowing description of the resurrection, in this eloquent discourse of the inspired Apostle, re- spects rather the destiny of the faithful and righteous, than that of the wicked, impenitent, and unbelieving. This same Apostle is elsewhere more general in his admonitions to all persons to prepare against the coming of this great day. Thus, to the vain and sophistical Athenians, he says — " The times of ignorance God winked at ; but now com- mandeth all men every where to repent : because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath or- dained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."f The Son of Sirach gives us this golden advice : — *' Humble thyself before thou beest sick, and in the time of sins show repentance ; and defer not till death to be justified."! * 1 Cor. XV. 51, 52. t Acts xvii. 30, 31. X Eccles. xviii. 21, 22. 4G.' SECTION IT. THE TALKNTS. " The Kingdom of Heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called unto him his own ser- vants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one ; to every man according to his several ability ; and straightway took his journey. Then he that liad received the five talents, went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his Lord's money. After a long time the Lord of these servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou delivcredst unto me five talents : behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, ^V''ell done, thou good and faithful servant : thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents, came and said. Lord, thou delivcredst unto me two talents : beliold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful ovei- a few things, I will make thro ruler over njany '> 11 4()6 THE TALENTS. things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent canne and said, Lord, I know thee that thou art an hard man, reap- ing where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth : lo, there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knew- est that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed : thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."* The parable of the Talents unfolds an instructive lesson to every rational being ; for according to natural equity we must believe ourselves account- able for that which is committed to us. Every Christian is expressly told, in the oracles of his faith, that he must one day give account for the use or abuse of his talents at the throne of his Maker and Redeemer. Such a parable, therefore, as this of the Talents, comes home to every man's business and bosom. It does not merely respect the visitation * Matt. XXV. 14—30. Tin: TALKXTs. 467 upon the Jews, to whom liad been so long com- mitted the oracles of God ; hut it extends further — it reminds us tliat v.c must all give account of the things done in tlie Ijody at the final judgment of the quick and the dead by our Redeemer and Judge. The use or abuse of our natural endowments, and of t!ie opportunities afforded us by the grace of God for their improvement, nuist form a great and chief l)ortion of that solemn account. Thei-e is a parable in St. Luke's Gospel,* delivered at the house of Zaccheus the publican at Jericho, of a nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom, and to return ; and that, before he went, he delivered ten pounds to each of his ten servants, to negotiate until his return. This appears to have been similar to, but not the same as, the parable of the Talents. That of the Nobleman was delivered before our Lord entered Jerusalem, and the gifts are equal. This of the Talents was delivered but three days be- fore the last Passover, and the gifts are various, im- plying, as it is thought by some, the extraordinary powers bestowed on the a])ostles, the seventy disci- ples, and other inspired teachers : but the other de- notes the general assistance, to every Christian, of the Holy Spirit. The one, delivered in the house of Zaccheus, was a warning to the Jews of the impend- ing destruction of Jerusalem, and of the end of the Jewish polity, as a just judgment of their impious unbelief in their Messiah. But the parable of the Talents is a general warning of the last judgment. If it refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, it is as the * buke xix. 1,1-27. o ji o 468 THE TALENTS. beginning of that scheme of Providence, which should terminate in the general judgment, as we have already explained it in the exposition of the second parable of the Fig-tree.* But if this interpretation be allow- ed— though I rather incline to that which refers it wholly and directly to the general judgment — the immediate judgment upon the Jews seems almost absorbed in the greater and more distant judgment which must pass upon all nations. But we will now proceed to the more particular explanation of the present parable.f * Chap. VIII. Sect. I. t Whitby would show that this parable also respects the Jews ; and the return of the king in both, the return of Christ after taking possession of his kingdom at the right hand of God, to take vengeance on the Jews ; or, after going by his apostles and disciples to erect a kingdom among the Gentiles, and then coming back to punish them, Matt. xxiv. 14. : applying the talents to his servants ; as, to the apostles^ ten ; to the seventy, or those of lesser spiritual gifts, five ; to the Jews themselves, one talent, i. e. the Law and the Prophets ; and holding, as all are agreed, the destruction of Jerusalem to be a full emblem of the final judgment. Whitby ad loc. and note on Luke xix. 12. Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 396. But this parable, and many other passages which Whitby and other expositors interpret of the destruction of Jerusalem, were much more consistently interpreted of tlie day of Judgment, of which they become immediate, not secondary and typical, reve- lations. The following note of Lightfoot is therefore more to our purpose : — " You have a like, and almost the same, parable, Luke xix. Yet indeed not the very same ; for (besides that there is mention there of pounds being given, here, of talents,) that parable was spoke by Christ going up from Jericho to Jerusalem, before the raising up of Lazarus ; this, as he was sitting on Mount Olivet three days before the Passover. That, upon this account, " because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and THE TALENTS. 469 *' The kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered to them his goods." St. Luke adds the circumstance that he travelled " into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom :" and it has been ingeniously supposed, that Christ took the rise of this parable from the custom of the kings of Judea, Herod tlie Great, and Archelaus his son, who usually went to Rome to receive the king- dom of Judea from Caesar, without whose permission and appointment they durst not take the government into their hands. By the man travelling into a far country, is here represented the Son of God leaving this world, and ascending into heaven, where he sat down at the right hand of God the Father, after he had finished the great work of man's redemption. The delivery of his goods expressly to his own servants may mean, that he left the gifts and strengths of the Holy Spirit with the apostles, and seventy disciples, and other gifted men, for the performance of the commission of " going into all the world, and preaching the Gospel to every creature — to the Jew first, and also to the Greek," or Gentile.* But as every Christian, con- because tliey thought that the kingdom of God would imme- diately appear," Luke xix. 11. and that he might show, that it would not be long before Jerusalem should be called to an account for all the privileges and benefits conferred upon it by God. (See ver. 14 and 17.) But this, thnt he might warn all to be watchful, and provide with their utmost care concerning "iving up their accounts at the last judgment." Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 217. fol. * Mark xvi. 15. Rom. i. IC 470 THE TALENTS. verted and baptized by these servants, becomes him- self the servant of Christ, and every one must give account of his single talent, we must extend the application to all who name the Name of Christ, when they shall appear before his tribunal to give an ac- count of their lives upon earth. "And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one ; to every man according to his several ability ; and straightway took his journey." The talents are distributed according to the ability of each of his servants ; and we find the master sa- tisfied with an increase proportionate to the gift. Origen thus explains it : — " According to each man's ability he gave his talent ; to one man five, as being able to trafl[ic with them ; to another two, as being not suflScient to manage more ; and to a third one, as being still more infirm."* The immediate application being, in the first place, to the apostles, and other inspired men of the apostolic age, St. Paulf best explains this, by saying that to these favoured servants, " there were diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." He thus enumerates these spiritual gifts — " wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, pro- phecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, * Kara yap rr^v exacrTOv Suva/jt-jv x [xsv CjSovra* ttevts tuKccvtu wg 8uy«jxsv«) ^lotx-iv ra too-uvtm, uWoo Ss Sua; uig [xyj ^oopoiivTi TU TTpO aUTOi), uXKoi 8e SV, OOg KCtt TOO STspoi) UTToSescTegw. Ed. Huet. torn. i. p. 344. Vide Whitby's Additions to Annot. on St. Matt. No. 46. t 1 Cor. xii. 4—11. THE TALENTS. 1-71 iiud intei'pretatioii of tongues : — All these, ho con- cludes, worketh one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every one severally as he will." " Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one, went and digged in the earth, and hid his Lord's money." The disciples, who were the Lord's own servants, liad, as the Apostle says, " the manifestation of the S])irit to pr()jU withal."* We all, in our several de- grees, have the same Spirit manifested in us, and we must improve these precious talents. They there- fore, who traded with their talents, we find, are rewarded ; while he who hid his talent, and never attempted tp make any " profit" by it, is justly pu- nished. The parable thus goes on : " After a long time the Lord of these servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying. Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents : behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, AV^ell done, thou good and faithful servant ; tiiou hast been faith- ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." The same account was given by him who had received two talents, to which he had added two others, and the same answer was returned. " Then lie wiiicli had received the one talent 1 for. xii. 7. 472 THE TALENTS. came and said, Lord, I knev/ thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sowed, and gathering where thou hast not strawed : and I was afraid, and went and hid my talent in the earth : lo, there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed : thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury."* Take, there- * The Lord did not deliver the talents to his seventy with that intent that they should receive the increase and profit of them by usury ; but that by merchandize and some honest way of trade, they should increase them. He only returns this an^ swer to the slothful servant, as fitted to what he had alleged : — You take me for a covetous, griping, and sordid man ; why then did you not make use of a manner of gain agreeable to these qualities, namely, interest or usury, since you would not apply yourself to any honest traffic, that you might have returned me some increase of my money, rather than nothing at all ? So that our Lord in these words doth not so much approve of usury, as upbraid the folly and sloth of his servant. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 247. fol. The argument lies thus : — Though it were true, as you say, that 1 reap where 1 sow not, and you durst not risk the money in merchandize ; you ought to have put it out to the public mo- ney-changers to interest : some exertions should have been made. Properly speaking, God only requires service in pro- portion to the means and to the degree of grace granted by him. Lightfoot, Le Clerc. Valpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 398. The exchangers, Tpans'^sTai, are so designated from the table before them. Thus in Plautus : "Quantillum argenti mihi apud trapezitam siet." Grotius. Thus also Mensarius in the Latin ; Suet, in August, c. iv. " mensarius collybo discoloratus ;" and ^JnVm* the man of the table. rm: tai.kxts. 17'^ fore, the talent tVoiii liim, iuul give it unto liini which hath ten talents. For unto every one tiiat hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the un- profitable servant into outer darkness : there shall Ije weeping and gnashing of teeth. ' The reward of the two profitable servants is, that they " enter into the joy of the Lord." The meaning of the word, rendered " joy," is a feast or banquet.* And they who are called " servants,''' it should be noticed, are slaves, which is the meaning of the word servant, both in the Old and New Testament.f The good and faithful servants, or slaves, therefore, among the Jews, is a money-changer. " An exchanger," say the Tahimdists, " sells money ; and because a table is always before him, upon which he buys and sells, therefore he is called nicnsarius, one that stands at a table." Lightfoot, ut supra, p. 248. — Galba cut ofFthe hands of a fraudulent money-changer, and nailed them to his own table. Suet, in Galb. c. ix. 'I'liey are named xoAAu/3<(Tt«», from the collybus, a species of silver money with the impression of an ox, which appears in the above quotation. See Scapula, voc. KoKKu^og. Vide Valpy's Annot. ut supra. * Because banqueting and nuptial feasts were still attended with great joy, insomuch that the Hebrew word nnti'a, which signifies a banquet, and a nuptial feast, is by iheLXX. rendered sometimes 8op^»j, a banquet. Gen. xxvi. 30. Esther i. 3. v. 4. S, 12, It. sometimes yafx.og, a marriage-feast, Gen. xxix. '22. Eother ii. 18. ix. 22. and once x^F^f J^X' I^stlicr ix. 17 : there- fore the entering this marriage-feast, or supper, prepared for this Lord, is styled " entering into tiic joy of his Lord." Whitby's Com. in loc. vol. i. p. l'J2. Ito. t See Note p. l Jl. on Chapter III. Sect. I. 474 THK TALE NT N. according to the story of the parable, are made freemen ; and though slaves were not, freedmen were admitted to their master's table : which privilege, as a distinction for their good conduct, is allowed to the faithful servants in the parable : — " Enter ye into the joy ;" — partake of the feast of your Lord : for ye are no more slaves, but freedmen. Those who were his own immediate servants may be referred to the apostles, the seventy disci- ples, and other gifted servants of our blessed and divine Master : but the slothful and faithless ser- vant finds no parallel among these immediate ser- vants. Judas was a traitor, who had abused many talents ; his crime was not of the nature of this servant in the parable. The whole parable indeed is general in its application, but especially this portion of it ; for the one talent is the common distribution of human gifts. The faithless servant may indeed apply, in the first place, to the great body of the Jewish people, from whom were selected the twelve apostles. They obey their Lord and Master merely in outward observances ; but they take no care to improve the talent committed to them. They do not entreat forgiveness for their negligence, but, like him in the parable, present themselves boldly before God, and boast of their services, as he boasted of the care he took of the one talent. But this will not satisfy their Judge, who will demand a strict account of his o[)portunities, and of the use of his faculties, which is expressed by " putting his money to the Tin: T>\ LENTS. 475 exchangers," who would at least have given interest, or money, for tlie use of that talent which the slothful man wrapped in a napkin. The application, however, of this passage, and of the whole parable, is more general. The general responsibility of all men was never, even by inspired Avriters, more happily illustrated than l)y the parable of the Talents. Every man is endowed by the Divine Providence with what the Apostle terms " gifts differing according to the grace which is given to us,"* or, as in the parable, " talents accord- ing to his several ability." Of these gifts and talents, be they great or small, we experience the happiness or misery, even in this state, according to our wise or unwise application of them ; and this alone should warn men that they must give a strict account of their lives before the righteous Judge of all the earth. " That servant — said Christ on an- other occasion — which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few strii)cs. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."i " Unto every one that hath, — says Jesus in this parable, whether it be much or little — shall be given, and — if he have im- proved it to the utmost — he shall have abundance : * Ivoin. xii. 'i. t l-iiku xii. 47, iiS. 476 THE TALENTS. but from him that hath not — who hath not improved his talent, like the slothful servant — shall be taken away even that which he hath." Is there not some analogy between the distribution of justice among men in this state, and that which will take place in a future ? This is apparent from the nature of things as ordained by the Divine Providence. Man is a social being ; and in what- ever state he is placed, — whether in earth or heaven, whether in the company of frail men here, or of the spirits of just men made perfect hereafter, — he is so framed by his Creator as to be a member of society. There must therefore exist some analogy between our present and the future state of exist- ence, which may be illustrated by the different stages- of childhood and manhood in this; for our present life, being probationary, is but the prepa- ration, or the infancy, of our more perfect state of life and immortality in the world to come. This reasoning is adopted by the late learned Bishop Horsley.* " We are told," says this emi- nent prelate, " that it is one of the maxims of God's government, * that to him that hath,' — to him that hath acquisitions of his own, made by an assiduous improvement of his talents, by a studious cultivation of his natural endowments, and a diligent use of the external means of knowledge which have been af- forded him — ' to him shall be given' the means of greater attainments ; ' but from him that hath not' — from him who can show no fruits of his own in- * Sermons, vol. ii, p. 256. THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 477 diistry — ' from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.' This unprofitable servant, in the natural course of things, and by the just judg- ment of God, shall lose the advantages, whicli, through sloth and indolence, he hath neglected to improve. By this maxim, every particular person's rank and station will be determined in the world to come. If it is not constantly observed in the pre- sent w^orld, the necessity of departing from it either is the result of that disorder and irregularity which man's degeneracy hath introduced, or it may be no essential part of the constitution of a probationary state. Still, in general, it is reasonable to suppose that the external light of revelation, like the internal influences of the Spirit, when no particular good purposes of Providence are to be answered by a more arbitrary and unequal distribution of it, — in general, it is reasonable to suppose, that it is dispensed to dif- ferent persons in proportion to the inclination and ability to profit by it which the Searcher of Hearts discovers in each." SECTION III. THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him sliall be gathered all nations : and he shall separate them one from anotlier, as a sliephcrd divideth his sheep from the goats : and lie shall set the sheep on his ri^ht hand, but tlic goats on the left. Then shall 478 THE SHEEP AN!) THE (iOATS. tlie king say unto them on his right liand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I w^as isT prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, ^Vhen saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? when saw we thee a stranger, and took- thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? or wlien saw^ we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee ? And the king shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- pared for the devil and his angels : for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw^ we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the righteous into life eternal." * * Matr. XXV. 31 — 4(!. -^ TIIK SHEEP AND ^HE (lOATS. 479 In tlic two picccdiiig iiarables we have faintly depicted to us tlie manner and the principle of the proceedings of the day of Judgment : in this we have a vivid scenical representation of the Judge de- scending in glory, surrounded hy his holy angels, and assuming his place on the throne of his glory, the awful triljunal of angels and of men, before which, and in the sublime presence of Him who sits upon the throne, shall be gathered all the nations of the earth — all that have died, risen from the grave — all that are then alive, who are described by St. Paul as caught up to meet the Lord in the air,* — and finally the apostate spirits, who fell from the grace of God, and to supply whose place in heaven, it is probable, the human race was called into existence. The character of a shepherd, which our Lord con- descended to assume to himself in the beautiful pa- rable of the Good Shepherd, is preserved in this final and awful scene of the Christian drama. The same character, we have seen, Jehovah — the second person of the Godhead — assumed in the Hebrew scriptures. The unity and consistency of the sacred oracles of our salvation are beautifully preserved by this illus- tration in the present parable, representing the final judgment, which terminates the scheme of revelation contained in the Bible. " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; and before him sliall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate tliem one from anotlier, as a shepherd dividetli his sheep * 1 I'hr^s. iv. 7. 480 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. from the goats ; and he sliall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. " The power and majesty of the Judge of heaven and earth are described with the regal magnificence which is cliaracteristic of Scriptural representations of the Divine Judge. The prophet Zechariah and the apostle St. Jude describe the Divine Being in his judicial character, as coming with his Saints, or angels, surrounding him. " The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee."* " Behold, the Lord Cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to exe- cute judgment upon all."f Thus likewise is he de- scribed by St. Paul : — " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.":]: But what is still more to our pur- pose is, that it is the usual description by which our Lord designs himself in the Gospels, as the Judge of the world. " The Son of man," said he on another occasion, " shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels ; and then he shall reward every man ac- cording to his works."^^ || * Zech. xiv. 5. t Jude 14, 15. | 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. § Matt. xvi. 27. II Even Whitby at once expounds this parable as directly referring to the day of Judgment. He says — " It is to me a wonder, that men should imagine this refers not to the general day of Judgment, but either to the time of exercising judgments on the Jewish nation, or to the setting up a triumphant kingdom here on earth ; seeing here is a more clear description of Christ's coming to judgment, in words and circumstances elsewhere ac- knowledged to relate to the great and final judgment." See his Commentary, vol. i. p. 192. 4to. THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 481 The figure of tlie Shepherd dividiug tlje sheep and the goats is as beautiful from its pastoral simplicity, as it is in perfect keeping witli the Scriptural desig- nation of Jehovah in reference to tlie people of Israel, who were a race of shepherds. Whoever visits a mountainous country, and sees for the first time the sheep and the goats feeding together, can hardly fail to call to his mind tliis beautiful similitude of Scrip- ture. The allotment of the right side to the sheep as worthy of reward, and of the left to the goats as worthy of condemnation, is in allusion to the Jewish Sanhedrim, where the Jews placed those to be acquit- ted on tlie right, and those to receive sentence of condemnation on the left hand.* '• Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye cloth- ed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee ? And the king shall answer and say unto them, * " Maimonides saith, ' They that stand on the right liand are the just: they on the left, the guilty.' — Kimchi on 1 Kings xxii. 19. 'On his right hand is life, on his left death.' So H. Eliezer, cap. i. sec. 4." Whithy in loc. !2 I 482 THE SHEEP AND THE (JOATS. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The whole of this scene appears to be adapted to the notions and doctrines of the Jews. Their learned Rabbis hold that God prepared Paradise from the beginning, even before the earth was made. This opinion they found upon the passage of the book of Genesis,* in which the inspired penman re- cords that the Lord God planted a garden, which, say they, was from the beginning. Grotius however, — and he is followed by many other expositors, — gives the passage another, and perhaps a more direct and dignified interpretation. He explains " the kingdom prepared for you," to be that kingdom which was originally appointed, or assigned by God, assignatum nobis Divinitus ; and he refers to several passages of the New Testament, and the Septuagint, in which the original word ren- dered " prepared" is unquestionably used in this sense. Thus when the sons of Zebedee urge their mother to demand of our Lord that they might sit, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom, he tells them that this preeminence is not at his disposal ; " but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.'f The Apostle to the Corinthians, in a passage very similar, in which he speaks of the inconceivable happiness of the blessed in a future state, says — " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the * Gen. ii. 8. Vide Whitby on Matt. xxv. 34. t Matt. XX. 23. THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 483 heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."* The same Apostle to the Hebrews, speaking of the patriarchs who had died in faith of a futiiie state of glory, says — " But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God : for he hath prepared for them a city."f When, in the Ijook of Genesis, Abraham sends his servant to Haran to select a wife for his son, and he meets Rebecca at the well, there occurs the fol- lowing passage : — " Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw watei', and I say unto her. Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink ; and she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels : let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out, — or prepared, — nroiiiaai, for my master's son.":};^ In all these passages, most of which are very si- milar in their meaning to the passage under con- sideration, the original Greek word for " prepared" is used in the sense of divinely appointed, or assigned by God. But this is not in the least irreconcileable with the interpretation of other expositors, that tlie * 1 Cor. ii. 9. t Heb. xi. 16. t Gen. xxiv. 43,44. ^ Trji' *;TOij«,a(r/x=v*]v 'jy.tv. — Id est, assignatum nobis Divinitus, vu supra, xx. 23. 1 Cor. xi. 9. Hebraioriun, xi. 16. Ita enim solebant usurparc Hellenistao, ut Tob. vi. 22. de Sara Tobiac Conjuge, 6t« aoi ayrrj f,T0i/xa£7-|x=vr] rjv awo tou kicovoj — quia ilia tibi parata fuit a scculo. Qui locus ilium Geneseos respicit> xxiv. 44. A'jTYj y] yovrj riT'Hit.U'TB Ku^iOj tw ea'JTOu 6:pu7rovTi iTuaK — ipsa est mulicr quam preparavit Dominus suo famulo Isaac. Grotius, Oper. vol. ii. p. 240. Folio. 2 I 2 484 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. phrase was adapted to the opinions of the Jews ; for our Lord seldom departs from the known phrase- ology of that people ; and in either or both these senses the expression is perfectly intelligible. Again, that species of charity, which is termed almsgiving, was a virtue on which the Jews set the highest value,* though they by no means observed it in their practice in the time of our Lord's sojourn upon earth. This grace therefore is made as it were the sole passport into his kingdom. But we are not hence really to suppose that this one virtue, and none other, would admit the disciples of Christ into a portion of his heavenly kingdom. But this mode of speech — whereby the vices of the wicked were lashed, while to the obedience of the righteous was assigned the reward, — is not uncommon in the Scrip- tures, especially in the Gospels which record the life and the sayings of Christ, who frequently, and indeed commonly, spoke in this manner. To express the whole by a part, is a figure of speech in frequent use * The Jews enforced the duties mentioned in the parable with great earnestness ; but it is to be feared they confined the practice to those of their own nation. Thus, on Deut. xiii. 4. " Ye shall walk after God," Rabbi Chama in Vedarim thus comments: " He clothed the naked, Gen. iii. 21. He visited the sick ; he comforted those that mourn, Gen. xxv. Do thou also these duties." Rider. — It is a question, however, if these Rabbis did not live after the time of Christ. Valpy's Annot. Zaccheus was influenced by these national feelings when he thus recommended himself to Christ : — " Zacclieus stood, and said unto the Lord ; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor ; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." Luke xix. 8. THE SIIEEI* AND THE GOATS. 485 l)y all good writers, sacred and profane. But that almsgiving and the kindred virtues should alone con- stitute that perfection of character which will procure for the person such a reward as to be declared *' blessed of the Father," and to be summoned to " inherit the kingdom prepared" for such " before the foundation of the world," is in contradiction to Scripture itself. ' * A man may be an infidel, and may nevertheless possess that natural or constitutional benevolence which impels him to assist his fellow-creatures in distress. He may be a profligate both in principle and practice, and yet possess this solitary virtue, which he owes rather to the constitution given him by his Maker than that it is the result of a volun- * " It is an observation of ilie utmost importance, that although charity to our neighbour, and indeed only one branch of that comprehensive duty, viz. liberality to the poor, is here specified, as the only Christian virtue, concerning which inquiry will be made at tiie day of Judgment; yet we must not imagine that this is the only virtue which will be expected from us, and that on this alone will depend our final salvation. Nothing can be more distant from truth, or more dangerous to religion, than this opinion. The fact is, that charity, or love to men in all its extent, being the most eminent of all the evangelical virtues, being that which Christ has made the very badge and discri- minating mark of his religion, is here constituted by him the representative of all other virtues; just as faith is, in various passages of Scripture, used to denote and represent the whole Christian religion. Nothing is more common than this sort of figure (called a Synechdoche) in profane, as well as sacred writ- ers ; by which a part, an essential and important part, is made to stand for the whole." Bp. Porteus's Lectures on St. Matthew. Lcct. XX. Works, vol. 5. p. '^55- 486 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. tary obedience to the Divine law. Such a character may, and not very unfrequently does exist. But such a character is condemned at once by the words of our Lord himself, who attaches salvation to faith, and damnation to unbelief. " He that believeth shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned."* To the practical bad man the same fate is assigned as to the unbeliever. " Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."-[- St. Paul moreover declares that " though we bestow all our goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, it profiteth us nothing.":]; Charity to the poor, therefore, is not that charity which excels faith and hope. One grace of universal benevolence to our brethren in faith is mentioned as a charac- teristic distinction, among many others, of those who are declared " blessed of the Father." But we may conclude from the whole tenor of Scripture, which can never contradict itself, that unless with this grace 1)6 united faith, hope, charity in its extended sense, and every other practical fruit of the religion of Christ, blended indeed, as our best works will be, with the infirmity of our nature, — for at best we shall be unprofitable servants, — we cannot hope to inherit that glorious consummation of the blessed, " the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world." * Markxvi. 16. f Matt. vii. 19. L'l. 1 1 Cor. xiii, 3. THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 487 The kingdom, said in Scripture to be prepared for the blessed or elect, seems to be that state of higher existence, into which, when the foundations of the world were laid, the Divine Author of our being ordained that those, who fitted themselves by a voluntary obedience to his will, should at a proper season be removed. " JMankind," says Archbishop King, " believes from the light of nature, that God will translate good men into a better state ; but it is necessary they should be prepared here, as plants in a nursery, before they are removed into the gar- den where they are to bear fruit. God has, there- fore, decreed this life to be as it were the passage to a better. Thus the earth is replenished with in- habitants, who being educated under discipline for a while, till they have finished their course, shall de- part into another state suited to their deserts." The opinion of this learned and thinking Prelate, that men could, by the light of nature^ have believed in the existence of a future and a better state into which good men will be translated, may perhaps admit of a question ; but that, being revealed, Ave easily accede to a doctrine so natural to the hopes and aspirations of our natiu'e, will, I think, be dis- puted by no tliouglitful and religious man. Into these habitations, evacuated perhaps by the Apostate Spirits, will the blessed — when, before the end of the world, a certain and sufficient number of the elect shall be completed— be translated by the sound of that heavenly voice, descril)ed so magnificently in tiie parable, — " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 488 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."* * King's Origin of Evil, by Law, second edition, p, 446. The following remarks on the subject of the future state of the elect, by his ingenious editor, may be worth the reader's atten- tion:— " Men were created at first upon the earth, because there was no other place for them ; all others had their proper inha- bitants, and were full ; and therefore man must either be here or nowhere. Now this earth is part of the universe, and of such a nature that it was impossible the animals in it should be freed from all inconveniencies, that is, exempted from all natural evils : But our good and wise God so contrived it by his pe- culiar care and favour, that man, the only intelligent being in it, should be exempted from the greatest of these evils, that is, absolute extinction by death, and be capable of translation to a better place when it should become void, and accordingly the fall of the angels made room for man. This is so easy a thought that I find many are of opinion that man was created with a design to fill the place from whence the angels fell, and that these angels are not sent to hell till there be men enough to fill their place in heaven. " This seems to be the intent of what the Scripture declares concerning a certain number of the elect, which must be com- pleted before the end and consummation of the world. A better reason could scarce be given why a certain number was to be filled up before the last day, than that this earth was designed to prepare as many inhabitants to be translated into heaven as were wanting ; nor how any should be wanting but by the fall or departure of some of the inhabitants placed there by God at first. But it was reasonable that this should be proposed to mortals by way of reward, and that as many as God vouchsafed his favour to should be at liberty by trial of their virtues to show themselves worthy to succeed the fallen angels. This seems to offer a reason why God permitted men the use of free will, viz. to show himself just and equitable to his creatures, so that those of a lower class cannot complain of God since he has put it in their power to better their condition, if those will use THE SJIEEl' AND THE GOATS. 489 The judge next passes sentence on the wicked. " Then shall he say unto them on the left hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels : for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying. Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the righteousin to life eternal." As the kingdom of heaven was prepared for the blessed ; so we find a place of punishment was pre- })ared for the devil and his angels, into which the wicked among men, who had followed their exam- ple, will be plunged.* It is worthy of remark, that their faculties ariglu : nor those in a higher to be too proud of the Divine favour and despise their inferiors, since if they abuse that favour they shall be obliged to quit it to such of those inferiors as shall better deserve that station. Nor could there possibly be a more equal distribution of things, supposing it was ne- cessary that there should be an inequality among beings, and diflcrent degrees of happiness among rational agents." Ibid, p. 451. * The dogmas of Calvin, respecting the predestination of cer- tain individuals to eternal damnation, are obviously refuted by this parable from the lips of Christ himself. Calvin's words are ihi'sc : — " Prffides- 490 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. though it is expressly said that God had prepared a kingdom for the blessed, he did not prepare a place of punishment for the wicked. God designed the happiness of all mankind from the beginning ; and if they do not obtain the desired end, it is by the abuse of the grace of God and of man's free will. The fire was designed for evil and rebellious spirits ; but if man will reject the offer of peace and pardon upon the easy conditions of repentance, faith, and obe- dience ; if he sink himself to the evil minds and pro- pensities of fallen spirits, and with them rebel against the laws of his Creator, he incurs the awful punish- ment which was not originally designed for his na- ture, but which was prepared for the devil and his angels. " When God did create and prepare that place, he did not intend it for man ; it was prepared for the devil and his angels : so saith the judge himself, ' Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, o ijTOiftocrEv o irarrjp fiov Til) ^to/3oA(o, which my Father prepared for the devil,' so some copies read it : God intended it not for man, but man would imitate the devil's pride, and listen to the " Pra;destinationeni vocamiis aeternum Dei decretum, quo apud se constitutum habuit quid de unoquoque hoinine fieri vellet. Non enim pari conditione creantur omnes : sed aliis vita eterna, aJiis damnatio eterna prseordinatur." Calvini Inst. lib. iii. cap. 21. Sect. 5. p. 314. Genev. 1637. " Ecce, quum rerum om- nium dispositio in manu Dei sit, quum penes ipsum resideat salutis ac mortis arbitrium, consilio nutuque suo ita ordinal, ut inter homines ita nascantur, nb vtcro eciicv morti dcvufi, qui suo exitio ipsius nomen glorificent." Ibid. lib. iii. cap. 23. Sect. G. p. :V2l: THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 491 whispers of an evil spirit, and follow his temptations, and rebel against his Maker ; and then God also, against his first design, resolved to throw such per- sons into that place that was prepared for the devil : for so great was the love of God to mankind, that he ])repared joys infinite and never-ceasing for man, before he had created him ; but lie did not predes- tinate him to any evil ; but when he was forced to it by man's malice, he doing what God forbad him, God cast liim thither where he never intended him ; but it was not man's portion : he designed it not at first, and at last also he invited him to repentance ; and when notliing could do it, he threw man into another's portion, because he would not accept of what was designed to be his own." * * Bishop Taylor's Sermon on Christ's Advent to Judgment. Works by Ileber, vol. v. p. 4k The fathers, as Origen, Chrysostom, Euthymius, and Theophy- lact, observe, that Christ saith not of the punishment, as of the kingdom, that itwas prepared for man from the beginning; that God designed man's happiness ; he alone is the author of his misery ; that the fire was prepared, not for man, but for the evil spirits ; but man, rejecting the double offer of reward on obedience and repenting grace, submits to their thraldom, con- forms to their evil minds, joins in their rebellion, and incurs the punishment not originally designed for his nature. Whitby from Ciroiius. V.ilpy's Annot. vol. i. p. 400, 'JMiis parable, in which Christ as the judge represents himself as a shepherd, strongly infers FIis Divinity. He is the Good Shepherd in the former parable, which we have traced up to Jchoxah the Shepherd nf Israel. As the second Person of the Godhead, it is the opinion generally of the fathers, Christ judged the first guilty pair in the Garden of Eden. He now judges llu'ir fountlcbs posterity, ami those fallen angels vvht> 492 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. wrought the fall of our first parents. St. John, whose Gospel was written to prove the Divinity of Christ, relates one wonder- ful circumstance, after his Resurrection, which I cannot but subjoin to this work, and especially to this last parable which so strongly infers the Divinity of our Saviour ; this is, the infidelity of St. Thomas as to the Resurrection of Jesus, in which the Divinity of our Lord is at once acknowledged by the convinced Apostle. The infidelity of Thomas was of the most common and vulgar sort, which is governed by the senses. When he was informed by the disciples of the Resurrection, who " said unto him, We have seen the Lord ; he said unto them. Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." When our blessed Lord graciously gave his doubting disciple the signs he required, and said, " Be not faith- less, but believing ;" Thomas, struck with the Divine appearance of his Lord, convinced by the evidence of his senses, and smitten probably with remorse for his previous unbelief, instantly ex- claimed, in acknowledgment of Christ's Divinity, " My Lord and My God." The reply of Jesus is remarkable, both as it points out the danger of infidelity, and as it shows his full accep- tance of the Divine title. " Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John xx. 24 — 29.) The faith of the disciples, who accompanied our Lord during his ministry, was by sight of his wonderful miracles, and by the Divine discourses which they heard. But after the death and resurrection of Christ, faith was to be acquired by other means, — by medita- tion and by reflection on what was heard and read ; faith was henceforth, as defined by the Apostle, " the evidence of things not seen." There were those who doubted among the disciples, who had the opportunity of seeing and hearing ; and there are those who doubt the Divinity, if not the Resurrection, of Christ among his disciples now, who cannot see with the outward senses. St. Thomas was convinced at once of the Resurrection and the Divinity of his Lord ; and though we have not the ocular demonstration whereby we can say " My Lord and my God," we have the Scriptures, which to the mental eye demonstrate this doctrine most convincingly ; and THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 493 that tlie Resurrection and Dixiniti/ are inseparable, is proved by this fact of St. Thomas's conversion. While therefore his infi- (lehty holds out a salutary warning to all disciples to " be not faitliless, but believing," it encourages Christians to persist in their faith of the Dixinity, as well as the Resurrection of Jesus : for " Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have be- lieved." Beza, and Whitby's Last Thoughts are referred to in tlie " Improved (Unitarian) Version," to prove that the confes- sion, " My Lord and my God," of Thomas, was merely an exclamation. The reader is referred to Whitby's Commentan/, which was the fruit of the greater part of his life, and oi his most vigorous faculties, for a refutation of this opinion ; which begins in these words: "Let it be noted from Woltzogcnius the Socinian, that they are not to be hearkened to, who say, Thomas spake these words, not to Christ, but by way of an exclamation to God the Father; for the Apostle could not say, that Thomas answered, and much less that he answered and said to him, unless he had directed his words to him who said unto him in the precedent verse, ' Be not faithless, but believe :' and if he said to him, * Thou art my Lord and my God,' he must acknow- ledge him as fully and as truly to be his God, as his Lord." Whitby's Comment, in loc vol. i. p. 512. 4to. 494 CONCLUSION. One object of the foregoing work has been to arrange the parables of the New Testament accord- ing to their subjects and purposes, and, with the least possible violation of their chronological order, to point out their connection with the several parts of our Lord's ministry. The other, and greater ob- ject is, to show that the parables form a series of the most important prophecies and revelations respecting Christianity, which gradually develope the Gospel Dispensation from the first preaching of Christ to the day of Judgment. With this view the first chapter contains the ex- position of those parables which are introductory to the more direct promises and descriptions of the king- dom of God. The first section of this chapter treats of a conversation of our Lord v/hich took place in the house of Simon the Pharisee, during which he delivered the short parable of the Creditor and Two Debtors. This happened before he began regularly to teach the multitude by parables ; and the whole is intended to introduce to us the personal character of the Redeemer. But the second section, the pa- rable of the Sower, is the first parable which was spoken ]^y our Lord with the purpose of unfolding CONCLUSION'. 495 the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and contains a prophecy of the effects of the doctrines cf the Gospel when preached among men. The second chapter comprizes various parables, all of which are descriptive of the kingdom of Christ, and proplietic of the rai)id increase, and wide diflu- sion of the blessed tidings of salvation in the world. The first parable of the Tares, expounded in the first section of this chapter, describes very particularly the state of the spiritual world, and of the Church of God contending, as it were, with the elements of this world and the wiles of the Enemy of man, until its final conquest at the Day of Judgment. The se- cond of this series of parables, the Grain of Mustard Seed, and indeed all the smaller parables, which fol- low those of the Sower and the Tares, and which are comprized in this chapter, describe, with as much minuteness as is consistent with the nature of alle- gory and prophecy, the wonderful increase of the Gospel from the smallest beginnings, and the inva- luable nature of those blessed tidings which it would spread abroad over the whole earth. Nothing can more vividly rej)resent the wonderful increase of the word of God, when once sown by the Divine Sower upon the eartli, than tiie parable of the Mustard Seed, which is the least of all seeds, but when planted in the earth becomes the greatest among herbs, and a tree so umbrageous as to lodge the birds of the air in its branches. The imperceptible nature of this increase and diffusion of the Gospel is as finely depicted by the Leaven hidden by a woman in three measures of meal, which silently and imperceptibly 496 CONCLUSION. leavened the whole. The Gospel, in like manner, from small beginnings and by insensible degrees, was diffused through the nations of the earth, and by its own Divine power silently and impercepti- bly effected a total change in the character of the world. The two next parables, — the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price, — describe the inva- luable nature of the Gospel Dispensation. It is as the treasure which gives the field all its value, and as the pearl of great price which exceeds in value all other pearls and precious stones. It exceeds the price of all the grandeur and wealth, and every attraction of this world, in the eyes of the Chris- tian, who looks upon it as the passport to a higher and nobler state of existence. — The parable of the Net sets forth the danger of those who reject this precious treasure, as well as the happiness of those who shall embrace and be governed by the hea- venly doctrine of our Redeemer. And the House- holder, with which our Lord concludes this beauti- ful series of parables, shows the necessity of the chosen disciples being well "instructed unto the kingdom of heaven," before they presume to un- fold the blessed tidings of salvation to the people. The Patched Garment and the New Wine is placed among the smaller parables, and is the last section of this chapter. It was delivered about the same time, or at no great distance from the delivery of the parables in the 13th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ; and the subject is very similar — especially to that of the Householder ; for they both contain CONCLUSION. M)7 rulfs Ibr the Loiidiict oi" our LoicPs disciples, and arc therefore appropriately arrangeil with parables de- scriptive of his kingdom. Next to tlie doctrines of our holy religion, the duties, incumbent upon us as Christians, require to be considered ; and those, which are predictions of tlie moral changes to be effected in the world by Ciiristianity, are the subject of the third chapter of this w ork. Those paraljles, therefore, w hich set fortii the graces which are necessary to, and the vices which exclude from the kingdom of God, arc exi)ounded in this chapter. The object of these parables may be summed up in a few words, though their exposition is spread over many pages. For this purpose I need only repeat the preliminary paragra])h to the first section of the chapter. The design of the parables of our Lord was to indicate the progress of the Gospel, and gradually to unveil the mysteries of tlie kingdom of God. The moral changes are therefore exhibited by se- veral i)arables, which are now become the finest lessons of practical Christianity. The character of the Jews is strongly depicted in the seveial parables which are expounded in this chapter, while the great moral change to be effected by the Gospel is as powerfully displayed. The cruel temper of that people, especially of the Pharisees, is shown in the Unmerciful Servant ; their want of compassion in the Good Samaritan ; and their w^orldliness, pride, covetousness, unfeeling luxury, and avarice, in the four last parables, — the Rich Glutton, the Highest and Lowest Rooms, the Unjust Steward, and Dives 2 K 498 CONCLUSION. and Lazarus ; while the opposite temper of com- passion, humility, heavenly-mindedness, generosity, temperance, charity, and contempt of riches, are declared to be the characteristics of the Gospel-dis- pensation, the virtues and graces which alone can render us meet to l>e partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Among the greater duties of Christians, which are indispensable to their salvation, are repentance and prayer. As therefore the last chapter treated of those parables which set forth the particular duties and graces which respected the characters of indi- viduals, and fitted them for heaven ; so the two fol- lowing, the fourth and fifth chapters, explain those parables which enforce the general duties incumbent upon all the disciples of our heavenly Master, and without which we cannot be admitted into his King- dom. The fourth chapter treats of the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Money, and the Prodigal Son, which are successively related in the 15t.h chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. These parables, while they enforce the duty and efficacy of repentance upon all Christians, do nevertheless retain a more direct character of propliecies than those comprised in the preceding chapter. The Lost Sheep, and th( Lost Piece of Money, are prophetic of the conversion of the Gentiles. The Prodigal Son is a more com- prehensive prophecy of the same blessed end of the Gospel. It contemplates, as I have endeavoured to show, the vast scheme of Redemption from the call- ing of the Hebrews to their lejection, and the call- (■ONri,U!Sl()N. 199 ing of the Gentiles,— until, in process of time, tlie Jews will be converted from their apostacy, and will again become the means of diffusing the truth among the vet unconverted heathens ; as tliose of that na- tion, who first received Christ, were the instruments, under God, of converting the Gentiles after the death and resurrection of tlieir Divine Master. The ])ara- ble does not indeed express all this ; but, like otlicr passages of Scripture, it may contemplate something more than it expresses, which can be discovered only by other Scriptures ; for Scripture is its own inter- preter. The fifth chapter contains two parables, — the Im- portunate ^^^idow, and the Publican and Pharisee, — which set forth the true nature of prayer ; prelimi- nary to which are prefixed some remarks on prayer, as the means of conmumication between man and his Maker. In this chapter, however, as well as in the last, the prophetic character of the parable is sustained, while it teaches us the great practical duty of i)rayer. The parable of the Importunate \Vidow predicts by what means the church of Christ will be supported ; and the unjust judge, — in whose character the ra})acity of the Pharisees, who were members of the Sanhedrim, is reproved, — carries our thoughts to that just Judge of all the earth, by whom our prayers, when offered in a proper si)irit, will ever be heard, — while the parable intimates that the unjust judges of the Jewish nation will be no longei- ranked among God's people. The Publican and Pharisee allude more obviously to tlie different por- tions of the Jews and Gentiles, 'i'he humble pub- 2 K 2 500 CONCLUSION. lican is justified, and the Gentile world, which he represents, is elected into the church of God, from whence the proud and disdainful Pharisee is rejected. The sixth chapter contains a very important series of parables, which are, in fact, in continuation of the most signal prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. These parables foretell, in the plainest terms of which this species of composition will admit, the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, the end of Jewish polity, and the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. In the first section is examined the first parable of the Fig-tree. There are two parables of the Fig- tree, which were delivered by our Lord, and are recorded by the Evangelist. The first, which is the first of this chapter, is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem : the second, which will be found in the eighth chapter, foretells the Day of Judgment. As the Lord of the Vineyard, in this parable, recom- mended the fig-tree to be " cut down," on account of its unfruitfulness ; so, Christ declares to his hearers, who appear to have been the multitude, shall the Jews have the like sentence passed upon them for their infidelity and unfruitfulness, which shall be seen in the destruction of their city and temple, and the final downfall of their church and polity. The Labourers in the Vineyard, the subject of the second section, applies to the calling of the Gentiles who were last, and their election into the Christian church ; and to the rejection of the Jews who had been first, the only true church upon earth, and tlie children of Abraham in whoso seed the families of CONCLUSION'. .501 the cartli were to be blessed, from the kingdom of CJod, and of Christ whom they liad rejected. — The next short parable of the Two Sons, which is tlie third section, was obviously spoken in reproach of the hypo- crisy of the Pharisees, and of their o!)stinate rejection of the doctrine of John the Baptist. John being the f(jrerunner of Jesus, tlie rejection of the JMessiali was the natural consequence of their rejection of his ap- ])ointed messenger. The Gentiles are therefore pre- dicted, in this parable as in tlie last, to be elected into the place of the Jews in the kingdom of God. But the Vineyard, in the fourth Section, is by far the most important parable in this chapter. Many of the preceding parables, in this and the foregoing chapters, have been traced to the Rabbinical writings of the Jews, to whom frequently, and perhaps always, the particular parable, as well as this peculiar mode of instruction, was familiar. Some of them however, whicli we have examined in different parts of the pre- sent work, were taken from the Hebrew Scriptures, and hence became not only very familiar to the Jews, but much more striking in their application to that misguided people. Of these the parable of the ^'^ine- yard is the most important. Our Lord adopts the very language and figures of preceding prophets re- specting the destruction of Jerusalern and the re- jection of the Jews. He spoke to them in the lan- guage of a prophet, and by the well-known allegory of the \^ineyard, by which the Hebrew jirophets, particularly Isaiah and Solomon, reproved their countrymen, and predicted their downfall. For the particular examination of these facts, the reader 502 CONCLUSION. is referred to the exposition of the parable. But I cannot but repeat one other important result of the comparison of this, and some other parables — espe- cially the True Vine, the Good Shepherd, and the Sheep and the Goats which is the conclusion of the whole — with the prophetic parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. This is the Divinity of Jesus Chiiist, who must have been the Jehovah of the Old Testa- ment. In the exposition of this parable this is prov- ed, I think, to demonstration ; and that the present state of the Jews is the most unquestionable evi- dence of the Godhead of Chuist. It is shown that the Jews are, to the present hour, suffering the judicial penalty, repeatedly threatened in their own Scriptures, of traitors from their lawful King, of APOSTATES from their Messiah, and of im- pious infidels of Jehovah their God; and that wheresoever we see a Jew, we not only behold a living monument of the Divine origin of our religion, but we liave the strongest possible evidence, which carries along with it the analogy of the whole Bible, of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. In the last section of this chapter is expoimded the Marriage Feast, which in a very striking man- ner predicts the final excision of the Jews for their apostacy from Christ, the Spouse of the Church, a title which he appropriates to himself in several pas- sages of tlie Gospel, and particularly in the subse- quent parable of the Ten Virgins. The seventh chapter contains two very remark- able parables, wherein Christ designates himself : these are the Good Shepherd, and the True Vine, 00NCI,US10N\ 503 the only parables recorded by St. John, and these, like St. John's Gospel generally, set our blessed Re- deemer in the most amiable light. But these para- bles retain the same character of prophecies, which marks the rest of these simple and beautiful compo- sitions. The Good Shepherd, which is the frequent title of Jehovah in the Old Testament, declares that he has other sheep, which are not of the fold of Israel; them also he must bring, and they shall hear his voice ; and there shall be one fold and one Shep- herd. This clearly refers to the calling of the Gen- tiles, which is predicted. He describes the rapacity and infidelity of the rulers of the Jews in preceding ages up to the time of the api)carance of the Mes- siah, whose death, for the sins of the world, is plainly prefigured in the good Shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep ; and the Divinitij of Christ is the necessary inference from a comparison of the several texts of the Old Testament, in MJiich Jehovah, as for instance in the twenty-third Psalm, assumes to him- self the office of the good Shepherd, whom our Lord declares himself to be, and in the precise sense of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. The True Yme^ by which title likewise Christ designates himself, is the continuation and enlarge- ment of the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures, which represent Jiidah and Israel under the alle- gorical figures of the vine and vineyard. This parable, therefore, bears a close resemblance to that of the Vineyard, already noticed, in the sixth chapter. As that referred more particularly to the prophecy of Isaiah, this coincides with the predictions of Jere- 504 CONCLUSION. iniah and Ezekiel, and the exquisite allegory of the \'^ine in the eightieth Psahn. The Hebrew people had hitherto been God's peculiar care, the noble vine which was brought out of Egypt, and planted by the Divine hand in the fruitful soil of Judea. But notwithstanding that it had been so " noble a vine, so wholly a right seed," it was now become a '' degenerate plant of a strange vine" — it was to be cast into the forest, as no longer the stock from whence the Church derived its nurture. Instead of the Church of Israel, on which the worship of the true God had hecn grafted, the profession of Christ was henceforth to be the source and well-spring of all our future life, of all our knowledge of the true God. The sixth and seventh chapters contain parables which are predictive of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion and excision of the Jews. The eighth and ninth chapters consist of parables which are preparatory to, and descriptive of the day of Judgment. The first section of the eighth chapter is expository of the second parable of the Fig-tree, which is significant of the last day, tliough it applies in the first instance to the destruction of Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem was one of a chain of causes in God's Providence, which should gradually conduct to the Judgment of the Great Day, and the end of the world, of which it became a sign, in the same manner as 'the tender branches of the fig- tree, and its vernal buds and blossoms, are the signs of approaching summer. The short parable of the Wise Householder, the Faitliful and "Wise Servant, and the Evil Servant, coxri,usiON\ 505 uiiirli forms tlie second and last section of this cliapter, is beautifully connected in all its parts, and therefore one ; and yet it distinguishes three charac- ters : — The wise householder, who, had he known in what hour the thief would come, would have been more watcliful, and have thus prevented the break- ing up of his liouse ;- tlie faithful and wise ser- vant, whom, for having fulfilled the duties of the wise householder, his Lord had made ruler over his household ; and the evil servant, wlio, because his Lord delayed his coming, abused his trust, was guilty of cruelty and injustice to his fellow-servants, and committed excess with profligate strangers. These sei)arate characters are beautifully distinguished from each other, and are yet so insensibly united, that tiie same individual may, in his own person, represent the three; and of this liability is the warning given at the beginning of the parable, as an awful prepara- tion for the Day of Judgment: — " Watch therefore : for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Watchfulness and perseverance in the faith of Christ are inculcated and enforced by the assurance of a great and final day of account, when the good and evil servants will l)e rewaided and punished. The faithful servant shall be made ruler over his Lord's household ; that is, he will receive the highest re- ward in a future state ; while the evil servant shall be cut asunder, and have his portipn appointed with the hypociites ; in other words, he will be infinitely miserable in a future state. The reader is now conducted, in the ninth and last chapter of this work, to three parables — the 506 CONCLUSION. Wise and Foolish Virgins, the Talents, and the Sheep and the Goats — which are descriptive of that aAvful period which will be the consummation of the Christian Scheme, when angels and men will be as- sembled before the Judgment-seat of Christ. These are indeed prophecies and revelations, — particularly the last, which describes the proceedings of the last day as far as we can comprehend it in this state, and quite as plain as the description of this awful day in the mysterious Apocalypse of St. John . These parables were delivered during Passion week, the last week of our Saviour's earthly life. The first of these parables is that of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The five wise virgins describe those Christians who persevere in the faith which they have embraced, and who, though they are sometimes off their guard, — which is indicated by the circum- stance of the parable that they, in common with the foolish virgins, " slumbered and slept," — are never- theless generally prepared for their Lord's coming. The midnight cry, though a riecessary circumstance of the story, predicts, or rather prefigures, the sudden- ness with which the Day of Judgment will come upon ail, esjDecially upon those who, like the foolish virgins, are unprepared for that great event, though they know that it must happen. When, therefore, these virgins craved admittance to the marriage feast, they were disowned by the bridegroom, who declares that he knows them not. This circumstance our Lord declared more plainly, at an earlier stage of his ministry, in his sermon on the moimt.* To such * Matt. vii. 21—23. CONCI.USION. 507 persons, — who have neglected to clothe themselves with the appropriate graces of Christianity, — he will profess that he never knew them, and dismiss them from his i)resence as workers of iniquity. By this beautiful apologue we are warned to be on the watch, for wo know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh to judgment. This alone should set at rest the somewhat wild speculations of those who profess to point out the exact period of the Day of Judgment. The next parable of the Talents, which, like the former, lays down the principle on which we shall be judged at the final account, unfolds an instructive lesson to every rational being ; for according to na- tural equity we must believe ourselves accountable for that which is committed to us. Every Christian is expressly told in the oracles of his faith, that he must one day give account for the use or abuse of his talents at the Throne of his Maker and Redeemer. Such a parable, therefore, comes home to every man's business and bosom. It does not merely respect the visitation of the Jews ; but it reminds us that we must all give account of the tilings done in the body at the Great Tribunal of our Eternal Judge. I'he use or abuse of our natural endowments, and of the op})ortunities afforded us l)y the grace of God for their improvement, must form a great and chief ])ortion of that solemn account. Tliis parable cannot be sui)posed to rei)resent an exact account of the proceedings of the Day of Judgment ; but we may infer from it very clearly the princijjle by which we shall be judged. There may be some analogy be- 508 CONCLUSION. tween the distribution of justice among men in this state, and that which will take place in a future. This is apparent from the nature of things as ordain- ed by the Divine Providence. Man is a social being ; and in whatever state he is placed, whether in earth or heaven, he is so formed by his Creator as to be a member of society. The principle, therefore, upon which we shall be judged in a future state, is illus- trated by the manner in wliich we should judge per- sons upon earth. In the two preceding parables of the Mrgins and the Talents, we have faintly depicted to us the man- ner and the principle of the proceedings of the Day of Judgment. In the last parable of the Sheep and the Goats, — the last which was delivered by our Lord, and therefore the last paral)le examined in this work, — we have a vivid scenical representation of the Judge descending in glory, surrounded by his holy angels, and assuming his place on the Throne of his Glory, the awful Tribunal of angels and of men. Be- fore him are gathered all the nations of the earth, — all that have died, and all that shall be alive on that great and solemn day. The character of a Shepherd is preserved in this final and awful scene of the Christian Drama. The same character was, as we have seen, assumed by Jehovah in the Hebrew scrip- tures ; so that this parable adds another proof to the demonstrations, afforded by the Scriptures, of the Divinity of the Redecme7\ The unity and con- sistency of the oracles of our salvation are thus beau- tifully preserved by this illustiation of the Divine Shepherd at the last Judgment, which terminates the CONCLUSION. 509 scheme of revelation contained in the Bible ; an out- line of which, from the ai)pearance of the expected Messiah upon eartli to the final consunnnation of all things at the Great Day, is, I think, furnished to us by those exquisite compositions, the parables, which I have endeavoured, in the preceding work, to arrange and expound ujjon this princii)le. Having tluis given a brief summary of the whole, little more remains to be said. The attentive reader will have discovered that, in addition to the arrange- ment of the parables according to their subjects and l)urposcs, and as chronologically as possible in con- nection with the several parts of our Lord's ministry, and expounding them as prophecies ; 1 have endea- voured to trace them, as far as I was able, to the Rabbinical writings of the Jews, when they were not evidently taken, as in several instances which have been fully insisted on, from the Hebrew scriptures. Had I obtained access to more books of this de- scription than I can command, this part of tlie work would have been more perfect. But enough has been traced to those favourite writings of the Jews to show that tlie stories of our Lord's i)arables were generally, if not universally, familiar to tiiose to whom they were addressed ; and there was there- fore no excuse for their rejection of their Messiah. Another object has been, as I went along in this exposition, to make the parables evince, which some of them that have been pointed out in this sunmiary Conclusion do most strongly, the Divinity of CiliilST. Without the belief of this caudinal point of our faith, it cannot be too often repeated. .510 CONCLUSION. the Bible, from the beginning to the end, is totally irreconcilable with itself. The nature of the proof of this catholic doctrine, afforded by the parables, has this recommendation, — that it removes the controversy from the ground of verbal criticism into the more extensive field o^ undeniable facts, which, such as the present state of the Jews, create a stronger and more immoveable basis of this doctrine than verbal criti- cism, which then comes in aid as a powerfid aiLV- iliari/, rather than as a principal. I'his route is not a new one ; but it has perhaps been followed up in this exposition so as to furnish fresh materials. The author adopts the language of one of the most in- genious, and at the same tiuie humble-minded Bampton Lecturers, when he ventures, witli much humility, to say in conclusion, that " under such im- pressions he has been led to think, that one of the best chances (humanly speaking) of contributing — not new, but fresh support to the cause of truth, is likely to be found — in the ' confessions' (if this term has not been too much desecrated by some irreverent applications of it) of a believer, wlio, after following, with only his original clue given him, a track and progress of his own, so far as to have gained his con- victions by rejlection, rather than by much study, has in the end found himself in the highway where others are, and where he believes established truth 1.0 ber* * Preface to Miller's Hampton Lectures — " The Divine Au- tliorily of Holy Scripture asserted, from its adaptation to the real state of human nature." Those ingenious and original lec- tures are iu)l perhaps known so much as they deserve. Tiiis CONCLUSION. 511 aiuliur looks upon tlic Parables, — partially at least, as expounded ill tins work, — to be prophecies. " We seek," says he, " a further exemplification of an argument from our Saviour's /;«jv/WtA: some of which, he continues, may be in part considered as pruphctical, by reason of their describing the exact progress, or treatment, of the Gospel in the world. But are these, predictions of the histori- cal march of truth onli/ ! records merely of the past, which have spent their strength in a solitary effort, and remain now but as heralds who have told their message ? or does not experience even constrain us to invest them with that perennial life, which heathen piety could attach to onli/ supposed divine utterances? Surely, he concludes, they are a sort oi standing prophecy — per- manent chronicles of human nature." See his Bampton Lec- lures, p. 140. 512 APPENDIX. Note to p. 18. The ancient Stoic and Platonic philosophers very much agitated the question, Whether names or words were natural to men, or Imposed by some superior power ? Quaeri enim solitum apud philosophos, says Aulus Gellius — (^vasi to. ovo[Ji,uTu sint 15 $s